Category: Sports

OTTAWA, ON — Brady Tkachuk and Vladimir Tarasenko each scored twice to lead the Ottawa Senators to an impressive 6-2 win over the league-leading New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

Anton Forsberg made 33 saves for the Sens, while Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson also scored for the Senators (10-10-0).

Artemi Panarin and K’Andre Miller scored for the Rangers (18-5-1), while Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots.

Trailing 5-2 to start the third period, the Rangers had a great chance to get back in the game with a two-man advantage for 85 seconds but failed to capitalize.

The Rangers came into the game with points in 17 of their last 19. They had chances throughout the night, but Forsberg was solid when called upon.

Trailing 2-0 after the first, New York looked to get back in the game and while they had a better second period in the end the Senators led 5-2 after 40 minutes.

Panarin had a power-play goal just 39 seconds into the second to make it 2-1, but Tarasenko regained the two-goal lead with his first in 13 games. Miller got the Rangers right back in it scoring 22 seconds later.

Ottawa made it 4-2 when Batherson buried a Tarasenko rebound. Blake Wheeler looked like he had a sure goal, but Jakob Chychrun batted it out of the air to help Forsberg out.

Tkachuk scored his second late in the period taking a rebound off the back boards and beat Shesterkin short side.

Tkachuk opened the scoring tipping an Artem Zub shot, and with just under two minutes remaining Giroux beat Shesterkin with a wraparound goal.

Ridly Greig returned to the Senators lineup after missing 10 games with a high ankle sprain.

OTTAWA, ON — The Ottawa Senators let their emotions get the best of them Monday night and they paid the price with the visiting Florida Panthers handing them a 5-0 beat down.

In a penalty-filled game that was highlighted by 10 players getting simultaneous game misconducts in the third period, the Senators showed their lack of maturity and discipline.

While the Senators hadn’t looked very impressive in the first 40 minutes and trailed 3-0, there was plenty of time to turn things around in the third until Zack MacEwen took a match penalty at the five-minute mark for going after Matthew Tkachuk.

From that point on there were a multitude of penalties, including Jake Sanderson dropping the gloves with Tkachuk.

Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk was in the middle of things as well and was largely responsible for the scrum that led to the misconducts.

“I mean, I don’t think it’s bad to play with emotion,” said Tkachuk. “I think, when this group plays with emotion we’re a tough team to beat and I think we rely on our emotion and it shows that we care, shows that we care about what we’re doing here and about the guy next to us.”

Senators head coach D.J. Smith didn’t disagree when asked if he felt his team showed a lack of maturity on this night.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fair,” said Smith. “You know, I just thought at 3-0 we came up with some really good shifts. We were aggressive. We were, you know, in the game, lots of game left and then we take a five-minute major and that takes you right out of the game.”

Watching the unravelling of his team in the third was disheartening for Smith.

“As the head coach you realize you’re throwing away an opportunity,” he said. “You have to just keep playing. And, you know, I don’t know what went on between periods. We came out, I thought ready, and then you know that final whatever it was, after we took the five-minute major you don’t give yourself a chance to win and you can’t play like that in the NHL.”

From the start the Panthers looked like a team determined to win.

Sam Reinhart scored his first of two on the power play just 88 seconds into the game.

Ottawa had the perfect opportunity to respond when Reinhart was assessed a double minor for catching Tim Stutzle with a high stick, but Ottawa managed just one shot on goal.

The second wasn’t much better for Ottawa.

The Senators failed to record a shot on goal on an early power play and forced Joonas Korpisalo, who stopped 33 shots, to make a couple of big saves.

Korpisalo was beat by Reinhart, with a wraparound goal, after trying to clear the puck behind the net on the power play to make it 2-0.

The Senators challenged the goal for being offside, but after a lengthy review it was deemed onside and Sam Bennett went on to make it 3-0 on the ensuing power play.

“The first few special teams put us in a good position,” said Reinhart. “We came out with a playoff mentality, trying to get our power play going a little bit.”

Mixed in with the multitude of penalties in the third was a pair of goals by the Panthers from Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen to round out the scoring.

The win allowed the Panthers (13-7-1) to snap a two-game losing skid as they kicked off three straight road games within the division.

“It’s good that our power play, our special teams, in the end, won us the game,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “Our goaltender made a couple of saves that he had to make to keep it right. But our penalty kill was as good as our power play tonight and that won us the game.”

This game was meant to be a measuring stick for the Senators and they failed to meet the challenge.

“We definitely fell tonight,” said Ottawa’s Claude Giroux. “But saying that, you know, sometimes the best way to learn is to fail really big so we can lose 3-2 and not learn from it. But you know, we lose the way we did (Monday) and we have to learn from it.

“So, we’re gonna stick together here. There’s no doubt we’re gonna come out and play hard on Friday. I think that’s when our next game is and, you know, we’re going to stick together no matter what here, so I’m not worried about that.”

OTTAWA, ON – The New York Islanders played 57 minutes of Friday night’s game with four defencemen and the Ottawa Senators still couldn’t beat them.

New York put a gutsy effort together to beat Ottawa 5-3 and deserved to leave with the two points.

The Islanders found themselves short-handed early on when both Adam Pelech and Sebastian Aho were injured after playing just two shifts, leaving New York to play the remainder of the game down two defencemen.

“That was an incredible effort,” said Islanders coach Lane Lambert. “We knew real early in the game what we were up against … I thought they did a good job of making sure they kept their shift as short as possible and I just thought it was an incredible effort by the four of them.

“I’ve never experienced that before where we’ve been down to four ‘D’ for pretty much the entire game.”

The Islanders (8-6-5) had contributions from all its players with five different goal scorers and 31 blocked shots.

Kyle Palmieri and Oliver Wahlstrom each had a goal and an assist. Mat Barzal, Anders Lee and Simon Holmstrom also scored. Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots.

“It was a lot of minutes for everyone,” said Noah Dobson, who played a team-high 31 minutes five seconds. “I think as a group everyone was aware and the forwards did a good job helping us out getting back and then we needed (Varlamov) to make some big saves and he did that.”

The Senators (8-8-0), who were playing their first game since returning from Sweden for the Global Series, failed to take advantage of the Islanders’ depleted lineup.

“You have to forecheck, you have to take the walls away,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “We did it for a stretch in the second period, but not enough and when we made mistakes, it ended up in the net.

“We just didn’t make it hard enough on them defensively.”

Drake Batherson scored a pair of goals for Ottawa and Tim Stutzle buried his fifth. Anton Forsberg made 21 saves.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first. Batherson opened the scoring with a power-play goal and Palmieri tied it after winning the battle for a rebound in front.

A wild second period saw the two teams combine for five goals.

The Senators appeared to take a 2-1 lead at the six-minute mark of the second, but it was called off for being offside. Wahlstrom scored almost immediately for New York to take the lead.

“It was a great call by our video staff … we knew the thing was offside for the period of time that it was in the zone and we were going to challenge if something came of it,” said Lambert. “We score after so certainly there was a momentum shift.”

The Islanders then went on to score a pair of goals in a span of six seconds. Barzal beat Forsberg with a wrist shot on the power play, and off the ensuing faceoff the Islanders took control and Lee scored to give New York a 4-1 lead.

“When they scored the 3-1 goal, it felt like we got behind, obviously,” said Forsberg. “And then I let in the fourth one, there. I should’ve had that one. It’s uphill from there. I’ve got to find more consistency and get a few saves there.”

The Senators replied with a pair of goals of their own, scoring 47 seconds apart on nearly identical plays.

Mathieu Joseph won a battle for the puck along the back boards and put it out front to Stutzle.

Joseph then won another battle and put the puck to the front of the net, where Stutzle made a little bump pass to Batherson for his second of the night.

Despite the strange turn of events, Stutzle thought his team would prevail.

“I was 100 per cent confident we were going to win that game,” he said. “There was never a doubt in my mind.

“Give credit to their goalie, he made some huge saves.”

The Islanders took a two-goal lead early in the third on Holmstrom’s goal, which went off Ottawa’s Vladimir Tarasenko.

The Senators had a last chance to get back in the game when Barzal took a slashing penalty and Ottawa pulled Forsberg for a two-man advantage, but Varlamov was solid.

OTTAWA, ON — What a difference a week makes.

Last Saturday the Ottawa Senators were booed off home ice and captain Brady Tkachuk was criticizing the fan base, but this week the home crowd was on their feet cheering as the Senators left the ice following a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames.

With the win the Senators (6-7-0) snapped a five-game losing streak on home ice and capped the week with four of a possible six points after winning two of their three games.

“Whenever you win it’s always a good feeling,” said Tkachuk. “Losing is never fun, so I think we’re getting there. We’re finding our game. We’re finding what makes us successful and we’re just going to keep the ball rolling and keep the momentum going.”

It was a team effort with Mathieu Joseph, Drake Batherson, Rourke Chartier and Travis Hamonic all scoring. Joonas Korpisalo was solid in goal stopping 24 shots.

“When you’re losing it squeezes you and I think I’ve talked about this that it’s been a real calming approach from Michael (Andlauer) and Steve (Staois) to just do what we do and get better a little bit every day,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “I think it’s clearly bled into our team. Guys are a little more comfortable right now in their skin and just starting to play a little bit better.

The Flames (4-8-2) didn’t play poorly, but also weren’t able to capitalize on its chances which was the difference on this night. Blake Coleman scored the lone goal for Calgary.

Dustin Wolf, who made 34 saves, made his season debut for the Flames and kept Calgary in the game.

“It’s frustrating when you feel like the game’s right there for you,” said Coleman. “They made plays and there was nothing (Wolf) could’ve done on those, obviously. He gave us a great chance to be in this game. He played really well. We wish we could’ve got him his win today.”

The Flames controlled the play for much of the first period, but it was the Senators who struck first when Joseph tipped a Jake Sanderson shot in close.

Ottawa took a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal early in the second. Tkachuk tipped Jakob Chychrun’s shot and the puck went high but Batherson was able to bat it in as it came down.

Calgary cut the lead in half at the 15-minute mark on a two-on-one when Martin Pospisil fed a wide-open Coleman.

The Senators had a two-man advantage for 71 seconds late in the period, but failed to capitalize as Wolf made a number of saves.

“I think the American (Hockey) League is pretty different from the NHL,” admitted Wolf. “Those are some big men out there. It’s a lot tougher for myself to fight through screens, which I thought I did a pretty good job of tonight, but at the end of the day, I felt really good.”

The Flames were coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to Toronto on Friday, but had good energy and were keeping pace with Ottawa until the third.

“We scored one goal, and there were opportunities for us to finish in those first two periods, for sure,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska. “We have to find a way to score more, but it’s sticking with it, too. That’s a big thing.

“I thought the energy got sucked out of us after the (3-1) goal, for sure.”

Chartier made it 3-1 early in the third and the Senators couldn’t have been more excited for their teammate. Chartier’s last NHL goal was Oct. 18, 2018. The 27-year-old missed nearly two years of action due to concussions and was thrilled to finally find the back of the net again.

“After sitting out two years and I’d played and as much as I hoped and knew inside myself that I would get another crack, hopefully, you mean you never really know,” said Chartier. “Obviously, I would have liked to get it a few games earlier, but definitely worth the wait.

“I think this one probably feels even better than the first one. Hopefully I don’t have to wait as long for the third one.”

Hamonic added insurance with his first of the season at the five-minute mark of the period.

The Senators won’t play until Thursday as they head to Sweden to take part in the Global Series.

OTTAWA, ON — Elias Pettersson didn’t feel his Vancouver Canucks had their best showing Thursday, but that didn’t stop the fun of winning.

Pettersson had one goal and two assists, Ilya Mikheyev netted two goals and the red-hot Canucks defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2. The victory extended Vancouver’s winning streak to five games as the team sits in second in the Pacific Division to the reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

“This is a lot of fun, a lot of fun,” said Pettersson. “I mean we’re winning now. We’re playing good; most of the time, but I mean like today I don’t think we brought our best effort. I was not happy with my game, but we still found a way to win. I think that’s a strength we have now.”

With his three points on the night, Pettersson took hold of the NHL scoring lead (24 points) and is riding a seven-game point streak (five goals, nine assists).

Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller also scored for Vancouver (10-2-1). Casey DeSmith made 28 saves.

“We’ve got to make sure we play a 60-minute game. … It’s only like 13, 14 games in but teams are going to be ready for us so we’ve got to make sure we match that desperation,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. “Ottawa was desperate tonight and they played a desperate game.”

Drake Batherson and Artem Zub scored for Ottawa (5-7-0), which has lost three of its last four games and was coming off a 6-3 win over Toronto on Wednesday.

Anton Forsberg stopped 11-of-16 shots.

“That’s one of the hottest teams in the league and, I mean, I thought we outplayed them,” said Senators defenceman Jakob Chychrun. “For sure, it sucks, but we’ve just got to keep moving forward here.”

“Nobody in here likes losing and things haven’t been going our way.,” he added. “Nobody’s feeling sorry for us. We’ve got to dig deep here and keep working as a unit and get ourselves out of this hole.”

Boeser got Vancouver going early, scoring just 15 seconds into the game. However, it wasn’t called a goal until 48 seconds later when it was reviewed at the first stoppage of play.

Mikheyev made it 2-0 at the three-minute mark of the opening period after an Ottawa giveaway.

“You’ve got to be ready to play when the game starts,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “We had a turnover on the first shift and it ends up in the net. We had a turnover when it’s 3-2 and there’s lots of clock left and it ends up in your net. Whether they’re bad bounces or whatever they are, you’ve got to take care of the puck.”

Batherson beat DeSmith with 1:45 remaining in the first to trim the deficit.

Zub, who returned to the lineup after a seven-game absence due to a concussion, tied the game 10:58 into the second period.

However, Miller restored the Canucks’ lead with 1:52 left in the middle frame. He took a drop pass from Phillip Di Giuseppe and went bar down to make it 3-2.

“I just think when you get off to a bad start like we did the last couple of years you feel like you’ve got to play catch up and you start doing out of character things and you start forming bad habits,” said Di Giuseppe.

“It’s definitely nice to come out and have the record we do and I think we can take a deep breath and not feel like we need to hit a home run on every play to win every game.”

The Canucks extended their lead in the third when Mikheyev scored his second of the night tipping in a Pettersson shot from the point 9:23 into the third period.

Pettersson rounded out the scoring firing in a one-timer on the power play with 6:32 remaining in the third.

OTTAWA, ON – Brady Tkachuk’s frustration was palpable after his Ottawa Senators absorbed a 6-4 loss against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

Tkachuk and his teammates were booed off the ice and fans called for head coach D.J. Smith’s firing throughout the game.

The Senators (4-6-0), who are without five regulars in their lineup, have struggled going 1-5-0 in their last six games.

“Whenever you don’t win it’s frustrating,” said Tkachuk. “It’s frustrating the negativity from the outside. The constant booing and the bullshit kind of from the crowd tonight was frustrating, too.

“I understand they’re a passionate fan base, I understand, I love it, but when you face adversity you don’t turn your back on the guys out there. I mean, we’re playing hard. I know it’s frustrating right now, but it’s not like we’re giving up out there. We’re fighting to the very end. So, to be honest with you, yeah, it was frustrating tonight.”

The game was tied 1-1 after the first thanks to Tkachuk’s first goal of the night and Victor Hedman’s second of the season, but the Lightning scored three unanswered goals in the second to take full control.

Tampa’s Brayden Point, with three goals and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov, who had a goal and four assists, were impressive for the Lightning (5-3-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak.

“It feels good to help contribute offensively,” said Point. “Still out there for too many (goals) against, but it feels good to contribute offensively, that’s for sure.”

Just 32 seconds into the period, Point came down the wing and beat Joonas Korpisalo high. Four minutes later Michael Eyssimont battled his way through Jake Sanderson and Travis Hamonic and got a shot off to beat Korpisalo, who was pulled after allowing three goals on 20 shots.

Tampa took a three-goal lead late in the period when Anton Forsberg, who allowed three goals on 17 shots, lost sight of the puck and Point was able to just get it across the goal line.

“I just thought they came out harder than us in the first period,” said Smith. “They’re on the right side of the puck. We score first and their top players came to play today. The second period they took it to us and put a ton of O-zone time on us and we weren’t able to bounce back.”

The Senators, trailing 4-1 to start the third, showed they still had fight with Claude Giroux scoring his third of the season.

The Lightning regained the three-goal lead on Point’s third of the night, and then Tkachuk scored his second of the night on the power play to keep Ottawa in it. Kucherov made it 6-3 just 16 seconds later. Ottawa continued to fight back with Drake Batherson making it 6-4 with just under eight minutes to play, but the Senators came up short.

“It was a game of responses, to be honest,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “They get the first one and we came back and tied it and I thought that was big.

“And then we come out in the second and score early, and then when the game got a little hectic, I think Brady (Tkachuk) scored and we scored right after that and I thought that was big for us. Every time there was a little adversity for us, we responded and we pulled it on.”

Adversity has been difficult on the Senators and Smith admitted that maybe the accumulation of bad news lately has been compounding the issues on the ice as well.

“That’s probably fair to say,” Smith said. “We’ve just got to play. You’re young guys and just go out there and play the way you can play.

“Don’t read and don’t look at the standings and, you know, when this team plays loose and driving they can score, they can defend, they can do all these things. I think they’re just trying too hard.”

The Senators don’t play until Wednesday and will have plenty of time to ponder how to turn things around.

OTTAWA, ON – The Ottawa Senators lost more than just a game Thursday night.

The Senators, already missing three defencemen, dropped a 3-2 decision to the Los Angeles Kings and could be without two of their centres for a little while.

Ridly Greig suffered a lower-body injury early in the first period after he appeared to jam his right leg. Mark Kastelic left the game early in the second after he lost an edge and went down hard. He was also seen favouring his right leg.

Head coach D.J. Smith didn’t have an update but said they look to be doubtful for the next few games.

While the injuries were a factor, the Kings (6-2-2) did well to hold off the Senators after the home side cut the deficit to one.

“The mistakes we made that went in the net are just mistakes,” said Smith. “That isn’t talent base, that’s bad reads or not enough poise or what have you … for us to win games, you can use short-handed (play) as an excuse, but that ain’t going to fix anything. We’re gonna have to be airtight defensively.”

Los Angeles (6-2-2) jumped out to a 3-0 lead en route to its second straight win on a four-game road trip. Philip Danault tallied from in close just 3:11 into the game to open the scoring.

“Scoring on the first power play clearly put us on our heels and then the injury to Ridly and Kastelic back-to-back,” said Smith. “We had some short lines and we had some tired guys … we stayed with it enough to have a chance at the end, but give them credit. They played really well.”

The Kings didn’t give the Senators much space and capitalized on their chances.

“The trust factor is high among linemates and pairs, the team as a whole,” said Kings head coach Todd McLellan. “We have a pretty good idea of how we need to play. Sometimes bounces don’t go your way, their second goal hits [Kopitar] in the face and a little bit of bad luck, but for the most part, I think we can play tight, uncomfortable games.”

The Kings took a 2-0 lead five minutes into the second period. Adrian Kempe picked up the puck at his own blue line, came down the wing and fed Carl Grundstrom, who beat former teammate Joonas Korpisalo, who stopped 35 shots.

Cam Talbot, who played for Ottawa last season, got the start in net for the Kings.

Los Angeles made it 3-0 midway through the second when Anze Kopitar was the beneficiary of an Andreas Englund rebound for his fifth goal of the season.

“That was a good game from our side tonight,” said Kempe. “Obviously they came back at the end and it was tighter than we wanted it to be. But I think we’ve had some games this year where it’s been a one-goal game at the end of the second period and I think we’ve been doing a really good job of that.

“Every line is managing the puck really well.”

The Senators got on the board with a late Dominik Kubalik power-play goal to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes.

The late goal provided some optimism for the Senators going into the third.

“I think we would have liked to have been a little sharper in the second period and be a little bit more mature,” said Ottawa forward Josh Norris. “But we had a couple guys go down and guys had to step up and play some bigger minutes.”

The Senators made it a one-goal game when Norris tipped a Jacob Bernard-Docker shot early in the third, but couldn’t produce the equalizer.

“I don’t think the game was a bad game by any means,” said Ottawa defenceman Travis Hamonic. “But those are the close ones that you do need, especially at this time of year because they all matter and it matters at the end.”

OTTAWA, ON — On a night meant to recognize excellence in netminding, the Buffalo Sabres’ 6-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre did anything but.

The evening began with a ceremony honouring former Senators goaltending great Craig Anderson — who signed a one-day contract earlier Tuesday to officially retire as part of the Ottawa franchise — and ended with a flurry of goals that brought the game total to 10.

Anderson, who now serves as a hockey liaison with the visiting Sabres, watched Buffalo cruise to a 5-1 lead after two periods before almost letting it slip away.

Jeff Skinner had two goals and Tage Thompson, Zemgus Girginsons, and Alex Tuch added singles as the Sabres chased Ottawa starter Anton Forsberg after two periods. Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukonen made 34 saves for the win.

Joonas Korpisalo came in to make six saves in the third on what should have been mop-up duty, but the Senators had other plans.

A furious rally in the dying minutes brought the score to 5-4 with 35 seconds remaining, but Thompson’s second goal — this one into an empty net — put an end to the contest and a forgettable night between the pipes.

Jakob Chychrun scored in the second period to make it 3-1 and give his team a brief pop of momentum, but it wasn’t until the final five minutes of the game that the Senators really put the pedal down.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Josh Norris and Mathieu Joseph all scored to put a scare into the Sabres, but that’s as close as they would get.

Senators coach D.J. Smith said he would have liked to have seen more from Forsberg, who was 2-0 with a .933 save percentage heading into this contest, but he was careful not to place all the blame at his goalie’s feet.

“I thought it was a weird one,” Smith said after. “I mean, every chance they had early went in. There were some tips there but we have to do a better job boxing out. Obviously, you want better tonight.”

Senators forward Claude Giroux elected to focus on the positive.

“As frustrating as it is, we have 76 games left,” he said. “It’s not time to hit the panic button, but it’s time to keep working on our game, keep finding ways to be consistent for 60 minutes, and if we do that we’re going to start winning hockey games.”

The Senators appeared to be headed for a truly disastrous night when Brady Tkachuk left the game late in the third period on what appeared to be a light, routine collision with Sabres centre Peyton Krebs.

Tkachuk was immediately distressed, however, throwing off his glove and sprinting off the ice and down the hall to the Senators’ locker room.

The Canadian Tire Centre crowd let out a sigh of relief when Tkachuk returned for the third period.

Smith said Tkachuk was “fine” and had a stinger on the elbow, but he may miss time regardless.

Tkachuk took an instigator penalty in the final five minutes of the game after he took exception to a hit by Tuch and thus faces the possibility of a suspension.

The Senators can appeal, however.

“I know what the rule is for — I don’t see that situation at all,” said Smith “I saw a guy that went out of his way to hit him dirty and he sticks up for himself, so the league will make that call and let us know.”

For their part, the Sabres were willing to look past the late-game fireworks.

“I thought we played simple,” Tuch said. “I thought we frustrated them throughout the whole game. I thought we capitalized on some opportunities, but we played really hard.

“I thought we came in with our game plan and we stuck to it. I know there was a little chaos in the end there, a couple penalties and power plays and stuff, but you know what, I thought (Luukkonen) played really well and it was a good team win.”

OTTAWA, ON – Alex DeBrincat didn’t anticipate being welcomed back with open arms by Ottawa Senators fans Saturday afternoon.

The Detroit Red Wings forward got exactly what he was expecting.

Senators fans gave DeBrincat the gears, routinely showering him with loud boos. But that didn’t stop Detroit from earning a 5-2 win over Ottawa.

The contest was DeBrincat’s first in the Canadian capital since being dealt to Detroit this summer. The hometown gathering of 18, 834 made sure to let DeBrincat know it wasn’t impressed that he didn’t want to be a part of the Senators moving forward.

“It’s pretty much what I expected,” said DeBrincat. “I think it is what it is.

“You try to, you know, zone it out and just play the game. We’re happy we came up with the win and it’s a tough team to play on the road . . . it’s a big two points for us.”

Joe Veleno scored twice while Dylan Larkin added a goal and two assists for Detroit (4-1), on a four-game win streak after dropping its season opener to New Jersey. Shayne Gostisbehere and David Perron also scored while Ville Husso was solid in goal, stopping 35 shots.

Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig scored for Ottawa (3-2-0), which had its three-game win streak snapped. Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves.

While many want to portray DeBrincat, who spent just one season in Ottawa, as the villain, the reality is the 25-year-old never thought he had a long-term future with the Senators. He’s thrilled to have the opportunity to play in his hometown team.

“They have a great team in there,” he said. “But you know, I’m happy with where I am.

“I know they’re going to be good for quite a long time so it’s going to be a lot of battles between us.”

DeBrincat had no points but was on the ice for all three of Detroit’s power-play goals. The Red Wings were 3-for-5 with the man advantage, while Ottawa was 1-for-6.

“Definitely not the effort we want, ever,” said Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk. “I don’t think that will happen again.

“We’re in the same boat, but they just showed that they’re better than us today. That’s frustrating, disappointing and we’re just going to have to learn from it.”

Ottawa outshot Detroit 14-3 in the first period but the two teams were tied 1-1, each scoring on the power play.

Sanderson opened the scoring, converting a nice pass from Tkachuk. But with less than two minutes remaining, Larkin found Gostisbehere in the slot to make it 1-1.

Detroit made the most of its opportunities in the second to take a 3-1 lead.

Veleno made it 2-1 on a nice Christian Fischer drop pass. Detroit followed with its second power-play goal when Perron took the puck off his skate and still got enough on his shot despite Erik Brannstrom being on him in close.

Korpisalo took some of the blame for that but he didn’t get much support on this night.

“They scored on almost every chance they got there,” said Korpisalo. “They were on the (power play) quite a bit. … I’ve got to provide the team with more saves.”

But Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith his team also must be more disciplined.

“They’re not great penalties; they’re stick penalties, they’re some lazy penalties,” he said. “We did such a good job the previous two games in staying out of the box and (Saturday) it killed us.”

Detroit put the game away with two goals within the first seven minutes of the third.

The Red Wings registered their third power-play goal just 28 seconds in when Larkin scored. Then Veleno recorded his second of the game on a great pass from Daniel Sprong.

“It was obviously two great players that made two awesome plays for me,” said Veleno. “You know, I was happy I was able to be in the right spot at the right time and essentially just keep working hard.”

Greig got his first of the season when his shot bounced in off Husso’s blocker. But he was more concerned with his team’s poor played.

“Both our power play and penalty kill need to be better, I’ll leave it at that,” said Greig. “The discipline in our game has probably got to be better.

“Lazy penalties can cost our team quite a bit.”

OTTAWA, ON – After 270 days out, all is well for Josh Norris.

The Ottawa Senators centre returned to the lineup Wednesday night after missing all of training camp and the first three games of the season, and scored a power-play goal 12 minutes into the game.

That first-period goal proved to be the winner, and he added another in the second to lead the Senators to a 6-1 win over the Washington Capitals for their third straight win.

The road back to the game has been a difficult one for the 24-year-old Norris. He played just eight games last season because of shoulder problems that started early in the season and eventually underwent surgery in January.

“Obviously, it’s been a long road and some long days and we’re finally here now,” said Norris. “So, I think it’s kind of one of those moments. It’s weird, like, I think God’s pretty amazing and I don’t want to get like too philosophical here, but yeah, it’s just a great night and happy we won.”

Norris was anxiously looking forward to this season, but at the start of training camp the team announced he had tweaked his shoulder and would be wearing a non-contact jersey. At the time the team downplayed the issue and said Norris would play in the pre-season.

Norris never suited up for an exhibition game, however, and when he wasn’t ready for opening night there was much speculation as to what was holding him back.

After the game, Norris admitted he needed some extra time and reassurance before deciding he was ready to return to action.

“I mean, I think, just after, you know, talking to some (doctors) and making sure everything was OK, and I think most importantly, just feeling comfortable in my own brain,” he said. “Once I kind of got the OK, it’s just, you know, trying to trust yourself. It took a little bit of time and then you know, just started to feel normal.”

As excited as Norris was to be back, his teammates were equally thrilled.

“He did what he gets paid for and put it right in the back of the net,” said linemate Drake Batherson, who set Norris up for both goals. “Super pumped for him and his family. For him to get back out there tonight, I know how excited he was. He was just happy to play, let alone get two.”

Vladimir Tarasenko, Artem Zub, Claude Giroux and Jake Sanderson also scored for the Senators (3-1-0). Anton Forsberg made 23 saves.

The Capitals, playing their first road game of the season, started off strong in the first period, but some poor defensive coverage in the remaining 40 minutes proved too much to overcome.

“In the first period, I liked our game a lot,” said Capitals coach Spencer Carbery. “I thought it was probably our best 20 minutes of the season thus far. We’re down 2-1, but I didn’t think that was an issue from a score standpoint, being able to come back in the game.

“Then the second period, sort of a microcosm of how the year is going for this group right now. Every mistake we make is ending up in the back of the net.”

John Carlson scored the Capitals’ lone goal. Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots for Washington (1-2-0).

The Senators took a 2-1 lead in the opening period.

Tarasenko opened the scoring four minutes in after taking a pass from Ridly Greig to beat Kuemper, but it was Norris’ power-play goal midway through the period that brought the crowd to its feet.

“He went through a lot and, you know, a lot of bad days,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “I know how emotional he was when he got hurt. To get to this point and get a couple goals here tonight, he just wanted to contribute. It was great.”

The Capitals cut the score in half with a late goal when Carlson beat Forsberg through traffic.

Three goals in the second period were the difference for the Senators.

Norris picked up his second by beating Kuemper glove side two minutes in. Zub scored with a shot from the blue line three minutes later and Giroux picked up his first of the season after some poor coverage allowed him to drive to the net uncontested for an easy tap-in.

“It’s too early in the year to panic too much,” said Washington’s Trevor van Riemsdyk. “It’s just a learning experience, but we’ve got to take from it what we did wrong and improve on it. We can’t just chalk it up as unlucky bounces or whatever it may be.”

Washington managed just three shots on goal in the third, while Sanderson rounded out the scoring for the Senators with his second of the season.

OTTAWA, ON – It’s only the third game, but the Ottawa Senators are playing the kind of hockey they talked about before the NHL regular season started and it’s reaping rewards.

Led by a two-goal, three-point night from captain Brady Tkachuk, the Senators were able to produce a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday night.

“Two games of playing our type of hockey,” said Tkachuk. “That’s just been our goal. We don’t care about wins or losses, it’s just how quickly we get to our game. I think we’ve shown that we’re starting to find it now, and I think we’re going to keep building on it.”

The Senators are also getting contributions throughout their lineup.

Mathieu Joseph, Vladimir Tarasenko and Tim Stützle also scored, while Joonas Korpisalo picked up his first win and point with the Senators (2-1-0) after making 22 saves.

“Winning is exciting,” Tarasenko said. “We had a lot of talks before the season. When you win, everything is different. Like, the mood is different, you know, the atmosphere and confidence level.”

Both teams had played Saturday with the Senators beating Philadelphia 5-2, while Tampa fell 6-4 to Detroit and had a slow start.

Tampa started 29-year-old rookie Matt Tomkins, who made his NHL debut stopping 33 shots. Anthony Cirelli and Tanner Jeannot each scored for the visitors.

The Senators outshot the Lightning 17-3 in the opening period, but Tampa coach Jon Cooper didn’t feel like his team was being outplayed despite the discrepancy in shots.

“People are going to sit there and look at the first period and say oh my god, they just have 17- 3 or whatever it was, but we’re looking at chances that actually have a chance of going into the net and pucks I guess directed at the net that have a chance, but we didn’t feel like we gave them a whole lot.”

Tomkins weathered the onslaught and looked solid.

“(Tomkins) was unbelievable,” said Cirelli. “You know from the first puck drop he made huge saves and kept us in that game the whole game. Huge credit to him the way he came in here and he made saves and played really well.”

For the third straight game Ottawa opened the scoring. Seven minutes into the period Ridly Greig backhanded a pass back to Tarasenko who beat Tomkins from down low.

Tampa tied the game in the opening minute of the second after Cirelli crossed to the front of the net uncontested and roofed a shot over Korpisalo.

Tkachuk scored his first of the night midway through the second. Darren Raddysh blocked Tkachuk’s shot and dropped allowing the Senators captain to grab the loose puck and make it 2-1. Tampa tied it at the 13-minute mark when Jeannot capitalized on a Victor Hedman rebound in front.

“The two goals they score, we give them tap-ins there,” said Ottawa coach D.J. Smith. “And that’s hard for a goalie sometimes, but give our guys credit, give the (defence) credit, we came out ready to play, we held the chances down, but certainly we have to manage those big-time breakdowns.”

But with just under a minute to play in the second Nick Perbix looked to drop a pass back, but was picked off by Tarasenko who fed Joseph, who wasted no time wristing a shot to the top corner.

“It was just a tough goal to give up with a minute left and we had tired D out there and again, they catch a break,” said Cooper. “You know, they try and force the puck in, we got a stick on it and it goes right to Joseph and it’s in the net.

“Tkachuk’s goal (Raddysh) blocks it and it goes right on his stick, but we put ourselves in those situations and they capitalized so you know good on them for that.”

Tkachuk came up big in the third to give the Senators some breathing room when he beat Raddysh in a foot race and scored five-hole. Stutzle also added an empty-net goal, with Korpisalo picking up the secondary assist.