Category: HOCKEY

OTTAWA, ON — Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Cale Makar and Joel Kiviranta all scored in Colorado’s first-period barrage and the Avalanche cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Nelson finished with two goals — his first two since being acquired by Colorado from the New York Islanders — and Scott Wedgewood made 15 saves.

Wedgewood’s shutout bid being ended by Dylan Cozens’ power-play goal with 4:41 left in the game.

The Avalanche chased Linus Ullmark from the game just 17:29 in after he allowed four goals on 13 shots.

It was the Senators’ second straight loss following a six-game winning streak.

Nelson scored his second of the night on the power play 1:54 into the middle frame after tipping Artturi Lehkonen’s shot to beat Anton Forsberg, who allowed one goal on 19 shots in relief of Ullmark.

OTTAWA, ON – The Ottawa Senators gave their fans plenty to cheer about before leaving on a weeklong road trip and heading into their league-mandated break.

The Senators (28-20-4) capped off their four-game homestand with an impressive 6-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild Saturday night, completing a perfect 4-0-0 run at Canadian Tire Centre.

Ottawa controlled the first 40 minutes to take a 3-0 lead, but three power-play goals in a span of 2:14 to start the third put the game out of reach.

Ryan Hartman took a match penalty after he shoved Tim Stutzle’s face into the ice off a faceoff in the dying seconds of the second and the Senators capitalized on the opportunity.

Jake Sanderson, who had a career four-point night with a goal and three assists, beat Filip Gustavsson, who faced 52 shots, from the top of the slot. Brady Tkachuk made it 5-0 scoring 59 seconds later. The Wild then took another minor penalty to provide Ottawa a two-man advantage and Drake Batherson buried his 15th.

Chants of “we want (Marc-Andre) Fleury” rained down from the sellout crowd.

Tim Stutzle, with a goal and two assists, Josh Norris and Michael Amadio also scored for Ottawa, while Leevi Merilainen picked up his third shutout of the season stopping 16 shots.

Coming into the game the Wild (31-18-4) had only given up three goals through their last three games.

Ottawa’s Nick Cousins will be out six to eight weeks after having knee surgery Friday.

OTTAWA, ON — Claude Giroux broke a third-period tie and added an assist, rookie Leevi Merilainen made 34 saves and the Ottawa Senators beat Utah 3-1 on Sunday night.

Giroux gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead at 7:33 and helped set up Brady Tkachuk’s goal with 6:38 remaining. Tim Stutzle also assisted on both goals.

Ottawa was coming off a 2-1 victory over Toronto on Saturday night.

Ridly Greig opened the scoring for Ottawa with a short-handed goal with 7:44 left in the second period. Clayton Keller tied it 1:36 later.

Karel Vejmelka stopped 24 shots for Utah, which closed a three-game trip with its second straight loss.

OTTAWA, ON — Shane Pinto scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and the Ottawa Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night.

Tim Stutzle also scored for the Senators, who had lost two straight — both shutouts. Anton Forsberg finished with 28 saves.

Bobby McMann scored for Toronto, and Joseph Woll had 21 saves. The Maple Leafs lost their second straight.

Pinto gave the Senators the lead with 9:13 remaining as Matthew Highmore’s pass deflected off his knee.

McMann put the Maple Leafs on the scoreboard first, with his 14th of the season 3:46 into the game.

Stutzle tied it with 9:17 left in the opening period, ending Ottawa’s scoring drought at 147:53.

Travis Hamonic returned to the Senators’ lineup after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury.

OTTAWA, ON — Tim Stutzle scored in the shootout to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 6-5 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Leevi Merilainen, who made 23 saves in regulation and overtime, turned away all three Bruins skaters in the tiebreaker.

Josh Norris had two goals for Ottawa, and Stutzle had a goal and an assist in regulation. Nick Jensen and Adam Gaudette also scored.

Boston had won two in a row since a six-game slide. David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists for the Bruins, and Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha each had a goal and an assist.

Ottawa scored twice in the final 3:13 to force overtime. Norris got his 17th goal of the season with 12 seconds remaining, tying it at 5.

Boston had opened a 5-3 lead on Vinni Lettieri’s first goal of the season 11:23 into the third period.

Jeremy Swayman made 39 saves for the Bruins.

Mark Kastelic returned to Boston’s lineup after missing the last four games with a concussion. It was Kastelic’s first game in Ottawa since he was traded from the Senators to the Bruins in June.

Thomas Chabot returned to Ottawa’s lineup with a full visor, one game after taking a puck to the face.

OTTAWA, ON — Alex Ovechkin scored with 1:53 left in overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 1-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Ovechkin’s goal was the 874th of his career, moving him within 20 of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, and he broke a league record by scoring against his 179th goaltender. Jaromir Jagr scored against 178 goalies.

The 39-year-old winger took a pass from Rasmus Sandin on a 2-on-1 breakaway and fired it past rookie Leevi Merilainen, who made 26 saves.

Logan Thompson made 24 saves for Washington, his second consecutive shutout.

Both goaltenders were solid as neither team generated many chances in regulation.

Andrew Mangiapane had a great chance in the third period on the Capitals’ lone power play but couldn’t beat Merilainen. The rookie’s save against Tom Wilson in overtime had the crowd chanting his name.

Ottawa went 0-for-3 on the power play and is 2-for-15 over its last five games.

The Capitals were held to a single shot in the first 16 minutes of the second period before mustering four during the last 3 1/2 minutes.

OTTAWA, ON — Leevi Merilainen made 24 saves in his Ottawa home debut and the Senators ended the Dallas Stars’ seven-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory Sunday night.

Merilainen was coming off his first NHL shutout Saturday in a 5-0 victory in Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old Finn’s five previous starts this season were on the road.

Josh Norris, Tim Stutzle and Matthew Highmore scored for Ottawa.

Evgenii Dadonov and Jason Robertson scored for Dallas. Casey DeSmith made 25 saves. The Stars also played Saturday, winning 2-1 in a shootout in Montreal.

OTTAWA, ON – Jack Quinn scored twice and the Buffalo Sabres spoiled the Ottawa Senators’ homecoming with a 4-0 win Thursday night.

Dylan Cozens and Ryan McLeod also scored for the Sabres (16-21-5), while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen provided solid goaltending with 35 saves.

Anton Forsberg stopped 17 shots in the defeat for Ottawa (19-18-3). The Senators returned to the Canadian Tire Centre after a nine-game road trip and nearly a month away, having vacated for the world junior hockey championship.

Their lacklustre performance left fans booing the home team, which is staring at a four-game losing streak (0-3-1). Ottawa has been outscored 15-4 during that stretch.

Quinn buried his first midway through the first period to open the scoring. He made it 2-0 later in the frame, taking a Peyton Krebs pass at centre ice as he stepped out of the penalty box before going bar-down for his seventh of the season.

A Nick Jensen turnover early in the second allowed Cozens to beat Forsberg. McLeod made it 4-0 midway through the period.

OTTAWA, ON – Linus Ullmark was expecting to have the night off but was called into action after Anton Forsberg suffered a minor injury before warm-up.

Ullmark was coming off a 3-0 shutout win over Carolina the night before and has only played in four back-to-back games throughout his career.

Ullmark provided a 26-save performance Saturday night and Brady Tkachuk scored the overtime game winner in a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to give the Senators (15-13-2) their first three-game win streak of the NHL season.

Ottawa now heads out for a stretch of nine road games. The world junior hockey championship will be taking over Canadian Tire Centre forcing the Senators to hit the road for an extended period.

Thomas Chabot opened the scoring at 7:34 of the first after Tristan Jarry was caught out of his net. It marked Chabot’s first goal in 26 games.

Just over two minutes later Ullmark made a huge stick save on Erik Karlsson stretching out to stop what looked like a sure goal.

Ullmark made another stick save late in the second on Sidney Crosby, but was unable to stop Blake Lizotte early in the third making it a 1-1 game.

The Senators were able to regain the lead four minutes later when a Chabot shot went in off Drake Batherson’s skate, but the Penguins (13-15-4) battled back with Kris Letang managing to get a shot through traffic.

OTTAWA, ON — Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves in a 4-2 winning effort for the New York Islanders against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night, one day after stopping 28 in a win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

In comparison, Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg faced 12 shots.

Both teams were playing the back half of back-to-backs.

With the game tied 2-2, Kyle Palmieri gave the Islanders the lead at 13:46 of the third with New York’s second power-play goal of the game.

Ottawa pressed hard for the equalizer but Sorokin rose to the occasion and Bo Horvat added an empty-net goal to secure the win.

Adam Gaudette opened the scoring early in the first for his 13th of the season, setting a new career high.

Anders Lee came up with a big goal to tie the game. Palmieri picked up his 500th career point with an assist on the play.

Kyle MacLean scored for New York 2:21 later to take the lead.

Josh Norris tied the game with his third goal in three games. With the Senators on the power play, Drake Batherson made a behind the back pass to Norris who wristed it past Sorokin.

OTTAWA, ON — Claude Giroux, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Nick Cousins scored, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Saturday night.

Tim Stutzle had two assists for Ottawa in its second straight win. Linus Ullmark made 37 saves.

Nashville dropped to 0-4-3 during a seven-game slide.

The Senators went ahead to stay with two goals in the second.

Bernard-Docker got a pass from Stutzle and wristed a shot from the faceoff circle that beat Juuse Saros for his first of the season. Giroux made it 2-0 when his shot deflected off the skate of Nashville’s Steven Stamkos at 16:52.

Saros stopped 27 shots.

The Predators pushed hard late in the second. Roman Josi rang a shot off the crossbar and then Ullmark made a couple big saves.

Cousins made it 3-1 with his third of the season midway through the third.

Ullmark lost his shutout bid when Fedor Svechkov scored with 1:57 left. It was Svechkov’s second goal of the season.

OTTAWA, ON – Brady Tkachuk’s power-play goal early in the third period stood as the winner as the Ottawa Senators held on for a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night.

Adam Gaudette, Drake Batherson and Cole Reinhardt also scored as Ottawa snapped a five-game losing skid.

Jonathan Huberdeau opened the scoring for the Flames, while Yegor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund added goals.

Anton Forsberg had a solid 24-save performance to help the cause, while Calgary’s Dustin Wolf stopped 26.

Huberdeau had a power-play goal at 14:32 of the first period and Calgary seemed to double their lead 25 seconds later.

However, the goal was disallowed due to incidental contact with Forsberg. The Flames challenged the call but were unsuccessful, resulting in an Ottawa power play.

The Senators capitalized on the momentum, with Gaudette scoring eight seconds after the power play expired to tie the game.

Batherson’s power-play goal and Reinhardt’s first career goal gave the Senators a 3-1 lead. Sharangovich brought the Flames within one when Nick Jensen’s clearing attempt landed right on the Flames’ forward’s stick.