Category: HOCKEY

OTTAWA, ON — The Ottawa Senators know they let two points slip away from them.

Andreas Athanasiou capped the Chicago Blackhawks’ comeback with the game-winning goal 2:52 into overtime to defeat the Senators 4-3 Friday. It was a disappointing ending to a night that started with celebrations to honour Chris Neil’s number 25 being raised to the rafters.

“We just made too many turnovers to finish off the game,” said Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk. “It can’t happen, especially on a night like tonight where we’re honouring a Sens legend, a legend in this community.

“It stinks.”

Patrick Kane scored twice, including the game-tying marker, for Chicago (17-32-5) to send the contest to extra time. Sam Lafferty also scored for the Blackhawks, who snapped a three-game skid.

Petr Mrazek stopped 28 shots.

Tkachuk, Claude Giroux and Shane Pinto each scored for Ottawa (26-24-4), while Mads Sogaard made 28 saves. The Senators had won six of their last seven coming into the game.

“I think we’re just frustrated right now,” said Giroux. “Any time you have a 3-1 lead, you want to be a team that knows how to shut teams down.”

After entering the third period tied 1-1, the Senators put away two early goals to take control of the game.

Giroux capitalized on a pass from Alex DeBrincat, a former Blackhawk, and beat Mrazek off his backhand 2:11 into the frame. Just over two minutes later, Tkachuk padded Ottawa’s lead.

But the Blackhawks fought back. Lafferty took advantage of a puck bouncing past Thomas Chabot and broke in alone to beat Sogaard for a short-handed goal 10:49 into the period.

With 3:05 remaining, Kane scored his second of the night to tie it. The goal was Kane’s 1,217th career point, giving him the third most points among U.S.-born players.

“(I was) just kind of reading what the defenceman was doing,” said Kane. “He looked like he was kind of playing the middle, didn’t really come over at me at the start and then he slipped at the end and I thought I had a good chance to shoot and picked my corner.”

Sogaard took much of the responsibility for the loss.

“It’s pretty obvious if you give (Kane) just a little bit of room he’s going to capitalize,” he said. “You’re going to see that in this league.

“There’s great players on every team and his skill set is obviously at the top of the league, but that’s short side and that’s my responsibility and I’ve got to do a better job.”

Senators head coach D.J. Smith, meanwhile, was visibly frustrated post-game.

“We had three grade “A” looks (in overtime) … but it shouldn’t get there, that’s what it really comes down to,” he said. “It’s the NHL and if you lay off the gas just for a second that’s what happens.”

The win allowed the Blackhawks to salvage a disappointing road trip that saw them go 0-3-0 before Friday.

“Give our team a lot of credit,” said Chicago head coach Luke Richardson. “We have guts and we played hard right until the end. (Our players) really pushed to tie that game up and I’m really glad they persevered and got the win.”

The Blackhawks opened the scoring just 44 seconds into the game when Max Domi fed a wide-open Kane, who roofed it over Sogaard’s shoulder. Kane has a 12-game point streak against the Senators (nine goals, 20 assists) dating back to Dec. 2015.

Derick Brassard sent a point shot that went off Pinto to make it 1-1 7:31 into the second period.

OTTAWA, ON – Chris Neil, the most popular enforcer in Ottawa Senators history, is now forever No. 25 in the rafters at Canadian Tire Centre.

Neil, who was selected in the sixth round (No. 161) of the 1998 NHL Draft, had 250 points (112 goals, 138 assists) in 1,026 NHL games, all for the Senators.

“Playing your entire career with one team, you have a lot of great memories,” Neil said during his speech, “but this one will be forever lasting.”

Neil played with Ottawa from 2001-2017.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for my mom and dad,” Neil said, visibly emotional. “My mom is not here with us today, but I know she would be so proud. She pushed me to be the best that I could be.”

The Flesherton, Ontario, native began and ended his speech with his signature raise-the-roof arm wave, and the crowd obliged each time.

“When I would get in a fight, which happened quite a bit,” Neil said, “I would raise my hands up after the fight to get the crowd pumped up. But the real truth behind it was to let my mom know I was okay.”

Despite having 2,522 penalty minutes (20th all-time), Neil was never suspended.

“That tells you that he never crossed the line,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. “Came close, but never crossed it.”

Dorion reminisced about the importance of Neil’s presence in Game 5 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Second Round, arguably the most memorable moment of his career.

“If I can tell one story about him,” Dorion said, “we don’t beat the New York Rangers the last time we made the playoffs if Chris Neil is not with us. He came in that series, changed the tone of the series, we beat the Rangers, and Chris had a lot to do with it.”

The Senators didn’t appreciate how New York Rangers forward Tanner Glass had treated Kyle Turris in Game 4, so Neil entered the lineup in Game 5. Glass took an interference penalty on Dion Phaneuf early in the second period, and Neil jumped in to send a message. It cost the Senators a power play, but there were zero complaints from Neil’s teammates.

“That’s the best penalty I’ve seen taken in a long time,” said Turris postgame.

The Senators won Game 5 thanks to Turris’ overtime goal, and went on to win the series.

“How many players played better because Chris played with them over that amount of time in a real tough era?” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith asked rhetorically Friday. “How many buildings did guys go into and get an extra foot or two feet because he was out there?”

You won’t find many of Neil’s teammates who disagree with that sentiment. Wade Redden, a Senators defenseman from 1996-2008, spoke with reporters Thursday.

“I look back to when he first came and joined our team and where we were as a team,” Redden said. “Where we were lacking, he brought a lot of energy and a lot of toughness, obviously.

“He was obviously cut from a different cloth than the rest of us. He brought that to every practice. Every day, he kind of had that energy on and off the ice. And he never shied away from it. He was obviously fighting. He’d take on anyone that would come his way. And he was smart about it, and did it in a way that would benefit the team in the scope of a game.”

Fittingly, Neil wrapped up the ceremony by exiting the ice the way he had done hundreds of times before, raising his arms in the air to pump up the crowd and entering the penalty box.

Neil’s jersey hangs alongside Daniel Alfredsson’s No. 11, Chris Phillips’ No. 4 and Frank Finnigan’s No. 8.

OTTAWA, ON — Tim Stutzle scored the overtime winner, but Mads Sogaard was the hero for most of the Ottawa Senators.

The Senators’ sniper scored the winner at 1:55 of overtime to lead Ottawa to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Calgary Flames Monday night, but Stutzle knew it was only possible thanks to earlier efforts by Sogaard.

With both of Ottawa’s NHL goalies sidelined by injury Sogaard has been called to action and he was solid stopping 34 shots.

Coming into the game the 22-year-old Sogaard had only three NHL games on his resume.

This marked his first win on home ice.

“It’s awesome to be here and awesome to get a win in front of our fans and you know it’s my first win here,” said Sogaard. “I lost the last time I played against Winnipeg so it was a very special moment and something I won’t forget.”

The Senators (25-24-3), who had been average much of the night, trailed 3-1 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation before they rallied to tie the game.

The Flames, who were wrapping up a four-game road trip, came out strong in the third and were rewarded when Dillon Dube was able to pick up his second goal of the night — and 15th of the season — by tipping a Tyler Toffoli shot to take a 3-1 lead, but Ottawa wasn’t quite ready to admit defeat.

With Sogaard on the bench Drake Batherson started the comeback when he was able to get a piece of a Stutzle rebound and 46 seconds later DeBrincat, off a Stutzle pass, tied the game at 3-3.

Stutzle finished the game with a goal and three assists and yet for much of it he looked frustrated.

“A lot of pucks bobbling in the slot and on the power play, too,” said Stutzle. “We had some good looks and the puck bobbled every time we wanted to shoot. … I got really mad there a couple of times, but in the end we figured it out. We did a great job staying with it and big saves by (Sogaard) in OT to keep us in the game.”

The Flames had a fairly different perspective on things.

“We had chances throughout the entire game to essentially put them away, and we didn’t,” said Toffoli. “We let them hang around. They’re a team with a lot of skill and can do what they did.”

Numerous times this season the Senators have had the extra attacker on the ice late in a game looking for the equalizer and fallen short so to score twice was a refreshing change.

“There’s four, five minutes left and you see a few people leaving and before you know it, it’s tied up,” said Batherson. “It’s awesome. We haven’t scored many six-on-five goals since I’ve been here and the place went nuts so it was great to get the win.”

The loss was frustrating for the Flames who played a solid game and likely deserved a better fate.

“I thought we dominated the game,” said Flames coach Darryl Sutter. “I thought we totally dominated puck possession. Whether it’s the next goal or the next save, I thought we were in total control of the game.”

Calgary outshot the Senators 16-6 in the second and came away with the lead.

Tied 1-1 the Flames scored seconds after their power play expired when Toffoli fired a shot to beat Sogaard glove side.

Considering his team’s play in the second period, Senators coach D.J. Smith gave Sogaard plenty of credit.

“He looked really calm,” said Smith. “I mean he’s big, obviously, pucks hit him and he made the saves he had to make. They had plenty of chances and he looked good and obviously made a couple big saves in overtime.”

Despite registering just six shots the Senators controlled play for long stretches, but couldn’t beat Jacob Markstrom.

The Senators got off to a bit of a slow start, but were first on the board when Stutzle fed Tkachuk a great pass to spring him loose for a breakaway goal at the six-minute mark.

Set in front of the net on the power play Dube was able to get a piece of Noah Hanifin’s shot and deflect it past Sogaard to make it 1-1.

OTTAWA, ON — The Ottawa Senators were playing their first game since Jan. 31 while the Edmonton Oilers were playing their third game this week. The outcome wasn’t surprising.

Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists and Zach Hyman scored on a penalty shot to lift the Oilers past the Senators 6-3 on Saturday, snapping Ottawa’s four-game win streak.

Brett Kulak had a pair of assists in the third period as the Oilers broke a 3-3 tie on their way to victory. Kulak made a great cross-ice pass into the Senators zone for Jesse Puljujarvi who beat Anton Forsberg in the Ottawa goal at 3:05 of the third period.

He then sent a pass in front that was literally chopped in by Derek Ryan at 7:24. It was the Oilers second short-handed goal of the game.

“I think we made two critical mistakes and both end up in our net,” Senators coach DJ Smith said. “We’ve got to be harder. We haven’t made those mistakes in the past four games when we’ve been winning. We’ve taken care of the puck, we played hard in front of our net and we just didn’t do that enough to win.”

With 5:23 to play in the third, during a goalmouth scramble that resulted in a power-play goal by Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Forsberg was injured and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher with an apparent lower-body injury.

“It’s never a pleasant sight. He’s been gritty for us all year. No update but I hope it’s not as severe as it looked. I really hope and praying that it’s not too bad,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. “Just the way he takes care of himself on the ice, off the ice, how great of a pro he is and how good of a person he is too, you never want to see that,”

Mads Sogaard took over in goal for the Senators and stopped all three shots he faced. Forsberg allowed six goals on 37 shots.

Hyman was lying on top of Forsberg at the time of the injury.

“It’s awful. I mean, you hear him going down and you hear him in pain. But you can’t do anything. I literally couldn’t do anything. I’m stuck on him because there’s a guy who’s on top of me pushing me in,” Hyman said.

“It’s not a fun play to be a part of. I almost stopped playing there because I locked eyes with him and he was just in pain. Hope he gets better soon. Just a tough, tough play.”

Ryan McLeod also scored for the Oilers (30-18-5) while Jack Campbell had 26 saves.

Jake Sanderson, Claude Giroux and Erik Brannstrom scored for the Senators (24-24-3).

McDavid scored the only goal of the first period when he banked a shot from behind the goal line off Forsberg and in at 2:18.

“First period we expected that. It’s their third game and it’s our first from break, so we expected their push and their jump. I liked our second period and we gave ourselves a chance for the third. Just a couple of costly mistakes ended up in the back of our net,” Tkachuk said.

The teams combined for five goals in the second period including two at-even strength, a power-play goal and a short-handed goal on the same penalty, as well as a penalty shot marker.

The fun started with Sanderson sliding one along the ice past Campbell just 21 seconds into the period to tie the game 1-1. At 1:44, after being hooked by Alex DeBrincat, Hyman scored on his penalty shot to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead.

With Derek Ryan in the penalty box for hooking, McDavid stole the puck from Thomas Chabot, did a little dance then sent a no-look backhand onto the stick of McLeod who beat Forsberg at 15:18 for a 3-1 Edmonton lead.

“I was just kind of on Chabot right away and just trying to get the puck back somehow and (create) a chance. Got it back and I didn’t like the look I was going to get, tried to find (McLeod), saw him skating up the ice really hard and just tried to find him on the back side,” said McDavid, who extended his point streak to 15 games.

Just 17 seconds later though Giroux scored a power-play goal, and then at 17:58 Brannstrom scored his first goal in 121 games to tie the game 3-3 heading to the third period.

OTTAWA — Claude Giroux scored twice and added an assist as the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-0 Saturday night.

With the win the Senators (23-23-3) are riding a three-game winning streak.

Ottawa was coming off a 6-2 win over Toronto on Friday night. The Senators are now 6-2-0 in their last eight at home and are a perfect 24-for-24 on the penalty kill through that span.

Alex DeBrincat, Mathieu Joseph and Derick Brassard also scored for Ottawa, while Anton Forsberg was solid making 28 saves.

Sam Montembeault stopped 32 shots for the Canadiens (20-26-4). Montreal is now 0-3-2 in its last five games.

This was the second of four meetings between the two teams with the Senators leading the series 2-0.

Trailing 3-0 the Canadiens looked to get back in the game, but were unable to beat Forsberg despite having two power-play opportunities. Joseph added an empty-net goal with just over one minute in regulation leading the numerous Montreal fans on hand to head for the exit and Brassard made it 5-0.

Scoreless after the first period the Senators took control in the second scoring three unanswered goals.

DeBrincat picked up his 16th of the season scoring on a 2-on-1 to open the scoring just 22 seconds into the period.

Giroux then scored a pair of goals, the first coming off a great feed from rookie Ridly Greig on the power play. He then made it 3-0 banking a shot off Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj.

OTTAWA, ON — Claude Giroux’s game-winning goal Wednesday night likely won’t stand out in his mind, but you can bet Ridly Greig will never forget it.

The 20-year-old Greig was making his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators and Giroux picked up a Greig rebound to score what proved to be the winner against the New York Islanders in a 2-1 victory.

“It was unreal,” Greig said after the game. “You know, obviously a dream come true just to get out there and obviously to get the win it’s pretty good.”

Greig’s debut was impressive as he had eight shots on goal, tying the record for most shots on goal in an NHL debut. His defensive game was also impressive.

“His hockey sense is really high,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “He can skate. He’s really competitive. He’s a hockey player. He’s going to be a real good hockey player, it’s just over time is he ready now or not and I’ll tell you tonight he was effective.”

Greig played alongside Giroux, who he idolized as a child, and Alex DeBrincat and made an immediate impact on his coach and teammates.

“He’s fun to play with,” said Giroux. “His game is very mature. I remember my first game, mentally I wasn’t very there so it’s pretty impressive the way he was playing and winning puck battles and we had a good time.”

Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators (21-23-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Anton Forsberg, who stopped 22 shots, was called into action in the second period after starter Cam Talbot, who made 14 saves, left the game with a lower body injury.

The Senators will have a better assessment on Talbot on Thursday, but Smith doesn’t expect Talbot to be available to the team before the all-star break.

The Islanders (23-22-5) continue to struggle as their winless streak reached six games (0-4-2). Brock Nelson scored the lone goal for New York, while Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 shots.

“We battled,” said Casey Cizikas. “You can’t take that away. We battled hard. We worked. It’s just unfortunate. We’ve got to find a way to win these games. It’s definitely tough, but we’ve got to dig deep. We’ve just got to find a way.”

Trailing by one goal the Islanders pushed hard for the equalizer with Varlamov on the bench, but Forsberg made a couple of big saves to salvage the win.

“I thought we played well,” said Forsberg. “I thought we fought hard all game for this team. We just stayed with it the whole game and I think that’s the biggest part and I think that’s what we have to do moving forward here to get some more wins.”

Both teams exchanged goals in the second, but the Islanders were able to finish the period with a bit of momentum.

“I thought as the game went on we started to take the game over a little bit, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” said Islanders coach Lane Lambert.”

Ottawa took a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal early in the period.

Giroux saw a rebound coming his way and dove to get a shot off and managed to beat Sorokin for his second point of the game. Greig, making his NHL debut, picked up the primary assist on the play.

Having the opportunity to play with Giroux was special, but getting his first NHL point off his goal will definitely be a highlight for a long time.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Greig. “He was a big part of (me) growing up and I kind of idolized him a bit, so yeah it’s pretty unreal that the point came on that.”

It was also pretty special for Greig as his father, who was at the game, was celebrating his birthday.

OTTAWA, ON — Mark Scheifele scored twice to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.

Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler and Cole Perfetti also scored for Winnipeg (30-16-1). Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots.

Ehlers, who missed 36 games with an abdominal injury, now has 12 points (4G, 8A) in his past nine games since returning to the lineup.

Josh Norris scored the lone goal for the Senators (20-23-3), who continue to struggle defensively. Anton Forsberg made 25 saves.

The Senators were coming off a 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh Friday night, while the Jets were waiting for them in Ottawa.

Winnipeg was playing the third contest of a five-game road trip, but lost its first two to Toronto and Montreal, dropping consecutive games for just the fifth time this season. After losing two games or more the Jets have gone on to win multiple games in a row.

Leading 3-1 to start the third the Jets seemed in full control as Ottawa looked uninspired for stretches.

Despite a full house Senators fans had little to cheer about and headed for the exits as Scheifele scored his second of the game with just under four minutes remaining.

Perfetti’s goal late in the period which put the Jets up 5-1 had no impact on the game, but Wheeler picked up his 900th point with an assist.

Winnipeg scored twice in the second and dominated play for much of the period.

Scheifele scored his 27th of the year on a one-timer at the five-minute mark and some poor defensive coverage by the Senators allowed Wheeler to jump on Ehlers’ rebound to put the Jets ahead 3-1.

The Jets opened the scoring at the six-minute mark of the period on the power play when Ehlers took a feed from Josh Morrissey and tapped it in for his fourth of the season.

Ottawa tied it midway through the period with Claude Giroux winning the offensive zone faceoff and feeding Norris, who one-timed it past Hellebuyck, who didn’t look ready for the shot.

With the assist Giroux reached 40 points for the 14th consecutive season.

OTTAWA, ON — Brady Tkachuk scored the game-winning goal 25 seconds into overtime and the Ottawa Senators snapped a two-game skid, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 Wednesday night.

Alex DeBrincat, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa (20-21-3), which went 4-for-9 on the power play.

Tkachuk added three assists and Cam Talbot stopped 16 shots.

Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin, Mark Friedman and Rickard Rakell responded for the Penguins (22-15-7). Casey DeSmith made 35 saves.

Tied 3-3 in the third period, the Senators scored their fourth power-play goal at 10:58 when Pinto beat DeSmith with a wrist shot.

Under two minutes later, Rakell replied for the Penguins with a power-play marker of his own to eventually send the game to overtime.

Tkachuk sent a backhand pass in front for Batherson, who knotted the contest at 3-3 9:19 into the second period.

Pittsburgh regained its lead at 3:07 of the middle frame when Friedman beat Talbot with a long-range shot.

Malkin tied the game at 2-2 when he jammed home a rebound from a Ty Smith point shot 15:23 into the opening frame.

Earlier in the period, Ottawa made the most of a double minor penalty against Jeff Carter, scoring twice on the four-minute power play.

Stutzle skated around Crosby and scored his 20th of the season at 9:44.

DeBrincat tied the game two minutes prior on a feed from Batherson.

Talbot got a piece of Marcus Pettersson’s shot, but the puck fell behind him and Zucker tucked it in to open the scoring 6:36 into the first.

OTTAWA, ON — Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist Monday as the Nashville Predators earned a hard fought 3-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Forsberg had the lone goal of the third period as he beat Cam Talbot in the Ottawa net at 7:30 and the Predators (19-14-6) won for the fourth consecutive game.

The story, however, was Predators’ netminder Juuse Saros who made 38 saves for his first shutout of the season and the 18th of his NHL career. He has stopped 102 of the 105 shots fired his way over his past two games following a 64-save performance in a 5-3 win over Carolina on Jan. 5.

Roman Josi and Jeremy Lauzon also scored for the Predators.

Talbot made 30 saves for the Senators (18-19-3), who have now lost two straight.

The Senators were playing a strong game and held an 11-5 advantage in shots through the opening 14 minutes of the first period.

How quickly things changed.

Within a 32-second span the Senators went from being in charge to in a hole as the Predators struck twice for a 2-0 lead.

Josi took advantage of a Senators turnover at their own blue line and put a chip shot over the shoulder of Talbot at 14:29. Lauzon redirected a Tanner Jeannot wraparound attempt into the Senators net at 15:01.

The Predators appeared to go up 3-0 later in the period but after video review the play was ruled offside.

The was no scoring in the second period although Brady Tkachuk appeared to get the Senators on the scoreboard, but after a challenge from the Predators, that play was also ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.

OTTAWA, ON — The Seattle Kraken won their fourth consecutive game on Saturday, showing the Ottawa Senators their improvement this season is no accident.

The Kraken defeated the Senators 8-4 as Jordan Eberle and Andre Burakovsky led the way with a goal and two assists each for the Kraken (22-12-4). The visitors got goals from eight different players and 13 had at least one point.

Justin Schultz, Matty Beniers, Vince Dunn and Daniel Sprong had a goal and an assist each. Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for Seattle.

Martin Jones made 19 saves for his 18th win of the NHL season.

“I think the strength of this group is in the depth that we have. And that’s not just the forwards — it’s the defence, it’s the goalies. You see teams that have four lines and six (defencemen) who can contribute and that’s dangerous,” said Eberle.

“In my opinion, a lot of the teams that make the playoffs, it’s because of that (depth).”

The Senators (18-18-3) got three goals from Tim Stutzle and another from Brady Tkachuk as they had their modest two-game winning streak halted.

Anton Forsberg started in goal for the Senators but was pulled in favour of Cam Talbot 15 minutes into the game after allowing three goals on just five shots. Talbot turned aside 14 of 19 shots.

“There’s no excuses on my end. It was a tough night for both of us. We’ll both take the heat on this one. I know I can speak for (Forsberg) because he is as accountable as me,” Talbot said.

“You score four goals in a hockey game you should be able to make the rest of the saves to win the game. He’d be with me when I say we need to be better, and we will be.”

The Kraken led 5-3 to start the third but quickly made that a 7-3 lead on goals by Dunn and Eberle in the opening five minutes. Stutzle completed his hat trick at 5:20 of the period to pull the Senators to within three goals, but Burakovsky scored midway through the period for an 8-4 lead.

“If we play a certain style, regardless of who is in the lineup, we’re in the game every night. We did not play that style today,” Senators coach DJ Smith said.

“We’ve played a pretty good stretch of hockey here where we’ve played pretty well, but there are some guys that didn’t have it tonight and the chemistry wasn’t there.

“At the end of day you only win by playing hard defence in this league and we didn’t play nearly enough defence tonight to have a chance to win.”

The was no lack of scoring in the opening two periods as Seattle took a 3-1 lead into the second period and 5-3 lead into the third. The eight goals came on a combined 30 shots, 15 apiece.

The Kraken opened the scoring at 9:19 of the first period when Bjorkstrand beat Forsberg over the stick-side shoulder. Just 62 seconds later the Senators tied the game as Tkachuk split the defence and fired a shot over the glove of Jones.

The Kraken scored twice more in the opening 20 minutes as McCann scored at 12:53 and Schultz tipped a point shot past Forsberg at 15:13. That spelled the end of the night for Forsberg.

“We’ve been at our best when we’ve been able to roll four lines and not have a huge concern over each matchup. That’s the way our team is built,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.

“We’re asking everyone to contribute, play the right way, play with responsibility defensively. We weren’t air tight there tonight, but we were good enough at the right times.”

The Senators came out strong in the second period and got a pair of goals from Stutzle to tie the game 3-3. Stutzle scored a power-play goal at 6:35 and then chopped a rebound past Jones while falling at 8:34.

Just 22 seconds later Sprong gave the Kraken a 4-3 lead and took away any momentum the Senators were building.

“We did a good job battling back, we had all the momentum and I think the turning point was that next shot. If I make the save on the 2-on-1 it could have been a completely different game. I had to be better,” Talbot said.

Beniers increased that lead to 5-3 at 14:13. Beniers leads all rookies with 14 goals and 30 points this season.

OTTAWA, ON — Tim Stutzle hated the way he started Tuesday’s game, but felt pretty good about how things ended as the Ottawa Senators blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0.

Stutzle had a goal and an assist to lead the Senators and continues to impress all those around him.

The 20-year-old centre now has eight points, including five goals, in his last six games.

“Tim’s one of those guys who has confidence and makes plays that not a lot of players can make,” said teammate Claude Giroux. “Right now, he’s got confidence so we try to get him the puck and we try to get open for him.”

Stutzle felt he was terrible in the first, but was proud how he and his teammates rebounded for the final 40 minutes.

“I was awful in the first, that’s for sure,” said Stutzle. “We just talked in the intermission that we’ve got to stick with it. We had a couple of bad turnovers here and there, especially our line, but we tried to stick with it, play better in the second period and the third period and I think everyone in here did a great job.”

Derrick Brassard and Austin Watson also scored for Ottawa (18-17-3), while Anton Forsberg made 22 saves in his second consecutive start for his second career shutout.

With the shutout on the line Travis Hamonic blocked a Patrick Laine shot late in the game that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Obviously standing up for the team, for me,” said Forsberg of the sacrifice. “It’s not easy to eat one there, it’s 3-0 and it’s just the kind of character we have on this team and I think we show it’s just not that, it’s all over. We do a great job.”

Joonas Korpisalo, who didn’t get much offensive support, stopped 33 shots for Columbus (11-23-2), who have now lost eight straight road games.

Trailing 3-0 to start the third period, the Blue Jackets tried to make a game of it but struggled to generate any real offensive threat.

Frustration was evident as the losses play a toll on the Blue Jackets.

“Sometimes the best wins are coming from behind, and we just haven’t seemed to kind of ever find that this year,” said Cole Sillinger.

“We haven’t scored the most goals, right? We’re scoring one, two, maybe maximum three goals a game, and it’s tough when you get down 3-0 in the third and you’re trying to fight back. We just have to dig a little deeper and play together.”

Watson made it 4-0 scoring short-handed into an empty net late in the third.

Four minor penalties in the second cost the Blue Jackets with Ottawa scoring twice on the power play.

“(We) took four,” said Columbus coach Brad Larsen. “What do you expect is going to happen against a good power play? It’s just silly. They’re all penalties, every single one of them.”

Brassard opened the scoring with a power-play goal after he tipped a Jake Sanderson shot. Stutzle made it 2-0 after he grabbed a rolling puck and beat Korpisalo. Batherson made it 3-0 with the Senators second power-play goal of the period and his 13th of the season, 10 of which have come on the power play.

The game remained scoreless after the first period, but the Blue Jackets had the better chances of the two teams.

It was the start the Blue Jackets were looking for, but Forsberg was up to the challenge.

“For whatever reason they kind of surprised us,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. They’re a lot faster team than maybe we thought, their speed off the puck, but the response was great.”

The Senators are approaching the halfway mark of the season and are slowly gaining ground in the standings, but know consistency will be the only way to keep progressing.

“We’ve got to keep chipping away,” said Smith. “We want to get back in the pack, I think that’s our big goal. January’s a big month for us.”

OTTAWA, ON — Jacob Lucchini’s first NHL goal proved to be the winner in the Ottawa Senators 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night.

The loss snapped the Sabres (18-15-2) six-game winning streak.

Tim Stutzle scored the other two goals for the Senators (17-17-3), while Anton Forsberg was solid making 33 saves.

Zemgus Girgensons scored the lone goal for the Sabres. Craig Anderson stopped 33 shots.

Trailing 2-1 to start the third the Sabres pressed for the equalizer, but Forsberg was up to the challenge. Tage Thompson had a great chance at the halfway mark of the period, but rang a shot off the post.

Stutzle iced the game with an empty-net goal with just over one minute remaining in regulation.

The Sabres took advantage of a bad line change when Mattias Samuelsson made a long pass to Girgensons to send him in alone and he beat Forsberg with a wrist shot to tie the game 1-1.

Midway through the period Lucchini jumped on a loose puck in front and buried his first career NHL goal on the power play to make it 2-1.

In the opening minute of the game Stutzle looked to pass to Brady Tkachuk, but the puck bounced right back in his direction and he quickly beat Anderson just 47 seconds into the game.

The Sabres finished the first with a two-man advantage, but were unable to capitalize and trailed 1-0.