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SENATORS 7, BLUES 2
The Ottawa Senators had been unstoppable Sunday.
This afternoon was about redemption because the Senators skated to a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues in entrance of a sellout crowd of 18,671 on the Canadian Tire Centre.
Led by three-point efforts from Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Alex DeBrincat, the Senators bounced again from a disappointing 4-3 OT loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night time and Ottawa is now 7-1-1 in its final 9 video games.
Ridly Greig scored his first NHL objective whereas Drake Batherson and Shane Pinto additionally chipped in with targets whereas rookie goaltender Mads Sogaard made 30 stops. This was the beginning of back-to-back video games that can proceed Monday afternoon for the Senators towards the high-flying Boston Bruins.
The Senators stopped wanting on the standings a very long time in the past however they’ve put themselves again within the dialog for a playoff spot. It could nonetheless be a protracted shot however they now sit solely 5 factors behind the New York Islanders for the ultimate wildcard spot within the East.
“Our greatest gamers had been our greatest gamers,” mentioned Ottawa coach D.J. Smith. “There’s so many occasions once you don’t win that you simply say your head that our greatest gamers weren’t our greatest gamers. When they’re, you normally win.”
Smith mentioned the membership had moved on from the loss to Chicago.
“Our group is extra mature now and so they’re letting video games go,” he mentioned. “Individuals on the surface made a lot noise about dropping to Chicago. Any group can beat any group and we’re witness to that. We’ve been in final or second-last and we’ve overwhelmed groups at that stage.
“Our guys knew they didn’t play the best manner and turned the web page. That’s an excellent signal as a result of in case you win a sport you’re not going to be too larger both.”
Greig scored at 18:16 of the third to finish an awesome afternoon for the Senators and make this a win the rookie centre can keep in mind. His celebration was considerably tempered, however Greig famous that’s simply him.
“It felt fairly good. Even with the situation of the sport being 6-2, I used to be nonetheless fairly completely happy. It was good,” mentioned Greig. “I’m not a lot (to) have fun. Perhaps if it was a 2-2 sport I might need accomplished one thing nevertheless it was good feeling.”
The Senators took management of this sport by pulling out to a 5-0 lead with 4 unanswered targets within the second interval after opening the scoring late within the first. St. Louis goalie Thomas Greiss wasn’t getting a complete lot of assist from his teammates and the Blues paid the value.
Batherson scored his seventeenth of the season at 12:35 of the second by redirecting a move from DeBrincat by Greiss.
Three targets on 5 photographs for the Senators had been key for Ottawa. Tkachuk tipped a shot by Claude Giroux from the purpose by Greiss at 10:07 gave the membership the four-goal benefit. The Blues challenged for a excessive stick nevertheless it was clear that Tkachuk’s tip was under the crossbar.
“We didn’t just like the end (Friday) and it was necessary for us to get again our sport,” mentioned Tkachuk.,
Led by some well timed saves by Sogaard to maintain the Blues at bay, the Senators pulled out to a 3-0 lead after Stutzle made an attractive transfer on Greiss for his twenty fifth of the season. He went to the online and went prime shelf with backhander at 7:23.
“We had been within the sport from the beginning and Sogaard was nice once more. We got here out and scored plenty of targets in order that was good for the followers as nicely,” mentioned Stutzle. “As a group, we’re taking part in manner higher than we did and we’re holding onto pucks and making performs. It’s plenty of enjoyable proper now.
“The sport towards Chicago shouldn’t have occurred, however the subsequent day we got here again to work and all people was doing nice. That’s a very powerful. You must keep on the identical web page on a regular basis and I assumed that’s what we did.”
Ottawa pulled out to a 2-0 lead on the energy of DeBrincat’s nineteenth of the season. He took an ideal move by means of the seam from Stutzle on the facility play and fired a blast by Greiss on the stick aspect at 1:51 of the second.
The Senators got here into this sport with eight straight victories after scoring the primary objective and so they skated to a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
It was Pinto who opened the scoring together with his 14th of the season. He was capable of redirect a saucer move within the air by Greiss at 15:57 of the second. It’s arduous to say if the move by Batherson was higher than PInto’s capacity to bat it out of the air to place it residence.
“We knew towards Chicago we didn’t play our greatest sport and we didn’t keep on with our sport plan,” mentioned defenceman Thomas Chabot, who had an help and 23 minutes of ice time. “It’s good to see the group bounce again that manner. To play the best way we performed, all people is fairly completely happy.”
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