Senators hold off Jackets 5-4 to end 4-game slide (Dec 29, 2017)

By AP
Published

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) The Ottawa Senators found their offense - at least for a night.

Mark Stone and Bobby Ryan scored in the third period and the Senators held off the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 on Friday night.

Derick Brassard, Nick Paul and Matt Duchene also scored for the Senators, and Mike Condon made 21 saves to help Ottawa snap a four-game losing streak.

''We capitalized on the scoring chances we had and we did a better job finding the back of the net and that's something we've been missing for quite some time now,'' Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. ''The guys still know what they're doing and hopefully they get a little bit of relief and some belief in themselves.''

Stone scored at 7:41 and Ryan at 9:21 for a two-goal advantage as the Sens broke a 3-3 tie.

Zach Werenski scored on the power play with 32 seconds left for the Blue Jackets. Sonny Milano struck twice, and Josh Anderson also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves in a failed bid for his 200th victory.

''After they scored those two goals at the end of the second period, it gave them life,'' Werenski said. ''We just didn't come out strong in the third period and they did. We talked about it between periods, that it's going to happen, it's a tied hockey game and the next one's huge and we didn't elevate our game so it's kind of our fault.''

There was no scoring in the first period, although both sides had a short-handed breakaway.

A total of six goals were scored in the second, four in a 3:09 span.

Milano scored his first at 4:15 when he put a rebound off the end boards past Condon a second after a penalty to Ryan expired.

The Senators got that one back at 5:42 when Brassard stole the puck from Jordan Schroeder at the side of the net and eventually put a backhander past Bobrovsky.

Anderson and Milano scored 13 seconds apart. Anderson beat Condon first from the faceoff dot to the left of the netminder, and Milno connected from the same spot to his right.

Bobrovsky then gave Paul his first goal of the season at 14:14 to cut the lead to 3-2. Paul sent a weak shot toward the net that Bobrovsky redirected off his stick, through his legs and in.

''If we're not able to get our game back and get some kind of push going after that goal, then there's major problems,'' Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said.

Duchene then tied it at 18:52 when he faked forehand before beating Bobrovsky with a backhand on a breakaway.

NOTES: Ottawa's Fredrik Claesson served the first of a two-game suspension for a hit on Boston's Noel Acciari on Wednesday night. Dean Kukan was scratched for the Blue Jackets. ... Senators forward Alex Burrows remains an assist shy of 200 for his career.

UP NEXT:

Blue Jackets: Host Tampa Bay on Sunday night.

Senators: Host Boston on Saturday night.

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