OTTAWA — Tim Stutzle scored two goals and one assist for the Ottawa Senators in Sunday’s 7-2 win over the St. Louis Blues at the Canadian Tire Center.
“I had the feeling we were in the right game from the start,” said Stutzle. “Sogaard was good and kept us in the game and then we came out and scored a lot of goals so it was good for the fans too.”
Brady Tkachuk and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and two assists for the Senators (27-24-4), who were 7-1-1 in their last nine games. Mads Sogaard made 30 saves in his third start since being recalled from Belleville by the American Hockey League on February 9.
“Our best players were our best players,” said Ottawa coach DJ Smith.
Video: [email protected]: Stutzle buries the food in the 2nd
Colton Parayko and Tyler Pitlick scored, and Thomas Greiss made 27 saves for the Blues (26-27-3) who lost 4-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
“Obviously, there are many difficult things ahead of us,” said Parayako. “But hey, that’s part of professional sport. We do this as a business.”
St. Louis traded center Ryan O’Reilly, captain since 2020, and forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, a week after trading forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers.
“You have to keep going,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “You are professionals, they are professionals. They’re paid to perform, and these aren’t performances tonight.
“You have to find out. You have to get over what’s going on. We have veterans in there who are good players and they have to take control of the team and understand the situation that we’re in. You have to play better. That’s how you take control.”
Shane Pinto gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 15:57 of the first period when he completed a centering pass from Drake Batherson in a 2-on-2 onslaught.
“Obviously not good enough from the start,” Pitlick said.
Video: [email protected]: Pinto shoots the puck into the net
DeBrincat made it 2-0 at 1:51 of the second period, once a cross ice pass from Stutzle on a power play.
Stutzle extended to 3-0 at 7:23, taking an open pass from Tkachuk and finishing a backhand deke top shelf with a breakaway. Stutzle has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a four-game scoring streak.
“You can see it, his confidence is very high at the moment,” said Senators defense attorney Thomas Chabot about Stutzle. “He’s such a talented player. Every time he gets the puck something happens and I think we’ve all seen that since he’s been here. Obviously it is [been] taken to another level, but I think he’s going to continue with that.”
Tkachuk made it 4-0 at 10:07 by tapping a point shot from Claude Giroux. Tkachuk has 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a career-high six-game scoring streak.
Video: [email protected]: Tkachuk and Giroux score together
Batherson pushed it to 5-0 at 12:35 with a one-timer after a cross-slot pass from DeBrincat, and Stutzle made it 6-0 at 7:51 of the third period by hitting another breakaway scored five holes on Greiss.
“I think our group is more mature now that they’re dropping games,” Smith said of his players, who were rebounding from a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. “I think people on the outside made so much noise because they lost to Chicago, but any team can beat any team. We are witnesses of it. … I think our guys just knew we weren’t playing right.
“They turned the page, which is a good sign because if you win a game you won’t be too high either. And I think that’s the point where the lead has gotten a lot better that way.”
Parayko made it 6-1 with a backhand from the slot at 9:16 before Pitlick tapped a point shot from Justin Faulk for 6-2 at 11:06.
“We’re going to have to get over this at some point, right?” Pitlick said of the trades. “They were big pieces in our locker room and on the ice but I think we have the right group and the guys here that can look past them and move past them.”
Ridly Greig scored his first NHL goal in the 7-2 final with 18:16.
“I’m not a big partyer,” Greig said of his muted response. “Maybe I would have done something in a 2-2 game, but it felt good.”
NOTE: St. Louis forward Jake Neighbors suffered an upper-body injury in the first half and did not return. “He’s probably gone for a while,” Berube said. “I’m not sure.”
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