Oilers score last three goals to notch win
The effort is there for the Ottawa Senators. Now, they need to find a way to start getting results.
Tyler Ennis returned to one of his old haunts and got a little payback by handing the Senators their second straight loss, a 3-1 decision to the Edmonton Oilers to start a two-game series at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Ennis, the winger who spent last season with Ottawa before being moved at the trade deadline, scored the winner with only 13:51 left in the third period when he held onto the puck long enough to beat Matt Murray. It gave the Oilers a one-goal lead that ended up being insurmountable for the Senators.
Make no mistake, for the third straight game Murray was solid, with 32 stops, and there wasn't much he could do on the winner by Ennis. The Oilers went zerofor-four on the power play in this one, and Murray was a big reason for that. Josh Archibald put it away into an empty net for the Oilers with 1:10 to play.
Leon Draisaitl had the Oilers' other goal.
Making his season debut after missing the first three weeks with an undisclosed injury, Mike Smith looked sharp in the Edmonton net. He made 27 stops for the Oilers as the Senators used their speed and had good opportunities in the third, but couldn't tie it up.
Only winger Evgenii Dadonov was able to score for the Senators, who have now gone winless in 11 of their last 12 games and are struggling to find offence. While they're playing better defensively, the Senators now need to start capitalizing on more of their chances.
“You can see our game is coming around here, we're playing tighter and we're playing more as a five-man unit,” defenceman Mike Reilly said. “We knew coming into this two-game series we've got to pick up some points and make up some ground here from the previous road trip.
“The past couple of games, we're playing way better as five-man units, and it seems like it's going a lot better in the neutral zone. We just have to bear down on our chances and just stay confident. You can just see the ship slowly turning in our favour.”
The Senators took it on the chin from the Oilers last week in Edmonton. Connor McDavid and Draisaitl combined for 14 points in recording a pair of wins, while Ottawa held a parade to the penalty box and couldn't get saves from either goaltender. A lot has changed since then.
“We were on the side of the goal instead of in front of him,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “If you want to score in this league you've got to be on the top of the goalie. I thought he saw too many pucks.”
Tied 1-1 after 40 minutes, the Senators and Oilers went headto-head by trading chances in the third.
Really, the key was Murray being in top form and on top of his game. While the Senators outshot Edmonton 25-19 through 40 minutes, it looked like they might get out of the second unscathed, but Draisaitl extended his point streak to 10 games by scoring his eighth goal of the season at 15:11.
The Senators were outshot 17-9 in the second period alone and the key was Murray's ability to make saves on the Oilers' power play.
“They're a dangerous team, especially those top two lines, especially McDavid and Draisaitl,” Murray said.
“I thought we took too many penalties, and that's what killed us. It felt like we were killing the whole second period, and when you do that against a power play that good and against a team like that, it's hard to get momentum back.”
For only the third time this season, the Senators opened the scoring, but they had a little help from their friends on this one. You have to give Dadonov credit for going to the net, but he had a little help when Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson tried to clear the puck and beat Smith with a perfect top-shelf shot.