Duclair’s three points lifts Senators over Bruins
OTTAWA, ONTARIO » Anthony Duclair had two goals and an assist and the Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 Monday night.
It was the Senators’ (13-171) first win over the Bruins
(20-5-6) since April 6, 2017. Chris Tierney, Artem Anisimov and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Senators, who were playing their first home game following a five-game trip (1-4-0).
Anders Nilsson made 38 saves.
Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk scored for the Bruins, who were playing the first of four road games. Tuukka Rask made 23 saves in his first loss in regulation since Nov. 8.
Leading 3-1 to start the third, the Senators did a good job of containing the Bruins, who were pressing to close the gap.
With the Bruins on the power play, Rask was pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage, but Pageau was able to pick off a pass and break in for an empty-net goal to seal the win with just under three minutes remaining.
DeBrusk scored a powerplay goal 43 seconds later, during a scramble in front of Nilsson. That was as close as the Bruins got as Duclair added another empty-net goal.
Ottawa made it a two-goal game early in the second as Vladislav Namestnikov intercepted a pass from Rask behind the net and found Tierney, who scored his fourth of the season.
Boston failed to capitalize on three power-play opportunities in the second, with Nilsson making some big saves.
The Senators held a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes.
BLUE JACKETS 5, CAPITALS 2 » Fresh off sweeping a fourgame road trip, the NHLleading Washington Capitals fell flat in a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night that snapped their winning streak at six.
Washington hadn’t lost in regulation since Nov. 20. The Capitals had their sevengame point streak end two days before facing the Boston Bruins in a showdown of the league’s top two teams.
Goaltender Braden Holtby made 19 first-period saves but allowed four goals on 37 shots. Alex Ovechkin scored his 21st of the season early in the third period, and Nicklas Backstrom added a 6-on-5 goal in the waning minutes.
Cam Atkinson scored twice, including an emptynetter, and looks to be heating up after a rough first quarter of the season. Atkinson has three goals in three games after just four in his first 27.
Scoring struggles by Atkinson and other top Blue Jackets players are a large reason for the team’s struggles this season after the departures of Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene. Coach John Tortorella lamented taking ice time away from Atkinson and said the six-time 20goal scorer needs to make some adjustments to get out of his funk.
“I think Cam’s got to realize he’s got to help himself a little,” Tortorella said. “This team is looking for some scoring desperately and the guys that we’ve been counting on just have not been there. It’s really put us into a jam here the first 30 games, and (Atkinson) is one of them.”
ISLANDERS 5, LIGHTNING 1 » Semyon Varlamov stopped
31 shots, Brock Nelson scored twice in the third period, and the New York Islanders beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 on Monday night.
Ross Johnston, Josh Bailey and Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders, who are 18-0-1 when scoring three or more goals.
Tampa Bay got a goal from Steven Stamkos. Curtis McElhinney stopped 19 shots.
Varlamlov made an inclose rebound save on Stamkos and a diving glove grab on Pat Maroon early in the third.
In addition to Nelson’s goals at 7:31 and 14:41, Lee added a power-play goal with 3:55 remaining.
The Islanders got on the scoreboard first. After Tampa Bay’s Cory Conacher failed to score on a breakaway, Johnston put the Islanders up 1-0 on the ensuing rush at 6:44 of the second.
Bailey made it 2-0 with a short-handed breakaway goal 1:53 later. The Lightning lost control of the puck in the offensive zone during a 4-on-2 and Casey Cizikas dove forward to swipe the puck ahead to Bailey.