OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) The Ottawa Senators took advantage of a timely visit from the struggling Detroit Red Wings.
Anthony Duclair scored twice and Ottawa beat Detroit 5-2 on Wednesday night to snap a four-game skid and extend the Red Wings’ losing streak to six.
”I thought (that) was the worst defensively we’ve played in a while,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. ”I don’t want to take anything away from Ottawa, they played hard. ”I just thought that was as poor defensively as we’ve played. Sometimes when you try so hard you play a little bit dumb at times and you give up chances that you can’t afford to give up.”
Chris Tierney, Mark Borowiecki and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored to help the Senators improve to 2-6-1. Anders Nilsson made 34 saves for his first victory of the season.
”I think we outworked them from the first minute to all the way through to the last,” Nilsson said. ”It was nice to see that we got rewarded for all the hard work.”
Darren Helm and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Detroit, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 33 shots. The Red Wings are 3-7-0.
Ottawa killed all Detroit’s five power plays.
”Our penalty kill wins us the game,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. ”Our penalty kill has probably been the strongest part of our game all year,” Smith said. ”We’ve got a lot of workers. We’ve got guys who can kill penalties. … Wire-to-wire the penalty kill has probably been the best part of our game.”
After Detroit scored twice in a 1:40 span early in the second period to take a 2-1 lead, Borowiecki tied it at 3:15 and Pageau made it a two-goal game with a short-handed goal at 5:27. Duclair scored late in the second and added an empty-netter in the third.
NOTES: Logan Brown made his season debut for Ottawa after being recalled from Belleville of the AHL. … The Senators placed Colin White and Artem Anisomov on injured reserve. White will miss three to five weeks with a sore hip flexor/groin. Anisimov is expected to be out up to two weeks with a lower-body injury. … Detroit’s Alex Biega and Danny Dekeyser were healthy scratches.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Host Buffalo on Friday night.
Senators: Host New York Islanders on Friday night.
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