Mathieu Joseph, who played his 300th NHL game Thursday against Vancouver, scored the first goal of the game in the second half of the first period as the Quebecer skillfully redirected Jake Sanderson’s shot from the blue line, who got a 10th point in the sequence. It was Joseph’s fourth goal and 12th point of the season thus far. Tim Stuzle got the other assist.
Drake Batherson took advantage of Noah Hanifin in the penalty box to score his team’s second goal. Batherson saw Chychrun’s shot bounce off Brady Tkachuk in front of the net and the young Sens forward took the opportunity to hit the puck in flight behind rookie Dustin Wolf.
Currently in a bad streak, Jonathan Huberdeau was unable to take advantage of a breakaway in the middle period to finally score a goal when he saw his shot being stopped by Joonas Korpisalo.
Fortunately for him, Blake Coleman reduced the gap to one goal at the end of the period as the former Tampa Bay Lightning accepted Martin Pospisil’s pass to score in a cage left gaping by Korpisalo.
The start of the third period, however, did not favor the Flames as Ottawa scored two quick goals. First Rouke Chartier scored his first goal of the season by completing a nice passing play initiated by Batherson and Dominik Kubalik. Travis Hamonic also opened his account this season thanks to a one-timer from the top of the circles. He allowed Tim Stüzle to get his second pass of the match.
Korpisalo then gave his coach DJ Smith a little scare when the goaltender took several seconds to get up after contact with Flames forward Nazem Kadri in the second half of the third period. The latter fell into the net then into the boards. More fear than harm in his case too.
Defenseman Erik Brannstrom was back in the Sens lineup after missing the last five games with a concussion
This is the Senators’ first victory at home, after five consecutive defeats.
The Nikita Zadorov file
The giant Flames defender asked to be traded on Friday after his game against the other Ontario team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he scored a goal. A more difficult evening on Saturday when Zadorov was shut out in 17:39 of playing time. The Russian was also punished for obstructing Batherson.
