Claude Giroux leads Senators over Hurricanes, reaches 1,000 points

Associated PressApr 11, 2023, 10:06 AM EDT

Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa Senators forward Claude Giroux joined an illustrious group with a pair of goals and an assist in a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes to reach 1,000 career NHL points.

Giroux became the 96th player to achieve the milestone.

“Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of family here right now,” said Giroux. “So, it’s special and my wife and my two boys are here and my parents and it was really cool.”

The 35-year-old entered the game needing two points to hit the momentous marker and took less than one period to make it happen.

Giroux picked up point 999 with his 33rd goal of the season just after the five-minute mark and number 1,000 came on an assist when he set up Tim Stutzle with under three minutes remaining in the period.

Captain Brady Tkachuk had a secondary assist on the play and motioned to his teammates to join him on the ice to celebrate the moment.

“Yeah, just trying to keep my emotions intact and you know, I knew it was going to happen that they were going to come all on the ice, but to actually happen it was definitely a little different, but it was special,” said Giroux.

Helping Giroux achieve the milestone on home ice was important for Tkachuk and Stutzle, who hold their linemate in high regard.

“Thankfully we did it in the first period,” joked Tkachuk. “So, for me, for the both of us, just to kind of contribute, just a little part of his unbelievable career. Honestly we’ve talked about it, it’s truly special for the both of us.”

Giroux scored his second of the night midway through the third to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead, and the win, tying his career-high of 34 set in 2017-18.

Mads Sogaard saved 27 to ensure the victory.

The Hurricanes hold a one-point lead on the New Jersey Devils for first place in the Metropolitan Division, but it appears it will come down to the final two games of the season.

“We started just terribly,” said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Never really got going at all. Give the other team a lot of credit – they played a real good game. But we were just in quicksand.”

With the playoffs just over a week away the Hurricanes were disappointed with their effort.

“We weren’t playing with a lot of speed, we weren’t playing with a lot of aggression,” said Jaccob Slavin.

“I mean, we’re a puck-pressuring team, and when we did have the puck we weren’t doing what we normally do. We get it in deep, we forecheck, we grind them down low and we didn’t really have any grind time in the (offensive) zone today like we normally do.”

Trailing 2-1 to start the third, Hurricanes’ defenseman Brent Burns tied the game with a power-play goal.

Carolina had a two-man advantage for 45 seconds midway through the period, but failed to capitalize. With time remaining in the second power play Stefan Noesen took a goaltender interference penalty and was given an additional unsportsmanlike penalty.

Giroux went on to give the Senators the lead scoring four-on-four.

1,000 MILESTONES

Joe Pavelski, of the Dallas Stars, also earned his 1,000th point, marking the first time in NHL history that two players reached 1,000 points in the same day.

UP NEXT

Hurricanes: Host Detroit in regular season home finale.

Senators: At Buffalo to close the season.

Devils defeat Senators 5-3, clinch playoff berth

Associated PressMar 26, 2023, 12:09 AM EDT

Sarah Stier/Getty Images

NEWARK, N.J. — Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, Mackenzie Blackwood had 25 saves and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-3 and clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night.

“It means everything to the group. I went into the dressing room after the game and just said that I was proud of the work that was put in, proud of where we got to clinch tonight to be one of three teams that have an X next to their name,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “All the work that’s been put in, the adversity they face during the year. The adversity they face right at the start of the season to where we’ve got to now.”

New Jersey could have clinched its first postseason berth since 2018 with a win, but it happened before their first intermission when the Florida Panthers lost to the New York Rangers in regulation.

“I had a lesser role then,” said Jesper Bratt, who was a rookie for the Devils in 2017-18. “I would say at a younger age, it’s kind of like you think that just because it happened your first year that it might happen every year. And then it goes pretty fast with reality that was not the case and you got to work extremely hard for it.

“It’s a really tough league. So this feels really good. It’s been a lot of years with struggle, not winning, and it’s just awesome coming out now playing these kinds of games and getting that.”

Bratt, Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton scored for the Devils and Tomas Tatar scored an empty netter with 42.3 seconds left to put things away.

Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Mark Kastelic scored for the Senators and Dylan Ferguson had 30 saves.

Tkachuk scored his 33rd goal of the season to give the Senators the 1-0 lead 3:14 into the first period. The Devils responded midway through the first period with Hughes’ 40th goal of the season on a breakaway, going five-hole to tie it.

Nick Holden gave the puck away and Bratt scored his 31st goal of the season on the breakaway 2:24 into the second period to give New Jersey the 2-1 lead. Mercer’s 23rd of the season came just over a minute later.

The Senators answered midway through the second period when Thomas Chabot scored his 11th goal of the year to cut the deficit to 3-2. They knotted things up 16:03 into the second when Kastelic scored his fifth of the season.

“We were confident going into the third period. We felt like the game was there for our taking,” Travis Hamonic said. “They score on their chance, and that’s game.”

Hamilton scored 3:34 into the third period to give the Devils the lead. His 19th goal breaks the franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman, surpassing Scott Stevens – the Devils great whose number is hanging in the rafters – record of 18 in 1993-94.

NOTES: This was the first game for the Devils backup Blackwood since Feb. 19. … Nico Hischier has a six-game point streak after recording two assists.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host the Florida Panthers on Monday night.

Devils: Play at New York Islanders on Monday night.

Ullmark’s 40 saves carries Bruins past Senators, 2-1

Associated PressMar 21, 2023, 11:31 PM EDT

Getty Images

BOSTON – Linus Ullmark made 40 saves, Jake DeBrusk had the go-ahead goal and the NHL-best Boston Bruins continued their pursuit of the league’s record for regular-season victories with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.

“I thought he was outstanding and he needed to be,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said of Ullmark. “Unfortunately we gave up a lot of good looks, a lot of odd-man rushes because of our puck management and he bailed us out like he has all year.”

David Krejci added a power-play goal for Boston, which won its fourth straight.

Dylan Gambrell scored for the Senators and Mads Sogaard made 33 stops.

“We had a shooters’ mentality for two periods,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “The third period, they’ve won 54 games now, they’re not going to give you an odd-man rush, they’re not going to give you anything. You’re going to have to earn it.”

The Bruins posted their 54th win and with 12 games left are on pace to break the mark of 62, set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96 and matched by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19.

Chasing the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, Ottawa has lost six of seven following a season-high, five-game winning streak.

Coming off a 3-2 road trip where they won the last three games by a combined score of 15-2 that included two shutouts by backup Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins converted on a two-man, power-play advantage to tie the game at 1 midway into the opening period when Krejci poked in a rebound from the edge of the crease.

DeBrusk completed a nifty play with Brad Marchand when he collected a pass cutting down the slot at full speed, shifted and tucked a rebound past Sogaard at 15:52 of the first period for his 23rd goal.

“It was ‘all world.’ I saw him and he fed it through a lot of guys for a breakaway,” DeBrusk said of the pass. “It was one of those passes where I didn’t know what to do. I was going to point at him (after) but I was going too fast.”

Gambrell’s wraparound score gave Ottawa a 1-0 edge.

“I thought I played a good game today,” Sogaard said. “I just battled and stayed with it the entire way. … These ones are tough because we were so close.”

HEAVY WORKLOAD

Ullmark stopped 22 shots in the second period with at least a dozen of them high-quality chances. During an Ottawa PP, he jumped from a crouch to make a right-shoulder stop on Alex DeBrincat’s bid from in close.

“We talked about it,” defenseman Hampus Lindholm said of the second period. “We know we’re a good team in the third and wanted to tighten it up for him. … They got a lot of chances that were our own fault in the second.”

WOMEN IN SPORTS NIGHT

The Bruins highlighted women who work and compete in the sports community, having Olympic gold medalist and Boston Pride defender Kali Flanagan accompany Bruins players during pregame walk-ins along with local high school scholastic award winners. In addition, in-arena host Michaela Johnson handled the PA for the night and they also left yellow roses at the seats of female reporters.

NOTES: The Senators entered the game as the only team holding an advantage in their series against the Bruins this season, winning twice in three games. … Montgomery said after the morning skate that defenseman Derek Forbort would likely be sidelined with a lower-body injury at least through the rest of the regular season. … DeBrusk, playing on the top line most of the season, is four off his career-high goal total, set in 2018-19.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Bruins: Host longtime rival Montreal in an Original Six matchup Thursday.

Ferguson stops 47 shots, Senators top reeling Penguins 2-1

Associated PressMar 20, 2023, 10:39 PM EDT

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH – Drake Batherson‘s power-play goal from in front with 2:09 left in regulation lifted the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 win over the reeling Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins finally beat Ottawa goaltender Dylan Ferguson on a Rickard Rakell goal with 5:21 to play, but a hooking penalty by Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel gave the Senators the man advantage and Batherson responded with his 21st goal of the season.

Ferguson, making his first NHL start and first appearance in the league in more than five years, made 47 saves to send Pittsburgh to its fourth straight loss. Thomas Chabot scored his 10th goal of the season for Ottawa as the Senators snapped a five-game slide.

The Penguins fell behind Florida in the race for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Tristan Jarry played well but couldn’t get in the way of Batherson’s jam shot from just outside the crease.

Ferguson began the night having played nine minutes at the NHL level as a teenager for Vegas early in the Golden Knights’ debut season in 2017-18. He has bounced around various levels of the minors ever since and was in the process of being sent down to the ECHL by the AHL’s Toronto Marlies earlier this month when the Senators signed him to a two-way deal.

Something clicked. He played well enough in six games for Ottawa’s AHL affiliate in Belleville to receive a call-up on Sunday. Just over 24 hours later, the Senators made the now 24-year-old Ferguson the sixth goaltender they’ve used this season when they gave him the nod against the struggling Penguins.

Ferguson looked like he belonged from the opening faceoff. He made a series of sharp saves early, including a couple of stops from in close against Jake Guentzel and a flashy glove save on a slap shot by Malkin.

Jarry, a two-time All-Star who has struggled to find any sort of consistency since returning from an extended stay on the injured list, took a step forward, turning aside multiple odd-man rushes and a breakaway by Brady Tkachuk in the second period.

The lone goal Jarry allowed came 16:46 into the first when Chabot took a feed from Claude Giroux and rather than fire a shot from high in the slot skated down to the right circle and beat Jarry to the far post.

Jarry was solid the rest of the way, though he spent most of the game watching Ferguson dazzle at the other end before Rakell broke through with just over 5 minutes to go.

UP NEXT

Senators: Travel to Boston on Tuesday to face the NHL-leading Bruins.

Penguins: Start a difficult back-to-back on the road on Wednesday when they visit the Avalanche in Denver.

Senators beat Rangers 5-3 to spoil Patrick Kane’s debut

Associated PressMar 2, 2023, 11:31 PM EST

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK – The night was supposed to belong to Patrick Kane but it was former Ranger Derick Brassard who ultimately claimed the Manhattan spotlight for the surging Ottawa Senators .

Claude Giroux broke a tie early in the third period and Brassard scored twice in his 1,000th career game as the Senators beat New York 5-3 on Thursday night to spoil Kane’s Rangers debut.

“I just came in and tried to play hard,” said the 35-year-old Brassard, who played parts of four seasons for the Rangers, where he was a fan favorite and helped New York reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014. ”I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life. It was awesome.”

The Rangers led 3-2 entering the third after Vladimir Tarasenko scored a highlight-reel goal late in the second, but Ottawa scored twice in a two-minute span, then held on for its fourth straight victory.

Brassard tied it at 1:35 with his 11th of the season off an assist from Giroux, who beat netminder Jaroslav Halak for his 26th goal at 3:26 to put Ottawa ahead to stay.

Shane Pinto and Tim Stutzle (empty net) also scored for Ottawa, and Cam Talbot made 29 saves. The vaunted Rangers power play was scoreless in four extra-man attempts including a five-minute charging major and game misconduct assessed to Senators forward Austin Watson at 12:49 of the first period.

“Cam was solid,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. ”He was our best penalty killer back there.”

Talbot denied Kane with a pad save with five minutes left in the third to preserve the win as the Rangers lost for only the second time in their last eight home games. The Rangers are still 24-8-4 since Dec. 5.

Ottawa has entered the playoff race with an 11-3-1 surge since losing at home to Winnipeg on Jan. 21.

“Our best players have stepped up and taken their play to another level,” Brassard added. ”Our commitment to check and defend and work has been everything. That’s why we are having success.”

Tarasenko go-ahead goal was dramatic as he skated in on Talbot before faking left and then backhanding the puck into the net on the goaltender’s opposite side at 14:54.

Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba also scored for the Rangers, who couldn’t find any offense after Tarasenko’s goal. The Senators outshot the Rangers 12-6 in the third when they scored three times.

“When you play a game of hockey for 60 minutes, you got to do more stuff than just make the real nice passes,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “We’ve got to reset some pucks, we got to get better forechecking, more pressure.”

Kreider opened the scoring with a short-handed goal at 6:31 of the first, bursting in on Talbot before flipping a high backhand into the net for his 27th goal. The goal was the 256th of Kreider’s career, tying him with Camille Henry for sixth on the franchise list.

The Rangers went quiet late in the game on a night when Kane made his debut following his acquisition from Chicago, where he won the Stanley Cup three times.

Kane heard loud cheers when he skated out for the pregame warmups as fans cluttered rows on the New York side of the arena for a glimpse of the newest player wearing his customary No. 88. Kane was impressed with his Madison Square Garden reception.

“I didn’t really know what it was going to be like until I got out there,” said Kane, who played 16 seasons for Chicago, where the raucous United Center was home. “Warmups, the pregame introduction, it’s pretty cool. It’s an amazing place to play.”

Kane and his reunited Blackhawks teammate Panarin were the last two off the ice as Kane heard the roar of the crowd again before yet another thunderous ovation during starting lineup introductions.

Kane skated on right wing with Panarin and Trocheck at center but overall had a quiet game for the Rangers, registering only four shots and no points. He added that he expects to rediscover the chemistry he and Panarin shared in their two seasons together with the Blackhawks.

“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen overnight,” Kane said. “But we’ll find it.”

NOTES: The Rangers played with five defenseman as they were again without the injured Ryan Lindgren. K’Andre Miller served the second of a three-game suspension for spitting toward Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty last Sunday … Defenseman Jakob Chychruyn made his debut for the Senators after he was acquired from Arizona on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host Columbus on Saturday night.

Rangers: At Boston on Saturday.