Brady Tkachuk, Connor Brown and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal and an assist and Marcus Hogberg stopped 40 of 42 shots as the Ottawa Senators snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the visiting Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon.
Chris Tierney and Colin White also scored goals for the Senators, who won for the first time since before Christmas, a 3-1 home win over Buffalo on December 23. It was Brown’s third consecutive multi-point game and the second career win for Hogberg.
Mark Jankowski and Noah Hanifin scored goals and David Rittich finished with 16 saves for Calgary, which lost for just the second time in the last eight games. The Flames head into their bye week and All-Star Game break in a three-way tie for second place with Arizona and Edmonton in a very tight Pacific Division race. Vancouver jumped to a one-point lead with a win late Saturday, and Vegas is one point back of second place.
Tkachuk gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at the 7:15 mark of the first period when his crossing pass was deflected by Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic past Rittich for his 15th goal of the season.
The Senators, despite being outshot 29-11, extended their lead to 3-0 after two periods on goals by Tierney, who shovelled in a loose puck in the crease for his eighth goal of the season, and Brown, who tucked in a rebound of Tkachuk’s shot inside the left post for his 10th goal of the season.
White made it 4-0 early in the third period with his fifth goal of the season when he slapped in a rebound of Mikkel Boedker’s shot. After Jankowski cut it to 4-1 with his first goal of the season with 5:51 to go, Namestnikov answered with an empty-netter with 3:14 left. Hanifin then finished the scoring with his fifth goal with 1:58 remaining.
The contest was the fourth pitting brothers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, the sons of former NHL star Keith Tkachuk. The two faced off to start the game with Brady winning the draw from his older brother, who is headed to his first All-Star Game.