OTTAWA — Tim Stutzle had two goals and an assist for the Ottawa Senators in a 7-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.
“We were right in the game from the start, I felt,” Stutzle said. “Sogaard was good and kept us in the game, and then we came out and scored a lot of goals, so it was good for the fans, too.”
Brady Tkachuk and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and two assists for the Senators (27-24-4), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine games. Mads Sogaard made 30 saves in his third start since being recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Feb. 9.
“Our best players were our best players,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said.
Colton Parayko and Tyler Pitlick scored, and Thomas Greiss made 27 saves for the Blues (26-27-3), who were coming off a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
“Obviously, a lot of difficult things are coming our way,” Parayako said. “But hey, that’s part of pro sports. We do this as a business.”
St. Louis traded center Ryan O’Reilly, its captain since 2020, and forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, one week after trading forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers.
“You’ve got to move on,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “You’re pros, they’re pros. They get paid to perform, and that’s not performing tonight.
“They have to figure it out. You’ve got to get over what’s going on. We have veterans in there that are good players, and they’ve got to take control of the team and they’ve got to understand the situation we’re in. They’ve got to play better. That’s how you take control of it.”
Shane Pinto gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 15:57 of the first period when he finished a centering pass from Drake Batherson on a 2-on-2 rush.
“Obviously, not good enough, right from the start,” Pitlick said.
DeBrincat made it 2-0 at 1:51 of the second period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Stutzle on a power play.
Stutzle extended it to 3-0 at 7:23, taking a lead pass from Tkachuk and finishing a backhand deke top shelf on a breakaway. Stutzle has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a four-game point streak.
“You guys can see it, his confidence is very high right now,” Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot said of Stutzle. “He’s such a talented player. Anytime he gets the puck, something happens, and I think we’ve all seen that since he’s been here. Obviously, it’s [been] taken to another level, but I think he’s going to keep that going.”
Tkachuk made it 4-0 at 10:07, tipping a point shot from Claude Giroux. Tkachuk has 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a career-high six-game point streak.
Batherson pushed it to 5-0 at 12:35 with a one-timer off a cross-slot pass from DeBrincat, and Stutzle made it 6-0 at 7:51 of the third period by scoring five-hole on Greiss on another breakaway.
“I think our group is more mature now that they’re letting games go,” Smith said of his players rebounding after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. “I think people on the outside made so much noise about losing to Chicago, but any team can beat any team. We’re witness to that. … I think our guys just knew we didn’t play the right way.
“They turned the page, which is a good sign because if you win a game, you’re not going to be too high either. And I think that’s where the leadership has gotten a lot better that way.”
Parayko made it 6-1 at 9:16 with a backhand from the slot before Pitlick tipped a point shot from Justin Faulk to make it 6-2 at 11:06.
”We’ve got to move past it at some point, right?” Pitlick said regarding the trades. “They were big pieces in our locker room and on the ice, but I think we have the right group, and the guys here that can look past it and move past it.”
Ridly Greig scored his first NHL goal at 18:16 for the 7-2 final.
“I’m not much of a celebrator,” Greig said of his subdued reaction. “Maybe if it was a 2-2 game, I probably would have done something, but it was a good feeling.”
NOTE: St. Louis forward Jake Neighbours sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. “He’s probably out a while,” Berube said. “I’m not sure.”
