Zibanejad lifts Senators over Sharks 5-2; Ottawa reclaims playoff berth

OTTAWA - Mika Zibanejad scored twice as the Ottawa Senators defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-2 Monday night to move into a playoff position for the first time since late November.

The win puts the Senators (37-24-11) one point ahead of the Boston Bruins (36-25-12) for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa has a game in hand.

Alex Chiasson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mike Hoffman, with an empty-net goal, also scored for Ottawa. Andrew Hammond, making his seventh straight start, improved his record to 14-0-1 in his first 15 NHL starts. He stopped 29 shots.

Joe Pavelski and Chris Tierney scored for the Sharks (35-30-8) as Antti Niemi made 32 saves.

The Senators scored four unanswered goals in the third period — two within 1:12 of each other — on their way to picking up a seventh straight win.

Zibanejad tied the game 2-2 with his second of the night at 2:19 of the third. Zibanejad took a pass from Bobby Ryan and roofed it over Niemi to the delight of the 18,193 on hand.

After being stonewalled on numerous occasions Chiasson finally solved Niemi as he deflected Mark Stone's shot and then Pageau scored at the 13-minute mark of the third as he and Karlsson worked the give-and-go.

Hoffman then put the puck away into an empty net for his 26th goal of the season with 1:23 left to play.

Two quick goals allowed the Sharks, playing their third of six road games, to jump out to a 2-1 lead after two periods.

Pavelski tied the game with a power-play goal at 12:47 as he jumped on a rebound and 30 seconds later Tierney had given San Jose the lead as he took a nice pass from Tommy Wingels to beat Hammond glove side.

Wingels had also made a great defensive play earlier in the period as he cleared a great chance from the crease.

Ottawa opened the scoring at the 14-minute mark on Zibanejad's 18th of the season. Hoffman shot a floater at the net and it deflected in off Zibanejad's knee.

The Senators had dominated the opening first half of the period as Chiasson had a great chance in alone on Niemi and a minute later Kyle Turris hit a post. Pavelski had the Sharks best chance in the opening 20 minutes, but couldn't take advantage.

Notes: C Zack Smith returned to Ottawa's lineup for the first time since dislocating his wrist February 13th. The Senators were without LW Matt Puempel (high ankle sprain) and LW Milan Michalek (undisclosed). D Jared Cowen was a healthy scratch. The Sharks were without Mike Brown (broken fibula) and Raffi Torres (knee).D Scott Hannan and C Daniil Tarasov were a healthy scratch.