Senators hand Blue Jackets first loss under Bowness

COLUMBUS -- Tim Stutzle and Ridly Greig each had a goal and an assist for the Ottawa Senators, who handed the Columbus Blue Jackets their first loss under Rick Bowness with a 4-1 win at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

Columbus had won its first three games after Bowness replaced Dean Evason as coach on Jan. 12.

“I think we were a really desperate group,” Stutzle said. “We played really good, especially in the first, and in the third we just kind of stayed above them, kept putting pucks behind them and kept it simple.”

Brady Tkachuk and Tyler Kleven also scored, and Thomas Chabot had two assists for the Senators (23-19-7), who extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2) after losing two straight in overtime. James Reimer made 21 saves in his second start of the season.

Reimer, 37, signed with the Senators on Jan. 12. He made 30 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

“It's great to get the win,” he said. “I was very thankful, very grateful, as a Christian, grateful to God and just this opportunity.

“And then obviously, the team, being here, it's a lot of fun and the guys tonight I thought they played extremely hard, some huge plays. A couple of pucks slipped behind me and the guys battled hard. So, whenever you win, it's obviously a team thing and tonight it was that in spades.”

Sean Monahan scored for the Blue Jackets (22-20-7), who had won four in a row. Elvis Merzlikins saved five of seven shots in the first period before leaving because of illness. Jet Greaves stopped 12 of 13 shots in relief over the final two periods.

“If you look at the whole 60 minutes, it's probably an evenly played game,” Bowness said. “Our slow start really hurt us. So that's been addressed already. And we'll continue to address that because I hate slow starts. I hate it.

“Again, I think it was an evenly played game for the most part. The start killed us, and more importantly, in the second period, we could have taken the lead, but we didn't score.”

Kleven gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 3:34 of the first period with his first goal of the season when he skated to the left dot and snapped a shot to the upper left corner.

“A good game, solid from the drop of the puck. A real good road win,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “We've been much better this season in the offensive zone, controlling the play, controlling the puck.”

Monahan tied it 1-1 at 7:46 from low in the right circle off a backhand feed by Boone Jenner.

Stutzle put the Senators back ahead 2-1 at 10:15. He skated up from the right goal line to the left circle before scoring five-hole.

“I think we were in the zone for a little bit there, and I felt like they were kind of getting tired and we were just moving it around nice,” Stutzle said. “Just kind of trust my instinct and pick my spot.”

Greig made it 3-1 at 6:49 of the third period on an odd-man rush after a giveaway at the attacking blue line by Ivan Provorov. It was Ottawa’s first shot on goal of the period.

“We did a good job in the second (period), but you lose 20 minutes it's hard to impose your will once the game's already started,” Columbus defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “When you're able to impose your will right off the hop, you get in their face, you set the tone of the game, and you make them adjust to you.”

Tkachuk then scored an empty-net goal off an assist from Stutzle at 16:54 for the 4-1 final.

“At the start we were watching too much,” Monahan said. “We had a decent second, but not enough gas, enough juice from our group.”

NOTES: Chabot tied Wade Redden (39) for the second-most multi-assist games by a defenseman in Senators history, behind Erik Karlsson (85). … Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski had his personal 16-game home point streak end (12 goals, 18 assists). … Columbus forward Charlie Coyle played his 999th NHL game. He is expected to play his 1000th game against the Dallas Stars on Thursday.