Ullmark makes season-high 48 saves, Senators edge Red Wings

OTTAWA -- Linus Ullmark made a season-high 48 saves, including 27 in the second period, and the Ottawa Senators handed the Detroit Red Wings their sixth straight loss with a 2-1 win at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday.

“It was just a chaotic game,” Ullmark said. “I'm pretty sure that we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and say that that wasn't good enough, and we have to be honest with each other. It's not a sustainable type of game to play if we're going to keep winning down the stretch. We’ve got to be honest with each other. But at the same time, it takes a lot of the group to find a way to win, which is a very positive thing at the end.”

Ullmark, who was making his eighth consecutive start, is the sixth goaltender in NHL history to make at least 27 saves in a period without allowing a goal (since shots were first tracked in 1997-98).

“You’re just shocked by some of the saves he was making there,” Senators forward Dylan Cozens said. “You know, you thought it was a sure goal and he just finds a way to make a save. I mean, it was awesome by him.”

Said Ottawa coach Travis Green: “He was stellar tonight. At some point, there’s going to be games -- you see it in playoff hockey -- where you get outplayed bad and your goalie just steals you a game, and he did tonight for sure.”

Cozens scored his first goal for the Senators (33-25-5), who have won three in a row and are 4-0-1 in their past five games. Brady Tkachuk had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (six goals, one assist).

Dylan Larkin scored, and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Red Wings (30-28-6).

“They put a lot into that game,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said of his team. “There’s no complaints about effort or, really, execution. We ran into a goalie that had a career night, and unfortunately for us, we couldn’t find a way to beat him. We didn’t give up much, we played a good, hard, gritty game, and when you’re in a [losing streak], it’d be nice to get a game like this and come out of it, but if we play like this and we continue to play like this, we’ll find ways to get wins.”

Ottawa moved one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Detroit is four points behind Columbus for the second wild card.

“We’ve still got to figure out how to score some goals,” Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat said. “I think we’ve struggled to do that for a little bit now. A good point is to bear down in front of the net, bury our chances, and we’ll have a good chance at having a good stretch.”

David Perron gave the Senators a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 7:39 of the second period, beating Talbot blocker side with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Perron has scored three of his four goals this season in the past five games.

“Little bit of an ugly win by us but we’ll take it,” Perron said. “Big two points. We took a lot of their momentum away just by taking the two points. Sometimes it happens. We had a great performance by [Ullmark], by far the best player, and a couple other good plays, and now we move on and we keep piling up the points.”

Larkin tied it 1-1 at 2:58 of the third period. His initial shot from the right circle was stopped by Ullmark, but Matthew Highmore could clear the rebound in the slot, and Larkin ended up beating the goaltender under his blocker with a wrist shot from the left circle.

“I thought we played well the whole game,” DeBrincat said. “Their power play scored two and we didn’t get any, so that’s the difference-maker.

“I mean, it’s frustrating, I thought we were the better team today. We had the better chances, and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. So, regroup, come back Wednesday (against the Buffalo Sabres) and get two points.”

Cozens put Ottawa back in front 2-1 at 14:56 of the third. He one-timed a pass from Jake Sanderson into an open net from the bottom of the left circle for a power-play goal.

Cozens has two points (one goal, one assist) in two games with the Senators since being acquired in a trade with the Sabres on Friday.

“Just so much excitement, at a time like that, in a big game like this," Cozens said. "I mean, obviously I didn’t have to do much, it was a great pass by [Sanderson] and a great battle by [Tkachuk]. I just had to put it in the open net. You know, just so excited to score there. That was a huge goal for us.”

Lucas Raymond thought he had tied the game for the Red Wings with a buzzer-beating goal, but a video review showed that time had run out before the puck crossed the goal line.

“Not much to do, right?” Raymond said. “Time had expired, but we should’ve put the puck in the net a long time before that.”

NOTES: DeBrincat had a game-high 11 shots on goal. ... Cozens had a game-high eight hits. He has 17 hits in his first two games with Ottawa. ... Senators forward Tim Stutzle had his point streak end at 14 games (five goals, 15 assists). ... The Senators have scored 33 power-play goals on home ice, the most in the NHL.