Senators score 6 against Red Wings for 2nd straight game

OTTAWA --
Tim Stutzle
had a goal and two assists, and the Ottawa Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.

"We knew right from the start these two games (against Detroit) were going to be really important for us, especially in the standings," Stutzle said. "We showed tonight that we can be a really good hockey team."
Austin Watson scored twice, Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and an assist, and Mads Sogaard made 16 saves for the Senators (30-26-4), who have won three in a row, including a 6-2 victory against Detroit on Monday.
"I love this kind of hockey," Watson said. "Emotions are running high. It brings out the best in everybody and this is what you play for. It's exciting to get out there, especially in a back-to-back set like this."

Dominik Kubalik scored, and Ville Husso made 21 saves for the Red Wings (28-24-8), who have lost three straight after winning seven of eight.
"It's probably two of the most frustrating hockey games I've been a part of," Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said.
Kubalik gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 3:50 of the first period when he took a stretch pass from Olli Maatta and scored glove side from the left face-off circle.
"We're pretty down," Larkin said. "Both of these [games], it's just not the way we wanted this trip to go. We're definitely leaving with our tail between our legs. It's a tough feeling.
"We've got to take a lesson from these guys in the way they played and how hard they played."

Stutzle tied it 1-1 on a penalty shot at 4:08. After Filip Hronek was called for holding, he scored blocker side past Husso.
"We've taken a lot of pride all year in not giving up easy offense," Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. "… The breakaways, the 2-on-1s, the odd-man [rushes]. Poor Ville, that's an impossible game as a goalie. He never got comfortable."
Watson gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead at 7:52, scoring on a breakaway while short-handed.
"[Watson's] played really well of late," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "He's forechecking, but then he gets rewarded. He gets a shorty, gets another one and goes to the net. I thought he was a presence in both games."

Watson then made it 3-1 at 15:46, after receiving a cross-crease pass from Derick Brassard and scoring while taking a stick up high from David Perron. With Perron in the box, DeBrincat extended it to 4-1 on a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Drake Batherson at 16:09.
"[Watson is] a warrior," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. "Not many guys get a stick close to the eye, nose, stitches and all that, and to come back. It just kind of shows the people we have in the locker room and the composure and how we want to finish hard."
Giroux made it 5-1 at 8:34 of the second period on a wrist shot from the point during a 4-on-3 power play, and Tkachuk tipped in a Giroux point shot at 5:17 of the third period for the 6-1 final.
The Senators were 2-for-6 on the power play and 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
"I think they made adjustments [on the penalty kill]," Larkin said. "It felt like there was three-point pressure pretty high on us. And once we got around the net, we didn't execute to get plays and get pucks."

Detroit and Ottawa are tied with 64 points in the Eastern Conference standings, five points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card.
"[The Senators were] a team that, if we took care of business, we could maybe push out [of a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoff race]," Perron said. "But we let them kind of come back and now they're tight with us."
NOTES:Hronek left the game midway through the second period. Lalonde said he entered the game with an upper-body injury and will be reevaluated Wednesday. … Sogaard is 4-0-1 in five starts since being recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Feb. 9. … Ottawa became the second team in NHL history, and the first in the regular season, to score on a penalty shot, at even-strength, on a power play and while short-handed in one period. The Edmonton Oilers did it against the Minnesota North Stars in Game 3 of the 1984 Clarence Campbell Conference Final. … Stutzle has 62 goals in 188 NHL games, tying Marian Hossa for the second-most goals by a Senators plater age 21 or younger. Only Martin Havlat has more (65). ... Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana had one hit and one blocked shot in 13:11 of ice time after being a healthy scratch for two games.