Halliday has 3 points, Senators score 7 to cruise past Golden Knights

OTTAWA -- Stephen Halliday had two goals and an assist, and Dylan Cozens also scored twice for the Ottawa Senators in a 7-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

Halliday, who recorded his first three-point game in the NHL, left the game at 7:50 of the third period and did not return after being checked into the side glass of the Vegas bench.

Fabian Zetterlund scored, and Brady Tkachuk had three assists for the Senators (24-21-7), who had lost four of five (1-2-2), including a 4-1 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Mads Sogaard made 19 saves for his first win of the season.

“He was great,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said of Sogaard. “I’m happy for him. It’s been a grind for him, and you’re always happy with players that persevere and wait for their opportunity and play well.”

Sogaard, who was recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Saturday, was making his second appearance for Ottawa this season.

“Obviously long road back,” said Sogaard. “But to be out there and see how hard the guys were playing, it was really special, and this is one I’m going to remember for a long time.”

Rasmus Andersson scored his first goal with the Golden Knights (25-14-12), who have lost three of their past four games. Adin Hill made 24 saves.

“The emotion we had on Friday night going back into Toronto, we got to find that,” said Vegas captain Mark Stone. “Can’t just rely on Mitch’s return to Toronto to get yourself into the game. We were ready to go, we were inspired to play, and for whatever reason tonight, slow start.”

Stone’s 14-game point streak ended for Vegas (12 goals, 11 assists).

“It looked like an NHL team versus a junior team,” Stone said. “It just wasn’t, it wasn’t what we are. So, I’m sure there’s certain things that we’ll probably flush, but you can’t just flush it, because you can’t let this be the expectation.”

At 1:36 of the first period, Vegas forward Mitch Marner was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked on a breakaway, but he was unable to get a clear shot off against Sogaard.

“I didn’t like our battle level at all, our compete, our races early on,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “And typically the team will have pushback, but we didn’t really have that either. So this one, we’re going to have to have an honest discussion about it.”

Ridly Greig appeared to score the game’s first goal for the Senators at 5:43 after jamming the puck across the goal line, but it was quickly waved off for goaltender interference against Greig.

Zetterlund gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 9:25, banking the puck in off Vegas defenseman Kaedan Korczak’s skate from behind.

“I like how we were ready to play,” Green said. “That’s a good team over there, and I like the belief in our team. I think we know that we can play with anyone in the League.

Cozens extended it to 2-0 at 5:51 of the second period after receiving a feed from Greig in the crease and tapping it in from one knee on the backhand.

Jordan Spence scored 16 seconds later to push it to 3-0 at 6:07 when his shot through traffic found its way past Hill.

Halliday scored the Senators' third goal of the period to make it 4-0 at 17:50 with a wrist shot from the right circle glove side.

Cozens’ second goal of the game extended it to 5-0 at 1:22 of the third period after he took a pass from Tkachuk in the slot and finished top right corner.

“I think it was a really good full 60 minutes from our team,” Cozens said. “We knew that we needed to come out and win this game. We’ve been playing a lot of good hockey, and we haven’t won, so at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many good games you play, you got to win.”

Halliday scored his second goal to make it 6-0 at 2:05 on a shot from the point.

“You always need a player, or two if you’re lucky, that come up and help your team win, and he’s done a good job at that,” Green said of Halliday.

Nick Jensen pushed it to 7-0 at 3:56 after banking the puck off Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin’s stick.

“Today it was everybody that played great,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. “Everybody that was committed to winning, and I thought we did a really good job at helping [Sogaard] out, so he made some big saves for us as well.”

Andersson, who was traded to Vegas by the Calgary Flames on Jan. 18, made it 7-1 at 15:05.

“Overall, it just wasn’t, wasn’t a great night,” Vegas forward Jack Eichel said. “Wasn’t a great night at all for us. We got to learn from this here. We got another game on this road trip, and it’s a huge one for us.”

NOTES: Ottawa scored seven unanswered goals in a game for the second time this season (also Oct. 27). … Tkachuk recorded his 10th career three-assist game, which tied Alexei Yashin for the fourth most in franchise history, behind Daniel Alfredsson (22), Jason Spezza (18) and Erik Karlsson (16). … Halliday became the first Senators rookie with three points in a game since Tim Stutzle (three goals) on May 8, 2021.