Chabot scores twice, Senators hand Jets 9th straight loss

OTTAWA -- Thomas Chabot scored twice for the Ottawa Senators in a 4-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

“It’s a big night for ‘Chabby,’” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “It’s a rough game, tough game. It’s not for the weak of heart. Chabby is known as an offensive player, but he’s tough as nails, plays through a lot of pain. … He’s a warrior, that guy.”

Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson each scored, and Leevi Merilainen made 21 saves for the Senators (20-15-5), who have won two straight after losing three in a row (0-2-1).

“It was a bit of an ugly game, I think, a lot of special teams and stuff like that,” Batherson said. “But we found a way to win it. Leevi made some big stops at some big times. We’ll take the win. It was a big game for us.”

Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist, and Adam Lowry scored for the Jets (15-21-4), who lost 6-5 at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, and are 0-6-3 in their past nine. Connor Hellebuyck, who is 1-5-3 in his past nine starts since returning from a knee injury on Dec. 13, made 23 saves.

“That’s an incomplete game,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “That’s not 60 minutes. You can’t win in this League, like I’ve mentioned before [if you don’t] play 60 minutes. We’ve got to find a way, individually, each and every guy that has something to bring, and it has to come for 60 minutes. It can’t come for partial periods.”

Lowry gave the Jets a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 12:08 of the first period. Connor knocked down a pass from Batherson and banked the puck off the boards to Lowry in the neutral zone, where he collected it and went forehand-backhand between Merilainen's pads on a breakaway.

“It’s been tough,” Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “There’s been some things that are obviously self-inflicted, there’s been some things out of our control. It just seems that everything is kind of going wrong at the same time right now.”

Chabot tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 15:03, taking a Brady Tkachuk pass from below the goal line and burying a wrist shot from the high slot.

Chabot scored his second at 5:56 of the second period to make it 2-1 when he lifted a rebound from the left face-off circle over a sprawling Hellebuyck.

“I just think the whole second period was pretty lifeless,” Lowry said.

Chabot needed “a few” stitches after taking a clearing attempt from Winnipeg forward Tanner Pearson to the face at 14:17. He returned for the third period with a bubble shield and finished with three blocks in 20:30 of ice time.

“Once I saw that, well, teeth is one thing, but that the jaw also wasn’t broken or anything, then, I mean, you’re good to go,” Chabot said.

Batherson extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 15:50, using Shane Pinto as a screen and scoring with a wrist shot off a no-look pass from Tim Stutzle.

Stutzle's assist extended his point streak to 12 games (19 points; eight goals, 11 assists).

The Jets cut the deficit to 3-2 at 10:10 of the third period. Demelo’s point shot rang off the crossbar and landed the stick of Connor, who tapped it into an open net.

“You’ve got to play games in this League, you can’t mail them in,” Arniel said. “You know what? I’m not going to let these guys quit and not come out and perform, but we need to do it [with] everybody for 60 minutes.”

Giroux handcuffed Hellebuyck with a wrist shot from just inside the right circle for the 4-2 final at 15:28.

“Every game’s a little different, but tonight, I think we played the way, our identity, we want it to be,” Giroux said. “We want to be a hard team to play. I think if we play like that most of the nights, we’re going to give ourselves a great chance to win.”

NOTES: Lowry’s 12th career short-handed goal tied him with Marian Hossa for the most in Jets/Thrashers history. … Ottawa was 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 2-for-5 on the power play. … Merilainen posted his first save percentage of .900 or above since Nov. 24.