Special teams help Senators cruise past Ducks

ANAHEIM -- The Ottawa Senators scored three power-play goals and went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill in a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.

Derick Brassard and Mathieu Joseph each had a goal and two assists, Drake Batherson had two assists, and Cam Talbot made 31 saves for the Senators (7-12-1), who ended a three-game losing streak in which they scored one goal in each.
Ottawa was 3-for-8 with the man-advantage against Anaheim, which entered Saturday last in the NHL on the power play (12.5 percent) and second to last on the penalty kill (66.2 percent).
"We had a really good effort today," Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. "Special teams came up big, [the penalty kill] was great tonight and the power play showed up when we needed it to. Overall, it was a really fun experience."
Max Jones scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves for the Ducks (6-14-1), who have lost four of their past five games. They were coming off their first regulation win this season, 3-2 against the visiting New York Rangers on Wednesday.
"The lesson there is that we have a young team," Anaheim defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "We have a lot of guys in here who are starting to realize how hard it is to win in this league."

The Senators killed two penalties before starting their first power play at 15:25 of the first period. Tkachuk scored in the low slot off a touch pass from Batherson to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 16:24.
"Great play by Drake," Tkachuk said. "Just tried to get a whack on it. From then on, it just felt like we played a really solid game, a really mature game, and just followed the game plan to a T."
Brassard finished on the rush to make it 2-0 at 18:19.
"We took three penalties in the first period, which you can't do, but Talbot was good wire to wire," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "It's unfortunate the shutout is not his. He certainly deserved it."

The Ducks committed three minor penalties the first 11:15 of the second period, and
Tim Stutzle
scored on a wrist shot from the slot during the second of those penalties to make it 3-0 at 10:29.
"We certainly don't want to be going to the box the way our penalty kill has been going this year," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "I thought Ottawa did a great job at drawing penalties a certain way. Every team in the League is the same. You don't want to take a penalty unless you're going to save a goal."
Artem Zub scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle to extend the lead to 4-0 at 14:54.
Ottawa scored its third power-play goal on Joseph's off-balance one-timer from the slot off a feed from behind the net by Brassard, making it 5-0 at 6:49 of the third period.

"Penalties were kind of everywhere today," Jones said. "Ruins the flow of the game. There were a lot of them. It's hard to stick in it through those games like that. I think that's something we've got to figure out moving forward. ... All around, just kind of a mess today."
Jones prevented Talbot's first shutout of the season and fourth against Anaheim when he got to a loose puck in a crowded crease to make it 5-1 at 17:10.
"That goal we gave up at the end was not what we were hoping for," Brassard said. "We wanted to play the last five minutes (for Talbot)."
NOTES: Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot returned after missing five games with a concussion. He assisted on Tkachuk's goal and played 25:01. ... Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg was unavailable because of a lower-body injury. The Senators recalled Kevin Mandolese from Belleville of the American Hockey League to back up Talbot on Saturday. ... The Senators improved to 2-6-1 on the road this season. ... Anaheim had won four in a row against Ottawa. ... Ducks defenseman John Klingberg was scratched with a lower-body injury. ... Anaheim defenseman Nathan Beaulieu returned after missing six games with an undisclosed injury. He had an assist in 15:54 of ice time.