Norris, Senators send Oilers to sixth straight loss

EDMONTON --Josh Norris scored two power-play goals for the Ottawa Senators, who handed the Edmonton Oilers their sixth straight loss, 6-4 at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Adam Gaudette and Alex Formenton each had a goal and assist in the third period, and Matt Murray made 33 saves for Ottawa (11-18-2), which won trailing after two periods for the first time this season.
"It's not really how we drew it up, but that's how hockey goes sometimes," Norris said. "I think it was a lot of fun and the guys enjoyed it. We have to clean some things up, but that's hockey and it's the way the game goes sometimes. We kind of thrived on that and it was great to get the win."
Jesse Puljujarvi had two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 20 saves for Edmonton (18-15-2), which was playing its first game since Jan. 5.
"I'm not sure what to tell you, it's been a long layoff coming in," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. "We worked ourselves to a 3-1 lead and gave it away. I wish I had an answer. We were rolling along and got a couple of chances early and don't finish them and we gave up a 2-on-1."
McDavid returned to the lineup after missing one game in NHL COVID-19 protocol and had seven shots on goal.
Asked if it was the toughest regular season loss of his NHL career, the center said, "It's definitely up there."

Norris scored to make it 5-4 at 16:18 of the third period on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. He gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 10:35 of the first period.
Zack Kassian tied it 1-1 on the power play at 19:12, scoring on a shot from the slot off a pass from Leon Draisaitl.
Kailer Yamamoto stumbled but recovered to score on a breakaway at 12:18 of the second period to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead. Brendan Perlini extended the lead to 3-1 at 17:34.
"That's one we let slip away, we're going into the third period with the lead, and we couldn't wrap it up," Kassian said. "We need to wrap it up, we need to win that game."
Gaudette made it 3-2 at 2:41 of the third period. He took a centering pass from Formenton and scored on a backhand. Formenton tied it 3-3 at 5:07, scoring on a rebound off a shot from Gaudette.
"It was a lot of fun [and], personally, it's been a while since I've had that much fun playing hockey," Gaudette said. "It's been a tough year and a half or so, so it really feels good to contribute and to help this team win. That's what I'm here for, to do anything possible to help this team progress and win.
"It's a great group of guys in the locker room and credit to everyone, we really stuck with it, down two goals, we didn't roll over, we just came back and played our game and stuck with our system and good things happen because of that."

Artem Zub scored on a shot from the left face-off circle at 10:40 to give the Senators a 4-3 lead.
Darnell Nurse tied it 4-4 at 12:17, taking a pass from Zach Hyman at the right face-off circle.
"I think a lot of other times you're down 3-1, you try to take care of it yourself and you try to do it yourself and you end up losing 5-1 or 6-1," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "We mixed the lines up a little bit and that Chris] Tierney, Gaudette, Formenton line gave us a spark and it was a great goal by Gaudette, and then Formenton gets one, and it just put us on the board."
Zach Sanford scored into an empty net at 19:02 for the 6-4 final.
Edmonton is 2-10-2 in its past 14 games after starting the season 9-1-0.
"We're just finding ways to lose," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "We did a lot of good things in the game, but there's some areas; we took a penalty early in the game and gave up a goal, we took a penalty late in the game and gave up a goal, and there were some things in between. Lots of things we've been talking of trying to do, we did, but ultimately, we're finding ways to lose games."
NOTES: Murray won two games in a row for the first time this season and is 2-6-0 in nine starts. … Senators forward
[Tim Stutzle
had an assist and one shot on goal in 14:37 of ice time on his 20th birthday. He missed a 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Gaudette has scored two goals in three games with Ottawa after being claimed off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 27. … The Senators won two games in a row for the third time this season (Dec. 11-13, and three games, Dec. 2-6). … Edmonton is 1-6-0 in its past seven games at home and played its first home game since Dec. 16, a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. … Kassian's goal was his first since Nov. 24, ending an 11-game drought.