Senators score four in second period to defeat Canucks

OTTAWA --Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk each had a goal and an assist for the Ottawa Senators in a 6-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.

"Chabot was outstanding," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said of the defenseman. "He had the puck on his stick the entire game. He's skating, he's playing well in the [offensive] zone. A lot of times, people want to point out he makes mistakes because he plays so many minutes, but you watch him play tonight and how many plays he made, it's phenomenal."
Tkachuk had a game-high six shots. He leads the NHL with 201.
"He just keeps getting bigger and he keeps getting stronger and he keeps working on his game," Smith said of the forward. "He drives the guys up front here, physically."
Marcus Hogberg made 19 saves for the Senators (19-27-4), who scored four goals in the second period and are 5-1-0 in their past six games.
Tyler Myers had a goal and an assist, and Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for the Canucks (19-21-3), who are 3-5-1 in their past nine.
"We didn't play good enough to win, that's for sure," Vancouver coach Travis Green said. "We weren't very good tonight. We got what we deserved."
Vancouver won the season series 6-3-0 against Ottawa, with Ottawa winning its three in this four-game set. The Senators moved into sixth place in the seven-team Scotia North Division, nine points behind the Montreal Canadiens for fourth. Vancouver is seventh, 10 points behind Montreal. The top four teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Victor Mete took a stretch pass from Alex Formenton and scored with a snap shot to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:04 of the first period. It was Mete's first goal with the Senators; he was claimed off waivers from the Canadiens on April 12.
"I thought we looked a little tired tonight, to be honest," Green said. "Physically, and I thought we looked mentally tired too. But there's no rule in the League that you can't win when you're tired."

After Chabot's point shot was blocked at the edge of the crease, Chris Tierney tapped in the rebound to make it 2-0 at 38 seconds of the second period. Tkachuk won a puck battle with Canucks forward J.T. Miller and made a cross-crease pass to Josh Norris for a goal to make it 3-0 at 1:10.
"Am I disappointed tonight? Yeah, for sure," Green said. "How could we not be? You want to win, you want your players to win badly, your coaching staff wants to win badly. We should be disappointed that we lost. When you lose a big game -- and we've lost two in a row here that were big games -- there's nothing wrong with being disappointed."
Myers scored with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle to cut it to 3-1 at 5:43. Chabot scored on a rebound from a sharp angle to make it 4-1 at 6:36.

Jake Virtanen cut it to 4-2 at 7:23 by scoring into an open net after Hogberg gave away the puck behind the goal.
Tkachuk scored with a snap shot under Demko's glove on a breakaway to make it 5-2 at 16:13, and Colin White scored into an empty net to extend the lead to 6-2 at 14:33 of the third period.
"Tonight, it starts with us defending," Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler said. "That's something we've talked about. You've got to defend well to shut down the other team and create offense. I think we've got to do a better job of that. It's all five guys working together in our [defensive] zone, whether it's back pressure or communication or puck battles."
Brandon Sutter's shot deflected in off Chabot's stick to cut it to 6-3 at 17:43.
"As long as we play like we did today and we continue to build off that," Tkachuk said, "I think everybody can look at themselves going into next year with a smile on their face and say that they left it all out there."
NOTES: Tkachuk got the first Gordie Howe Hat Trick of his NHL career (goal, assist, fighting major). He fought Vancouver forward Zack MacEwen in the first period. "I'm not going to lie to you, it was pretty cool," Tkachuk said. "I've definitely had opportunities beforehand. I just haven't got it done." … The Senators defeated the Canucks 3-0 on Thursday and lost to them 4-2 on Saturday, both on the road, before defeating them 2-1 here Monday. Ottawa lost the first five games of the season series.