Three Thoughts: Norris scores hat-trick against hometown team
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Josh Norris stole the storylines with his first career NHL hat-trick but the Sens did suffer the loss of Tyler Ennis for the season in what was his 700th game, as Three Thoughts examines.
Norris scores hat-trick versus hometown team
For the seventh time in his career, Josh Norris had tallied a multi-goal NHL game.
On Sunday, he made sure he recorded his first NHL hat-trick.
The Sens top centre completed his first three-goal game with an empty-net goal at 18:23 against his hometown team.
"It's pretty cool," Norris said of scoring a hat-trick against the Detroit Red Wings. "That's the team I grew up watching and went to my fair share of games at the old rink at Joe Louis. It was a team I idolized with guys like Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom.
"It's definitely a little bit extra special."
Norris grabbed his first of the night at 2:32 of the second and in typical fashion, it came on a one-timer on the power play from the right circle, to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead. He made it 3-1 at 14:16 as he hammered in a rebound after Nick Holden's point shot had been saved by Thomas Greiss.
"His shot and the ability to score takes over," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said of Norris.
His hat-trick goal also carried some extra meaning; it took Norris to 30 goals on the season as he became the first Senator since Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza in 2011-12 to achieve that feat. He is also the 10th different player in franchise history to score 30 goals in a season.
"He's an elite player," Holden said. "He's showing that pretty consistently right now … you love to see that for your teammates."
Enzo likely lost for season in 700th game
Sunday was a milestone afternoon for Tyler Ennis but it ended in disappointment for the veteran winger.
In his 700th NHL game, Ennis left in the second period with a shoulder injury and did not return.
Senators head coach D.J. Smith announced after that he is likely done for the season.
The 32-year-old had eight goals and 24 points in 57 games this season after he had joined the team on a professional tryout agreement ahead of training camp before he ultimately signed a one-year contract with the team on Oct. 7.
"[He is] one of the favourites in every locker room he's been in," Smith said of Ennis. "Everywhere he's gone, guys like him … I know how much the guys on our team respect him."
The 26th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft by Buffalo, Ennis is the 20th player from his draft class to skate in 700 games and ranks 13th in scoring with 346 points.
"He's not a big guy but he played 700 games, and he's had some injuries throughout with different teams, and took a pay cut to stay in the league," Smith said. "It'd be easy for a guy like him to go to Europe a couple of years ago to get paid but he loves the NHL."
Sens dominate home-and-home
The Senators and Red Wings seem primed to battle for many years ahead.
Both teams are young and possess plenty of talent; the Sens with Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot, Josh Norris, Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk among others while the Red Wings have Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider for the foreseeable future.
"A bit like us, [they're] a young team that's up-and-coming and we'll be battling with them for years to come in our division," Tkachuk said.
If this is the first punch of a rivalry, then the Sens collected a decisive knockout. The Sens won Friday and Sunday by identical 5-2 scorelines as they won back-to-back games for the first time since March 8-10.
In addition to Norris' hat-trick last night, Mathieu Joseph recorded his first career three-goal game Friday in Detroit and in two games versus the Red Wings, the newest Senator has seven points.
Joseph and Holden were a staggering +6 in the two games while Mads Sogaard memorably won his NHL debut Friday night with a 27-save performance.
"I think we've been good the last few games," Holden said. "Our focus is to finish hard and win as many games down the stretch as we can."
The Sens have 14 games left this season, one of which is a final matchup with the Red Wings in Detroit April 12.
