With a goal and three assists, Claude Giroux led the Ottawa Senators to a 6-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings Monday night.
This was the first of a back-to-back set between the two teams who are battling for position in the tight Eastern Conference wild-card race.
The Senators (29-26-4) now trail the Red Wings (28-23-8) by two points making Tuesday's rematch critical to stay within the pack of six teams all battling for playoff berths.
Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Tim Stützle also scored for Ottawa, while Cam Talbot made 22 saves.
Tyler Bertuzzi and David Perron scored for the Red Wings. Magnus Hellberg stopped 36 shots.
The Red Wings will undoubtedly want to be more disciplined Tuesday after giving Ottawa six power plays and seeing them convert on two of them, which helped put the game out of reach.
Leading 5-2 late in the third, Stützle was able to get on the scoresheet with his 27th goal of the season.
After going 0-for-2 with the man advantage in the first period, the Senators connected on the third with Sanderson scoring through traffic from the blue line to make it 1-1 early in the second. Detroit responded with its own power-play goal when Perron fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle.
Ottawa then scored three unanswered goals.
Batherson tied the game midway through the period with his 12th power-play goal of the season. Giroux gave Ottawa the lead when he broke in alone, and while he fanned on the shot after being hooked by Gustav Lindstrom, it was enough to fool Hellberg and beat him five-hole.
Giroux then managed to send a cross-ice backhand pass to Tkachuk who went on to beat Hellberg far-side to make it 4-2.
At the end of the period Tkachuk stood in front of the Red Wings' bench and could be seen mouthing "Who wants it?''
"I needed to be at my best tonight,'' said Tkachuk. "Like I said, these are huge games for our team and I just wanted to do whatever it takes to help the team win and whether that was by emotion or physicality or making the play at the right time, but everybody did that tonight.
"It wasn't just me. Everybody put their heart on their sleeve and did it for the guy next to them.''
Stützle was able to get on the scoresheet with his 27th goal of the season late in the third.
Interesting fact
Magnus Hellberg has had quite the season. Last July the 31-year-old left the Red Wings as a free agent and signed with Seattle. He was placed on waivers during the pre-season and claimed by the Senators on Oct. 3. Just over a month later, after having made one appearance for Ottawa, was put back on waivers and claimed by Seattle. The Kraken then placed Hellberg back on waivers and he was claimed by Detroit where he's now having a chance to play meaningful games.
Notes
Detroit's Michael Rasmussen will be out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Lucas Raymond returned to the Red Wings lineup after missing eight games with a lower-body injury.
Up next
These two teams are back in action against each other Tuesday night. Monday's game was a make up for the contest that was cancelled on Dec. 23 due to a snowstorm.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2023.
