In Ottawa, the visiting ANaheim Ducks; Cam Fowler and Frank Vatrano hit for a goal apiece and three points in a 5-1 thumping of the Senators on Thursday night.
“I thought our guys did a really good job,” Fowler said. “Nobody was happy with, not just the result of [losing 5-0 to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday], but the way that game kind of went about, so we put in a lot of good work yesterday and came to the rink ready to play tonight and it showed. I’m so proud of our guys for responding that way.”
John Gibson got the start for Anaheim, and made 15 saves through two periods of play, he left the game in the second intermission for an upper body injury.
Lukas Dostal made 18 saves in the third period, in relief.
The Ducks moved to 19-32-2.
Mason McTavish hit for a double in the win.
“His game was really good,” Fowler said of McTavish. “When he’s at his best, I think he’s involved physically like that. He’s really a prototypical power forward, so he was mixing it up all night and then got on the scoresheet a couple of times. I’m sure he’s pumped, and he helped the team win, but it was a big night for him as well.”
Anaheim took a 1-0 lead when Pavel Mintyukov struck at 9:19 of the opening stanza, it was his first marker in 11 games.
“Offensively, I think we were very opportunistic,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We had some cycles where we kept it in their zone for a bit, but not enough for me. I thought they controlled the puck more than we did on those cycles. I thought our transition game was good and I felt the emphasis today was to defend, and I thought we defended hard.”
Vatrano pushed the lead to 2-0 at 17:25 of the middle frame with a power play strike.
“I just didn’t think our compete level was high enough,” Senators interim coach Jacques Martin said. “But give them credit; they outworked us, they worked hard, they were on the puck. We didn’t have time and space. It’s a team that obviously, they had lost badly the last game, had a hard practice yesterday and they got the message. We had a good stretch going, so I think that we’ve just got to regroup.”
McTavish potted his first of the night at 18:59 of the second for a 3-0 lead.
McTavish collected his double at 2:18 of the third to balloon the advantage to 4-0 for Anaheim. .
“It’s great to get the win here in front of a lot of friends and family,” said McTavish, who grew up in Carp, Ontario, 13 minutes northwest of the arena. “It’s great for them to be here and support me.”
The Senators dropped to 22-26-2 off their fourth straight loss.
“It just wasn’t our best game, by any means,” Ottawa defenseman Jakob Chychrun said. “We started slow, and they were just outworking us all over the ice. It’s a tough one to swallow. It just seemed like we were disconnected all over the ice and they played well. So, they definitely deserve that one and we did not.”
Claude Giroux was the lone striker for the Senators.
“It’s frustrating to have this effort tonight,” Giroux said. “We’ve been playing some really good hockey lately. I know it happens sometimes in a season that you have a flat game like this, but with the position we’re in right now, it’s unacceptable.”
Giroux’s goal came at 4:43 of the third off man odd man rush to make the score 4-1., scoring on a 2-on-1.
Fowler hit off the power play midway through the third for the 5-1 final count on the scoreboard. 
Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves in the loss.
“We didn’t play our best game with or without the puck tonight,” Giroux said. “Even myself, it’s unacceptable the way I played, and we played. It just can’t happen.”

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