In Orrawa, Anthony Duclair finished off a hat trick in grand fashion on Saturday.
He scored his third goal of the day in extra time to send the Senators to a 4-3 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
Athony Duclair hat trick powers Sens over Columbus – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“He’s a shooter and [he’s] been good for us all year,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said of Duclair. “He has certainly found his groove. I don’t think it matters that it’s against his old club; I don’t think he’s that kind of kid. I think he just wants to help his team.”
Duclair has 26 goals on the season.
“[I’m] just getting the opportunity to prove myself every shift,” Duclair said. “Sometimes I don’t have a good shift or make a bad play or whatnot, but the big thing is I am right back out there next shift and I can prove myself, that it won’t happen again. Compare it to the past, sometimes if I’d make a mistake or whatnot, I’m sort of glued to the bench. So, I’m happy to get continual opportunities.”
Anders Nilsson made 38 saves for the win.
“He (Nilsson) was good all night,” Smith said. “If it’s not for him, we’re not sitting here, we don’t win the game. It’s that simple. But that’s part of it; sometimes the goalie’s got to steal you one. I think he did tonight.”
Alexandre Texier struck twice for Columbus.
“[We] played hard,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said. “[We] stayed with it and had chances to win it before we take that penalty [in overtime]. So, some good things there.”
Cam Atkinson added a single marker in the loss.
“When we play in groups of five, when we play together, when we’re skating, when we’re making passes, we’re hard to play against. We showed that in the third period” the Blue Jackets’ Pierre-Luc Dubois said. ”
Connor Brown also scored for the Sens.
“Last year and this year as well, we’re a young team and we’re developing our young guys,” Duclair said. ” But that doesn’t mean that we’re throwing in the towel. We don’t want to coast through this 82-game season. We still want to make a push for it. We’re doing way better than people thought, so that’s a positive sign.” –
[WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Senators highlights]
Elvis Merzlikins got the start for the Blue Jackets, but was given the hook in the first intermission after yielding two goals and making six saves.
“We just battled back and climbed back into the game,” Korpisalo said. “I think we were there, but the last period was significantly better than the first and second.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 17 saves after entering the game in the second period.
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