In Ottawa, Josh Norris hit for a hat trick on Sunday and the Senators downed the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2.
It was his first career NHL hat trick.
“I went to my fair share of games at the old rink, at Joe Louis [Arena], and I’ve been to a couple games at the new rink (Little Caesars Arena), too,” Norris said. “It was the team I idolized. Guys like [Pavel] Datsyuk and [Henrik] Zetterberg and [Nicklas] Lidstrom, those were kind of the big guys when I was growing up as a kid.”
The Senators improved to 25-37-6.
“It’s impressive. He’s hot right now,” the Senators’ Brady Tkachuk said. “Anytime he touches the puck, it’s got a chance of going in. Super exciting. Super awesome. … Every time it goes in, ka-ching. A little more cash coming his way.”
Anton Forsberg made 30 saves in the Ottawa win.
Michael Rasmussen and Dylan Larkin were the Detroit strikers.
“The guys are frustrated,” Larkin said. “It just hasn’t gone the way any of us wanted it to go since even before the trade deadline. We’ve had the hardest schedule, but it’s frustrating as it can be. We were the closest we’ve been in a couple years, and we’re playing well, we play well at home, and then we’ve just really fallen off.
“It is frustrating. We’ve got to get something positive here to end the season on. We can’t go into the summer like this and into next year.”
Detroit fell to 26-34-9.
Rasmussen made it 1-0 for Detroit with an early goal.
“There’s no doubt that right now we’re beat down mentally,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Now, that’s not an excuse. We’ve got to fix that, but that’s the reality of it, and we’ve got to climb our way out of it.”
Ottawa’s Artem Zub knotted it at 1-1 late in the first period.
“Everyone in our locker room is playing for something,” Larkin said. “There’s roles on the team next year, there’s contracts, you’re playing for a lot here. If that’s not enough, you’ve got to play for the love of the game and come out and enjoy it, enjoy the grind of it and enjoy being in a one-goal game and playing the right way.
“I look around and I don’t see a lot of joy. I don’t see a lot of guys having fun, and we need to change that and enjoy playing hockey.”
Nikita Zaitsev added an empty-net strike late in the third for the 5-2 final.
“They’re a good team,” Tkachuk said of Detroit. “They’re kind of like us. They’re a young team, up-and-coming. We’ll be battling with them in the years to come in our division.”
Thomas Greiss made 31 saves in the Red Wings loss.
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