In Ottawa, Josh Norris hit for a double for the Senators in a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
“I think when we play the system to a T like that, that’s kind of what happens,” Norris said. “And obviously, it’s not going to be perfect every game, but that’s just a game we can look back on and kind of use it as a baseline to know that we can play that way and make it frustrating on other teams. I think we gave up 15 shots tonight, so it’s hard for the other team to score when you do that.”
Anton Forsberg made 14 saves in the win.
“You can’t get 15 shots and win a game,” Dallas’ Matt Duchene said. “That’s very, very rare. You have to have a goaltender absolutely steal it for you, and we kind of hung ours out to dry at times by just not executing.”
The Senators moved to 24-27-3, and have a three-game point streak.
“I thought we played an excellent game tonight,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “I thought that was probably the game that we did the best job at checking. Our play away from the puck, I thought, was good. I thought our [defensemen] were good at getting back pucks and our forwards were being available. I thought we did a good job in the offensive zone controlling the puck. This is a good team, and I thought we did a real good job.”
Norris potted his first of the game at 4:10 of the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to Ottawa. it was his first goal in 20 games.
“It just feels good to contribute,” Norris said. “Just been a little bit frustrating this year and just want to do my part and just taking it one day at a time right now. So, definitely a step in the right direction.”
Dallas’ Joe Pavelski tied the game, 1-1, with 10 seconds left in the first period.
“This room had all the feel that we were going to play a really good game,” Pavelski said. “Coming in, you could tell the guys were there, and then we got out there and we got worse as the game went on.
“Tough one. They won a lot of battles. They were faster than us all night.”
The Stars dropped to 34-16-8 off their fourth straight loss.
“We weren’t competitive enough,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “And this is a league where you have to earn your wins, and we’ve been pretty good about that all year, but we weren’t in the game tonight right from the drop of the puck.
“There’s good losses and there are bad losses, and this is about as bad a loss that you can have. We’ve got to respond.”
Norris collected his double at 5:37 of the middle frame for a 2-1 lead to Ottawa.
Thomas Chabot pushed the advantage to 3-at 8:56 of the second.
“I think the biggest thing for us was, going into the third with the lead, was to keep playing the same way and not give them anything,” Chabot said. “I think we did a great job with that. Obviously, a great night through and through in the lineup. Everybody played a great game, and it’s obviously a great result.”
Shane Pinto hit off the power play with 17 seconds left in the second for the 4-1 final count on the scoreboard.
“All four lines were going and we got good goaltending,” Pinto said. “We played the right way, 200 feet, and the result showed. It was a good game for us.
“I think we do need to do a better job of being more consistent in all games no matter who we play. When we do play these top teams, it seems like we find a way to play our best, but that’s just got to be consistent from here on out.”
Jake Oettinger got the start, and yielded three goals, making eight saves before getting the hook in the middle frame.
Scott Wedgewood made 18 saves in relief.
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