Ottawa power past San Jose, 5-2

“We were playing good hockey for a while and we weren’t getting the results,” Giroux said. “And when you don’t get the results, you start doubting the way you’re playing. But we just have to trust that the way we’re playing is going to work. Tonight was a great example of just having to stick with it.”

Anton Forsberg made 35 saves in the Sens win.

“Kudos to the fans and the crowd that gave us that energy,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “If it’s a dead crowd or maybe there’s not enough fans here tonight, maybe we don’t find that gear. I think the guys felt that right from the anthem on out.”

Ottawa improved to 10-13-1.

“We’re playing more like a team, for sure,” Forsberg said. “We’re battling hard, we’re battling for 60 minutes. I think that’s the biggest key. It’s a tight game out there and every team is good, so you’ve got to play 60 minutes every game.”

Tomas Hertl hit for a double for the Sharks, who had a 2-1 lead in the first period.

“We find ways to lose,” San Jose captain Logan Couture said. “I’ve said that many times this year. Until we fix that and find ways to start winning games, it’s not going to be going in the right direction.”

The Sharks dropped to 8-15-4.

“You can’t take that many penalties against that team,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Some sloppy stick penalties that we can’t have. It’s frustrating because I thought there were some things in our game that I liked. We had some good chances we didn’t capitalize on.

“It’s a different thing every night, it seems like. Cure one problem and another one pops up.”

Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play in the first period for the Senators.

Giroux tied the game, 2-2, in the second, and Tim Stutzle scored off the power play for a 3-2 advantage.

Ottawa struck for three power play goals in the game,.

Thomas Chabot hit for the Sens third power play marker n the third period for a 4-2 lead.

Giroux added his second late in the frame for the 5-2 final.

“In between periods, I told [Shane] Pinto I was gonna score on a slap shot,” Giroux said. “So I didn’t really have a choice.”

Kaapo Kahkonen made 34 saves in the San Jose loss.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but we killed ourselves in the second and third because we took way too many penalties, especially in the [offensive] zone,” Hertl said. “It just can’t happen.”