In Ottawa, the Senators’ Brady Tkachuk hit for a hat trick on Tuesday night in a 6-3 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
“You always kind of dream about that when you’re a kid,” Tkachuk, Ottawa’s captain, said about watching the hats rain down from the stands after completing his second NHL hat trick. “For it to happen, it’s pretty special, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without a lot of great players on the ice and just trying to find open ice for guys. I was more happy with the outcome and how we battled until the very end.”
Anton Forsberg made 37 saves in the win.
The Senators moved to 22-25-2.
“I think we’re playing with a lot more confidence,” Ottawa forward Ridly Greig said. “We’re not so fragile, I think. It’s really coming together and stringing along pretty good for us.”
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the first period off a goal by Kent Johnson at 7:11. The goal came off a ping-pong series of deflections before finding the back of the net.
“We played a good first five, six minutes,” Columbus’ Boone Jenner said. “Kind of played into their hands after that, giving them the puck. … We’ve just got to get behind them. We did that after, but we spotted them a couple goals there on our mistakes and it gave them momentum.”
Tkachuk picked up a double in a span of 48 seconds to help the Sens take the leak.
He tied the game, 1-1, at 9:48 off a power play strike.
“Right off the bat, I thought he had a real good game,” Martin said of Tkachuk. “I mean, two of the goals on the power play, but he’s really very effective in front of the net. He’s played really good lately. I think when you look at the number of goals he’s scored (25), he’s leading our team in goals, so I think it’s encouraging.”
Tkachuk scored off an odd man rush just 48 seconds later for a 2-1 lead to Ottawa.
“It’s awesome,” Chabot said of Tkachuk’s hat trick. “He’s been the rock here for us, and obviously he’s always the one that needs to face every noise, whether [it’s] good or bad. To see him have a great game like that and carry the load for us, I mean, every guy is happy for him.”
On another odd man rush, Claude Giroux hit for a shorthanded marker at 14:46 for a 3-1 lead to Ottawa headed to the middle frame.
Ottawa;s Greig pushed the lead to 4-1 at 5:37 of the second period, scoring off a tip in.
Jenner tried to rally the Blue Jackets back with a strike at 10:41 to make the score 4-2.
Jack Roslovic trimmed the Columbus deficit to 4-3 at 13:54 of the second on a shot from near the goal line.
“He works hard. He always thinks we’re in the game,” Columbus’ Johnny Gaudreau said of Jenner. “He’s our leader, so guys follow him and he does a great job with that. Again, like tonight, he scored a big goal, got us within two, and Jack scored a big goal and got us within one. We were right there, just fell short.
“I thought we played well the first six minutes (of the first period) and then [had] a couple of bad turnovers and they found a lead. I thought we fought back in the second and third, though.”
Columbus dropped to 16-26-10.
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