In Ottawa, Jean-Gabriel Pageau‘s shorthanded goal in the second period, helped overcome an early for the Detroit Red Wings rally and gave the Senators a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish in a 5-2 win.
Anthony Duclair struck twice for the Senators.
The win ended a four-game slide (0-3-1) by the Sens.
“We weren’t too pleased with what happened on the road trip,” Duclair said of losing all three games (0-2-1). “One point out of six wasn’t good enough. There’s games where you’re going to lose, but you’ve got to make sure your effort level is there. Coming back at home in front of our fans, we wanted to make sure we had a good showing and I think we had a solid 60 minutes tonight.”
Anders Nilsson made 34 saves in the win.
“Maybe [the Red Wings] were a little tired on a back to back, but I think we just kind of smothered them,” Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki said. “That’s the type of hockey we have to play to be successful, and we’re going to slowly figure that out. If we can bring that kind of effort from everyone every night we’re going to put ourselves in a good spot.”
Darren Helm and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for the Wings to give them a 2-1 lead before Borowiecki tied it.
“We’re digging ourselves a big hole again here now,” forward Frans Nielsen said. “This is the third year in a row now we’ve done that, right out of the gate, and I don’t know what to say. I don’t even care what it looks like next time, we just have to find a way to win right now.”
Chris Tierney opened the scoring to give the Sens a 1-0 lead before the Wings rallied for two straight goals.
“I thought tonight was the worst defensively we’ve played in a while,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Ottawa, they played hard, but we were loose.”
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Senators highlights]
Jonathan Bernier made 33 saves in the loss.
“We’re digging ourselves a big hole again here now,” forward Frans Nielsen said. “This is the third year in a row now we’ve done that, right out of the gate, and I don’t know what to say. I don’t even care what it looks like next time, we just have to find a way to win right now.”
Detroit has lost six straight.
“We’ve got to be tighter [defensively]. We’ve got to find a way to learn to win games 2-1, and [when it’s] 1-1, take it to overtime, whatever it is. We’ve got to find ways,
Nielsen added. “This league is a grind and we have got to start figuring that out.”
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