WINNIPEG — Connor Brown was glad the Ottawa Senators turned the tables on an opponent Thursday.
The Senators scored a trio of third-period goals in just over three minutes to clinch a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
The win followed Ottawa's 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
“I thought we played a pretty solid game in New York, but we weren’t really patient down the stretch and they outwitted us,” said Brown, who scored the third goal in Thursday's late trio.
“And I thought we did that to (Winnipeg) tonight. It was a nice step in the right direction.”
Captain Brady Tkachuk recorded a pair of goals for Ottawa (23-36-5), which had lost five of six games heading into the match.
Tyler Ennis and Colin White also scored, and Tim Stutzle and Michael Del Zotto each picked up a pair of assists.
Anton Forsberg made 22 saves.
Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor, with his 40th goal of the season, scored for the Jets (30-25-10), who ended a two-game win streak.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced in his 55th game of the season.
“At this time of year, with the position that we’re in, we want to get on a run,” Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said. “But this is not an easy league to do that in. There are some pretty good teams and Ottawa was great tonight. There’s no way around that.
“We played into how they want to play and we didn’t play the hockey that we need to play to win games. Fortunately enough, we have a game again tomorrow so we’ve got to go out and change that.”
The Jets host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. The Senators are home to the Florida Panthers Saturday night.
Winnipeg's loss didn't help its quest to grab the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The team sits at 70 points.
The Dallas Stars kept their hold on the second spot with 75 points after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout Thursday. The Vegas Golden Knights had 72 points before hosting the Nashville Predators (78 points) in a late game.
“We know the position that we’re in and we know the importance of every game. Our focus is to get ready for tomorrow,” said Winnipeg's interim coach Dave Lowry.
Winnipeg and Ottawa both scored in the first period.
Morrissey recorded his 10th of the season with a play Forsberg would probably take back.
Morrissey appeared to be passing the puck across the front of the net to Blake Wheeler, but Forsberg got his pad on it and it went under him at 8:38.
Tkachuk tied it up at 14:03 after deflecting in Artem Zub's point shot.
After neither team found the back of the net in the second, Ottawa stepped on the gas.
The barrage of third-period goals started with Ennis breaking the 1-1 tie on a two-on-one with Mathieu Joseph with 7:35 left in the third.
White made it 3-1 at 14:41 on the power play and Brown finished off the trio of markers at 15:40.
“We don’t want to roll over for anybody, but we want to get some identity here with our work ethic,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said.
“I think our last two games (it) has been there. We can’t give a bunch of chances up and expect to outscore you, so we’re going to try to out-defend you. And I think we’ve done that the last couple of games.”
Connor put in his 40th goal at 17:06, extending his point streak to nine games with seven goals and 11 assists.
Tkachuk added his empty-netter at 18:44.
Senators defenceman Travis Hamonic, 31, made his Ottawa debut and played his 700th NHL game. The native of St. Malo, Man., was traded to the Senators from Vancouver on Monday.
“Obviously the addition of Hamonic tonight, we were real steady back there,” Smith said. “You could see, he just knows how to make the right play or where to stand, and just real calming for our back end. And a real hardworking effort by the forwards.”
NOTES — New Jets forward Zach Sanford was facing his former Senators teammates after his trade from Ottawa. … The Jets had played every team in the league except the Senators until Thursday's match. They face off again in Ottawa on April 10.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2022.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
