OTTAWA — Anders Nilsson stopped 45 shots for his first shutout of the season as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-0 Thursday night.
Matt Duchene led the way with two goals for the Senators (20-29-5), who snapped a five-game losing streak. Brady Tkachuk, Chris Tierney and Mark Stone also scored.
The Ducks (21-25-9) continue to struggle as they’ve now lost six straight and are 2-14-4 since Dec. 17. Thursday’s game was the fourth of a five-game road trip that ends Saturday in Philadelphia.
John Gibson, who had been pulled in his last three starts, stopped 31 shots.
The Senators were playing the second half of a back-to-back after losing 5-4 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but continued to press in the third period.
After going scoreless through the last five games Stone picked up his 23rd of the season, beating Gibson through traffic to take a 3-0 lead and Duchene added an empty-net goal.
Nilsson was most impressive late in the third period with the Ducks on the power play and Gibson on the bench for a two-man advantage as he made a number of big stops to preserve the shutout.
After being outshot in the first period the Senators turned the tables and outshot the Ducks 16-9 and were able to take a 2-0 lead.
Ottawa looked like it had a sure power-play goal early in the period, but Brandon Montour bailed out Gibson clearing a puck across the goal line.
Duchene made no mistake late in the period as he took a pass from Chris Tierney and fought his way to the net where he picked the top corner for his 23rd.
With an assist on Duchene’s goal Thomas Chabot became just the fourth Senators defenceman to have a season of ten-plus goals and 30-plus assists.
Despite outshooting the Senators 17-8 it was Ottawa who came out with a 1-0 lead. Tkachuk opened the scoring for the Senators at the seven-minute mark of the first as he jumped on Stone’s rebound for his 12th of the season.
This was the final meeting between the two teams with the Senators sweeping the season series.
Notes: The Senators Ben Harpur was a healthy scratch, Cody Goloubef made his Senators debut, while Christian Jaros missed his second game with a lower body injury. The Ducks were without Patrick Eaves.
[relatedlinks]
