The Ottawa Senators did not have to wait long to make up for a tough loss one night earlier.
Tyler Ennis on Wednesday night had a goal and two assists as the Senators beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2.
Artem Anisimov, Connor Brown, Anthony Duclair and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored to help the Senators snap a five-game losing streak, including a 5-2 loss at Vancouver on Tuesday night.
Craig Anderson, returning from a lower-body injury, stopped 24 shots.
“We’ve been good on back-to-back in the second game for whatever reason this season,” Ennis said. “We knew it wasn’t good enough in Vancouver. We still didn’t come out with our best in the first, but we stuck with it and got the win.”
Jujhar Khaira and Oscar Klefbom had goals for the Oilers, losers of three of their past four. Mikko Koskinen gave up three goals on 12 shots before leaving in the second period. Mike Smith finished with 11 saves.
“We just stopped playing the right way and cheated for offense,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “It doesn’t really matter who you play, if you play that way you’re not going to win many games.”
Edmonton started the scoring with just less than six minutes to play in the first period. Draisaitl made a nice backhand feed in front to Khaira, who scored his sixth of the season. Ottawa challenged the play, believing Sam Gagner was offside, but the goal was confirmed.
The Senators surged into the lead with two goals 12 seconds apart early in the second period.
Ottawa tied it shortly after a power play expired when Anisimov tucked a shot past Koskinen at 5 minutes, 15 seconds. Then Brown beat Koskinen through the legs with a wrist shot for his first goal in 17 games at 5 minutes, 27 seconds.
Ottawa made it 3-1 on a nice pass from Brown to Ennis, who scored his eighth of the season with 8 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the middle period. The goal chased Koskinen and brought on Smith.
“We needed to man up. We were in the midst of a five-game losing streak and I didn’t think it was a great effort, but back-to-back that’s a good hockey game,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “We scored on our chances in the second period and it gave us some life.”
Klefbom beat Anderson on a long power-play shot with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left to pull the Oilers within one.
The Senators made it 4-2 just 90 seconds into the third as Duclair picked up a wide shot behind the net and tucked it into the net for his 11th.
Ottawa kept the pressure on and were rewarded again with 8 minutes, 13 seconds left as Namestnikov was left alone in front to score his seventh.
In other results, it was:
‧ Avalanche 3, Maple Leafs 1
‧ Penguins 3, Blues 0
‧ Capitals 3, Kings 1
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