Senators crank up offensive power, whip Blues

OTTAWA — Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle and Adam Gaudette each scored two goals as the Ottawa Senators thumped the St. Louis Blues 8-1 on Tuesday night.

The game was delayed 30 minutes due to power outage at the Canadian Tire Centre, but the Senators (5-4-0) offence came out fully charged after that.

Josh Norris scored barely a minute into the game, while Noah Gregor added another just three minutes later before Stützle — who snapped a six-game goalless drought — added his first of the game.

Linus Ullmark made 26 saves to record his second victory of the season.

The Senators chased Blues’ (5-5-0) starting goalie Joel Hofer after he let in five goals — including back-to-back power-play efforts from Tkachuk in the second period — on 21 shots.

Jordan Binnington allowed three goals in relief, including a gift to Gaudette from Zack Bolduc — who gave the puck away just in front of the St. Louis goalie for the eighth and final Senators’ goal.

The Blues finally got on the board with a power-play goal from Dylan Holloway, his fourth of the season, at 9:04 of the third period.

It was the second time in 15 days the Senators scored eight goals, after an 8-7 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 14.

TAKEAWAYS

Senators: The team’s offence was firing on all cylinders led by a four-point night from Stützle, who has now recorded an assist in a career-high five games.

Blues: The visiting side could not get anything going offensively and has now surrendered 13 goals over their last two games after suffering a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

KEY MOMENT

Josh Norris scored his fourth goal of the season with a nifty backhand at just 1:04 in the first period after a cross-ice feed from Claude Giroux. Giroux extended his point streak to seven games to kick-start Ottawa’s offensive onslaught.

KEY STAT

Zack Ostapchuk notched his first NHL point, recording an assist on Gregor’s first-period goal. Tuesday marked Ostapchuk’s eighth career NHL game.

UP NEXT

Blues: Visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

Senators: Visit the New York Rangers on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.