OTTAWA — Home has been pretty sweet for the Ottawa Senators early in this NHL season.
After starting the campaign with two road losses, the Senators have won three straight home games while scoring 18 goals in the process.
The latest win came Saturday as three third-period goals lifted the club to a 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. The win meant a little more for Senators' forward Mark Kastelic, as he was playing against his hometown team for the first time, and he scored a goal.
“It was pretty special to play against them for the first time,” the native of Phoenix said.
“I skate with a lot of those guys in the summer, and it was just kind of a full circle moment for me and my parents as well. They came in from Arizona and it’s really exciting that we got the win, but we have to put it behind us now and look forward.”
Brady Tkachuk had two goals for the Senators (3-2-0) while Tyler Motte and Shane Pinto each had a goal and an assist. Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle each had two assists. It was the line of Kastelic, Austin Watson and Parker Kelly that had coach DJ Smith talking after the game.
“That’s a line for us that plays north-south and gets us playing emotionally the right way. I think they did a heck of the job in the third," Smith said. “The do it right, they go 100 miles an hour and they don’t give any time and space. They’re good at what they do.”
The Senators scored twice in the opening period as Shane Pinto and Josh Norris found the back of the net behind Karel Vejmelka. But the Coyotes (1-5-0) responded with two goals of their own in the second period, sandwiched around a goal by Tkachuk.
Dylan Guenther scored his first NHL goal at 1:40 of the first period to get the Coyotes on the board, and after the Tkachuk goal at 3:35, Clayton Keller responded just 22 seconds later to pull the Coyotes to within one at 3-2.
“They were super stoked,” Guenther said of his teammate’s reaction to his goal. “I think it’s pretty cool when they’re just as excited as you are. And it’s nice for me, too, to get one here. I’ve been getting a lot of chances.”
Kastelic, Motte and Tkachuk scored in the third period to help the Senators pull away.
“I thought we played pretty sloppy in the second period. First period we had some jam, then we took some bad penalties and got out of rhythm on the four-on-fours, turned some pucks over and didn’t do, to me, what we had been doing,” Smith said.
“But give credit to the leadership, whatever they said between the second and third, they corrected that.”
Andre Tourigny, who coached the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s for three seasons before becoming the Coyotes head coach in 2021, was happy with the effort if not the result.
“I thought we played solid in the first period. We had a lot of pressure and urgency. We didn’t score but I don’t think the period was that bad. We played a really good second period obviously and I think in the third they got opportunistic and that was the game,” said Tourigny, who was also an assistant with the Senators in 2015-16.
“All the way through the game the guys stayed focused, the stayed together, they battled hard. I think it was a step in the right direction for us as far as attitude, effort commitment and focus.
"Obviously we have to clean up a few things defensively, but if the attitude stays and effort stays like that there’s brighter days ahead.”
NOTES
Defencemen Connor Timmins and Patrik Nemeth along with forward Nick Schmaltz were scratches for the Coyotes. Scratches for the Senators were forwards Derick Brassard and Dylan Gambrell plus defenceman Nikita Zaitsev. … Saturday was the first of two meetings between the Senators and Coyotes. They will meet again in Tempe on Jan. 12.
UP NEXT
The Coyotes will conclude their six-game road trip on Tuesday when they face the Blue Jackets in Columbus. They will then be home for four games before playing the next 14 on the road.
The Senators will play the fourth game of their five-game homestand on Monday against the Dallas Stars.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2022.
Darren Desaulniers, The Canadian Press
