Senators 7, Blue Jackets 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Seven different players scored goals and defenseman Erik Karlsson fed the machine with four assists as the Ottawa Senators came back from three early deficits to pull away from the winless Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 on Wednesday night in Nationwide Arena.
Defenseman Marc Methot, center Kyle Turris, left winger Milan Michalek, Mika Zibanejad, center Jean-Gabriel Pageau, left winger Mike Hoffman and right winger Bobby Ryan had goals for the Senators. Ryan and Zibanejad added two assists each.
Ottawa scored the final five goals of the game, emptying Nationwide Arena with about half of the third period to play.
The Blue Jackets have allowed 20 goals in four games, with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the 2013 Vezina Trophy winner, in net for all but one period and all but one of the goals.
Left winger Brandon Saad, left winger Boone Jenner and center Brandon Dubinsky scored for the Blue Jackets. Bobrovsky stopped only 18 of 25 shots.
The Blue Jackets, who dropped to 0-4-0, are off to the worst start in the franchise's 15-season history.
Ottawa trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before taking the lead late in the second period and pulling away in the third.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead on the power play at 12:16 of the first period.
Center Ryan Johansen fired a low wrister from the half-wall and left winger Nick Foligno tapped the puck across to Saad for the easy bury as he came through the right circle.
The Senators responded at 16:05, tying it on Methot's low wrister from the blue line. The puck deflected off Saad's stick about three feet in front of the net, lifting it over Bobrovsky's right pad.
The Blue Jackets were back on top just two minutes later.
Senators goalie Craig Anderson came out to play a puck and ended up meeting Johansen at the far reaches of the trapezoid behind the net.
Johansen shoveled the puck behind Anderson and it stayed under his skates until he reached the net, where Jenner arrived to slam it home.
The Senators tied it again early in the second period when Michalek scored a power play goal off a rebound at 1:44.
The Blue Jackets regained the lead at 4:34 of the second period when Dubinsky and right winger Cam Atkinson finished a two-on-one rush with Dubinsky scoring off his backhand.
The Senators needed only five minutes to draw even, this time with the help of the Blue Jackets' much-malingned defense.
Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout failed to clear the zone and a scramble ensued. It ended with Turris scoring from the short side when Bobrovsky lost sight of the puck.
The Senators took the lead late in the second period when Zibanejad was granted a wide berth in front of Bobrovsky and scored around his left pad, making it 4-3.
At 1:45 of the third, Pageau scored off a simple wrister from the slot that appeared to befuddle Bobrovsky, making it 5-3.
The Senators pushed it to 6-3 at 9:12 of the third when Hoffman, skating alone into the zone with speed, beat Bobrovsky with a high wrister.
Ryan capped the scoring with 4:05 to play when he scored into an empty net.
NOTES: Ottawa G Andrew "Hamburglar" Hammond (groin) was activated from the injured list and expected to make his season debut on Thursday in Pittsburgh. ... The Blue Jackets hinted that C Alexander Wennberg (concussion) and RW David Clarkson (lower body) could return for Friday's game against Toronto. Wennberg left the season opener after a big hit from New York's Chris Kreider and Clarkson was injured during the preseason. ... Senators RW Curtis Lazar (bruised foot) blocked two shots and left Monday's loss to Montreal early. After skipping Tuesday's practice, he was in the lineup on Wednesday night. ... The Blue Jackets have been notorious slow starters under in three-plus seasons under Todd Richards, so this is nothing new. They started 5-12-4 in 2012-13, 6-10-13 in 2013-14 and 6-15-2 last season.