Jets at Senators
The Ottawa Senators have figured out the formula for winning on the road but hope to show better results in front of their home fans on Thursday, when they host the Winnipeg Jets. The Senators sit in a second-place tie in the Atlantic Division and handed division-leading Montreal its first home loss in overtime on Tuesday, but they are a dismal 1-3-2 at Canadian Tire Centre as they begin a stretch of six home contests in eight games.
The Senators have won three of their last four contests overall, using Kyle Turris’ goal 34 seconds into overtime to upend the Canadiens. “We’ve come ready to play and we find ways to win games on the road, and that’s good, that’s hard to do,” goaltender Craig Anderson told reporters Tuesday after recording 36 saves en route to his second win in six contests. The Jets dished out a season-high 44 hits Wednesday in a 4-2 victory at Toronto, getting goals from Alexander Burmistrov and Bryan Little in the final 2:05. Ondrej Pavelec, who came on in relief of Michael Hutchinson during Sunday’s ugly 5-1 loss at Montreal, stopped 24-of-26 shots as Winnipeg won for the fourth time in six games.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, TSN3 (Winnipeg), TSN5, RDS2 (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE JETS (8-4-1): Burmistrov’s go-ahead goal – coming after his second minor penalty of the contest – and Little’s empty-netter helped wash away the taste of Sunday’s loss, during which Hutchinson gave up four goals on nine shots while Winnipeg mustered a season-low 19 of its own. The offense (34 shots) was better Wednesday, as defenseman Tobias Enstrom notched two assists while helping front a strong defensive effort. Leading scorer Blake Wheeler added two assists to give him 10 on the season and 16 points overall.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (6-4-2): Ottawa will be without one of its two leading scorers Thursday as Mark Stone finishes serving his two-game suspension for a hit to the head of Detroit’s Landon Ferraro on Sunday. Turris scored his team-leading eighth goal and is tied with Stone at 13 points, while Mike Hoffman – who returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing four games with a lower-body injury – notched an assist on the game-winning tally. Captain Erik Karlsson ranks among the league leaders in assists (11), one ahead of Stone for tops on the team.
OVERTIME
1. Winnipeg recalled Patrice Cormier from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and placed fellow C Andrew Copp on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
2. The Senators have struggled on special teams, ranking in the bottom third of the league on both the power play (13.6 percent) and penalty kill (75 percent).
3. Ottawa and Winnipeg split their two matchups last season, with each team winning on the road.