Senators slide past Blue Jackets
OTTAWA -- -- The Ottawa Senators fell behind early but rebounded to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night.
Erik Karlsson, Viktor Stalberg and Zack Smith scored for the Senators, while Brandon Saad and Sam Gagner replied for the Blue Jackets.
Craig Anderson made 25 stops for his now team-leading 18th win, one more than backup Mike Condon.
Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo made 23 saves while No. 1 puck stopper Sergei Bobrovsky was given the night off.
Smith scored his league-leading fourth shorthanded goal into an empty net with just over three minutes to play, but Gagner brought the Blue Jackets close again with a power play marker 2:22 from the final buzzer.
The Blue Jackets opened the scoring on their first shot when Saad took a pass from Zach Werenski to get in alone and beat Anderson with a wrist shot to the stick side 2:17 from the opening draw. It was his 20th of the season.
Stalberg tied it up with his first as a Senator at the 13:25 mark, sliding the loose puck into an open net after Korpisalo made the initial save off a Chris Kelly slap shot from the slot.
The Senators snapped the deadlock at 8:59 of the second period, with Mark Stone doing the legwork by carrying the puck into the zone before finding Karlsson, who slid a low stick side shot from the slot behind Korpisalo.
The Senators had a 20-19 lead in shots after two periods.
NOTES: Senators D Erik Karlsson set a franchise record for the longest Ironman streak by playing his 312th consecutive game ... Senators scratched D Fredrick Claesson, D Jyrki Jokipakka and F Chris DiDomenico ... Blue Jackets scratched C TJ Tynan, D Scott Harrington and D Markus Nutivaara ... Blue Jackets C Alexander Wennberg played his 200th NHL game.