Ehlers helps lift Jets past Senators 4-3

OTTAWA, Ontario -- — Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and two assists to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Paul Stastny and Kyle Connor also scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves.

“That’s a goalie win,” coach Dave Lowry said of Hellebuyck. “He gave us a chance in the first period. He legitimately was probably the only guy that started on time. He gave us a chance to get going and then he made some huge saves right at the end of the game for us, as well.”

Brady Tkachuk had a pair of power-play goals for the Senators, who were coming off a 5-1 loss to the Rangers. Josh Norris also scored, while Mads Sogaard, making his second NHL start, stopped 21 shots.

Winnipeg took a 3-1 lead after two periods — after a slow start.

“I didn’t like our first period,” Lowry said. “I didn’t like our puck management, I didn’t like the pace that we were playing at, I didn’t like the (lack of) urgency in our game. To their credit, we had an answer in the second period and we did things in the second that we wanted to do at the start of the game.”

Dubois picked up his 100th NHL career goal on the power play early in the second, when he took a pass right in front and beat Sogaard far-side.

Ehlers and Stastny had a nice 2-on-1 that finished with Stastny scoring his 19th of the season.

“We got yelled at after the first,” Statsny said. "It woke everyone up. We’ve been needing that for a while, so it was just good to have.”

Ottawa opened the scoring in the first two minutes when Tkachuk dropped a pass back from below the goal line to Norris out front for his 32nd.

The Senators did a good job keeping shots away from their young goaltender, but he didn’t have much chance on Ehlers’s goal. Ehlers looked to make a cross-ice pass, but it deflected off Victor Mete’s stick and skipped past Sogaard to make it 3-1.

Tkachuk scored a power-play goal in the opening minute of the third, but Connor gave the Jets a two-goal lead again with a power-play goal of their own.

Tkachuk made things interesting by scoring his second power-play goal of the game with six minutes remaining. Tkachuk whacked the puck out of midair, but following a lengthy review the goal stood.

Late in the third, the Senators pulled the goalie and Hellebuyck made some huge saves to keep it from going to overtime.

“That’s probably the best we’ve looked 6-on-5,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “We haven’t been very good 6-on-5 and we were dangerous and had chances. That’s why Hellebuyck is one of the best goalies in the league. If you get an average goalie in there, we may get five or six tonight.”

Game notes
Tim Stutzle returned to the Senators' lineup after missing the last two games, while Drake Batherson missed his third straight due to a non-COVID illness. ... Ottawa D Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch in favor of Mete. ... Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler missed his second straight game and is doubtful to play Monday in Montreal.

UP NEXT

Jets: At Montreal on Monday night.

Senators: At Detroit on Tuesday night.

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