Chychrun scores a pair as Senators beat Oilers 5-3

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OTTAWA — In Jakob Chychrun’s opinion, his team’s performance Sunday night was no Picasso.

But even though the Ottawa Senators may not have put a masterpiece together, they did enough to beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-3.

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Chychrun was instrumental in scoring two power-play goals.

Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Parker Kelly also scored for Ottawa (30-36-4). Joonas Korpisalo had a busy night stopping 33 shots.

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Adam Henrique, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman replied for the Oilers (42-23-4). Calvin Pickard made 11 saves.

By all accounts the Oilers probably deserved a better fate. They controlled the play for much of the third period and almost seemed to be toying with the Senators but couldn’t find a way to beat Korpisalo.

“Yeah, not a lot of O-zone time in the third that’s for sure,” said Chychrun. “The boys did a heck of a job of sticking with it and finding a way. We talk about it all the time. We feel like we’ve had games this year where we play really well and have a lot of chances and out-chance the other team and don’t get the result we want and it’s kind of the opposite tonight.

“They out-chanced us and we had a goalie that was standing on his head for us and we’re able to find a way at the end, so it’s nice to come out on top of this one.”

The teams exchanged first-period goals.

Mattias Ekholm set up Henrique to open the scoring early in the first period. Ottawa tied the game with its first of three power-play goals. Batherson found Chychrun in the circle to wire a shot past Pickard.

Edmonton jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second.

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Draisaitl made it 2-1 early in the second with a power-play goal. Connor McDavid picked up his 90th assist on the play to join Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey as the third Oiler to get 90 assists in a season.

Less than two minutes later Hyman scored his 50th of the season, redirecting a McDavid pass on the power play.

The bench erupted for Hyman, who’s previous career high had been 36. Hyman said it was a special moment for him, his family and all those who supported him on his journey to the NHL. Unfortunately for Hyman only his cousin was on hand to witness the milestone. It was also his parents’ anniversary.

“There are so many people who have sacrificed … and obviously this is a milestone that I don’t think anyone thought I would ever get to when I started my career and I got to it, which is pretty crazy,” said Hyman.

“And I had a lot of help, playing with a couple special players, especially Connor, and I wouldn’t be in this position without him and it was fitting that he was able to set me up for it.”

Stutzle cut the lead to one beating Pickard stick side and Batherson tied the game on the power play for his 25th of the season.

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The Oilers controlled the play for much of the third, but came out empty-handed.

“Disappointing that we didn’t come home with the two points,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “I thought we had a lot of good opportunities, especially when we’re up 3-1 and things are looking good.

“Then we make a mistake and it’s 3-2 and they’re back in it when they looked like they were out of it. And then special teams, obviously that was a big part of this game.”

With the game tied 3-3 Ekholm was called for holding, sending the Senators — who had just one shot in the period — to the power play. Chychrun wasted no time scoring from nearly the identical spot he scored his first in the opening period. Kelly scored an empty-net goal to seal the win.

“We’ve been on the other side of the ledger at times,” said Senators interim coach Jacques Martin. “Just think of the game against St. Louis on Thursday where we had so many chances and couldn’t score.

“Tonight, they’re a good team, they had their chances but our goalie shut the door and made some good saves. But we stayed with it. I thought we were persistent and we didn’t cheat the game, we battled hard.”

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Before the game the Senators inducted Dr. Donald Chow into their Ring of Honour, joining former coach/general manager Bryan Murray and Wade Redden. Dr. Chow has been a team physician with the Senators since 1992 and served as the team’s head physician from 2002 to 2017.

NOTES

Ottawa’s Rourke Chartier missed his eighth straight game. Edmonton’s Evander Kane missed Sunday’s game for what the Oilers called a “maintenance day.”

UP NEXT

Senators: Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

Oilers: Visit the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2024.

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