Bo Horvat scored twice as the Canucks came back from a goal down twice for a 6-4 victory over the Senators in a battle of NHL contenders. Connor Garland had two assists in the win as the Canucks opened a five-game road trip with just their fourth win in 13 games. “It wasn’t maybe the prettiest win, but we had a lot of good games where we hadn’t won this year. We owe a lot of credit to our goaltender (Spencer Martin) tonight, for sure, especially in the first two periods, for keeping us in it,” Horvat said. “We’re just trying to be mentally tough. It’s been a mental grind for a long time this year and a lot of mental gaps from us. I thought we stayed mentally strong tonight.” Horvat scored off the top of the crease 1:16 into the third period to break a 2-2 tie and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on the power play at 8:18 to give the Canucks a 4-2 lead. The goal was originally credited to Brock Boeser. Tim Stutzle hit a power-play goal at 14:03 to pull the Senators within 4-3, but Jack Studnicka took advantage of an Ottawa turnover in their own end to give the Canucks a 5-3 lead at 14: 59. . Claude Giroux scored to make it 5-4 with another power-play goal for the Senators, this one at 17:09. Elias Pettersson ended the late madness with an empty net at 19:15. Ilya Mikheyev also scored for the Canucks (4-6-3), while Martin made 37 saves in the win. The Senators (4-8-0), who have now lost six straight, got their other goals from Drake Batherson and Travis Hamonic along with a 22-save performance from Cam Talbot. “We have to work on our breaks, work on our chances and back off. That’s all we can do,” Hamonic said. “We’re scoring some goals, we just have to commit to our opportunities, not only offensively but defensively when we have the opportunity to make the right play.” The Senators turned in a dominant performance in the second period that included a 19-8 advantage in shots, but it was the Canucks who scored the only goal of the period. Mikheyev tied the game 2-2 at 13:50 of the second as he took a pass from Quinn Hughes and beat Talbot tightly. “We just didn’t get the job done. We looked very confident in the second period. We looked very confident in the first period, but then when you get into the third period we didn’t make the plays we needed to make. We turned it over and gave them two goals,” Senators coach DJ Smith said. “We probably could have scored four or five in the second and we didn’t. We have to stick to it if you want to get out of it.” The beginning and end of the first period was hectic as the Senators scored in the first minute, while both teams scored a goal in the final minute of the period. After Alex DeBrincat won an optimistic call, he went behind the net and found Bederson alone for the game’s first goal just 50 seconds later. “I’ve been in these situations many times before. I didn’t come here to lie down. He just went with it with a little bit of confidence,” Brown said of not letting the quick goal get to him. The teams were scoreless for much of the period after that until Horvat tied the game for the Canucks at 19:07. The tie was short-lived as Hamonic beat Martin by a point just 16 seconds later. NOTES Tuesday’s game was the first of two between the clubs this season. They will meet again in Vancouver on March 11. … The Senators recalled defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker from the Belleville Senators on Monday and he made his season debut on Tuesday. … Nils Hoglander, Kyle Burroughs and Riley Stillman were scratches for the Canucks. Nick Holden, Dylan Gambrell and Magnus Hellberg were the scratches for the Senators. NEXT After completing their three-game home swing, the Senators will hit the road for two games on Thursday and Saturday against the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively. The Canucks, meanwhile, will play the second game of their five-game road trip in Montreal against the Canadiens on Wednesday night before taking on the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 8, 2022.
