Seth Jones scored a pair of second-period goals and Anders Bjork had three assists to back a 35-save shutout from Alex Stalock and lift the host Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-0 rout of the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
Chicago stopped a four-game losing streak by extending its dominance against Ottawa. The Blackhawks defeated the Senators for the 10th straight time, the franchise’s third-longest run against a single opponent.
Entering play Monday with five straight victories and wins in 12 of their past 16 games (12-3-1), the Senators experienced another blip against the Blackhawks, who netted a 4-3 overtime win in Ottawa on Feb. 17.
Stalock stymied a potent Senators attack that had produced at least five goals in each win during the streak. He was sharp on the penalty kill, helping the Blackhawks limit Ottawa to an 0-for-4 effort on the power play by stopping five shots.
Counterpart Mads Sogaard made 16 saves on 21 shots after being pressed into action just two hours before faceoff. Senators starting goaltender Cam Talbot, who notched the victory against Columbus on Saturday, was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury.
Philipp Kurashev, Jason Dickinson and Lukas Reichel also scored for the Blackhawks, although Jones proved Sogaard’s main foil. The defenseman, who had a two-game goal streak in February, has now scored in three straight contests.
Jones’ first goal came just two minutes into the second period and gave the Blackhawks two goals on a mere four shots. After Dickinson stole the puck and sent it to Bjork, Jones capitalized on a give-and-go with the newcomer.
Acquired in a March 2 trade with Buffalo, Bjork assisted on each of Chicago’s three second-period goals in his second game with the club. Andreas Athanasiou added two assists.
Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, Austin Watson and Mark Kastelic each were assessed a game misconduct for instigating with 5:41 remaining.
Alex DeBrincat paced the Senators with seven shots against his former team. DeBrincat was traded to Ottawa in July after five seasons in Chicago.
–Field Level Media
