The Ottawa Senators dominated the St. Louis Blues with a jaw-dropping five-goal win on Sunday.
The Sens won 7-2.
Senators forward Tyler Motte was benched ahead of the game due to trade-related reasons while defenceman Dillon Heatherington was recalled back to Ottawa after a stint with the Belleville Senators in the AHL.
Fans roared with thunderous applause as the Sens’ skates hit the ice.
The Senators won the opening faceoff, driving the puck to the Blues’ defensive zone before losing control.
St. Louis took the opening shot of the night but found the puck in Sens goalie Mads Sogaard’s glove after a spectacular save.
The game was tied for much of the first period before Sens centre Shane Pinto snagged the puck out of Ottawa’s defensive zone and scored the team’s first goal with 4:07 left on the clock.
The first period ended in the Sens’ favour with a 1-0 lead over the Blues.
The Blues’ Jordan Kyru earned himself a seat in the penalty box for tripping at the start of the second, and Alex DeBrincat rifled a shot in St. Louis’ net in under two minutes thanks to an assist from Tim Stützle.
Not to be outdone, Stützle dangled the puck in front of Blues goalie Thomas Greiss before hitting the back of the net off a pass from left winger Brady Tkachuk at 7:23.
Continuing in domino fashion, Tkachuk sniped the top corner of St. Louis’ net from long range with 10 minutes left before third.
The Sens went into the third period with a 5-0 lead, increased to six after Stützle shot his second goal of the night at 7:51.
Blues defenceman Colton Parayko brought new hope to his team after scoring his first goal nine minutes into the third period. St. Louis centre Tyler Pitlick matched Parayko’s energy and fired one into the Senators’ net, bringing the score to 6-2 by 11:06.
Sens rookie Ridly Greig extinguished any hope of a comeback, earning his first NHL career goal with assists from centre Derick Brassard and defensemen Thomas Chabot.