In Battle of Last Place Clubs, Senators Lose to Columbus

New month, same old story.

The Ottawa Senators lost their third straight game Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 41 of 43 shots, while Joonas Korpisalo, his former Columbus teammate, stopped 19 of 23 for the Senators.

The Senators jumped out to an early 2-0 lead that, if not for Merzlikins, would have been far bigger. The game seemed to turn on a marginal Mathieu Joseph cross-checking call late in the first. Less than two minutes later, Columbus had tied the game and eventually took it over with four unanswered goals.

Brady Tkachuk led the way for the Senators with a goal and an assist. 

Ottawa was handed three power plays in the first half of the first period. Despite multiple grade-A chances on Merzlikins, who stood on his head, they failed to convert on the first two. 

Columbus also caught a big break when Batherson seemingly scored on Ottawa's second power play, but the referee blew the play dead before the puck went in.

Seconds later, Giroux took a nice pass from Tkachuk and went backhand five-hole on Merzlikins. Tkachuk then made it 2-0 Senators on the third power play of the first period.

The Blue Jackets roared back with two goals in less than a minute. First, it was Patrik Laine on the powerplay, then Dmitri Voronko scored to tie the game for Columbus after stealing the puck off Thomas Chabot in the slot.

After that, it was all Columbus, especially after second-period goals from Adam Fantilli and Boone Jenner made it 4-1. The Jackets clogged things up after that.

The Senators have no time to dwell on losing to the worst team (by winning percentage) in the Eastern Conference. They return home to play the Seattle Kraken on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre at 7 pm. 

By the Numbers: The Sens have given up at least four unanswered goals in three of their last four games. With their loss Friday night, this is the seventh straight season the Senators have been below .500 at the 18 game mark.