Senators Blow 3-0 Lead, Get Steamrolled 6-3 In Anaheim

The Senators looked ready to leave California with a bang on Sunday night. Instead, they went out with a thud.

After building a commanding 3-0 lead in the first period, the Senators completely fell apart, surrendering six unanswered goals in a 6-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Cutter Gauthier led the Ducks' comeback with a hat trick, while Anaheim's dangerous power play scored four straight goals, turning what had looked like a comfortable Senators victory into a beatdown.

The Senators couldn't have asked for a much better start.

Philip Tomasino opened the scoring with his first goal as a Senator, tipping in a shot by Thomas Chabot. Claude Giroux and Michael Amadio followed with goals of their own, giving the Senators a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

At that point, the Sens appeared to be cruising toward their second straight victory and a nice conclusion to the California portion of their five-game road trip.

But the game changed big-time in the second period. Anaheim began taking over, and the Senators simply couldn't stop the bleeding.

Just 90 seconds into the middle frame, as the Senators were breaking out, Shane Pinto mishandled the puck, shoving it back in front of his own net, where Gauthier made no mistake, giving the Ducks some life.

Judd Caulfield also scored twice, including a power-play goal late in the period that tied the game.

The Ducks weren't finished.

Gauthier added two more power-play goals in the third period to complete his hat trick, and Roger McQueen added another goal with the man advantage to put the game out of reach.

By the time the Ducks had scored their sixth straight unanswered goal and fourth straight on the power play, it was easy to forget that the Sens were ever in control of the game.

As we noted in the game preview, Anaheim's power play has been outstanding. The Ducks went 4 for 5 with the extra man while the Sens have no answer for their PP issues, going 0 for 3.

Fatigue may also have played a role in what happened.

The Senators were playing their second game in as many nights after Saturday's victory in San Jose. The Ducks, meanwhile, hadn't played since Thursday and had spent the entire week at home.

That's a major scheduling advantage, particularly against a Sens team nearing the end of a long Western road trip.

But fatigue can only explain so much. The Senators had the struggling Ducks down and out, but seemed to want to trade chances with them instead of locking the game down. Until the second period, things had been going pretty well for them offensively. With their 3-0 lead after one, that finished a stretch of 12 goals in five periods.

It also won't go down as a night to remember for Jonas Johansson, who allowed six goals on 33 shots.

The Sens can ill afford to lose another forward, but it's possible the league may review the hit by Dylan Cozens on A.J. Greer. It looked like a shoulder on shoulder, but he did land a big hit after approaching from the blind side, which the league doesn't care for.

Greer briefly appeared to be unconscious, but he immediately sprung to life to try and fight Cozens. After a long video review, Cozens was ejected for the hit.

The Senators lost three of four games (1-2-1) on their now-completed Western road trip. They'll have a couple of days to regroup and rest before their next game on Wednesday night in Buffalo.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa