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 Dallas Stars left wing Brenden Morrow is upended by Ottawa Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire during the first period of their NHL hockey game at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, March 20. (Tim Sharp, QMI Agency) |
DALLAS — The goaltending change didn’t work. Neither did coddling from their owner, some long overdue power-play goals or the stirring to life of their top players.
That means it’s back to the drawing board for the sinking Senators.
Ottawa coughed up a couple of leads in losing 5-4 to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, the Senators’ fifth straight defeat.
Clinging to their hold on a playoff spot, the Senators are in Montreal to play the Canadiens on Monday.
Goalie Pascal Leclaire was given the start and couldn’t finish the job. He was pulled 4:33 into the third after giving up his fifth goal on 19 shots. Brian Elliott made a couple of big saves in relief, allowing the Senators to make a final push.
Jason Spezza, who had been struggling through March, scored his third goal of the day with 1:27 to play to make it close. He also had an assist.
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The Senators, who scored a couple of power-play goals in the first period, had a power play in the final minute, but could not convert.
Mike Fisher had the other Ottawa goal.
The Senators blew a strong second period in its final minutes.
After tying the game with 2.7 seconds remaining in the first, Spezza put Ottawa ahead 4-3 by redirecting a Chris Campoli wrist shot from the point 5:11 into the frame. But Brad Richards scored his second of the game off a scrambly play over a flailing Leclaire with a bit less than 3½ minutes to the intermission, and Jamie Benn converted a 2-on-1 2:30 later to put the Star in front heading into the third.
Campoli got caught up ice on the Benn goal, leaving rookie Erik Karlsson to fall to a minus-3 on the day as the lone player back.
Each team had 10 shots and two goals by the first intermission.
The Senators opened the scoring for the first time in six games when Fisher deflected a Spezza shot on the power play at the 1:06 mark. Leclaire kept Ottawa ahead with an early stop off Stephane Robidas, then turned back Mike Ribeiro on a breakaway. But the Senators ran into penalty trouble and couldn’t escape unscathed when Chris Phillips was called for slashing and Matt Carkner went off for hooking 1:07 later.
The Phillips penalty had just expired when Richards’ point shot went through Fisher and past Leclaire.
The Senators fell behind 2-1 when Ryan Shannon first failed to clear then puck, then allowed Ribeiro to get a step ahead of him en route to converting a quick pass from Kris Barch.
But the Ottawa power play that’s been so horrid of late struck for the second time in the period, when Nick Foligno set up Spezza at the edge of the crease.