Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk and Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, in Ottawa, Ontario.
Adrian Wyld | The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Brady Tkachuk recorded the second hat trick of his career to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
Tkachuk scored twice on the power play, and Claude Giroux added a short-handed goal and two assists as Ottawa won its fourth straight. Ridly Greig and Erik Brannstrom also scored. Anton Forsberg made 37 saves.
“We needed everybody to step up and I just hope we can build off of it,” Tkachuk said. “The last couple of games we’ve had a lot of looks but haven’t been able to bury it. Tonight was a stepping stone and we just have to keep it going.”
Dmitri Voronkov, Boone Jenner and Jack Roslovic scored for the Blue Jackets. Daniil Tarasov stopped 24 of 29 shots.
“That’s a team that is coming together,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “They changed their defensive structure, and the first seven or eight minutes we were managing the puck, making their D turn, they had five D tonight, and that was part of our plan, to make them skate.
“So, we did it right and it was successful. And then we changed. And that’s learning to play on the road.”
The Blue Jackets opened the scoring with a shot by Kent Johnson that deflected twice. Johnson’s centering pass hit Voronkov in the skate and then deflected off the skate of Senators’ defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and past Forsberg.
Tkachuk scored twice in a 48-second span, including one on the power play. His first came at 9:48 when Josh Norris fed him the puck at the side of a wide-open net. The second, at 10:36, came when Tkachuk scored on his own rebound.
“We played a good first five, six minutes. Kind of played into their hands after that, giving them the puck,” Jenner said.
“We’ve just got to get behind them. We did that after, but we spotted them a couple of goals there on our mistakes and it gave them momentum.”
The Senators then added a short-handed goal when Giroux scored into the top corner of the net at 14:46 for a 3-1 lead. They appeared to go up 4-1 just 25 seconds later, but after a coach’s challenge, goaltender interference was called.
In the second period, each team scored twice. Grieg and Tkachuk sandwiched their goals around scores by Jenner and Roslovic.
Grieg gave the Senators a 4-1 lead at 5:37. Columbus scored twice, at 10:49 and 13:54. Tkachuk completed his hat trick at 16:48 on the power play and the Senators took a 5-3 lead into the third period.
“It was pretty cool. You always kind of dream about that when you’re a kid, so for it to happen is pretty special. I was more happy with the outcome,” Tkachuk said.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: At San Jose on Saturday.
Senators: Host Anaheim on Thursday.
