Senators widen gap with white-knuckle win in Detroit

The Ottawa Senators are in a position to control their own destiny, and that’s exactly what they did Thursday night in Detroit.

The Sens beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a game that was a little too close for comfort and managed to fight off five penalties in the first period. The Sens are now 29-6-0 when they score the first goal.

What happened: The Senators hold the first of two wildcard playoff sports. The two points for the win gives Ottawa 81 points with 11 games left. The second wildcard spot belongs to the Montreal Canadiens, who have 75 points. They lost to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday. The teams on the outside looking in are the New York Rangers and Islanders, both with 74, the Columbus Blue Jackets with 73, and the Red Wings with 72.

Next game: The team faces off against the Blue Jackets at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday and it’s a big one. How about a Columbus-Ottawa trivia question? Many players have played for both the Blue Jackets and the Senators, but only one recorded 150 points for each of the two teams. Who is he?

• With 152 points in Columbus and 167 points in Ottawa, Antoine Vermette is the only player with 150 or more points for both the Sens and Blue Jackets.

Good news: The oddsmakers are now giving Ottawa a 98 per cent chance of making the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

And bad news: Unfortunately, the Senators have really struggled as of late holding onto leads and closing out wins.

Third-period meltdowns cost them games in Montreal and Buffalo, and nearly cost them two wins against Detroit. The New Jersey Devils also came within inches of tying their game despite losing by two goals with 30 seconds remaining.

• Against Detroit, a 4-1 lead in the third period quickly eroded. The Red Wings scored twice late in the third and came inches away from tying the game after peppering Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark with shots.

Zetterlund makes the scoresheet: It took a while for Fabian Zetterlund to earn his first point as an Ottawa Senator. The 5’10, 220-pound winger earned an assist on Thomas Chabot’s first-period goal in Detroit, stepping out of the penalty box and getting the puck along the wing before feeding it to Chabot. It was Zetterlund’s first point since being traded to Ottawa from San Jose.

Dad’s road trip: The Senators’ road trip was a special one for the team as the players’ dads were on the road with the team. Though it was a frustrating night Tuesday when the Sens lost to Buffalo, everyone was in a better mood Thursday.

• Big goals: Tim Stutzle scored his first goal in 10 games against the Red Wings, while veteran David Perron had a goal in his third straight game. Perron has seven goals in the month of March after having only one goal in the 20 games before March.

Home sweet home: Nine of the 11 remaining Senators games will be played at Canadian Tire Centre. There are a lot of games packed into a tight time frame, which means Sens fans will see a bit more of backup goalie Anton Forsberg down that stretch.

Jays opener not one to remember

The sun was shining brighter. The grass was greener. The sky was bluer. The birds were singing happily.

For it was opening day – a day of hope, of optimism, of a fresh start. It’s the day when everyone is in first place at the beginning of the day.

Unfortunately for the Toronto Blue Jays and its legion of Ottawa fans populating local sports bars to mark the end of a wintery five-month break, it was an ugly way to start a season filled with hope.

The Baltimore Orioles hit six home runs at the Rogers Centre in front of the sellout crowd in a dome-deflating 12-2 win.

• Jays starter Jose Berrios was roughed up in his five innings of work, giving up six runs on nine hits, three of which were home runs.

One of those home runs was a “can-you-believe-this? shot hit by Canadian outfielder Tyler O’Neill in the third inning. O’Neill has now hit a home run in six consecutive home runs. The next longest streak is home runs in four straight home runs, shared by Yogi Berra, Gary Carter and Todd Hundley.

Andres Gimenez hit a two-run homer for the Jays in the fourth inning.

Friday night’s match-up at the dome has Kevin Gausman on the mound for Toronto against Baltimore veteran Charlie Morton. The teams play each other Saturday and Sunday afternoon before the Washington Nationals are in Toronto for three games starting Monday.