Sens' Nilsson stops 45 in shutout of Ducks

Anders Nilsson made 45 saves for his fifth career shutout, and the Ottawa Senators ended a five-game losing streak with a 4-0 win against the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Matt Duchene scored two goals, Mark Stone had a goal and an assist and Chris Tierney and Cody Ceci each had two assists for Ottawa, which ended an eight-game losing streak with a 2-1 overtime win in Anaheim on Jan. 9.

John Gibson made 22 saves through two periods before he was replaced for the fourth straight game by Chad Johnson (nine saves). Unlike his previous three starts, Gibson departed due to injury after he was bowled over by teammate Jaycob Megna on Ottawa's second goal at 18:08 of the second period. The Ducks had a season-high shot total but lost their sixth in a row and have been outscored 31-6 in that span. They're 2-14-4 since Dec. 18.

Anaheim outshot the Senators 17-8 in the first period but still trailed 1-0 entering the second. The first scoring play began after Nilsson's save on Jakob Silfverberg.

Stone brought the puck through the neutral zone with speed and tried to pass to Colin White on his left but was pinched by Anaheim teammates Ryan Kesler and Josh Manson at the blue line. Stone briefly lost possession of the puck but got it back and attempted a backhand shot from the slot. Gibson made the save, but Brady Tkachuk came in and scored the rebound at 7:23. Ottawa's second scoring play also originated in Anaheim's end.

Tierney brought the puck into the neutral zone and centered a bouncing pass out in front of Duchene as he sped into the Ducks zone. He had room to let the puck settle before skating in close and lifting it high in the net just as Gibson was crashed into by Megna. Stone made it 3-0 at 6:26 of the third period when he shot through traffic and beat Johnson glove side.

Duchene scored his team-leading 24th goal into an empty net with 30.8 seconds left. The Senators improved to 3-7-2 in the second half of back-to-back games this season.

--Field Level Media

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