Sens top Sharks behind Paul's career night

Nick Paul had two goals and an assist for the first-multi-point game of his NHL career and the Ottawa Senators beat the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Sunday evening. Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Connor Brown had a goal and an assist, Anthony Duclair also scored, and Craig Anderson made 34 saves for the Senators.

Evander Kane and Kevin Labanc scored, Brent Burns had two assists and Aaron Dell made 18 saves on 22 shots for San Jose before he was replaced by Martin Jones at the start of the third period. Jones finished with seven saves on eight shots. Brown scored at 6:34 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Nikita Zaitsev chased down the puck along the wall and flicked it toward the slot. The bouncing puck made it into the middle, where Brown scored his first goal with Ottawa. Kane tied the score at 1-1 with a 5-on-3 goal at 9:30 of the first period, his seventh of the season. The goal came on a deflection in front of the net.

Paul made it 2-1 at 15:27 of the first period. He brought the puck into the right circle and scored over Dell's right shoulder in his 62nd NHL game. Paul scored again at 10:59 of the second period to move the Senators ahead 3-1. Brown forced a turnover in the neutral zone and then fed Paul in front of the net for a redirect.

Labanc cut the lead back to one at 13:14 of the second period, taking a stretch pass from the defensive zone and scoring on a breakaway. Labanc has a goal in each of the past three games and a four-game point streak. Tkachuk extended the lead back to two, however, putting in a rebound with 51 seconds left in the second period to make it 4-2.

Duclair made it 5-2 with 3:24 left. Ottawa forward Bobby Ryan was a healthy scratch for the second time in his 12-year NHL career. Ryan is the club's highest-paid player at $7.25 million this season.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)