St. Louis Blues rout Senators 7-2, ending three-game winning streak

The St. Louis Blues dismantled the Ottawa Senators 7-2 on Tuesday at Canadian Tire Centre, snapping a three-game winning streak and exposing continuing depth problems on defense.

Pius Suter, Jake Neighbours and Mason McTavish each scored twice for St. Louis. Claude Giroux and Fabian Zetterlund scored for Ottawa. The Senators managed only 17 shots on goal while the Blues capitalized on their chances, with Joel Hofer stopping all but two shots. Samuel Ersson, the Senators' starter, surrendered seven goals on 26 shots.

Senators captain Thomas Chabot was blunt about the performance. "Not good. Not good at all," he said. "There is no other way to put it. We have to take a look at ourselves in the mirror, take advantage of the day off tomorrow and make sure we answer back on Thursday."

The defeat dropped Ottawa's record to 5-2-0 after the team had won 4-1 over New Jersey on Monday. It was the Senators' third game in four nights.

The Senators trailed 3-1 after two periods. Giroux cut the lead to one at 17:52 of the third period on a seam pass from Tim Stutzle, but McTavish scored just 33 seconds later to make it 4-2. Neighbours added another goal at 13:20 of the second, extending his streak against Ottawa to six goals in nine career games.

Ersson, 26, was acquired from Philadelphia in the off-season. Tuesday was his first home start with the Senators; he came into the game with a 1-1-0 record, a 4.50 goals-against average and an .847 save percentage. The Senators opted not to start goaltender Linus Ullmark in back-to-back games with travel involved.

The loss was made worse by another injury. Defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo left in the first period after being hit into the boards by Anthony Mantha. Coach Travis Green said "it was pretty obvious" what had happened — a likely concussion — and the Senators finished the game with only five defenders. There is no timetable for Matinpalo's return.

The injury adds to an already-depleted blue line. Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub, the team's top-pairing defensemen, remain out. Green said both skated on Tuesday and are "expecting both in the next couple of days." Sanderson has been out since aggravating an undisclosed lower-body injury early in the season opener October 3 against Toronto; Zub has not played since a knee injury in last spring's playoff series against Carolina. The Senators have used nine defensemen in just seven games this season.