Ottawa Senators at Columbus Blue Jackets

Stutzte scores in SO, Senators beat Blue Jackets 2-1

Brady Tkachuk also scored and Filip Gustavsson stopped 33 shots for Ottawa in his first career shootout win.

“It felt like a little bit of a slow game, the two first periods, like we didn’t really play our best game, offensively,” Gustavsson said. “Then we did pretty good in the third period, and we came out of it with the win.”

Jack Roslovic had Columbus’ goal and Elvis Merzlikins had 25 saves in the Blue Jackets’ fourth straight loss (0-3-1).

Roslovic put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 at 11:20 of the first, burying a tape-to-tape pass from Cole Sillinger from the right circle for his second power-play goal of the year.

“We had some looks,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. "We just couldn’t get the next one.”

Parker Kelly appeared to pull Ottawa even at 10:02 of the second but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Tkachuk finally put the Senators on the board at 7:06 of the third off tic-tac-toe passing from Drake Batherson and Josh Norris that caught Merlikins looking. The goal was Tkachuk’s team-leading 61st point of the season.

“As the game went on, I thought we got a little hungrier,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “It was a pretty even game both ways. We just found a way to win.”

JACK OF ALL TRADES

The Blue Jackets announced in a pregame ceremony that Roslovic was the winner of the team’s CBJ Community MVP honor for his work with Rosie’s Gear for Goals, providing equipment for young players. Roslovic has eight goals and 10 points in his last six games.

ON POINT

With a goal against Columbus, Tkachuk has now recorded at least one point against each of the 31 NHL teams he has faced in his career. Through 40 road games this season, he maintains the club lead with 31 points away from home.

HE’S BACK

The Senators recalled forward Mark Kastelic from AHL Belleville. Kastelic has played 11 games for Ottawa this season in which he garnered two assists,

MILESTONE MAN

Columbus’ Vladislav Gavrikov played in his 200th NHL game.

INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE

Columbus will play the Colorado Avalanche in Finland next season as part of the NHL Global Series. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, forward Patrik Laine and goalie Joonas Korpisalo all hail from Finland.

BACK-TO-BACK

The win marked the start of the Senators' 16th back-to-back this season. The club has a 6-8-2 record in the first game and 6-8-1 in the second.

SCORELESS STREAK Oliver Bjorkstrand, Columbus’ second leading scorer with 24 goals, has gone 11 straight games without picking up a point, more than twice as many games as any previous scoreless streak he’s had this season.

NEXT UP

Senators: Host Montreal on Saturday night.

Blue Jackets: Host Edmonton on Sunday.

OTT wins series 2-1