OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Chris Tierney scored on two second-period power plays and Filip Gustavsson made 32 saves in the Ottawa Senators' 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.
“I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win,” Tierney said. “A couple good bounces. But that’s what they say, is if you go to the net you’re going to get bounces, so it’s good.”
The Senators improved to 2-1-0, rebounding from a 3-1 loss at Toronto on Saturday night in the second game of an opening home-and-home series with the Maple Leafs. Ottawa has started well after opening 1-8-1 last season.
“I still have nightmares about how long it took us to get our second win,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “To get two wins in three games is good for us, especially going into a three-day break here.”
Nick Paul also scored for Ottawa and Connor Brown had three assists to reach 100 for his career. Gustavsson played his first regular-season NHL game since May 12.
“We play these young, fast teams and those are the ones you need to be careful of because they go all out,” Dallas forward Tyler Seguin said. “They’re all fighting for jobs. They’re fresh in the league with excitement so you know they’re going to be coming and they did (Sunday) and they did a good job.”
Michael Raffl and Joe Pavelski scored for Dallas. Anton Khudobin made 24 saves. He lost to Ottawa for the first time in his career after opening 8-0-2 against the Senators.
“I think we deserve better than a loss,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. “We deserved a point and didn’t get it, but a couple of guys that we need to get going, got going. We’ve got some guys trying to find their game, guys frustrated with their game and we’re going to have to play our way through it.”
Tierney gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead when Shane Pinto's shot deflected off his chest at 9:20 of the second. With a minute remaining in the period, Tierney took a pass from Zach Sanford and pushed the puck toward the net to beat Khudobin.
Pavelski scored for Dallas with 5:43 left in the third.
Raffl opened the scoring at 4:34 of the first on Dallas' first shot. Fifty seconds later, Paul tucked a backhander under the crossbar to tie it.
NOTES: Senators forward Brady Tkachuk is set to make his season debut Thursday night against San Jose. He agreed to a seven-year, $57.5 million contract Thursday. ... Stars defenseman John Klingberg missed his second straight game because of a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Stars: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
Senators: Host San Jose on Thursday night.
