NHL Game Summary - Colorado at Ottawa
Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Clarke MacArthur scored the tiebreaking goal during a third-period outburst that propelled Ottawa to a 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the Senators' home opener.
Bobby Ryan, who signed a seven-year contract extension on Oct. 2, scored his first goal of the season in the third and Chris Neil added an empty-netter for the Senators, who went 2-1-0 on their season-opening road trip.
"It was a good character win by us," said MacArthur. "We stuck with it. It was ugly in the first (period) and we were able to hang in there and find a way to get a win."
Craig Anderson made 28 saves as Ottawa snapped a seven-game losing streak to a Colorado team that saw its third-string goaltender play the majority of Thursday's contest at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Avalanche placed starter Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve with a groin injury earlier Thursday, then backup Reto Berra left 2:46 into the game after being involved in a collision with the Senators' Kyle Turris.
Colorado head coach Patrick Roy didn't provide an update on Berra during his post-game press conference.
Calvin Pickard, recalled from Lake Erie of the American Hockey League, stopped 23-of-27 shots in his NHL debut.
"Pick made some big saves when we needed them and it's too bad we couldn't get the win for him," said Avs forward Matt Duchene.
The Avalanche fell to 1-3-1 on the young season after blowing a third-period lead for the second straight game. They were up 2-1 before losing 3-2 in overtime at Toronto on Tuesday.
Ottawa trailed 3-1 after the first period, but got a power-play goal from newcomer David Legwand in the middle stanza.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, the Senators tied the game on Ryan's wrister along the ice from the left circle 8:39 into the third.
MacArthur's goal came shortly after Mark Stone stripped the puck from Jarome Iginla in the neutral zone. Stone lost control of the puck as he got around Nick Holden in the Colorado zone, but retrieved it in the right corner and sent a pass that MacArthur directed behind Pickard at 11:43.
Neil scored with 1:22 remaining.
The Avalanche scored three first-period goals three different ways.
Alex Tanguay beat Anderson at even strength 1:25 into the game. John Mitchell, playing his first game since late last season because of concussion-like symptoms, followed with a shorthanded goal at 9:57.
Zack Smith lit the lamp for Ottawa at 11:01, but Gabriel Landeskog gave Colorado its second two-goal lead on a power play with 2:22 remaining.