Senators vs. Sharks: Tim Stützle Caps a 21-Point October as Ottawa Ties Its Record for October Wins

Tim Stützle used the last day of October to put a bow on a record-setting month. His second-period wrister over Alex Nedeljkovic's blocker was his ninth goal of the season, he set up the opener, and by the final horn he had 21 points in the month, extending the franchise record for October points, according to the AP.

The Ottawa Senators beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Saturday afternoon at SAP Center, scoring four unanswered goals after a 1-1 first period. Stützle, Dylan Cozens and Shane Pinto each had a goal and an assist, Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig also scored, and Samuel Ersson made 22 saves for his first win of the season. It was Ottawa's ninth win in October, which the AP said equals the franchise record for October victories set in 2007-08.

Twenty Even Minutes, Then a Second-Period Heist

The first period was a fair fight. Cozens opened the scoring at 13:25, turning on the jets along the right wing, blowing past Sharks defenseman Darnell Nurse and beating Nedeljkovic between the pads. Stützle and Artem Zub drew the assists.

San Jose answered 2:41 later. Ersson stopped Jacob Trouba's first attempt, but Trouba chased down the rebound and found Michael Misa alone at the top of the crease for an easy finish, Misa's third goal of the season. Through 20 minutes, the Sharks looked like the team that had beaten Ottawa 6-2 in Canada's capital nine days earlier.

Then the second period happened, and it was not close. Batherson broke the tie at 5:04, finishing a rush with a wrister from the right circle after Philip Tomasino handed the puck back to him. At 10:54, Cozens left a drop pass for Jake Sanderson, Sanderson swung it across to Stützle, and Stützle's wrister went over Nedeljkovic's blocker for a 3-1 lead.

The knockout came 83 seconds later, and it came with Ottawa a man down. Pinto and Greig broke out on a 2-on-1, Pinto fed Greig through the middle, and Greig switched to the backhand and slid it by Nedeljkovic's left pad for a short-handed goal. Three goals in 7:13, and San Jose's afternoon was effectively over.

The third period was mostly about protecting the lead. Ottawa had a chance to bury it early when Sam Dickinson and Trouba were both penalized at 3:46, but the Senators came up empty on the two-man advantage and finished 0-for-3 on the power play. Pinto took care of the final margin with an empty-netter at 17:30, his fifth of the season.

Stützle's October Deserves Its Own Highlight Package

The AP's numbers tell the story: nine goals and 12 assists in October, and the 21 points pushed his own franchise record for points in the month even further. He also finished one goal shy of the team's October record that Bob Kudelski set in 1993. Saturday was a typical Stützle performance in miniature: an assist on the opener, a clinical finish for the 3-1 goal and 20:14 of ice time in which San Jose never really figured out where he was going next.

He has company. Cozens now has three goals in two games after scoring twice in Thursday's 6-5 overtime loss in Los Angeles, a game Ottawa nearly stole with a four-goal third period. The fourth goal of his season was a pure speed play, the kind that makes a defenseman's next shift a little more nervous.

Batherson's goal was his ninth of the season and stretched his point streak to seven games, a run NHL.com said includes six goals and six assists. Sanderson quietly ran the show from the back end with two assists, a plus-4 rating and 22:50 of ice time. Pinto won 10 of his 17 faceoffs, set up the short-handed dagger and scored the empty-netter.

And then there is Ersson. According to the AP, he entered the day 0-3-1, and Ottawa has been playing without injured goaltender Linus Ullmark. He did not need to stand on his head, but after Trouba found Misa alone at the crease in the first, he shut the door on everything else.

The Turning Point

Call it Greig's backhand. Up 3-1, Ottawa was killing a penalty, the moment when a trailing team is supposed to get life. Instead, San Jose's power play turned into a 2-on-1 the other way, and Greig turned it into his second goal of the season. A San Jose power-play goal there makes it 3-2 with half a game left. Instead it was 4-1, and a three-goal hole after giving one up short-handed is a long ride home. The Sharks never recovered.

Stats That Matter

• 35-23: Ottawa's edge in shots on goal. Nedeljkovic made 30 saves and still got buried.
• 4: Unanswered Ottawa goals after Misa tied it in the first period.
• 1:23: The gap between Stützle's goal and Greig's short-handed strike in the second.
• 21: Stützle's points in October, a franchise record for the month, per the AP.
• 0-for-3: Both teams on the power play. The only special-teams goal of the day belonged to the penalty kill.

What It Means

The Senators are 9-5-1 with 19 points and 4-3-1 on the road, and they snapped a two-game skid that opened a five-game trip with losses at Vegas and Los Angeles. The win also evened the two-game season series with San Jose after that 6-2 home loss on Oct. 22. There is not much time to celebrate: the trip continues in Anaheim on Sunday, and Ottawa will be riding the confidence of a dominant middle period into the back end of a back-to-back.

The Sharks fell to 7-7-1 with 15 points and 3-4-0 at home, with three losses in their last four games. Misa's goal was the lone bright spot on a day when San Jose was outshot by 12 and outscored 4-0 over the final 40 minutes. They host Calgary on Monday, and the defensive structure that cracked open in the second period is the obvious homework assignment.

Closing Take

Every great month needs a finale, and Stützle delivered one without making it look like work. Ottawa matched its franchise record for October wins, Stützle rewrote his own line in the record book, and a goalie who had been waiting all month for a win finally got one. San Jose got the scary part of Halloween: a second period it will not want to rewatch.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details and records from the Associated Press and NHL.com. No postgame quotes were available at publication.