Senators beat Blue Jackets 4-0 to move to brink of 1st playoff spot since 2017

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for Ottawa's second straight shutout and the Senators moved to the brink of their first playoff appearance since 2017, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Sunday for their third straight victory.

With five games left, Ottawa holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference — five points ahead of Montreal. The Canadiens won at Nashville on Sunday night.

Adam Gaudette and Nikolas Matinpalo — with his first NHL goal — scored early in the first period in the opener of a home-and-home set. David Perron and Shane Pinto, into an empty net, also scored, and Thomas Chabot had two assists.

Columbus has lost three straight.

Gaudette opened the scoring at 2:24 of the first period, and Matinpalo connected at 4:26. That goal chased Daniil Tarasov from the Columbus net after just six shots on goal. Elvis Merzlikins took over and stopped 22 of 23 shots.

Perron scored early in the third.

Takeaways

Blue Jackets: Columbus also failed to score Saturday night in a 5-0 loss in Toronto.

Senators: Ottawa extended its shutout streak to 153 minutes. On Saturday, Anton Forsberg made 40 saves in Ottawa's 3-0 victory over Florida.

Key moment

Perron’s goal early in the third period gave the Senators a much more comfortable cushion. It came after the Blue Jackets came out hard in the period and had several good looks.