Senators continue Mammoth's woes with second period burst

Ridly Greig and Jordan Spence each had a goal and an assist for the Ottawa Senators in a 4-2 win against the visiting Utah Mammoth on Sunday.

Dylan Cozens had two assists, and Leevi Merilainen made 30 saves for the Senators, who are 3-0-2 in their past five games.

Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz scored for the Mammoth, who have lost three straight and five of six. Vitek Vanecek made 21 saves.

Spence put the Senators ahead 2-1 at 7:13 of the second period when he jumped up to above the slot to take a feed from David Perron and fired a slap shot past Vanecek.

Nick Cousins collected a rim pass behind the net from Cozens and looped around to the front to slip it past Vanecek to make it 3-1 at the 15:52 mark.

Schmaltz cut it to 3-2 at 18:56, taking the puck from the neutral zone and down the right side before cutting around Jake Sanderson on a drive to the net and slipping a backhand under Merilainen's right pad.

The Mammoth appeared to pull even 22 seconds into the third period, but the Senators challenged for goalie interference. The goal was overturned after review on Jack McBain's incidental contact with Merilainen.

Michael Amadio tipped Thomas Chabot's point shot glove side past Vanecek to make it 4-2 at 3:46.

Utah controlled the play in the first period, putting up a 6-2 shot advantage just over seven minutes in and outshooting Ottawa 14-5 in the frame.

But it was the hosts who opened the scoring at 13:59. Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse tried to push a loose puck down low toward the end boards, but it hit Cozens and deflected up, going off Vanecek's left shoulder and landing on the goal line, where Greig poked it over for a 1-0 lead.

Keller tied it 1-1 at 17:33, carrying a pass from Mikhail Sergachev from the neutral zone to the left circle before going around Nick Jensen to the front of the net and putting his own rebound past Merilainen.

--Field Level Media