Stephen Halliday, Senators crush Golden Knights

Stephen Halliday scored two goals and had an assist, Brady Tkachuk had three assists and Dylan Cozens also scored twice as the Ottawa Senators cruised to a 7-1 victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.

Fabian Zetterlund, Jordan Spence and Nick Jensen also scored goals and Tyler Kleven and Thomas Chabot each added two assists. The Senators won in regulation at home against the Golden Knights for the first time in team history (2-6-0).

Mads Sogaard, making his first start of the season and the 26th of his career, made 19 saves for Ottawa.

Rasmus Andersson scored a goal and Adin Hill finished with 24 saves for Vegas, which suffered its third loss in the last four games. The six-goal loss matched a franchise record for worst defeat in team history. The Golden Knights also had a 11-0-2 point streak snapped against the Senators.

The Golden Knights had a chance to take the lead at 1:36 mark of the first period when Mitch Marner was awarded a penalty shot after getting hooked on the hands by Kleven on a breakaway. But Marner, trying to outwait Sogaard as he drove the net, didn't get a shot off until he got below the goal line when he flipped the puck into the left side of the net.

Zetterlund then gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at the 9:25 mark when his pass from behind the net hit the stick of Vegas defenseman Kaedan Korczak and caromed off the back of Hill and into the net.

The Senators scored three times in the second period, including twice in the span of 16 seconds, to extend the lead to 4-0.

Cozens, on his knee on the edge of the crease, got the first goal at the 5:51 mark when he backhanded in a rebound of a Ridly Greig shot. Spence followed 16 seconds later with a shot from the right point through heavy traffic.

Halliday roofed a wrist shot past Hill's glove side from the right circle at the 17:50 mark after the Golden Knights twice failed to clear the puck out of their zone.

Ottawa then broke the game open with two goals in 43 seconds at the start of the third period. Cozens got the first at the end of a 3-on-2 break when he ripped a shot from the slot in off the right post.

Halliday followed 43 seconds later, winning the faceoff and then skating in front of the net where he deflected a Kleven point shot past Hill's glove side.

Jensen extended the lead to 7-0 with a deflection of a Chabot shot. Andersson broke up the shutout with 4:55 to go when he put in a rebound of a Tomas Hertl shot.