Sens fall to Oilers in series finale

The Edmonton Oilers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-1 Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre in the ninth and final meeting between the two sides this season.

Anton Forsberg turned aside 20 shots in the Sens (13-24-4) net as Connor Brown scored the lone Ottawa goal. Kailer Yamamoto, Devin Shore and Jesse Puljujarvi had goals for the Oilers (25-14-2) as Mike Smith stopped 39 shots.

“They found a way to win,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “They stayed with it but I thought we played really hard. If [we] keep playing like that you’re going to win more times than not.”

Ottawa, who went 0-for-2 on the man advantage in the opening period, outshot the visitors 10-5 with Brown coming closest to a goal as he hit the post from close-range.

The opening goal came 11:00 into the second as Yamamoto banged home a loose puck on the power play out front after Forsberg had made the initial save on Connor McDavid’s shot.

Brown tied the game with 1:57 left in the frame as he scored in his sixth straight game by beating Smith five-hole for his 12th of the season.

Shore broke the tie with 7:02 to play as he tipped home Caleb Jones’ point shot for his fourth of the campaign. Puljujarvi scored into the empty-net with less than 10 seconds to play to secure the win for Edmonton.

“It wasn’t a good season series against them, plain and simple,” Erik Gudbranson said after the Oilers completed the season sweep.

With his goal, Brown tied the Sens’ franchise record for goals in consecutive games joining Drake Batherson, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Bob Kudelski.

“I felt like we outplayed them tonight but the final score didn’t show that,” Mike Reilly said. “It’s definitely frustrating but we gave a good effort.”

The Senators return to action Saturday when they visit Toronto.