Neighbours scored his second goal of the game 12 seconds into the third to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. He tapped in a centering pass from Pavel Buchnevich at the edge of the crease.
“He’s got a great nose for the net,” Montgomery said of Neighbours. “Both of those goals is a guy that scores in and around the blue paint. It was great to have that line [of Neighbours, Buchnevich and Robert Thomas] contribute [at] 5-on-5 like they did.”
Zetterlund cut it to 2-1 at 15:39, one-timing a quick pass from Stephen Halliday in the low slot past a sprawling Hofer on the Senators’ seventh power play.
“I think we had a decent game, but we’ve got to make it harder for the goalie,” Zetterlund said. “I mean, we shoot a lot of pucks, but sometimes we don’t have a netfront presence. We need that in this league.”
Ullmark, who was headed off the ice for the extra attacker, dove back into the slot to make a desperation stick save on Thomas with the net empty at 18:07.
“We had more than enough chances to tie the game,” Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson said, “and, matter of fact, win the game, too.
NOTES: Blues forward Jordan Kyrou left the game at 2:52 of the first period with a lower-body injury after taking a hit from Halliday. Montgomery said Kyrou is day to day, “doing OK” and will be reevaluated after having an MRI in St. Louis. … The Senators allowed the first goal of the game for the 18th time this season (6-10-2), tied for the most in the NHL.