It was a memorable Tuesday night for two Ottawa Senators. Goaltender Matt Murray of Thunder Bay, Ontario collected his 14th National Hockey League shutout and Tyler Ennis of Edmonton, Alberta had his second career NHL hat trick as the Senators blanked the Buffalo Sabres 5-0 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario.
Murray had 32 saves. He made 11 saves in the first period, 11 saves in the second period and 10 saves in the third period. This was Murray’s third shutout with the Senators as his other 11 came with the Pittsburgh Penguins. On the season, Murray is now at 3-6-1 with a goals against average of 3.05 and a save percentage of .904.
Ennis’s hat trick meanwhile was extremely unlikely. That is because prior to Tuesday, he only had one goal in 30 games. On Tuesday, Ennis opened the scoring at 15:53 of the first period from Josh Brown of London, Ontario, and Adam Gaudette for the game-winning goal. Ennis then put the Senators up 3-0 on a goal from Chris Tierney of Kewsick, Ontario, and Gaudette at 18:48 of the first period. Then with 30 seconds left in the game, Ennis scored from Brown and Lassi Thomson to close out the scoring. Ennis’s first career hat trick came in a 6-2 Toronto Maple Leafs win over the Calgary Flames on March 4, 2019.
