After Monday night’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings in the skills competition, the Ottawa Senators will take the loser’s point and say thank you.
The Sens’ record dropped to 41-27-10 and tied the Boston Bruins for third in the Atlantic 
Division.
Ottawa has a game in hand on Boston.
“We are still in a great spot,” Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. “We just have to keep playing like we did tonight.”
That optimistic outlook will be needed in the last few games.
The optimism paid off Monday when the Senators rallied from a 4-2 deficit to force extra time.
“At 4-2, the way things have gone, our season could have fallen apart, but we fought our way back into the game,” Senators head coach Guy Boucher said.
Petr Mrazek got the win for Detroit on 41 saves; he also stopped all seven shooters he faced in the skills competition.
The two teams traded goals to get the game to 2-2.
Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings and Alexandre Burrows and Karlsson scored for the Senators.
Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist gave the Wings a 4-2 lead before Ottawa rallied on goals from Kyle Turris and Fredrik Claesson.
The extra session was race track up and down the ice with breakaways on each side of the ice.
“That was the most entertaining overtime period I’ve ever played in,” Turris said. “I wish they could all be like that.”
WATCH: All Senators vs. Red Wings highlights
Craig Anderson made 29 saves in taking the loss.
Evgeny Svechnikov scored the only goal in the shootout to beat Anderson and give Detroit the win.
“Coach pointed at me and said ‘go’ and the guys told me to do my thing,” Svechnikov said. “This is just an unbelievable moment.”
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