In Ottawa, the Senators’ Marcus Hogberg won his first game in the NHL on the strength of 33 saves.
It wasn’t easy as the Nashville Predators rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third period to force extra time.
Anthony Duclair rallied the Sens back with a goal in the extra session for a 5-4 Ottawa win.
“It was amazing,” said Hogberg, who made 33 saves and was 0-3-2 in seven NHL games prior. “I was really happy in that moment. Really happy. … I just said to myself, ‘Just be patient.’ I tried to play my game and just focus on the next save. Today, it was my first win, so I’m really happy about that.”
Duclair has 20 goals on the season.
“It’s a good feeling,” Duclair said. “I’m just happy the way things have been going this year. I want to keep going. I think I’ve obviously got a lot of hockey left. … Personally, I think the confidence is pretty high. Highest it’s ever been, for sure.”
Rocco Grimaldi, Ryan Johansen and Roman Josi rallied the Preds back with third period goals.
“I just didn’t like the way we dropped our intensity in the second period,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We didn’t generate anything and didn’t have any attack in our game. I didn’t like to see that. It was a good response in the third, but it shouldn’t get to that. We shouldn’t need that.”
Craig Smith had given Nashville a 1-0 lead in the first period before Collin White knotted the game at 1-1 ahead of the Senators taking a 4-1 lead.
Brady Tkachuk, Artem Anisimov and Vladislav Namestnikov were the other Senators’ strikers.
“When our mentality is to work, we can stay in the games,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. “We get opportunities and we work for opportunities. When we cheat the game a little bit, which I thought we did a little bit in the first, they could’ve put a number on us there. I thought we bounced back hard in the second period. We don’t lay down; we work. You’re not going to win every game, but tonight I thought in the second period certainly we pushed back.”
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Senators highlights]
Juuse Saros made 19 saves in the loss.
“It’s a huge point for us. But at the same time, we’ve got to realize that we’ve got to play for 60 minutes and we can’t take periods off,” Josi said. “I thought we did in the second. It’s just not going to get you a lot of wins in this league.”
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