In Ottawa, the Senators and visiting Pittsburgh Penguins chased each other for 60 minutes on Wednesday night, but Brady Tkachuk had the final say with the game-winner for Ottawa in a 5-4 win in extra time. 
“I thought we played a great game, wire to wire,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “I thought our bench was under control tonight. You know, guys were dialed in to what they were doing and sometimes flukey goals go in and things like that, and then you’ve got to stay with it. It’s easy to get down, but I thought it was a really good effort by a lot of guys.”
Tkachuk made quick work of the extra session, scoring with just 25 seconds gone.
“It was exciting for the fans,” said Tkachuk, the Senators captain. “A lot of goals, entertaining. On special teams, I thought we stepped up tonight. We’ve struggled as of late, so we just needed to get back to our identity.”
Cam Talbot made 15 saves in the Ottawa win.
The Senators improved to 20-21-3.
Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell made overtime necessary when he tied the game, 4-4, off the power play at 12:33 of the third period.
The Penguins dropped to 22-15-7.
The Senators were 4-for-9 on the power play, the Pens scored twice on five chances.
“It’s pretty tough to assess a game like that when half of the game is special teams,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
The Pens took a 1-0 lead at 6:36 of the first period on a marker from Jason Zucker.
The Senators replied with two power play goals, the first from Alex DeBrincat, 68 seconds later for a 1-1 tie.
Tim Stutzle potted the second power play goal to put Ottawa up, 2-1 at 9:44 of the first.
“We battled hard, but we didn’t get it done,” Sullivan said of the penalty kill. “… We gave up four goals-against. It’s not good enough. We battled hard, but when you’re spending a third of the game trying to kill penalties, it puts an awful burden on those guys.”
Evgeni Malkin scored to tie the game, 2-2, at 15:53; Mark Friedman scored early in the middle frame to give the Pens a 3-2 advantage.0
Drake Batherson tied it for the Senators, 3-3, at 9:19 of the second with the Sens’ third power play goal..
“It’s the team (Penguin) we’re trying to catch,” Tkachuk said. “We’re treating this as do or die. It’s a playoff atmosphere — energy, emotions. That’s what we want to play with and that’s what we want to carry going into the next game.”
Ottawa reclaimed the lead with 11 minutes gone in the third on the fourth power play marker, this one from Shane Pinto, for a 4-3 advantage.
“It’s been a little bit for me, so just to get the monkey off my back is nice,” Pinto said. “… There were definitely days where it was frustrating, but I just need to stick with it and stay positive and the bounces will come.”
Josh Norris returned the Sens lineup after missing 38 games.
“He makes our team so much better with him in the lineup,” Tkachuk said. “We missed him. It didn’t look like he was out of shape after being out three months. He looked unreal. His speed, his skating and his shot. For me, the personal connection I have with him, I was fired up tonight.”
Casey DeSmith made 35 saves in the Pittsburgh loss.
“Except for the last one, I thought I played well,” DeSmith said. “The last one was not good.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.