The Senators and Leafs prospects had to work a little overtime on Saturday night. But thanks to Ottawa’s first-round draft pick, it was more like Covertime.
In the first game of the Prospect Challenge in Gatineau Saturday night, the Senators trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 with under four minutes to play, and that’s when Jaxon Cover went to work.
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In a slick passing play with linemates Kasper Halttunen and Eksild Bakke Olsen, Cover got the primary assist on the tying goal by Bakke Olsen with 3:28 left in regulation.
At the club’s annual golf tourney this week, Thomas Chabot was asked about the Sens captaincy.
Then Cover went end-to-end to win it.
The Senators’ first round pick, 32nd overall this summer, grabbed the puck behind his own net, made his way up ice, chipped the puck in off the boards, lifted the defender’s stick and then ripped home the winner, top shelf.
The end-to-end rush to beat the Leafs in OT was reminiscent of Carter Yakemchuk’s preseason beauty in 2024. But it was one of a kind for Cover, who told reporters after the game that it was his first overtime goal… ever.
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Cover finished the evening with a goal and two assists and could have had more. He ripped a one-timer off the crossbar that stayed out. And he was denied an assist on a missed call. On a rare 3-on-0, he broke in with Djibril Toure, who was initially stopped by sprawling Leafs goalie Timofei Obvintsev.
But Obvintsev’s entire body clearly rolled into the net with the puck, and if this were a meaningful game, it would have taken only a brief review to declare it an obvious goal. So let’s call it, unofficially, a four-point night against the Leafs in Cover’s first game in an NHL uniform.
Take that, Auston Matthews.
Cover’s winner exonerated his linemate, Halttunen, who also had a fine game with a goal and an assist. But Halttunen’s one blemish was a biggie. With the score tied at 2 and the Sens on the power play, Halttunen looked completely out of gas at the end of his shift.
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But he stayed on and looked way too casual after Christian Kyrou hit him with a drop pass. Borya Valis intercepted the puck for an easy shorthanded breakaway, and his go-ahead goal took the wind out of Ottawa’s sails and looked like it was going to stand up.
Game notes:
Despite the giveaway, Halttunen was dangerous all night and can really rifle a puck. When you choose No. 68, the one worn by the fourth-best scorer in NHL history, you clearly have confidence in your skill.
Ottawa native Jackson Parsons was sharp in goal for the Sens all night, bailing his defence out on a few tough giveaways and missed assignments.
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It’s only a rookie preseason game, but Toure and Gabriel Elliason, both six-foot-seven, have to be the tallest defensive pair in NHL history.
The Senators’ first two goals by Halttunen and Landon Hookey were carbon copies of each other. Both were wrist shots from the same spot near the left wing dot that beat Obvintsev low on the far side, just above the pad.
But the story of the night was Cover. In a game filled with young players who’ve been playing high-level hockey forever, it was the guy who started playing ice hockey when he was 13 who stole the show.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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This article was first published in The Hockey News. For more Sens coverage at The Hockey News, click on one of the latest THN Ottawa headlines below:
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