For the second straight game, the Ottawa Senators saved the best for last. After a four-goal third-period explosion against the San Jose Sharks in a win on Saturday night, the Senators nearly pulled off another comeback, erasing a 3-0 deficit against Washington before falling just short in a 5-4 shootout loss.
Shane Pinto scored twice for Ottawa, while Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist.
Jake Sanderson had one of his finest games as a pro, and not just because of his three assists. He was fantastic, jumping up into the play, skating at a pace that suggests newfound confidence, perhaps brought on by the recent Four Nations experience.
Pierre-Luc Dubois led the way for the Capitals with a goal and two assists, while Dylan Strome got the only goal in the shootout to win it for Washington.
Just as they did against the Sharks on Saturday, the Senators entered the third period trailing—this time down 3-1. They battled back to tie the game with goals from Giroux and Pinto.
However, with under eight minutes left, Martin Fehérváry briefly rained hard on Ottawa’s comeback parade, scoring to put Washington back in front. But with 1:08 remaining and Ottawa’s goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Brady Tkachuk—right in his office—buried a rebound on a 6-on-4 goal to force overtime.
The extra frame solved nothing, leading to a shootout where Strome netted the winner on a slick backhand. All three of the Senators’ shooters—Drake Batherson, Tim Stützle, and Claude Giroux—elected to test the glove side of the left-handed Thompson. All three failed.
Linus Ullmark was solid in goal for the Senators and made one of the saves of the season early on, lunging to his right to deny a vintage Alex Ovechkin one-timer.
Ovechkin is no closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record than he was at the start of the day.
After the game, Senators head coach Travis Green praised his team’s perseverance despite the loss.
“It was a good game (against a) good team,” Green told the media. “Obviously, I’m not liking getting down 3-0, but we showed a lot of character coming back. And anytime you lose in the shootout, it’s… you lost a shootout.”
Much like their comeback win over San Jose, Ottawa stuck with the game even when trailing. Even with the early 6:30 start, a lot of Sens fans probably called it a night at 3-0 because, at that point, it did not look like it was going to be their night.
“I mean, a lot like the other night, we just stuck with the game,” Green said. “You know, I like that we didn’t cheat the game once we got down. Like I said, you come back against a team like that. It’s a big point.”
The two teams faced off three times this season, with each game going to extra time. Washington won twice, but Ottawa still managed to earn four of a possible six points from the matchups.
That said, the Sens did slip in the standings, because the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens both pulled two points out of their games on Monday, leaving the Wild Card race looking like this:
Ottawa will play its final game before the NHL trade deadline on Friday when they face the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
By Steve Warne (@SteveWarneMedia)
This article is from The Hockey News Ottawa. For more Sens coverage all season long, be sure to bookmark THN Ottawa.
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