Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk fired in the overtime game-winner as the Senators won their season-high third straight game, edging the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 Saturday night.
In the teams’ fourth straight overtime match in Ottawa, Tkachuk took a stretch pass from Jake Sanderson, toe-dragged his way by defenseman Erik Karlsson and beat goaltender Tristan Jarry (28 saves) for his club-best 15th goal as the Senators improved to 3-2 in overtime while Pittsburgh fell to 4-5.
Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist and Drake Batherson netted his 13th as the Senators moved to 5-1-1 in their past seven matches.
After stopping 118 of 121 shots in four straight wins, including a 32-save shutout Friday at the Carolina Hurricanes, Linus Ullmark was back in goal on the back-to-back and recorded 25 saves for his fifth straight victory.
Pittsburgh’s Blake Lizotte scored for the fifth time in nine games, while Kris Letang hit the net.
Defenseman Marcus Pettersson was injured late in the first period after being checked awkwardly into the boards and did not return.
In the first period, Ottawa scored with its fourth shot when Claude Giroux, alone in the low slot, gathered a rebound and skated around Jarry’s net, bringing the goalie out of position. Giroux then fed Chabot, who zipped home his second tally at 7:34.
Ullmark kept the visitors off the board in the Penguins’ promising two-shot sequence at the 10-minute mark — first denying Michael Bunting on a breakaway, then making a miraculous stick save on Karlsson’s rebound shot toward the open cage.
Following an NHL-high nine-goal outburst Thursday in a win in Montreal, Pittsburgh produced just five shots.
Jarry was at his best in the second after Lizotte went off for unsportsmanlike conduct. On the Ottawa man advantage, the netminder made five saves to keep Pittsburgh down by just one.
However, Ullmark matched Jarry’s efforts by denying Sidney Crosby’s chip-in attempt at the far post with 76 seconds left in the frame.
Lizotte found redemption early in the third when he backhanded in a rebound started by Matt Grzelcyk’s long shot as Pittsburgh’s fourth line leveled the match.
In a battle in front of Jarry in the third, Batherson broke the 1-all match after Chabot sent a pass across that caromed in off the winger’s skate at 6:38, but Letang floated in his seventh tally six minutes later to knot it again and lead to overtime.
–Field Level Media
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