Ottawa Senators Escape With 4-3 Overtime Victory, Still In Playoff Chase

By all accounts, the Ottawa Senators should have left the building with less than what they got.

According to the National Post, the Senators gave up a three-goal lead, only to score in the overtime period and escape with a 4-3 victory against the Washington Capitals Saturday night at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre.

The Senators’ Kyle Turris took a breakaway from his blue line into the zone and blasted a shot through Capitals goalie Braden Holtby’s leg pads with 1:46 left in the overtime period to secure the victory.

“I’m just glad (the rink) is not Olympic size,” Turris said, “I was a little gassed at the end of the shift and I was just trying to get speed through the neutral zone and put myself position where I could get a good shot off and not be caught.”

Clark MacArthur, Mark Stone, and Mika Zibanejad all scored goals for the Senators (40-26-12) in the first period to take what seemed to be a commanding lead. The Capitals, however, had other ideas.

Marcus Johansson, Mike Green, and Troy Brouwer scored in regulation for the Capitals (43-25-11), Johansson scored in the second period while Green and Brouwer scored in the third to tie the game.

“You never like to give up three-goal leads, obviously, but we didn’t really back off, we just had some mishaps that cost us three goals,” Senators forward Mark Stone said.

According to Reuters, Ottawa now sits in ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Senators sit three points behind the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild-card spot in the playoffs.

“We’ve got to just keep going,” Senators winger Clarke MacArthur said. “We’ve got to win our games and someone’s going to fall off here, something’s going to happen. The guys have worked too hard here to not have a sniff at the end. That’s what we’ve got to believe.”

Andrew Hammond stopped 29 shots for the Senators to push his record to 17-1-1. Holtby stopped 24 shots but failed in his latest attempt to get his 40th victory.

“Huge two points,” Senators coach Dave Cameron said. “It’s the time of year where all that matters is the two points. Doesn’t do any good anymore to play good and lose, you’ve got to find a way to get it and we found a way tonight.”

The Senators got a boost from their usually weak power play team. The Senators were able to score twice on two five-on-three advantages within a 53-second span to take a big lead, one they almost let go.

[Image courtesy of Justin Tang/Canadian Press]