Ottawa Senators Sneak Away With Overtime Win Against Washington Capitals
The Ottawa Senators hosted the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals. The Senators not only counted on beating the Capitals, but on the Toronto Maple Leafs beating the Boston Bruins. Given tonight’s results, the Sens now sit three points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
GAME RECAP
The Ottawa Senators got off to an amazing start against the Capitals with the scoring opening up at the 3:21 mark as Clarke MacArthur made a beautiful no look pass while the Capitals were on a line change. The pass hit Mark Stone, who surged into the zone with Kyle Turris as he drew the attention of the Capitals defenceman which allowed Stone to snipe his 21st goal of the season.
The Capitals suffered some detrimental penalty trouble between the seven to ten minute mark of the first period. Joel Ward received an interference penalty at the 7:17 mark, Eric Fehr a hooking penalty at the 8:27 mark as goaltender Braden Holtby picked up a delay of game penalty at the 8:55 mark. The Senators then scored two power play goals in the 9th minute of the first period with MacArthur scoring his 15th of the season at the 9:03 mark with assists going to Erik Karlsson and Mika Zibanejad. Bobby Ryan possessed the puck wonderfully and set up Zibanejad for his 20th goal of the season at the 9:56 mark.
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Ottawa was very dominant in the first period, but the Capitals highlight’s were a Tom Wilson fight with Mark Borowiecki, and Alex Ovechkin laying a huge hit on Stone. The Senators outshot the Capitals 13-7 in the period while Andrew Hammond went thirteen minutes between shots at a point in the period. However, the rest of the game did not see such dominance from the Senators.
The second period opened with the home team leading 3-0 as the second period was much more even than the first. The Capitals flurry started when Marcus Johansson rung a shot of the post early in the period, then minutes later he would make no mistake when he shot on net. Washington had a ton of pressure on Ottawa during the 5th and 6th minute of the period, but then at the 6:26 mark, Johansson scored with assists from Brooks Orpik and John Carlson.
The middle frame was penalty free until the 16:48 mark when forward Mike Hoffman received a penalty for hooking Johansson. Ottawa’s penalty killers took care of Washington’s power play unit with Stone looking good on the penalty kill as he is having a truly remarkable season. The second period saw a much more impressive effort from the Capitals, outshooting the Senators 12-7 in the second period.
The third period began with the score 3-1 in favour of the Senators with intense play from both teams. I was very impressed with the play of Jean-Gabriel Pageau as he always appears to be giving maximum effort. Hammond made a big save on a Washington rush and shot attempt from Brooks Laich three minutes into the period.
The Capitals brought pressure to the Senators and it resulted in a goal at the 7:18 mark with Mike Green scoring off a wrist shot with assist’s from Nicklas Backstrom and Troy Brouwer. One of the analysts on Sportsnet was surprised goaltender interference was not called as Brouwer was literally behind Hammond on the goal.
Hammond had two big saves on Ovechkin and his line at the nine minute mark with play going back and forth frequently in the third period. Hammond was knocked over in his crease thirteen minutes into the period with no call. This game had a playoff-like atmosphere, very intense in the second half of the third period. Wilson and Eric Gryba picked up coincidental penalties at the 13:32 mark which brought the game to four on four play.
Andrew made more huge saves during four on four play but Brouwer scored an unassisted goal at the 15:50 mark as the Capitals were dominating the Senators for parts of the third period. You could almost sense a goal was coming with the play leaning heavily in favour of the Capitals. The period ended with the Capitals outshooting the Senators eleven to four while moving to overtime.
Play went back and forth in overtime with Washington having outplayed the Senators for more than two periods. It felt as if the Capitals were going to score in overtime as they had a ton of pressure in the Senators end. Ottawa caused a turnover near the blue line when Turris surged out of the zone and earned a breakaway. Turris then placed a shot through Holtby’s five hole and the Senators snuck out another win!
NOTES & OBSERVATIONS
- The Senators were outshot 32-28. They were outplayed in two of the three regulation periods. Who cares? They found a way to win. The Senators beat a good team by defeating the Capitals. The Capitals sit in a playoff spot and are not pushovers.
- Hammond is now 16-1-1. The “Hamburglar” has had a remarkable stretch of goaltending. He has a .940 save percentage and 1.80 goals against average this season. Andrew Hammond is THE reason the Senators are in the hunt for the playoffs.
- The Senators power play looked amazing. The Senators scored two power play goals in the first period. The two power play goals were game changers and allowed the Senators to keep control for much of the game. If the Senators had not converted on two of three power play opportunities would they have won this game?
- Stone looked amazing in this game. I am frequently impressed with Hoffman, Stone, Pageau, Lazar, Condra, so many of the Senators players. I like the team that Dave Cameron has playing on the ice. It begs the questions and makes me wonder if it was not an absolute travesty that Bryan Murray did not obtain anything for Chris Neil or Chris Phillips. Where are those players in the Senators big picture?
- Turris really put the team on his back tonight. His offensive positioning helped lead to a goal in the first period. His slick played lead to the game winner in overtime. He is earning the adulation of Senators fans.
UP NEXT
The Senators play the Toronto Maples Leafs at 7:30 PM on Sunday. The Senators must win the “Battle Of Ontario” game if they hope to slide into the final wild card spot. Boston and Detroit losing would have been extremely helpful for Ottawa, but unfortunately both teams won this evening. The Senators still have a game in hand with the Bruins and kept their pace with tonight’s win. The game against Toronto is a must win, as so many of the Senators’ games have been in recent months.