Game Recap: Senators Fight off Kraken for Crucial Two Points
DeBrincat’s late goal leads Senators to 5-4 win over Kraken
Despite squandering a three-goal lead, the Ottawa Senators responded and pulled out an impressive victory in Seattle, picking up a crucial two points in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
First Period
The Senators came flying out of the gates, scoring 3 goals in the first 8 minutes of the contest, including Jakob Chychrun’s 2nd as a Senator and Patrick Brown’s marker in his first game with his new team.
Shane Pinto would start off the action just 4 minutes into the game with his 17th of the season off a rebound, assisted by Nick Holden and Jakob Chychrun. Not long after Chychrun would get on the score sheet once again, taking a nice feed from Nick Holden and finding the top shelf:
Jakob Chychrun's (@j_chychrun7) fitting in juuuuuust fine in Ottawa. 👌 pic.twitter.com/fbBnK279C8
— NHL (@NHL) March 10, 2023
A Patrick Brown wrist shot would squeak its way past Philipp Grubauer and the Senators were seemingly in control of the game.
However, the momentum would switch on a Jared McCann shorthanded marker that took an unfortunate bounce off Thomas Chabot. The Senators exit the opening frame with a 3-1 advantage.
Second Period
Things would continue to fall apart for the Senators as the game continued to progress, Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann would both score in the middle frame to level the game.
Can he? Jared McCann! ✅ pic.twitter.com/1kTgDNPqbu
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 10, 2023
An unfortunate bounce led to McCan’s second of the game, knotting the game all up at 3’s heading into the final period.
Third Period
The Kraken continued to pile the pressure on a desperate Senators squad, striking once again just over 3 minutes into the 3rd, thanks to a precise shot by defenceman Vince Dunn. Not long after, Claude Giroux was able to provide some magic for a Senators team that was desperately in need of a spark, as he took a Tim Stützle pass and wired it over the glove of Grubauer.
Claude Giroux (@28CGiroux) got absolutely ALL of this one. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/k4NIVKfNDb
— NHL (@NHL) March 10, 2023
As the minutes ticked down in the final period it began to look like this battle was heading for overtime, however, with just under 3 minutes left the Senators got their break; an Alex DeBrincat cross-crease pass deflected home off a Kraken defenceman, giving the Senators a 5-4 lead late in the contest.
MEEEOWWWWWW
— Pesky Sickos (@PeskySickos) March 10, 2023
Claude Giroux forces a turnover to keep this puck in, and Alex DeBrincat makes the play to Shane Pinto and gets the #Sens back up in this game.
On replay, it doesn't look like it touched Pinto.
5-4 Ottawa. #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/zSto9r0Hlq
Mads Søgaard stopped 29 of the 33 shots directed his way in a winning effort, while Philipp Grubauer allowed 5 goals on 31 shots in a losing effort for the Kraken.
The Ottawa Senators (33-27-4) find themselves 4 points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, with 1 game in hand.