An OT win over Dallas ends their four-game road trip on a high
Ottawa closes out road trip with OT win against former teammate Methot in Dallas
The captain came through in the crunch as the Ottawa Senators shone bright Monday in the Lone Star State.
The Senators haven’t had a whole lot to feel good about this season, but they closed out this four-game road trip with a 2-2 record after they scored a 3-2 overtime victory over former teammate Marc Methot and the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
Not long after the Senators let a 2-1 lead slip away, Erik Karlsson scored the winner with 2:19 left in overtime as Ottawa extended its winning streak in Dallas to three games. The Senators haven’t lost in this building since Jan. 13, 2015.
Matt Duchene and Mike Hoffman scored in regulation to give the Senators a 2-1 lead, but Tyler Seguin’s second of the game in the dying minutes tied it up to send it to overtime. Though Craig Anderson gave up the late goal, he made 31 stops and played a big role in the win.
Seguin tied it with 1:08 left in third with the Dallas net empty and the Senators clinging to a 2-1 lead. While Anderson had been solid throughout the third, he couldn’t do anything as Seguin fired it home on the glove side.
Duchene fired a shot from the circle with 13:24 left in the third to put the club ahead. It was Duchene’s 19th of the season and you can be guaranteed backup Kari Lehtonen, who came on in relief of Ben Bishop in the second period, will want that back because the puck went right through him.
Coming off an ugly 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, coach Guy Boucher wasn’t happy with the club’s effort in the third period and demanded they have a better game against the Stars.
“It’s not a back to back, so we have to have energy. This is a big team,” Boucher said Monday morning. “This is a team that’s got some skill and their high-end players can really give it to you if you give them some space.
“We definitely can’t play the wide-open game against that team. We know that they’re fighting for their spot and they’re a hungry team, so if we got on the ice and we’re hungry and we take a whole period to get going, then we’re in trouble. We’ve got to be smart for 60 minutes, which we weren’t (Saturday).”
The Stars lost Bishop, a former Senator, with a lower-body injury after the first period. He was stretching his knee constantly during television timeouts in the first period after teammate Dan Hamhuis fell on him while trying to defend the front of the Stars’ net.
Lehtonen came on in relief to start the second.
Through 40 minutes, the Senators were showing flashes of brilliance against Dallas and Ottawa finally scored in the nick of time when Hoffman tied it up with his 19th of the season with only 1.4 seconds left on the clock to tie it up 1-1 going to the third.
That came on the power play and Lehtonen actually got his glove on the shot from Hoffman, but the puck bounced up and into the net. Up to that point, the Senators had relied on Anderson to come up with some big stops because Ottawa was outshot 15-8 in the second period.
With the exception of the game against the Coyotes, the Senators have played better since the trade deadline passed a week ago. However, they needed Anderson when they were back on their heels in the second with the Stars pressing to try to extend their lead.
A frustrated Karlsson appeared to have words with one of the officials midway through the second and was assessed an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. The Senators were able to kill off the minor, but that’s the second straight game they’ve been assessed a minor for yapping.
After having a strong first period, the Senators didn’t even record their first shot on Lehtonen until 8:30 of the second. Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Senators will likely view this as a good road period. They outshot the Stars by a 12-8 count and after surrendering the opening goal to Dallas, the club cleaned up its act and Ottawa started to push the pace against the Stars.
The Senators weren’t happy the play was whistled down when they fired the puck into a virtually empty net with Bishop down. The officials have the right to whistle the play down.
For the 39th time this season, the Senators gave up this opening goal and this one came on the power play for the Stars. Trying to make a cross-crease pass, Seguin’s attempt bounced off Ben Harpur’s skate and by Anderson on the glove side at 4:36 of the first. That came with Alex Burrows in the box after a holding penalty and on the third shot Anderson faced.
The Senators face the Buffalo Sabres in a battle of two of the league’s worst teams Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.