TKACHUK LEADS SENS TO WIN WITH HAT TRICK
Ottawa players enjoying role of spoiler against teams fighting for playoff spot
The Ottawa Senators are trying to embrace the role of spoilers down the stretch.
They won't be in the National Hockey League's playoff picture for the seventh straight spring, but the Senators have the opportunity to help determine which teams will book tickets to the dance.
Saturday, they didn't make it easy for the New York Islanders as the club scored a 4-3 overtime win at the UBS Arena on the strength of captain Brady Tkachuk's third career hat-trick.
“We've got to play with a little more desperation and our will,” said Islanders winger Matt Martin. “That's a team that's playing, quite respectfully, for nothing and they're playing free and loose. Those are always dangerous teams and we've to be better in that situation.”
“I didn't think we were good enough,” said Isles forward Bo Horvat, who was in the box for the OT winner by Tkachuk after tying it up late. “There were parts of the game where we were out of sync, losing our battles and not playing Isles' hockey. That's what cost us in the end.”
The Isles' winless streak extended to three games.
New York is now 10-7-4 since Patrick Roy took over behind the bench.
“It wasn't enough. Some guys made some bad decisions and bad plays at some key moments,” Roy said. “I felt we gave (Ottawa) those four goals. When a team isn't scoring as much as you wish, you've got to play very well defensively or manage it much better than we did.
“That's what happened on those four goals. We've got to be better in our battles in these games. The bottom line: We just gave that game away.”
Horvat didn't like the call on him in OT for holding.
“I don't know if he (the referee) was trying to make up for the call (late in the game) but I guess at the end of the day I can't take that penalty,” Horvat said.
LEAVE IT TO G
Interim coach Jacques Martin believes alternate captain Claude Giroux has looked better since the club had a three-day break in the schedule last week in Anaheim and has stepped up his game.
The 36-year-old Giroux scored his first goal in 13 games against the Jackets and then fired home the winner with a memorable slapshot that goalie Elvis Merzlikins had no chance on in the shootout.
“The first goal (in the third) got us going and gave us some life,” Martin told TSN 1200's Gord Wilson. “I think his last two games have been excellent, I thought the game before (versus Pittsburgh) he was exceptional.
“After the return from the road trip, it maybe gave him a break a bit with a little bit of time off in Anaheim. It might have helped him to re-energize and being able to focus on the rest of the season.”
PAGEAU, PAGEAU, PAGEAU
Centre Jean-gabriel Pageau has always taken his game to another level at this time of year.
Ottawa fans witnessed it firsthand while he was with the Senators and now with the Isles in a battle for the final wild card spot in the East he's lifted his game in New York as well.
“This time of the year is fun,” said Pageau, who suited up for 35 playoff games with the Senators in his career. “You're pushing for something. We have an extremely competitive group here and we're approaching them like it's a playoff game.
“We need the points. We know how tight this is. Every period matters, every game matters and we've got to be ready.”
Pageau, 31, played game No. 700 of his career last week and he's one of only three skaters taken in the fourth-round or later of the 2011 NHL draft to complete that feat.
Taken No. 96 overall by the Senators, Pageau played 428 games with Ottawa from 2012to-2020.
THE LAST WORDS
Winger Drake Batherson suited up for his 158th consecutive game of his career Sunday. He is now tied with Jason Spezza for No. 16 all-time with the streak that Batherson started on April 4, 2021 ... Steve Staios, the club's president and general manager, will attend his first GM'S meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., this week. Staios will have a chance to continue some of those trade talks that were left on the table at the deadline March 8 ... Tim Stutzle extended his point-scoring streak to five games with three assists Saturday, including Tkachuk's OT winner. Stutzle, the club's leading scorer, has 7 points since March 7. Stutzle had points in all three games against the Isles this season.