Senators win, close in on Atlantic Division lead

OTTAWA --The Ottawa Senators moved within one point of first place in the Atlantic Division with a 2-1 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
Mike Condon made 34 saves, and Mike Hoffman scored in the third period to help the Senators (41-24-8) win a second straight game. They trail the Montreal Canadiens, who lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1.

Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan scored in the shootout for Ottawa, which has a game in hand on Montreal and visits the Canadiens on Saturday.
WATCH: All Penguins vs. Senators highlights
Nick Bonino scored a power-play goal, and Matt Murray made 29 saves for the Penguins (46-17-10), who had won three straight games. Pittsburgh is two points behind the Washington Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division, Eastern Conference and NHL. Washington defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in a shootout.
Hoffman tied the game 1-1 at 9:43 on the power play with Matt Cullen in the penalty box.

"[I was] just really looking to put the puck on net," said Hoffman, who has 22 goals, including a Senators-leading 13 on the power play. "That's what generates a lot of our scoring chances on the power play. That was really just my main objective, to get it past their [defensemen] and managed to find the back of the net."
Bonino made it 1-0 at 9:21 of the second period with a shot that went in off the crossbar over Condon's right shoulder. The goal came during the first penalty of a double minor for high-sticking on Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf.
Senators defenseman Marc Methot, who plays on the top pair with Erik Karlsson, left with a finger injury he sustained when he was hit on the hands by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby in the first period.

"His finger is destroyed," Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. "It's shattered and he's out for weeks."
Crosby said, "I was just trying to get his stick and I think I caught his finger judging by his reaction and their reaction. I've gotten those before. They don't feel good."
The Penguins played without eight regulars.

"I think we've been pretty resilient," Crosby said. "We've had to play a lot of games here lately with a lot of guys in different positions, different roles, and they've come in and done a great job. I think we're trying to rally around that adversity a bit and find ways to get points. It was a good hockey game tonight, we got a point, but we have to find [a way] to win those close ones."

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Goal of the game

Hoffman took a pass from Turris at the left point and scored with a wrist shot over Murray's right shoulder.

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Save of the game

Condon made a lunging save with his right arm to deny the Penguins at 2:20 of overtime. Derick Brassard got his stick on a shot by Chris Kunitz deflecting it back toward Condon.
"It was [Derick] who originally got his stick on it to kind of slow it down and it gave me that extra half second to extend an arm," Condon said. "I was lucky to get it on the blocker there and thankfully it went over the net."

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Highlight of the game

Condon stopped Crosby's shot in the shootout to give the Senators the win.

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Unsung performance of the game

Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 14 of 20 faceoffs against Crosby.

They said it

"We had a fair amount of chances, we just didn't convert. I thought our guys played hard. It wasn't a case of not establishing zone time or some opportunities at the net. I thought we had some quality chances. We just didn't convert." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"These times of the year it's hard to score goals. Every guy on every team is low on energy and we're focused on defense first, so we get limited scoring chances. Today was a special-teams game and we both scored on power plays. We need to generate a lot on special teams to have a chance to win in tight games." -- Senators captain Erik Karlsson

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Need to know

With the Senators down to five defensemen after Methot was injured, Dion Phaneuf played 28:29 and Cody Ceci played 28:42. That was the most Phaneuf has played in a game this season and the second-most for Ceci. ... The Senators won 65 percent of faceoffs.

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What's next

Penguins: Host the New York Islanders on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVA Sports, ROOT, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Senators: At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)