Stutzle, Senators top Penguins for Martin's 1st win since return as coach

OTTAWA -- Tim Stützle scored 1:10 into overtime, and Jacques Martin got his first win since returning as Ottawa Senators coach in a 5-4 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

Stutzle scored five-hole in tight on Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic after a scramble at the Pittsburgh blue line.

“I think I was fighting it a little bit [during the losing streak],” Stutzle said. “I had chances every game, but in the end, [I’m] learning I’ve just got to stick with it. Obviously, I got frustrated there a couple times, but I’ve just got to stay with it. Great play by Drake [Batherson] and [Jakob Chychrun] to keep it in the zone.”

Martin won his first game in his second stint with the Senators. Martin, who has a franchise-record 342 wins, took over for D.J. Smith, who was fired on Dec. 18. He also coached Ottawa from 1996-2004.

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Josh Norris extended his goal streak to five games, and Chychrun and Erik Brannstrom each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (12-17-0). Anton Forsberg made 30 saves.

“I thought for two periods, we were really, really good,” Martin said. “I thought we played more our style of hockey. I think we want to be a pressure team. We got a great performance out of our first line tonight, and overall, I think we did a much better job.”

Kris Letang had a goal and two assists, Rickard Rakell ended a 20-game goal drought, Reilly Smith had two assists, and Nedeljkovic made 21 saves for the Penguins (15-13-4), who had won two straight.

“I thought we raised our level of urgency, and we raised our level of execution [in the third period],” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “But like I said, the first 40 minutes were all special teams, so how many even-strength shifts in a row were there before there was another power play or a penalty kill on either side? There was no flow in the game in the first 40. I thought we competed hard in the third.”

Letang beat a heavily screened Forsberg with a wrist shot from the right point to tie it 4-4 at 17:34.

Pittsburgh outshot Ottawa 23-4 in the third period.

“Honestly, we just kind of turned it up to another level. We brought it in the third,” Nedeljkovic said. “We threw pucks on net, we got a couple of good bounces, [Letang’s] seeing eye shot. I think there was just an intensity that wasn’t there in the first two periods. … It wasn’t our best, the first two periods.”

Chychrun gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 11:07 of the first period when Claude Giroux’s shot rebounded to him at the bottom of the right face-off circle.

“Feels like we got rewarded for playing well,” Chychrun said. “It would have been nice to keep it out of overtime, but two points is two points.”

Lars Eller received a seam pass from Smith below the right circle and shot past Forsberg from a sharp angle on the power play at 14:31 to tie it 1-1.

Pittsburgh was 1-for-7 on the power play; Ottawa was 0-for-4.

“They just weren’t in sync, you know?” Sullivan said of his team's power play. “They weren’t in sync, we didn’t execute, we didn’t make the right decisions. We thought we were making traction there. The power play has scored a lot of goals for us as of late. Tonight, I just didn’t think we were sharp.”

Norris batted the puck out of midair off a pass by Tkachuk at the edge of the crease to make it 2-1 at 15:01.

“I think we battled hard,” Stutzle said. “I think everybody played hard. Every line played strong, and I think [Tkachuk], Josh and [Giroux], when they had the puck in the [offensive] zone, were really dangerous.”

Tkachuk tapped in a long-range backhand seam pass from Giroux on the rush to make it 3-1 at 2:10 of the second period.

“It was a huge relief and just an awesome feeling,” said Tkachuk, the Ottawa captain. “Forsberg made some huge saves to keep us in it, so it’s a huge relief. And we get Jacques his first win [in] part two with us.”

Rakell finished a centering pass from Sidney Crosby on the rush to cut it to 3-2 at 4:59. It was his first goal this season.

“It feels good to get the first one,” Rakell said. “Hopefully, it just takes some weight off my shoulders, and I can just start helping out our team a little bit more.”

Brannstrom scored in tight off a pass from Tkachuk on a 2-on-1 to extend the lead to 4-2 at 7:30. It was Brannstrom’s first goal in 14 games.

Drew O'Connor tipped a Marcus Pettersson point shot to cut it to 4-3 at 1:51 of the third period.

“It was a big point, don’t get me wrong,” Pettersson said. “It was a big point. But we didn't give ourselves a chance to get two.”

NOTES: The Penguins set a franchise record for most shots in a third period on the road (23). … Stutzle’s fourth overtime goal is the most by a player before age 22 in franchise history, surpassing Tkachuk (three). … Letang recorded his 103rd multiassist game, the second-most among active defensemen trailing only teammate Erik Karlsson (128).