Post-game Recap: Senators at Red Wings

The Ottawa Senators won their second overtime game in a row on Wednesday night in Detroit as both teams prepare to head into the All Star Break.

The game was a back-and-forth affair until overtime where the Senators dominated possession before Shane Pinto scored the game-winning goal.

The challenge was increased tonight after the Senators lost Jake Sanderson with a lower-body injury in the first period.

"The other guys did a very good job. They worked hard and kept the game simple, and our forwards came back and helped a great deal to help win the game," explained Jacques Martin after the game when asked about the team's response to losing Sanderson.

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The first period started off with a raucous reaction to Senators forward Mathieu Joseph every time he touched the puck following an innocuous collision with Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin the last time these teams met.

With four minutes played in the first Tim Stützle almost recreated his baseball-style goal from the slot when he batted the puck out of the air from the slot. This was followed up on the next shift when Dominik Kubalik narrowly missed a chance following a hard fought puck-battle won by Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto.

Detroit answered back quickly with a point blank chance by Michael Rasmussen that was turned aside by Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo.

Korpisalo couldn’t keep the Red Wings off the board much longer though as Daniel Sprong capitalized on an Ottawa turnover and opened the scoring on a one-timer at 8:57 of the first.

Almost immediately after their first goal Lucas Raymond nearly made the score 2-0, but Ottawa defenseman Jacob Chychrun beat him to a loose puck just to the left of the Ottawa goal.

Putting pressure back on the other end of the ice, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk had a great scoring chance with 9:38 remaining in the period but was hooked up by Christian Fischer to give Ottawa its first power play of the game. While the power play only yielded one shot, as the Red Wing penalty ended Chychrun took a Brady Tkachuk pass and broke down the left wing all alone but his wrist shot was nabbed by the glove of Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon.

As the period neared the close the Senators had one-final chance, but Greig rang his wrist shot just of the post and the period ended with Detroit leading by a goal.

Detroit came out of the intermission and held the Ottawa zone while generating several chances in the first several minutes. The best opportunity being an Andrew Copp shot just off the arm of Koripisalo that he steered into the corner.

Two minutes and seven seconds into the period Joseph stole the puck and sprung Batherson for the Senators first chance of the period, but it was deflected off Lyon’s blocker and out of play.

The Greig-Pinto-Tarasenko line continued to dominate play through the second period and at one point generated Ottawa’s best scoring chance of the game when Greig muscled his way out of the corner into the front of the net. He got a shot off but the puck slid through the crease harmlessly into the corner.

Shortly after this chance Mark Kastelic tipped a shot by Jacob Bernard-Docker past the Detroit netminder to tie the game at one goal apiece.

The Senators maintained pressure and with 12:18 remaining in the period Chychrun took a loose puck from the point walked in three steps and fired a shot forcing Lyon to make a stretching save.

Later in the period Brady Tkachuk’s errant forecheck lead to an Ottawa penalty. As the ensuing power play was ending Shane Pinto made a great play by to chip the puck across the Ottawa blueline and send Brady on a breakaway. The captain pulled away from the defenders and snapped a shot on the high glove side to beat Lyon.

The Senators held on to their lead through the period and the biggest Red Wing chance came at 11:25 when Korpisalo was forced to make a post-to-post save to stop Alex DeBrincat from tying the game.

On what turned out to be the Senators final power play of the period Tkachuk found Stützle alone in front of the net for a one-timer that was met with a sprawling save Detroit netminder.

The third period started with both teams cautiously trying to find an opening in the other’s defense.

After almost half the period with neither team generating much in the way of offense Detroit’s Dylan Larkin scored on a wrist shot through a screen in front to tie the game with just over nine minutes remaining in the period.

The Senators best chance of the third happened with 4:47 remaining, when Greig took a long bounce pass off the left boards and brought it across the Detroit crease. The gritty forward had two cracks at the puck with his second shot coming close, but sliding harmlessly past the open net before resting against the right post unable to give the Senators the lead.

In the dying minutes Korpisalo was tested one final time when a scramble ended with David Perron batting the puck right into the Senators netminder to keep the game tied at two and headed to overtime.

The Senators won the opening face-off of overtime and managed to maintain possession the entire frame. The final push started when Thomas Chabot had a great chance alone in front of the net but was double-teamed by a pair of Red Wings. The Senators brought the puck back outside the neutral zone to regroup and Chabot picked up the puck for the re-entry. As he crossed the blueline his saucer pass found a falling Shane Pinto who buried the game winning goal.

Watch the full recap:

Three Thoughts:

1. In his last seven games (six starts) Joonas Korpisalo is 4-1-2 with a 2.19 goals-against average.
2. Thomas Chabot logged 30:43 of ice time in support of a Senators defense corps that was depleted by the loss of Jake Sanderson in the first period.
3. Shane Pinto has two goals and four points in six games this season.