Recap: Senators edge the Capitals in overtime

The Ottawa Senators returned to the win column with a 4-3 comeback victory against the Washington Capitals on Sunday night.

Before Jake Sanderson’s overtime heroics, the game was a defensive matchup with only 23 combined shots heading into the third period. That was the frame when the Senators put nine shots on net and scored the tying goal to force overtime.

“That is exactly what I told Sandy (Jake Sanderson) when he came in after the game,” joked interim head coach Jacques Martin with the media. “That we don’t shoot enough.”

The third period also saw Joonas Korpisalo make 10 of his 21 saves en route to his career-high 20th win of the season.

"We battled hard, especially after an emotional and physical game like last night,” added Martin. “We needed everybody tonight; we needed our bench, and our fourth line gave us some good minutes, which I think helped us win the game.”

The game opened with Max Pacioretty scoring his fourth of the year only 4:43 into the game when both he and Hendrix Lapierre were left alone in front of the Senators' net. Shortly after this point in the period, play was momentarily stopped while Korpisalo and the Ottawa defense pointed out to officials that the sun was pouring into the building, making it challenging to see the puck. Once play resumed, it was a hard-fought battle in the neutral zone and along the boards, with scoring chances few and far between.

To open the second period, Mark Kastelic crashed his way to the net and put a backhand behind Charlie Lindgren to tie the game at one just after the five-minute mark.

“It's awesome to contribute,” said Kastelic. “It feels like our line lately has been gelling really well and been able to get on the scoresheet, which feels great and feels even better when we win.”

With just 2:50 left in the period, Aliaksei Protas scored his 6th goal of the season, a third of which were scored against the Senators. This gave the Capitals the lead heading into the third period.

The third period opened up a little bit, but scoring was still at a premium. With seven minutes left to play in the game, Ridly Greig scored and tied the game off a tic-tac-toe passing play by Shane Pinto and Erik Brännström.

Once overtime was underway, the Senators took control and never looked back. The only shot of the extra period came off the stick of Jake Sanderson, who won it after battling along the blue line to create space and shooting the puck through a screen and past the Capitals goalie for the win.

“I think (Lindgren) may have been screened,” concluded Martin. “Brady stepped right in front of him before (Sanderson) shot or at the same time because I don't think it was touched."

Sanderson was happy to contribute and hoped it was a good sign for the rest of this road trip.

“We want to finish the season off strong,” said Sanderson. “Not just this team but all the teams on this road trip; they are all fighting for spots.”

“I've said it before, but we are getting every team's best game down this last stretch.”

The Senators will be back in action in Tuesday at 7 pm when the take on the Panthers on Florida at 7 pm with the game found on RDS and TSN5.