Recap: Senators win in OT on Brady Tkachuk goal

The Senators won their third straight game on Saturday afternoon defeating the Islanders in overtime.

Brady Tkachuk had a hat trick including the overtime winner and Ridly Greig scored Ottawa’s other goal while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 30 of 33 shots.

“It was a great comeback for our team, we’ll take it and build on it for tomorrow,” said the captain following the win. “It just feels good to get the overtime over with and to get ready for the back-to-back tomorrow.”

The Islanders opened the scoring with a goal from Matt Martin at 4:27 of the first period. Tkachuk scored on a wrist shot in the second period but the Islanders took the lead again just three minutes later on a goal from Kyle Palmieri.

“The games are made up of ups and downs, but I think that sometimes when you can weather the storm it helps,” said Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin. “I thought overall we competed hard to tie the game up and got the big goal in overtime.”

The Senators controlled much of the play in the early third period and it paid off with a Ridly Greig goal on a two-on-one taking the pass on from Tim Stützle. Later in the period Brady Tkachuk beat Semyon Varlamov to score his second of the night on a one-timer during an Ottawa power play.

"I thought bringing Ridly (Greig) on that (second) line . . . really helped,” Martin added about the line changes he made to jumpstart the club in the second period.

It was another power play late in the game, but this time for the Islanders, that forced overtime. With just over a minute and a half remaining Mathieu Joseph was called for hooking. Bo Horvat scored on the ensuing man-advantage with 48 seconds remaining in the third period.

“I thought that our D gave us a strong game too,” the coach continued. “I thought we played our gap much better against this team and it made it a bit more difficult to enter our zone."

With overtime underway and both teams generating chances it was a final penalty that led to the eventual winner. Horvat was called for holding Stützle while the Senators forward drove to the net and Ottawa converted for their second power play goal of the game.

“They are a wagon of a team so there is never an easy game here,” Tkachuk said of the Islanders following the win. “It’s all about recovering now and being ready to go again tomorrow at six o’clock. “

Of course it was a homecoming for Shane Pinto who was born in nearby Franklin Square, New York and his assist on the game-winning goal came in front of a large contingent of family and friends.

“I’d say about 50 plus,” Pinto said about the number of family members in attendance. “I have go say hi to all of them so it should be interesting.”

There was a scary moment in the third period when Jake Sanderson trapped the puck along the boards and an opponent fell on him causing him to need to be helped off the ice. Sanderson was able to return to the game, but will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

The Senators won’t have time to celebrate the win for very long as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow night at Canadian Tire Centre. There are still some tickets available for the annual St. Patrick’s Day game click here to purchase yours.