Recap: Senators get the road win against the Blue Jackets

The Senators won their second game in a row with a shootout victory in Columbus on Thursday night.

Claude Giroux and Tim Stützle both scored goals in regulation and added goals in the shootout while Forsberg stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced and allowed only one in the shootout.

“We had some highs, some lows and I thought we started a little slow in the third period but it seemed halfway through the period we came back,” explained interim head coach Jacques Martin. “I think when we got that goal, after giving up the second to them it gave us some life.”

It was the second time in as many games that the Senators required extra time to win the game.

“I think we have played better defensively and our goaltending has been better and I think we just need to keep trying to improve,” added Martin. “We lost some of our depth scoring with (Josh) Norris and (Vladamir) Tarasenko gone, but it gives some opportunity to some other players.”

The Blue Jackets came out quickly right out of the gate scoring only 15 seconds into the game when Boone Jenner beat Anton Forsberg to open the scoring. However, Ottawa was able to bounce back quickly and generate most of the scoring chances for the rest of the period.

“Not much you can do about that, just move on,” said Forsberg about falling behind early. “After that I thought the team played well and I played myself up from there as well.”

The second period was again dominated by the Senators outshooting the Blue Jackets by 13 to 9 again. The Senators fourth line of Mark Kastelic, Parker Kelly and Boris Katchouk created chances with turnovers and forechecking.

“I thought they played well tonight,” Martin said. “I thought the controlled the puck and they created some chances and I thought they played well.”

The third period opened with Columbus putting the pressure on the Senators again and it paid off when Alex Nylander scored his sixth goal of the season to give the Senators a 2-0 lead. On the ensuing play Columbus had another fantastic scoring opportunity, but Forsberg got his glove out just in time to keep the Blue Jackets to a two-goal lead.

“Oh, I saw it I see every save he makes,” Stützle said of the highlight reel glove save. “He was great for us tonight. He was confident and really calm you could see it in the shootout . . . . he was just unreal tonight.”

The Senators seemed to rally around that save and just over two minutes later Claude Giroux tipped home his 19^th goal of the year from a pass from Katchouk. Following that goal Tim Stützle tied the game when he grabbed the puck all alone in front and slid the puck five-hole on Elvis Mezerlinkis.

“I think personally it was one of my worse games I’ve played in my last eight games,” Stützle continued. “It’s frustrating when you don’t really get looks, they box out really well and give their goalie a view on almost every shot and it’s all about just sticking with it.”

Both teams had chances late in the third period, but the score remained tied at two goals a piece forcing overtime.

The Senators had all four shots in the overtime period, most during a power play that closed out the frame, but couldn’t beat the Columbus goaltender.

Stützle and Giroux both scored on their shootout attempts while Drake Batherson was denied. Forsberg turned away Alexandre Texier and Kirill Marchenko with Johnny Gaudreau being the only Blue Jacket to score in the shootout.

“Back in the day we used to do the Zamboni when the shootouts started and it was easier to deke,” explained Giroux on the ice conditions factoring into his decision to take a point-blank slapshot with the final chance in the shootout. “Now after overtime and after a third period it’s pretty choppy so it’s tough to kind of deke and you need to kind of shoot it.”

The win was the Senators 27^th on the season and they will look to make it 28 on Saturday afternoon when they face-off against the New York Islanders at 12:30 p.m. from UBS Arena.