Game Recap: Sharks at Senators 1/13

OTTAWA -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-winning goal with five seconds remaining in the third period, and the Ottawa Senators ended a five-game losing streak with a 5-4 win against the San Jose Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

“I’m not going to lie, winning is nice,” Tarasenko said.
 
Tarasenko put in a rebound at the edge of the crease off a shot from Artem Zub at 19:55.

“I stayed net-front almost the whole time, just hoping somebody would create a shot,” Tarasenko said. “It’s a good play by the guys, a good bounce. You know, there’s a structure in the O-zone, too. … If we stay consistent on it and believe it’s going to work, it’s going to work eventually.”

Tarasenko, Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist, Tim Stützle had four assists, and Zub had three assists for the Senators (15-23-0), who got their first win of 2024. Joonas Korpisalo made 14 saves and ended a personal four-game losing streak; he hadn’t won since Dec. 27.

“I thought we had a great effort, we played very well,” Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said. “We’ve just got to keep learning about managing the puck better, recognizing situations. Maybe their first goal tonight, we gave it to them. Those are things that we have to clean up, but it’s nice to see us getting some goals. It was well deserved. We had lots of shots, and I thought we were better as far as going to the net and carrying the play.”
 
Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist, Mario Ferraro had three assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 36 saves for the Sharks (10-30-3), who have one win in their past 14 games (1-13-0).

“We got outmuscled at the net,” San Jose coach David Quinn said of Tarasenko’s goal. “They hemmed us in pretty good. We had chances to clear and we didn’t. They played with a tenacity tonight that we didn’t match consistently enough, so the ending was probably fitting.”

Claude Giroux gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 4:12 of the first period when he scored a rebound in the slot off a shot by Zub.

“Everyone’s so happy, finally we win a game,” Zub said. “I hope we just keep going right away.”
 
Thomas Chabot scored his first goal of the season, a one-timer in the left circle off a pass from Tarasenko to make it 2-0 at 9:58.

“[Blackwood] has been really, really good for us all year and anytime he’s in the lineup, we like our odds of winning the game,” Sharks forward Justin Bailey said. “Obviously, we want to give up less shots, but he played a great game and he’s been playing great lately.”
 
Duclair’s wrist shot from the point beat a screened Korpisalo glove side to cut it to 2-1 at 12:35.
 
Marc-Edouard Vlasic finished a tic-tac-toe passing play with Duclair and Mikael Granlund on a 3-on-1 rush to tie it 2-2 at 3:53 of the second period. It was Vlasic’s first goal of the season (21 games).

“It’s obviously a tough ending for us,” San Jose forward Filip Zadina said. “We had been battling the whole game and played hard. It hurts, but you have to play the full 60 minutes, not play 59 whatever, just have to play for 60 minutes.”

Kevin Labanc gave San Jose a 3-2 lead at 6:20 when he scored into an open net while Korpisalo was tied up with Travis Hamonic during a scramble in the crease.

“I just think when you’ve had the year we’ve had, you really start getting a little bit deflated regardless of the situation, and it really weighs on you,” Quinn said, “But we’re professionals and you’ve got to shake through it.”

Tkachuk one-timed a seam pass from Batherson in the right circle to tie it 3-3 at 7:11.

“We’ve just been hungry for a win, honestly,” Batherson said. “We knew there was a good crowd coming in today and wanted to get a win for the fans. It’s just a good feeling going into a day off.”

Zub’s point shot went right to Batherson at the bottom of the left circle, and he beat Blackwood blocker side to make it 4-3 at 12:59.

“It’s this consistency thing where you just don’t try to win by making highlight-reel plays every time,” Tarasenko said. “Just stay with the plan, trust the plan and just grind it over again and again. And I feel like this was our mentality today.”

Zadina tied it 4-4 at 16:56 of the third period when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Tomas Hertl over Korpisalo’s glove.

“They tie it up and it’s almost like, ‘Here we go again,’” Batherson said. “But obviously, we had a couple good shifts right after the goal and were able to get one at the end there. It’s definitely a rollercoaster of emotions when you see that one go in there that late, but credit to the guys for sticking with it.”

NOTES: Tarasenko’s goal tied the second-latest go-ahead goal in Senators history (Milan Michalek, Oct. 22, 2011), behind only Nick Foligno’s goal at 59:56 on Oct. 27, 2011. … With his 617th win, Martin tied Bruce Boudreau and Jacques Lemaire for 20th on the NHL’s all-time coaching list. … Zub had a game-high seven shots. … Stutzle (six) moved into a tie with Martin Havlat for fifth-most four-point games in franchise history.