The Ottawa Senators ended their five-game losing streak on Saturday night, defeating the San Jose Sharks 5-3 at Canadian Tire Centre. Tim Stützle led the way with a goal and an assist in a critically important four-goal third period.
Brady Tkachuk (Imagn Images)
After 40 minutes, the Senators trailed the last-place Sharks 2-1 but finally caught some breaks in the final frame.
San Jose took a puck-over-glass penalty, setting up an Ottawa five-on-three power play. Brady Tkachuk capitalized with a hard low wrist shot to tie the game. Then, on a dump-in by Ridly Greig, Sharks’ goalie Vitek Vanecek came out to play the puck, but it took a weird bounce off a stanchion and went right to Stützle, who knocked it into the nearly empty net.
Finally, veteran David Perron got in on the action. After Vanacek kicked out the juiciest of rebounds, Perron pounced on it and made no mistake, beating him upstairs for what turned out to be the winning goal.
“We will take the two points tonight,” Perron told the media. “We got better and better as we went here in the game. I think there was a point in the second period we had 3 or 4 shifts in a row where we kind of out chanced them, kept the momentum going. That’s something that we have to keep on doing more and more and understand the value of these types of shifts.”
After a nasty pile driver cross check by Tyler Toffoli on Jake Sanderson that wasn’t called, the Sharks immediately had extra room to score their third power play goal of the night, finished off by Will Smith. But Michael Amadio put things to rest with an empty netter for Ottawa.
Linus Ullmark recorded his first victory since December 19, making 34 saves for the Senators. Ottawa was also happy to welcome back three key forwards—Tkachuk, Josh Norris, and Shane Pinto. Pinto wasted no time making an impact, scoring a shorthanded goal in the first period to give Ottawa an early lead.
Toffoli and Timothy Liljegren scored the other goals for the Sharks in the second period.
The Senators’ recent five-game losing streak has put them in a tough crowded playoff race, forcing them to keep an eye on the out-of-town scoreboard. Ottawa is now within two points of the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild-card spot.
Despite being outshot 46-21, the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Red Wings 5-3. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2, keeping pace with the Senators, who remain tied with the Sens. The Montreal Canadiens won their fourth game in a row,…