Sens Complete the Comeback in Columbus

While many teams are jockeying for a highly coveted playoff position, the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Ottawa Senators for the Battle For The Basement™. Sitting just two points behind the Senators for last in the Eastern Conference, the storyline around tonight's game was all about the draft lottery.

If you're in the part of the fanbase who has their eyes solely set on a high draft selection, the start of this game was absolutely for you as just fifteen (15) seconds into the game, Boone Jenner made it 1-0 for the Blue Jackets. The remainder of the first period, however, the ice felt like it was leaning slightly in Ottawa's favour when it came to shots and scoring chances. The two teams exchanged powerplay opportunities but Ottawa trailed by one after one.

The second period was much like the first, Ottawa was the better team but couldn't solve the goaltender. For a second straight period, the Senators outshot their opponent 13-9 while clearing the 60% mark in 5v5 chances for the second straight period. It was almost a perfect mirror of the opening frame, as even the powerplay chances were, once again, tied at one apiece.

It wasn't until the third period that this game started to get interesting. On a powerplay courtest of a Brady Tkachuk hook, the Blue Jackets extended their lead with an Alex Nylander powerplay marker. Fortunately for the Senators, this goal happened after the halfway point of Tkachuk's four minute minor, negating the remainder of the powerplay.

A theme for much of this one was Anton Forsberg playing a very tidy game. The majority of his saves seemed effortless, as he stayed in position challenged shooters appropriately. This save, however, was on the money with Ottawa trailing by two in the third period.

Just two minutes later, Claude Giroux got his club on the board with his 19th of the year. Remember, kids. Always go hard to the net.

About five minutes later, it was Tim Stützle's turn to find the scoresheet, as number 16 for number 18 found it's way between the legs of Elvis Merzlikins.

For the second straight game, the Senators gave us fans extra hockey to watch.

With two minutes left, a solid stretch of possession by the Senators led to a drawn penalty and an opportunity to get the full two points. Just ten seconds into the man advantage, Brady Tkachuk almost iced it with some solid hand eye.

The Senators proceeded to absolutely pepper Merzlikins with multiple one timers and one wide open cage missed in the process. Turns out, the basement dwellers would need the skills competition to decide this one.

With the opportunity to win it as the sixth shooter, Giroux did this.

Sens work to come back from down 2-0 to a 3-2 shootout win.

Game Notes

• Anton Forsberg did basically everything you could've asked of him in this one. He made the saves he was supposed to make and bailed his team out on more than one occasion. The fact Ottawa was able to claw back and make a game of this one in the third is all thanks to Forsberg's ability to keep them in it.
• Claude Giroux rocks.
• This game was a case of hard work in the opening forty paying off in the final twenty, as the Senators dominated Columbus for two periods with nothing to show for it. And in the period in which Columbus was the better team, Ottawa scored twice and made a game of this one.
• Jacques Martin may have enjoyed Zack Ostapchuk's rookie debut but the new guy's second game was much more typical of a player in his situation's usage. Ostapchuk ranked 11th in usage for forwards while not cracking double digits in ice time. Despite limited usage, the Senators faired well, overall, with Ostapchuk on the ice.
• Boris Katchouk registered his first point as a Senator, with the primary assist on Claude Giroux's marker.
• Claude Giroux pulled off a clapper in the shootout.
• Tim Stützle's goal puts him on a four game point streak, where he's accrued two goals and two assists in that time.
• Unsurprisingly, Martin leaned heavily on his top three defenders as all of Jake Sanderson, Artem Zub and Jakob Chychrun well surpassed 20 minutes of ice time, while none of the others were able to crack the 20 minute mark themselves.
• Jacques Martin went with a familiar trio to start overtime, as he sent Jake Sanderson, Tim Stützle and Claude Giroux out to kick off the extra frame.
• Claude Giroux.

Game Flow

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