Ottawa Senators Almost Kill Me in 5-4 OT Thriller Against Vancouver Canucks

Coming into tonight’s affair, the Ottawa Senators were looking to put together a six-game winning streak and tighten their hold over the 2nd East Wildcard berth against the Vancouver Canucks.

They would need to do it without their not-so-secret weapon, as Linus Ullmark had a well-deserved night off. With 22-year-old Leevi Meriläinen making just his third career start in the NHL, the room for error was much smaller this time around.

When the game did get started, active play in all three zones led to an early go-ahead goal for the Sens: Thomas Chabot held the puck in at the blueline before having his point shot deflected by Claude Giroux past Kevin Lankinen to break the ice.

Ottawa next had two opportunities on the power-play to double their lead, courtesy of Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle, and while they looked uninspired to start, were able to generate two phenomenal chances, including this one from Adam Gaudette that, amazingly given his recent track record, didn't go in:

Perhaps it was a lack of execution in creating offense through transitional play that motivated Travis Green to switch up the lines after Thursday's narrow victory against the Flames. This time around, Ottawa seemed to be doing a much better job of converting retrievals in the defensive and neutral zone into odd-man rushes. This one, created by Mike Amadio, resulted in a slam-dunk opportunity for Shane Pinto, who made no mistake for his 4th goal in his last 5 games; giving Ottawa a 2-0 lead.

It's a good thing the Sens were up to the task of finishing on their chances, because the Canucks were as well, tying the game with two goals in two minutes. Please, not this shit again.

Brock Boeser first cut the lead in half after Tyler Kleven's clearing attempt was picked off, and Josh Norris didn't have his stick in the right place to prevent the ensuing chance.

A minute after that, it was a Quinn Hughes point shot that somehow went through not only Meriläinen, but a combined four skaters from both teams huddled together in front of him, into the net.

A horrible finish to a first period which, while alright overall, couldn't have ended soon enough for Ottawa.

After an impressive 22 games without a minor penalty for Travis Hamonic, he found himself in the box for a roughing penalty at the end of the frame, but the Sens PK continued to vastly outshine the other half of the special teams, only allowing a single rush chance to Kiefer Sherwood.

They had successfully calmed things down after that brief collapse, and then, four minutes into the period, 6'3 Shane Pinto outmuscled 6'8 Tyler Myers one-on-one and managed to put the puck through Lankinen to regain the lead for Ottawa. Folks, Pinto might be back, with a vengeance.

Unfortunately for the Sens, though they were the better team in that period, Quinn Hughes is still a hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks, and Linus Ullmark isn't in goal for the Ottawa Senators. Hughes facilitated yet another tying goal, creating space for a clear point shot, and the rebound off of Meriläinen bounced off a crashing Jake DeBrusk, into the back of the net.

A much-needed timeout was then called by Travis Green with the hopes of resetting the tempo of the game, only for Chabot to take an interference penalty on Elias Pettersson two minutes later. And with such skilled players out on the ice, the short-lived tie was broken by...the Senators?

Behold, ladies and gentlemen, the coolest shorthanded goal you'll ever see.

Normally, you see an odd-man rush off of a bobbled puck at the blueline result in a SHG, but here, it's off a defensive zone win, all four skaters touching the puck, and overall, a dazzling set play that more than anything, lets an opposing team know they're not as good as the Senators.

The first half of the third period saw Ottawa disrupting Vancouver's play in all three zones to protect their lead while getting the occasional scoring chance of their own. The final 10 minutes, however, were more akin to a horror movie.

After enduring ever-increasing pressure from the Canucks, a crack opens up with 5 minutes to go, allowing Brady Tkachuk to nearly put Ottawa up 5-3 after a Jake Sanderson point shot, but he was foiled by Lankinen. Ottawa's skaters over-committed on the backcheck in an attempt to recover, and Pius Suter was left alone up high, whose shot, while stopped by Meriläinen, creates a rebound for Boeser to tie the game at 4-4 with his second of the game.

Now, the perspective needs to shift. Settle things down, you can give an OT point to an out-of-conference club without a problem. The Canucks say no to that advice, and push for a game-winning goal in regulation, and while they come close, in their haste, Noah Juulsen clips Nick Cousins with a high stick with two minutes to go, and wait – is that blood? HELL YEAH!!!

What the Sens needed to do was to play it safe. Don't do anything stupid, get to overtime, and put the game away on a full 4-on-3 power-play.

The Sens, obviously, didn‘t do that. They're no longer a bad team, but they will never buck the trend of causing my heart rate to skyrocket unnecessarily. They were a little too fancy and give the puck away to Teddy Blueger, who fortunately missed the net. Giroux then knocked a stick out of a Canuck's hands, creating a 4-on-4.

Insane. This game cannot go to overtime soon enough for Ottawa, but the clock, mercifully, runs out.

Now, you've got just over a minute of 3-on-3 before a 4-on-3 power-play. It might be best to be passive until then, maintaining possession and getting in the occasional change until Giroux comes out of the-oh, never mind, Sanderson's already ended it. Bet.

That's a sixth-straight win for your Ottawa Senators and their 10th in their last 13 games. 5-4 is your final score.

Game Notes:

• First and foremost, congrats to Leevi on his first slaughtered Titan – I mean, his first NHL win! The boys gave him the support (at both ends of the ice) he needed, and he made some tough saves to keep the game tied at the bare minimum. You won't win many games allowing 4 goals on 25 shots, but he was the better goalie of the two today.
• While only getting 20 shots on goal, holding a team that didn't spend a second leading the game to only 25 shots, that's the kind of defensive effort you're looking for on the road. Yes, they got shellacked in the final 10 minutes. But by shaving so much time off the clock beforehand, they limited the room they had to choke the game away.
• Hopefully, Mike Amadio, who left the game in the third period and didn't return, is doing alright. He's not only been more noticeable on offense on this winning streak, but was especially strong in his own end tonight, getting into shooting lanes to disrupt multiple attempts from the point, which is where half of Vancouver's goals came from, by the way.
• Speaking of improved play on the third line, depth scoring has significantly improved overall. Shane Pinto was an X-factor tonight and against Carolina, and every member of Ottawa's bottom six has contributed at least two points to the cause during the 6-game streak.
• It's great that the team doesn't have to rely on their power-play to win hockey games, but they should probably look at scoring with a man up at some point.
• Okay, let's light up Calvin Pickard later today. That game against the Edmonton Oilers is at 7:00 PM EST.

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