Sens escape with 4-3 OT win over Blackhawks

It wasn't pretty, but it was two points. The Sens faded as the game went on, but did just enough to eke out the victory. Tim Stützle had the OT winner, Josh Norris had a goal and an assist, and Linus Ullmark made just 17 saves for the win.

Brady Tkachuk stayed hot earliy, extending his three-game goal streak to a four-game goal streak just two minutes into the game with a beautiful tip on an Artem Zub point shot.

The Sens did open the game strong overall, looking every bit like a team with playoff aspirations taking on a team with tanking aspirations. Unfortunately, the Sens' first mistake ended up in the back of their net. Linus Ullmark and Jake Sanderson were victims of the ref yelling "Icing!" only to wave it off just after, and the puck went to Landon Slaggert (who apparently is a real guy) who then fed Ryan Donato. Donato tucked it into an empty net and continued his quest to get traded out out of Chicago at the deadline. Brady Tkachuk then took an interference penalty, and on the ensuing powerplay, Chicago scored again. A game that Ottawa was dominating had them behind 2-1. Thankfully, the opponent was Chicago, so the Sens were quickly able to tie it up, with David Perron the beneficiary of a juicy Arvid Söderblom rebound.

Don't look now, but Perron's up to 7 points on the season, after going pointless in his first 11 games.

After a frantic first period, the second period was rather boring to start. The Sens only had a couple shots through the first 10 minutes, so of course they got the first goal of the period. Jake Sanderson fought his way through a forward to keep the puck in the Hawks' zone, and passed it to Drake Batherson who immediately sent it wider to Josh Norris. Norris made no mistake getting a rare open one-timer, scoring his 20th of the season.

Thomas Chabot also left the game in the second, and the Sens' TwiXXer account announced he would miss the rest of the game with illness. I've never heard of a player getting sick mid-game, and that also left the Sens with one (1) left-handed defenceman for the rest of the game, with Tyler Kleven already on IR.

To open the third, octogenarian Pat Maroon of all people dangled the Sens D and set up a tying goal from Craig Smith.​ Two more guys auditioning for tickets to playoff teams at the deadline. I have no other notes on the third period, but then the shots were 1–0 Ottawa over the final 7 or so minutes of the third. Nowhere near enough killer instinct from the team that needed every point they could get.

OT was over pretty quick. Tim Stützle intercepted a pass at his own blue line, skated in hard, and then Wyatt Kaiser (again, a totally real guy) did a defensive play that was a mix of a horse collar and a straitjacket, causing Stützle to crash into Söderblom, allowing the puck to squeak over the goal line.

Chicago protested, but the foul was obviously on the Hawks defender, so the goal rightly counted and Ottawa got a needed two points. Unfortunately the Caps couldn't keep the Rangers from going to OT, but Ottawa still has a game in hand.

Some thoughts on the game:

• Weird night for Sanderson, who had some ugly plays but also got 2 assists. He also only played 23:17 despite being the only LHD by the end. Green was clearly trying to rest him against a weak team.
• Also a weird game for Ullmark, who didn't have much chance on any of the goals but also faced very few shots so ended with an .850.
• I've been down on Drake Batherson recently, but his assist on the Norris goal was excellent.
• The Sens just didn't have enough killer instinct this game. They started off strong, then faded as the game went on. That won't work against ~27 teams in the league.​
• Also a weird night that just two penalties were called, one per team. I don't think the Sens have had many 5-on-5 battles this year.

Game Flow:

Heat Map: