A late, needless, defensive lapse sealed the Senators' fate as they come up pointless in Minnesota.
The Ottawa Senators wasted a comeback from a 2–0 deficit on Saturday afternoon, falling 3–2 in Minnesota. Joel Eriksson Ek scored the winner on a spectacular bad-angle one-timer with just 24 seconds left in regulation.
After the goal, the Senators challenged that Matt Boldy had knocked down Tyler Kleven’s ill-advised clearing attempt with a high stick. The puck then dribbled to Marcus Johansson, who hit Eriksson Ek with a perfect cross-ice pass. Officials ruled that it was not a high stick. In truth, there's a chance that it may have been, but there was certainly no video evidence to overturn anything.
The bigger question is why was Eriksson Ek left so completely uncovered? The Sens should have been in lockdown mode to get the game to overtime and secure their point. Kleven took most of the social media heat for the backhand glass-and-out attempt that went right to Johansson.
But it was Artem Zub who decided to pinch in the offensive zone with 30 seconds remaining in a tie game on the road. Then, as he coasted back, he took up his defensive position on the right side, failing to recognize that Kleven was already on his side, covering for him. As Zub stood there puck watching, covering no one, that's what left the Wild with passing and shooting lanes as wide as the Queensway.
After a scoreless first period, where the Senators looked very strong (but couldn't score), 34-year-old Tyler Pitlick, who had played 19 games this season without a goal or an assist, got Minnesota on the board by tipping a shot from the slot between Leevi Merilainen's legs to give the Wild a 1–0 lead.
Then, with less than four minutes remaining in the middle period, Minnesota went to the power play. Ryan Hartman was left all alone in front and finished a beautiful pass from Marcus Johansson to extend the lead to 2–0.
At that point, the Wild appeared to be firmly in control. But Ottawa’s power play flipped the game, taking advantage of not one, but two Minnesota slashing penalties.
Both calls came after Wild players were whistled for slashing a stick out of an opponent’s hands, calls that Minnesota clearly didn’t appreciate. The first penalty set up an Ottawa five-on-three near the end of the second period that was a harmless passing drill for most of it.
That changed when Tim Stützle made a diving stab at a rebound, slipping the puck through Jesper Wallstedt’s legs to cut the lead in half.
Then, early in the third period, Kirill Kaprizov was sent off for another Wild slashing call after swatting the stick out of Jake Sanderson’s hands while, in truth, Kaprizov was carrying the puck. Wild fans were livid, and Ottawa capitalized almost immediately, with Dylan Cozens ripping a wrist shot off the post to tie the game at 2.
That set the scene for Erickson-Ek's late game heroics, which pulled Ottawa's point off the board just seconds before they were able to bank it and then take their chances in overtime.
The matchup marked the first meeting since last season, when Hartman drove Stützle’s face into the ice off a faceoff, an act that earned Hartman a 10-game suspension.
That history lingered.
Enforcer Kurtis MacDermid was in Hartman’s face early, clearly in the mood for payback. Hartman eventually answered the bell, dropping the gloves with Ridly Greig, who's probably 50 pounds lighter than MacDermid.
The Senators close out this road trip on Monday in Winnipeg.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News