Jake Sanderson's overtime goal in Washington snapped the Sens latest losing slide.
After their failed third-period comeback against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators were preaching the need for consistency. And they carried that with them into their game versus the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Despite the Capitals having everything to play for, the Senators were the team that showed fight, tenacity, and consistency in their 3-2 overtime comeback win over the Washington Capitals.
Here are my 3 takeaways from the game:
1. Early shots burning Senators
For the fourth consecutive game, the Senators gave up a goal on their second shot allowed. Meanwhile, it was the 20th game this season the Senators have given up a goal on the first or second shot of the game. Winning games in the NHL is hard enough. When you factor in allowing a goal in close to 25% of your games on either the first or second shot of the game, it is unfathomable that you can ever become a good NHL team.
Nevertheless, the Senators managed to overcome the deficit, but their poor starts defensively – in conjunction with leaky goaltending – is the main reason why they sit where they sit in the standings.
2. Fourth line continues solid production
Mark Kastelic made up for his mistake on the first Capitals goal by scoring himself, with a nifty backhander past Charlie Lindgren. The pairing of Kastelic, Parker Kelly and Boris Katchouk have combined for 11 points in their last 8 games. For a fourth line, that is incredibly productive. Kelly told the Hockey News on Saturday that an emphasis for the fourth line has been to produce more.
“When you look at some of the top teams in the league, they're getting contributions from everyone," said Kelly.
The Senators have won five of the eight games during their stretch of production. Depth scoring has been the difference for the Senators in recent games, specifically from their unheralded fourth line.
3. Senators rekindle their resiliency
Before the game, Jacques Martin spoke about the “battle” it has been for his team to find consistency and resiliency. On Sunday night, the Senators managed to come back twice in the game, eventually sealing a sweet win in overtime. On their recent 5-game winning streak, they had come back from a deficit in three of those games.
Throughout the entire game in Washington, they never lost their composure after falling behind, they just kept plugging away. The problem for the Senators all season has been a lack of resiliency. After being mathematically eliminated on Saturday, Sunday was far too little, too late. However, the hope, like previous years, is to bottle some of their strong play and carry it into next season.