Penguins Battle Back but Drop to Senators in OT
The Pittsburgh Penguins put up a hard fight in the final frame, but ultimately lost in the extra period.
Don’t look now, but the Pittsburgh Penguins looked to enter the holiday break as one of the hottest teams in the NHL.
Heading into their contest against the Ottawa Senators, the Penguins were riding a 4-1-0 stretch and went back to the well of Alex Nedeljkovic for his third straight start.
The Senators entered the contest riding a six-game losing streak, as well.
Nedeljkovic has put together a solid month of December and was deserving of another nod with a 3-0-1 stretch.
First Period
It didn’t take long for the Penguins to get a big opportunity as the Senators took a pair of penalties in quick succession opening a 5-on-3 chance.
The Penguins failed to record, but managed to steal the momentum away from the Senators who were pressuring early.
After regaining their lost momentum, the Senators broke through for the first goal of the game; a point shot bounced off the back wall and found Jakob Chychrun who just barely beat Nedeljkovic.
Despite missing the early 5-on-3 chance, the Penguins knotted the game with a power play goal from the second unit.
A good round of passes found its way to Lars Eller who snapped a streak of 12 games without a point.
The score wasn’t tied for long, as the Senators picked up their second of the game on the very next shift on a puck batted out of midair.
For a good majority of the opening frame, the Senators seemed to carry the pace of play and dominate the scoring chances.
Second Period
The Penguins entered the second period down by a goal but with an abbreviated power play chance.
After letting that chance slip away, the Senators answered and gave themselves a 3-1 lead with a good pass from former Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux to Brady Tkachuk.
Not too much later the ice was finally broken for Rickard Rakell who was fed by Sidney Crosby for his first goal of the season.
Rakell missed some time due to an injury, but finally recorded his first goal of the year in his 20th game.
The Penguins were handed another power play chance and not only failed to score again, but almost immediately gave up a goal against.
Mike Sullivan and the Penguins coaching staff challenged the play for offside, but the goal was upheld after a lengthy review.
It was an extremely close call, but officials believed the Senators remained onside.
The Senators held onto their lead through the remainder of the period, despite racking up six penalties through two frames.
Entering the night, the Senators had the NHL’s worst penalty kill percentage at 70.21% and the Penguins only notched one goal on those six opportunities.
That goal came from the second unit, leaving the first power play line to struggle for the second straight game.
Third Period
Heading into the third, the Senators continued their dominance by not only leading by a score of 4-2, but also doubling the Penguins up in shots 22-11.
The Penguins needed to come out strong in the third period and they did just that with pressure right off the jump.
That pressure eventually led to a quick deflection goal from Drew O'Connor to pull the Penguins within one.
As a part of their six-game losing streak, the Senators have blown multiple multi-goal leads.
The Penguins picked up yet another man advantage chance later in the frame, and with Sullivan's lines shuffled, some new look power play units went to work.
There were a few great chances from the Penguins offense, but Anton Forsberg stood up to the challenge.
The Penguins didn't let up through the period, however, continuing to pepper the Senators with shots and eventually a wrist shot from Kris Letang broke through.
Letang's shot tied the contest at four on the Penguins' 22nd shot of the period.
The last seconds ticked off the clock and the Penguins were at least guaranteed a point after a great period of hockey.
Overtime
The Penguins were lucky to get at least a point considering some of the early sloppy play, but they looked for more.
A mad scrambled in a couple of areas of the Penguins' zone ended up giving Tim Stutzle a chance he didn't miss.
Stutzle beat Nedeljkovic as he was looking for a poke check to put an end to their losing streak.
The Penguins managed a point, but at least proved to have no quit in the final frame.
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