Senators lose in overtime on Saturday night after a brutal giveaway seals their fate.
The Ottawa Senators wasted a fine comeback in Montreal on Saturday night. After falling behind 2–0, the Senators rallied with three unanswered goals to take a 3–2 lead late in the third. But Ivan Demidov scored to force overtime, and then Alex Newhook’s goal in OT gave the Canadiens a 4–3 victory.
Drake Batherson led the way for the Sens with a goal and an assist, giving him 15 points in 10 games to lead the club. But he’ll be kicking himself all the way back to Ottawa for his errant pass in overtime. Along the boards, Batherson tried to backhand the puck across the ice to Thomas Chabot, but Newhook was in his blind spot, easily intercepted the pass, and streaked in for the game-winning goal.
Cole Caulfield started the scoring 7:05 into the first on a breakaway. Caulfield tried to go five-hole on Linus Ullmark, and the puck trickled behind him. Ullmark then accidentally heeled it into his own net for the opening goal.
Just over two minutes later, on the power play, Juraj Slafkovsky made it 2–0, taking a slick pass from Nick Suzuki. Artem Zub was sprawling vainly on the ice in front of Slafkovsky, but the puck still got through.
The second period belonged to the Senators. Batherson scored his fifth goal of the season from below the goal line, snapping one in off Montembeault’s back after Fabian Zetterlund made a hard charge to the net with the puck.
Then, with 11 seconds left in the period, Michael Amadio's third goal of the year tied it 2–2. The officials originally ruled goaltender interference, but the call was overturned after the Senators challenged it. Replay officials ruled that Claude Giroux "did not impair Sam Montembeault’s ability to play his position in the crease". Even if he had, it seemed pretty clear that Giroux was nudged into the goalie by the Canadiens defender.
Early in the third, Nick Cousins unwisely accepted a fight offer from Jayden Struble. Struble’s offer was one of many invitations Cousins probably received on the night after his slash on Ivan Demidov in a preseason game last month. Cousins left the game after taking a hard Struble punch flush to the face.
With six and a half minutes left in the third, Tim Stutzle took a nice bank pass off the boards from Batherson, sprinted up the right wing, and scored an absolute beauty on the backhand to give Ottawa the 3–2 lead.
But Montreal responded with under three minutes left in regulation on a goal from Ivan Demidov that forced overtime, and that’s when Newhook struck for the Canadiens to give them the 4–3 win.
After giving up the first goal for the 11th time in 13 games, the Senators managed to salvage a point from this one in a road game where they fell behind 2-0 and were outshot 27-17.
The Senators will have some time off to think about this one. They’re back at it on Thursday night in Boston against the Bruins — the second game of three on the road.