Drake Batherson scored on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle at 3:13 of overtime Tuesday as the Ottawa Senators snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
Jake Sanderson added a goal and an assist for the Senators, who were 0-6-1 on their skid. Joonas Korpisalo made 34 saves. He picked up his first win since Feb. 10.
Michael Bunting scored for the Penguins, who have lost four straight and seven of eight. Tristan Jarry made 37 saves.
The winning sequence began when Ottawa took the puck away from Sidney Crosby. The Senators had a three-on-two the other way, and Tim Stutzle fed Batherson for his shot.
The most action early was a fight between Pittsburgh’s John Ludvig and Ottawa’s Mark Kastelic at 2:17 of the first.
It was probably not a surprise that the game featured a goaltending duel for more than two periods. In their six most recent losses, the Penguins had totaled just five goals and had been shut out three times. The Senators, during their seven-game slide, had managed just 14 goals.
Jarry made at least three strong saves late in the second period. In the first minute-plus of the third, Jarry stopped Ottawa’s Mathieu Joseph point blank and Stutzle on a drive-by.
The Senators kept the pressure on and thought they took the lead at 4:08 of the third. Claude Giroux let loose a one-timer from the right point that might have been deflected in by Stutzle in the slot.
However, Pittsburgh successfully challenged that Joseph had interfered with Jarry, getting his stick on the goalie as the shot was coming in, so the goal was waved off and the game remained scoreless.
Ottawa broke the stalemate at 11:06 of the third. Giroux, from the right-wing boards, got a pass across to Joseph at the far boards. Joseph found Sanderson driving down the slot for a rising shot that made it 1-0.
Bunting tied it with 22.6 seconds left in regulation, his first goal since being acquired by the Penguins on Friday. He shoveled in a rebound from near the right post during a scramble around the crease.
Ottawa unsuccessfully challenged that there should have been a stoppage before the goal.
–Field Level Media
