OTTAWA, Ontario — Any hopes of the Penguins finishing strong before a brief layoff should’ve been put to rest simply because of the building they were playing in.
The Ottawa Senators’ Canadian Tire Centre remained a house of horrors for the Penguins, who dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime Saturday night courtesy of Tim Stutzle’s game-winning goal.
Rather than enter the holiday break with a third straight win, the Penguins fell to a reeling Senators squad with an interim head coach and assistant that in turn snapped a six-game losing streak. Regardless, the Penguins avenged a slot start to eke out a point, perhaps one it didn’t deserve the first 40 minutes of play.
“It's better than zero, especially the way the game was going,” Erik Karlsson said. “The only good part was we got a point.”
Ottawa did its best to give the Penguins a warm welcome a few minutes in, gifting them with an extended 5-on-3 after Senators penalties separated by just 22 seconds. The Penguins came up empty, though, with Sidney Crosby fanning on a one-timer and Erik Karlsson being too pass-happy with the puck.
Such was a recurring result for the Penguins; their power play, which coach Mike Sullivan said wasn’t in sync, went 1 for 7 on the evening.
“We didn't execute, we didn’t make great decisions,” Sullivan said. “We thought we were making traction there on the power plays, scored a lot of goals for us as of late. Tonight, I just didn’t think we were as sharp.”
With the Penguins failing to take advantage of some ill-advised Senators penalties, Ottawa eventually pounced. Jakob Chychrun hammered home a rebound for the game’s first goal while Josh Norris netted another in the opening period.
In between the two Senators scores, Crosby’s efforts ensured the visitors only found themselves trailing by one after 20 minutes. He forced a turnover at the Penguins’ blue line, then skated with the puck all the way to the Senators’ net front, drawing a holding penalty in the process. Not long after, Lars Eller put home a power-play goal that briefly tied the contest. For Eller, it was his first goal of any kind since Nov. 24.
Rickard Rakell ended a longer goal-scoring drought, though, netting his first of the season in the ensuing frame. Rakell beat Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg with a backhand just outside the blue paint, finishing off a textbook pass from Crosby.
“Obviously, it feels good to get the first one,” Rakell said. “Hopefully, it can just take some weight off my shoulders and I can start helping out our team.”
Aside from Rakell’s goal, little changed for the Penguins after the first intermission. Ottawa doubled its lead, thanks to a Brady Tkachuk tip-in and a controversial goal. After serving his time for a hooking penalty, Erik Brannstrom jumped out of the box to kickstart a Senators 2-on-1 and net his second goal of the year.
It took every inch of Tkachuk’s right skate for him to stay onside and allow Brannstrom to join him on the rush. So close was the play that Sullivan challenged it, albeit unsuccessfully. Even so, momentum shifted in the Penguins’ favor after Sullivan’s challenge, and especially so in the third.
Per Sportlogiq, the Penguins possessed the puck in the offensive zone over five times as long as the Senators.
“We were just playing on our toes, we were playing the way we need to,” Ryan Graves said. “We had a lot of pace, we really possessed the puck. We’re a good team when we do that.”
In the third, they certainly were. Drew O’Connor tipped in a Marcus Pettersson shot from the point, good for his first goal since Nov. 30. Kris Letang then put matters in his own hands with just over two minutes remaining in regulation, ripping a one-timer with eyes from the point to draw the tally even.
“We just went out there and played,” Letang said. “Tried to give us a chance to grab some points.”
But in overtime, Stutzle ensured the Penguins were limited to a single point, beating Alex Nedeljkovic one final time to erase the visitors’ strong finish. From Karlsson’s view, though, simply getting a point with the way the Penguins began the night was a deserving consolation prize.
“Luckily, they let us back in the third and that's a good job on our part to stick with it,” Karlsson said. “But at the same time, they let us have what we got to and backed off. We took advantage, which was nice in a game like this to get at least one point out of it.”
ICE CHIPS
• Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Vinnie Hinostroza were each scratched for the third game in a row.
• Joseph’s older brother, Mathieu, a forward for the Senators, did not play either due to a lower-body injury.
• Neither Bryan Rust nor Matt Nieto skated Saturday. Sullivan said it was a scheduled off-ice day for both. Rust skated Thursday morning for the first time since he went on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
• Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin and assistant Daniel Alfredsson, the franchise’s all-time points leader, received ovations from the Canadian Tire Centre crowd midway through the first period. Saturday’s game was the Senators’ first in Ottawa since D.J. Smith was fired.
•The Penguins iced the same lineup as their past two games until the tail end of the second period. Sullivan had Eller and Evgeni Malkin swap spots.
• In the third period, Sullivan also split up his power-play groups. Karlsson manned the second unit, which Malkin joined him on. Letang, meanwhile, quarterbacked the top power play, on which he was joined by Reilly Smith.
STAT N’AT
261 – Days since Rakell last netted a goal. He chipped in one during a 4-1 Penguins win against the Minnesota Wild last April.
THEY SAID IT
“Obviously, we're not playing our best,” Karlsson said. “You got to find a way to control the game more and we didn't.”
COMING UP
The NHL is off the next three days for the yearly Christmas break. The Penguins will be back in action on Dec. 27 when they travel to Long Island to face the New York Islanders.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1
First Published: December 24, 2023, 2:58 a.m.
