Ottawa Senators let valuable point slip away in OT loss to Detroit
After a 4-4-1 road trip, captain Brady Tkachuk says “we’re right in the mix. That’s what you want and the next 43 games is going to be a hell of a ride.”
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This trip to the Motor City had ‘Must win’ written all over it for the Ottawa Senators.
Unfortunately, the Senators let one slip away.
Patrick Kane scored the winner on the power play to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 comeback overtime victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at Little Ceasar’s Arena.
That goal came with Jake Sanderson in the penalty box.
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The Senators are trying to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years, and these are the points they have to put in the bank because the Wings are one of the teams the club is battling in a playoff race that will go down to the wire.
The Senators and Wings went toe-to-toe with Anton Forsberg in net for Ottawa. You could feel the tension because both teams wanted this badly as Senators’ captain Brady Tkachuk and alternate captain Thomas Chabot scored in regulation.
“It sucks but we got a point,” centre Tim Stutzle told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson. “It was a good team effort. We played pretty well but not good enough and we wanted to come out with that win tonight.”
This game wrapped up a stretch of nine straight on the road with the 2025 IIHF world junior championship in town. The Senators closed out this difficult series of games with a 4-4-1 record and will now play four of their next five at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“It was a pretty good game. A hard-fought game and a step in the right direction,” coach Travis Green told Wilson. “It’s unfortunate whenever you lose in overtime that’s for sure.
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“We had a lot of great efforts and it’s unfortunate we didn’t get the win.”
NEEDING OFFENCE
An area that has been a cause for concern and continues to be is goal scoring.
That’s just something nobody ever saw coming before the start of the season because the Senators have so many talented offensive players and the club went into this one needing to change that trend.
The Senators pulled out to a 2-1 lead on the strength of Tkachuk’s 18th of the season. He fired a blast on the power play from the top of the left circle that beat Cam Talbot high with Drake Batherson providing a screen in front at 19:05 of the second.
Chabot’s goal at 12:25 of the second ended a shutout string of 144 minutes and 16 seconds with his third of the season to tie it up 1-1 at 12:25 of the second period.
The Senators hadn’t scored since 8:09 of the first period against Dallas last Thursday after getting shutout 4-0 by the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
“We’re right in the mix. That’s what you want and the next 43 games is going to be a hell of a ride,” Tkachuk told TSN 1200. “You’ve got to appreciate you got a point in this tight race and stay in it.”
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While Detroit goalie Alex Lyon stopped 11 shots to hold the Senators off the board in the first, Talbot took over in the second. Lyon left the game with an upper-body injury and wasn’t on the bench.
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FORSBERG IN THE PIPES
While many wanted to see Belleville callup Leevi Merilainen in this one, the club went back to Forsberg.
He returned for the first time since early December with a less-than-stellar performance against the Blues, but the Senators need to find a way to get Forsberg going with Linus Ullmark out week to week.
Forsberg came into this game with a 3-0-0 lifetime record against the Wings with a sparkling 1.33 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. He had lost three straight and hadn’t recorded a victory since Nov. 25 against the Calgary Flames.
“I thought we played well. It was definitely a step in the right direction and it just sucks to lose. We’ve just got to keep building,” said Forsberg, who made 30 stops. “It felt like I got into it better and I found myself game. I felt good so it’s a step in the right direction for me to.”
He has the opportunity to carry the ball here for the Senators if he can get his act together. Joe Veleno tied it up 2-2 exactly five minutes into the second period on one that Forsberg wanted back.
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IN THE RACE
Only six points separate the nine teams either sitting in the final wild-card spot or trying to get into the position.
The Wings have gotten the new coach bump with Todd McLellan taking over and the club had posted four straight wins. The Senators were only one point out of the final wild-card spot going into this one with games in hand, but every point matters.
“They’re a great team,” McLellan said before the game about the Senators. “They’ve turned the corner, in my opinion. (Green) has done a really good job. The test will be to play against them, but more importantly, it’ll be how we respond, to some not adversity, some feel-good time now?
“Are we prepared to build on it? Are we prepared to just sit on it? Are we going to give it back? One of those three things is going to happen, and I’d like to think the built part will show up. But until we take the test, we don’t know.”
The Senators found themselves chasing early. Detroit’s Dylan Larkin opened the scoring at 8:30 of the first on the power play and Ottawa had posted a 4-14-2 record when allowing the first goal this season.
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