wiresSenators 3, Rangers 2 (OT)
NEW YORK — How do you like them apples in the Big Apple?
The Ottawa Senators fought off bad puck luck, including a pair of remarkably similar, bizarre goals, in earning a spectacular 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Captain Brady Tkachuk was all over it, scoring the overtime winner on a breakaway to cap off his 300th NHL game. He also sent the game to overtime, scoring with only 48 seconds remaining in the third period and with goaltender Cam Talbot on the bench for an extra skater, evening the game at 2-2.
To top that off, he picked up a second period assist and had a spirited fight in the middle of the ice with the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba.
Add it all about and it was a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, with a cherry on top for good measure.
“There’s not much more you can ask of a guy,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “And he’s just so much calmer on the bench than in year’s past. It’s just understanding what he has to do to win.”
Before Tkachuk’s overtime winner, Talbot stopped New York’s Mika Zibanejad on a breakaway.
Zibanejad, the former Senators first-round pick, had broken a 1-1 tie at the 6:03 mark of the third period, burying his 12th goal of the season past Talbot. It came only a split-second after Ottawa defenceman Artem Zub took a shot to the face and dropped to the ice, allowing Zibanejad to pounce on the loose puck.
Back in the first period, Vitali Kravtsov also jumped on a loose puck to open the scoring after his original shot deflected off the throat of Senators defenceman Travis Hamonic.
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It was a spirited back-and-forth, all-around effort for the Senators, from start to finish.
After Zibanejad’s goal, the Senators continued to push, and they were finally rewarded on the goal by Tkachuk, who offered a little bit of everything.
“It was definitely memorable,” Tkachuk said of the 300th game experience. “Everybody stepped up tonight. It was a huge game for our confidence.”
There’s not much time to celebrate this one, though. The Senators flew home immediately after Friday’s contest, scheduled to face the San Jose Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday evening. It will be the first time this season they’ve played on consecutive nights.
There was plenty of push and shove — the Tkachuk-Trouba second-period fight had the feel of a Madison Square Garden main event bout — befitting the second game of a home-and-away series.
“Both guys, I guess, that want to win,” Tkachuk said. “It was a good spirited scrap and I think it created a lot of energy for our team.”
The game was deadlocked 1-1 going into the third period, thanks to Tim Stutzle’s power-play goal with 7:44 left in the second. Stutzle found the loose puck in the crease as the Senators jammed the net, answering head coach D.J. Smith’s call to give more in the hard areas.
Stutzle was also talking about Tkachuk post game.
“He steps up in big games,” Stutzle said. “The whole team played well. They followed him. That fight there, I think it got him into the game and what a move in overtime. I didn’t know he had that in his bag.”
There was perseverance and plenty of bumps and bruises involved for a Senators team that isn’t finding the net easily these days.
Earlier in the period, an apparent Claude Giroux goal was waved off after video review determined Tkachuk was a split-second off-side.
As much as the Senators are in a deep, deep hole in the National Hockey League standings, they showed plenty of spunk, clearly not pleased with losing to the Rangers 3-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.
Familiarity bred contempt. Or, rather familiarity bred the desire to turn the tables on the Rangers after New York outmuscled the Senators in front of both nets two nights earlier.
There were a couple of changes to the Senators’ lineup. In addition to dressing Dylan Gambrell in place of the injured Derick Brassard, Smith also made one controversial move on defence.
Nikita Zaitsev, recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Thursday, started the game on a third pairing with Erik Brannstrom. Nick Holden was a healthy scratch. Zaitsev struggled at the start of the season and was assigned to the AHL after clearing NHL waivers last month. He had no points in three games with Belleville before the recall.
The Senators had every opportunity to take control of the game early, handed a four-minute power play when the Rangers’ Filip Chytil received a double-minor for high-sticking.
They came close when a Tkachuk shot went off Shesterkin’s mask and off the crossbar, but that was it for the man advantage.
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The Rangers broke the ice when Kravtsov opened the scoring on an unlucky break for the Senators.
It was a case of injury to insult. Or, maybe, insult to injury. Kravstsov’s original shot deflected off Hamonic’s stick, directly into his throat area. As Hamonic went down, the Rangers winger raced to the net and beat Talbot, who gave him far too much of the net. Hamonic was helped to the dressing room and missed the rest of the opening period.
The Senators were held to within one shot for the first 14 minutes of the period, but they finished strong, routinely driving hard to net. Another Tkachuk shot slipped through Shesterkin’s pads and was on the goal line before New York teammate Barclay Goodrow swept it away.
kwarren@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren
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