Brady Tkachuk scored his second goal of the game 33 seconds into overtime as the host Ottawa Senators stormed back for a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers Saturday afternoon to move into the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot.
Tkachuk scored Ottawa’s first goal just over four minutes into the second and then capped the comeback with a quick shot from the left circle that sailed by goalie Igor Shesterkin’s stick. Tkachuk scored following a giveaway by New York’s K’Andre Miller to Tim Stutzle, who made the pass and extended his points streak to 14 games, marking the second-longest such streak in Senators’ history.
Ridly Greig and Michael Amadio scored in the final 9:44 of regulation to help Ottawa move one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Artemi Panarin gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead by scoring for the fourth straight game 7:08 into the third. Carson Soucy scored 8:37 into the first and Mika Zibanejad scored 3:55 into the second, 11 seconds before Tkachuk’s first goal.
Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark made 20 saves but only five in the third period. Shesterkin stopped 33 shots as the Rangers took their second straight overtime loss trail the Columbus Blue Jackets in points percentage heading into Sunday’s matchup in New York
Soucy opened the scoring on a soft wrister that appeared to stop in the crease. Following a brief review, officials determined the shot actually trickled under Ullmark.
New York took a 2-0 lead 3:55 into the second when Zibanejad buried a wrister from the left circle that grazed off Jake Sanderson’s stick and over Ullmark’s shoulder after getting a pass from J.T. Miller.
Ottawa answered 11 seconds later on Tkachuk’s deflection from the right circle of a Nick Jensen point shot but Panarin lifted a shot from the outer edge of the left circle past Ullmark to make it 3-1 following a defensive zone turnover by Amadio.
One second after Ottawa’s fifth power play expired, Grieg jammed in a rebound into the open right side of the net to make it a one-goal game and Amadio scored the tying goal when Shesterkin could not control a loose puck in the circle.
