OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Thomas Chabot saw an opening and took it, saving the Senators two points in the process.
Chabot scored 21 seconds into overtime and Ottawa recovered after blowing a three-goal lead to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Monday night.
Chabot’s goal was his tenth of the season and put him first among NHL defensemen with 36 points.
“I was looking for the pass, but the d-man did a good job to cut it so I saw the hole upstairs and I tried to get it,” Chabot said. “Obviously I was pretty happy to see it went in.”
Chabot’s success has been a bright spot for a team that wondered how it would replace Erik Karlsson’s offensive contributions. Karlsson was traded to San Jose in September.
“When (Chabot) takes off, he’s tough to follow,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said. “In overtime, with open space like that, he’s so dangerous. I’m really happy because in the second period we were disappointed at the number of times we didn’t shoot and felt we lost momentum because of it.
“In overtime instead of looking for the fancy play, he shoots and it pays off so it’s great.”
Ottawa led 3-0 after the first period, but Roman Josi got two goals and Craig Smith also scored to tie it for Nashville.
Maxime Lajoie, Brady Tkachuk and Ryan Dzingel scored for the Senators, who handed Nashville its first loss against an Eastern Conference opponent. Craig Anderson stopped 31 shots.
Pekka Rinne started in net for Nashville but was pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots. That ended his seven-game unbeaten streak against the Senators. Juuse Saros relieved and made 11 saves.
Smith scored a power-play goal 46 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, and Josi tied it with a deflected shot about six minutes later.
Josi’s first goal came on a power play five minutes into the second period when he picked up a rebound and beat Anderson.
Things got heated later in the period when a fight broke out between Bobby Ryan and former teammate Kyle Turris. Ryan took exception to being slashed across the hands, and the two exchanged blows.
Ryan has missed a number of games due to hand injuries over the past few seasons.
“I was not expecting that,” Anderson said. “When you go after (Ryan’s fingers), that’s what’s going to happen. Bobby was standing up for himself, and I thought he did a great job.”
Ryan chose not to speak to the reporters following the game. Turris said he wasn’t surprised that his former teammate went after him.
“It is what it is,” Turris said. “We’ll leave it at that.”
Lajoie opened the scoring at the two-minute mark with a power-play goal, and Tkachuk made it 2-0 with his tenth of the season less than three minutes later.
Ottawa took a 3-0 lead with 11.6 seconds remaining in the period when Mark Stone spotted Dzingel, who was able to beat Rinne high. The Senators had a goal waived off for a high stick minutes earlier.
NOTES: This was the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. … The Senators remain without Dylan DeMelo and Matt Duchene, but Mark Borowiecki returned to the lineup after missing the last 12 games. … Max McCormick was assigned to AHL Belleville after clearing waivers. … P.K. Subban missed his 16th straight game for the Predators.
UP NEXT
Predators: Play at Chicago on Tuesday night.
Senators: Play at New Jersey on Friday night.
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