OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - The Ottawa Senators were ready for their 4-on-3 power play in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ryan Dzingel scored with the man advantage at 1:20 of overtime after the Penguins were called for too many men on the ice in Ottawa’s 2-1 victory Saturday night.
Senators coach Guy Boucher said they simulated the situation in practice earlier in the day.
“I had a weird feeling this morning,” Boucher said. “We were supposed to practice 5-on-4 and I don’t know, we practiced 5-on-3 and 4-on-3, and the boys executed perfectly, so it was good. It was a good, lucky day.”
Thomas Chabot scored in regulation, Mark Stone assisted on both goals and Craig Anderson made 35 shots.
“Stone told me he missed me on the 5-on-4 just before so I knew he was looking for me and, obviously, 5-on-3, 4-on-3 we’re trying to get the puck in his hands because he makes things happen. He was ether going to me or (Chabot) and he faked out and came to me. Chabot already got one, so he was looking for me and it found a way in.”
Jean-Sebastien Dea scored for Pittsburgh, and Casey DeSmith stopped 27 shot.
“I still think we can give ourselves a better chance in the third, staying out of the box and overtime,” said Sidney Crosby. “We did a lot of good things, but you can’t expect to win games, especially close games, putting yourself in that position time and time again.”
Ottawa was without scoring leader Matt Duchene, with the team saying he’ll be out weeks with a groin injury. The Senators also revealed that Bobby Ryan would be sidelined indefinitely because of a concussion.
“It’s opportunity for other guys,” Anderson said. “You can’t worry about what you don’t have. You have to worry about what you do have and what we have in here is 20 guys willing to pay the price to try and win hockey games.”
Ottawa opened the scoring at 4:24 of the first period. Stone fed Chabot at the point and fired a shot through traffic to beat DeSmith.
Dea tied it at 3:27 of the second.
“I thought we dominated a lot of the game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We couldn’t find a way to score more goals, but there was a lot to like about our effort. For the most part, it was pretty solid.”
NOTES: D Christian Jaros was a healthy scratch for the Senators, while Mark Borowiecki missed his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury. … Pittsburgh defensemen Chad Ruhwedel and Juuso Riikola were healthy scratches.
UP NEXT
Penguins: At New York Islanders on Monday night.
Senators: Host Boston on Sunday night.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.