OTTAWA — Linus Ullmark was expecting to have the night off but was called into action after Anton Forsberg suffered a minor injury before warm-up.
Ullmark was coming off a 3-0 shutout win over Carolina the night before and has only played in four back-to-back games throughout his career.
Ullmark provided a 26-save performance Saturday night and Brady Tkachuk scored the overtime game winner in a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to give the Senators (15-13-2) their first three-game win streak of the NHL season.
Ottawa now heads out for a stretch of nine road games. The world junior hockey championship will be taking over 91Ô´´ Tire Centre forcing the Senators to hit the road for an extended period.
Thomas Chabot opened the scoring at 7:34 of the first after Tristan Jarry was caught out of his net. It marked Chabot’s first goal in 26 games.
Just over two minutes later Ullmark made a huge stick save on Erik Karlsson stretching out to stop what looked like a sure goal.
Ullmark made another stick save late in the second on Sidney Crosby, but was unable to stop Blake Lizotte early in the third making it a 1-1 game.
The Senators were able to regain the lead four minutes later when a Chabot shot went in off Drake Batherson’s skate, but the Penguins (13-15-4) battled back with Kris Letang managing to get a shot through traffic.
TAKEAWAYS
Senators: Despite playing the night before the Senators dominated long stretches of play and created a number of chances.
Penguins: The Penguins were slow to get started but came out with a solid third-period effort to get back in the game.
KEY MOMENT
Linus Ullmark made a huge save on what appeared to be a sure goal by Erik Karlsson at 9:58 of the first period.
KEY STAT
The Senators have scored first in six straight games and are 5-0-1.
UP NEXT
Senators: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
Penguins: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
This report by The 91Ô´´ Press was first published Dec. 14, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The 91Ô´´ Press