EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Ottawa coach Marc Crawford enjoys watching the type of game the Senators turned in Saturday.
Brady Tkachuk scored his second goal of the game 2:09 into overtime as the Ottawa Senators beat Edmonton 4-3 on Saturday and put a crimp in the Oilers’ slim playoff hopes.
Bobby Ryan and Brian Gibbons also scored for the Senators (26-43-6), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Ottawa (25-43-6) has the fewest points in the NHL with 58.
”It was really satisfying,” Crawford said. ”You need success in order to keep the guys focused in on doing the right things. I thought we played a really good game, it was one of the most complete games that we’ve played.
”We’re going to make a few mistakes and we made a couple mistakes in coverage, but tonight we didn’t complicate things. We didn’t make two or three mistakes on many plays out there.”
Senators goalie Craig Anderson made 26 saves for his first win since Dec. 21, snapping a personal streak of 14 straight losses.
”It’s been a long-time coming,” Anderson said. ”Personally it’s been a tough stretch, obviously, to be close without (being) able to get there. Tonight we were able to get there and finalize it and get the win and it’s just a great feeling to have.”
Alex Chiasson, Connor McDavid and Colby Cave scored for the Oilers (33-34-8), who have lost three of four. Edmonton stands six points out of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference.
”It’s like when we lost to New Jersey, it was the same type of team when you look at the standings,” Chiasson said. ”Tonight we play a team at the bottom of the standings and that has traded away four or five of its best players and they outwork us. In our position, that is not good enough.”
The Senators struck first on the power play five minutes into the first period when Tkachuk banked the puck off of defender Adam Larsson and past goalie Mikko Koskinen from behind the net for his 18th goal of the season.
Edmonton tied the game four minutes later when Chiasson went in on a breakaway and beat Anderson with a backhand shot.
Ottawa regained the lead with another first-period power-play goal as Ryan deflected a shot from in front of the net.
The Oilers tied the game three minutes into the second period on a give-and-go passing play with Leon Draisaitl setting up McDavid for his 38th goal. McDavid tied his career high of 108 points with the goal.
The Senators surged ahead seven-and-a-half minutes into the third when a terrific pass from Magnus Paajarvi set up a goal by Gibbons. But Edmonton came back 66 seconds later on a goal by Cave that eventually sent the game into overtime.
NOTES: Each team had its share of controversy this week. Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson called out the play of forward Tobias Rieder at a season ticket holder’s breakfast. Embattled Senators owner Eugene Melnyk made disparaging comments on a radio show about Ottawa’s fans, mayor and media, as well as the rebuild of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. … It was the second and last game between the teams, with Edmonton winning the first game 4-2, on Feb. 28. … Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot returned to the lineup after missing four games with a broken toe. … Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera played his 700th NHL game.
UP NEXT
Senators: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Oilers: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
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