OTTAWA — Things we did not expect from the only game on the NHL schedule Monday.
• That the Ottawa Senators would fall behind 3-0 after 20 minutes and rally to beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3, in overtime.
• That Sens’ goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, lifted for his own protection after yielding four goals in succession in his previous game, would play 43-plus minutes of shutout hockey coming on in relief against the Preds.
• That fourth-line winger Parker Kelly would be the one to inspire his Ottawa teammates with his words during the first intermission.
“I think we were pretty frustrated after getting smoked last game (7-2 by the Rangers) and coming out in the first and being down three-zip,” said Senators winger Drake Batherson. “We had to do something. A couple of guys spoke up, we came out and played a totally different game and turned the game around.
“Parker Kelly was in there, chatting, and the leaders. Kels made a good speech, got the boys fired up.”
There’s one I bet you didn’t have on your bingo scorecard: “Sparker” Kelly going all Knute Rockne on his Senators teammates.
“I don’t remember the words,” said overtime hero Claude Giroux, asked about Kelly’s inspirational talk. “But Parker is a guy that works extremely hard. And when he talks, he’s well-respected in the locker room. You know what? Other guys, too, are being a bit more vocal and that’s what you need — it can’t be the same guys all the time.”
Tim Stützle, who set up the OT winner by Giroux, a shot to the roof of the net at 3:36 of the overtime, says he knew after the first period that the Senators would win this game.
They could have fooled all 16,284 at the Canadian Tire Centre, given how they were in a 3-0 hole at the time. The Predators had numerous chances to get the fourth goal they needed to put this game away, but they couldn’t beat Korpisalo, who stopped all 17 shots he faced.
A Predators’ chance in overtime that rolled past the stick of Roman Josi came back the other way for the finish by Giroux and Stützle.
“He told me he wanted me to shoot it,” Stützle said with a laugh in a post-game scrum. Giroux said this to Stützle right after the Stützle pass that ended up in the net of a Giroux one-timer.
Giroux explained that the ice was not great at that stage of overtime and he thought Stützle might have been better off shooting the puck himself. Stützle, though, saw bodies in the shooting lane, and so he dished it off. Turned out to be the right idea.
It was all fun and games after the 4-3 win.
“I think we showed our maturity,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, who was inspired all night and accounted for eight of Ottawa’s 28 shots on goal.
But things looked grim early on.
By the time the Preds had put up a three spot in the first period, the Senators had allowed 10 unanswered goals going back to the second period of the 7-2 loss to New York on Saturday.
The Sens have given up some weird goals this season, but few stranger than the first of the night from Nashville. On a simple dump-in from near centre ice, Predators captain Roman Josi slapped the puck into the Senators zone, where it hit a stanchion on the back glass and bounced out front of the net. Michael McCarron whacked it and it flew past starter Mads Sogaard and into the net at 8:26 of the first period.
A far more typical goal allowed was the second by Nashville, about eight minutes later. Philip Tomasino drove wide and got past defenceman Thomas Chabot before cutting in and flipping a shot up and over Sogaard to the roof of the net. Sogaard might be listed at 6-foot-7 (he is actually taller), but he looked small on that shot.
Just seconds later, the Preds hit a cross bar with a shot from the slot. But Ottawa couldn’t capitalize on that good fortune, allowing a third goal with just a minute left in the period. Dante Fabbro wristed a shot from the point toward the goal and Yakov Trenin tipped it by Sogaard, who was sliding on his pads, moving left of his goalpost while the puck darted into the open net.
Three goals allowed on 11 Nashville shots.
Cue the goalie change.
And the comeback.
Korpisalo replaced Sogaard to start the second period for the Sens and looked nothing like the goalie who got yanked in the previous game, after giving up four Rangers goals. Sadly, Sogaard had family from Denmark here to watch him play. It’s a good thing goalie families are used to witnessing triumph and tragedy when it comes to that position.
For the Senators, it is a position that has given them fits all season. If only they could get more of what they got in the second, third periods and OT on Monday.
While Korpisalo was stifling Nashville rallies, including a brilliant stop on Luke Evangelista on the power play, the Senators got their offence together. Both power plays finished 0-for-3.
The perfect response to three allowed in the first — scoring three in the second, off the sticks of Batherson, Stützle and Tkachuk.
All three were examples of slick execution. Tkachuk won a puck battle behind the net to feed Batherson out front and Batherson showed a scorer’s patience by outwaiting Juuse Saros before tucking the puck home.
The Stützle goal was a blast off a rush, with the pass from Mathieu Joseph.
Tkachuk completed the run of three goals in 12 minutes by pushing a shot past Saros after a faceoff win by Josh Norris. The line of Norris, Tkachuk and Batherson posed a threat whenever it was on the ice.
Along with changing his goalies, interim head coach Jacques Martin shortened his bench in the third period to secure this win.
“I didn’t want to wait (to change goaltenders) because I thought we needed a bit of a shot to wake up the rest of the guys,” Martin said. “So, change the goalies, change the lines, kind of start fresh. And put more pressure on them.”
The victory was No. 621 for Martin as an NHL head coach, moving him past former Senators head coach Bryan Murray into 19th place on the all-time list.
“It just means I’ve coached a long time in this league,” Martin said with a laugh. “I think I came here really focused on getting this team on the right track, the right direction.”
Not bad for a couple of local guys like the late Murray of Shawville, Que., and Martin of Saint-Pascal, Ont. — more than 1,200 victories and more than 2,500 combined NHL games coached.
Since being hired to replace D.J. Smith the week before Christmas, Martin has a record of 8-10-2 in his second stint with the Senators.
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