Ottawa Senators’ Brady Tkachuk caps emotional win with OT goal against New York Rangers

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Captain Crunch came through for the Ottawa Senators.

Brady Tkachuk capped off game No. 500 of his career in memorable fashion by scoring twice, including the winner for the Senators’ dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

The Senators captain had the fans chanting his name after Ottawa erased a two-goal deficit in the third period and Tkachuk beat New York goalie Igor Shesterkin with a shot only 33 seconds into OT.

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That capped a comeback that wouldn’t have happened without Michael Amadio tying it up with 2:52 left in the third period, after Ridly Greig had scored to bring the Senators within a goal.

“This is a big win,” Tkachk said. “That doesn’t happen without the belief and the resilience that, no matter how much time we have, we always have a chance to come back.”

It was an emotional 24 hours for Tkachuk after he watched close friend Josh Norris head off to Buffalo in a trade that brought back centre Dylan Cozens, but it couldn’t have ended in a better fashion.

Senators head coach Travis Green gave his group credit for showing resilience by shaking off the decision to make roster changes on Friday and getting the job done, resulting in two important points in the race to the playoffs in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.

“It’s been an emotional 24 hours for our group,” Green said. “With the 12:30 p.m. start, I give our team a lot of credit for being focused to play.”

Until the third period, it looked like Shesterkin would steal the two points for New York, but Ottawa stuck with it and found a way.

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Shesterkin came into this game with a 5-1-1 lifetime record against the Senators along with a .948 save percentage.

The Senators finished Saturday’s game without veteran defenceman Travis Hamonic, who left because of a left leg injury late in the third period.

SENSE OF URGENCY

The stretch drive has to bring out the best in the Senators, as it will decide if they will make the post-season for the first time in eight years.

They are trending in the right direction.

Artemi Panarin’s 27th of the season had given the Rangers a 3-1 lead with 7:08 left in the third period. Greig pulled the Senators within a goal by scoring on the power play at 10:16. Cozens picked up his first point with Ottawa by collecting an assist on the play.

“The pesky Sens strike again,” Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark said. “We knew what needed to be done. It felt like in the room, and on the ice, there wasn’t really any doubt. They got up 3-1, but I didn’t feel any panic and the guys didn’t change.

“It’s important to not get rattled and change anything because we know that we’re a really good team when we do things we’re good at.”

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Down 2-1 after 40 minutes, the Senators had to overcome what had been a 2-20-1 record when trailing after two periods this season.

They were also down 2-0 on Saturday after the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad stretched the lead with his 14th of the season at 13:55 of the second period. Tkachuk’s 25th of the season, only 11 seconds later, came on a tip that beat Shesterkin.

SAVING THE SEASON

Ullmark didn’t take part in practice on Friday.

Instead, he was on the ice for 45 minutes before the Senators took the ice at the Bell Sensplex because he wanted to work with goalie coach Justin Peter.

Ullmark came into Saturday’s contest with a 2-2-1 record in his previous five games along with a 3.93 goals-against average and .887 save percentage. Those numbers should explain why he wanted to work on his game.

He had posted a 5-3-1 lifetime record against the Rangers with a 2.82 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. His best save Saturday came with 3:24 left in the second period, when he got his glove on a shot by Panarin.

TOUGH START

Trailing 1-0, the Senators felt they had tied it with 6.8 seconds left in the first. The celebration didn’t last long, though, because video replays showed the puck hadn’t crossed the line.

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The Rangers opened the scoring on their second shot.

Defenceman Carson Soucy, acquired by the Rangers from the Canucks in exchange for a third-round pick, had a New York debut to remember.

His shot somehow found its way through Ullmark with 11:23 left in the first period.

The officials initially indicated the goal wouldn’t count because they had blown the whistle to halt play, but, after a lengthy video review, Soucy was able to have a delayed celebration because it was ruled that the puck was never stopped by Ullmark in the first place.

“The situation room initiated a video review and deemed Carson Soucy’s shot crossed the Ottawa goal line as a result of a continuous play,” the NHL said in its explanation.

That was the correct call, but it still stung.

“I learned a new rule I didn’t know today,” Ullmark said

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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