Erik Karlsson’s explosive night not enough for Senators to overcome Devils

If Erik Karlsson was surprisingly unrusty against the Canucks on Tuesday, he was in mid-season form by tonight against the Devils. The Senators’ captain was all over the ice, putting up a mind-blowing three assists. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and defensive lapses allowed the now 6-1-0 New Jersey Devils to capture the victory in overtime.

The first period saw a fun moment for anyone except for a Sens fan. First-overall pick Nico Hischier tallied the first goal of his young NHL career. He would score the second just two minutes later. Thankfully for the Sens, Kyle Turris would have one in between those, six seconds into a powerplay, giving the Sens their first home powerplay tally of the season.

The second period was all Ottawa. The first goal went to Derick Brassard, who got just enough of a gorgeous Bobby Ryan pass to put it past Cory Schneider. Then on the powerplay, Erik Karlsson would spot Alexandre Burrows open in front. Burrows was stopped on his first attempt to shovel it in, but got his own rebound and forced it through, giving him 200 goals in his career. Then Tom Pyatt scored his first of the year through Schneider. Pyatt’s funny, because to my eyes, he has almost no offensive instincts. And yet he seems to score a goal every 10 games like clockwork. Mark your calendars for a month from now - he’s going to score again. The Sens had a few more chances to score in the second, but failed to put the game away which made me nervous heading into the third. Keith Kinkaid also came in in relief of Schneider to start the third.

Apparently I was right to be nervous. First Kyle Palmieri brought the Devils back within one just five minutes into the period. Then with five minutes left Marcus Johansson tied things up, and suddenly the game was headed to overtime.

OT would last just over a minute, until John Moore (!!) ended it with a rush from his own end. The Sens were caught on a change, Cody Ceci was torn about whether to cover Moore or the pass since Pyatt off the bench was a little behind the play. In the end, no one challenged Moore, and he beat Craig Anderson with a shot the Sens goalie may have wanted back. Some were bitter about a Pageau-Pyatt-Ceci combo in OT, but I kind of get it - Ceci has offensive instincts, and his weaknesses like clearing the net aren’t as important in a 3-on-3 scenario. Pageau has deceptive abilities, and Pyatt was the hot hand after scoring a goal. Boucher played a hunch, it didn’t work, and the Sens lost in OT.

Notable Performances

• Erik Karlsson had three assists and played 27:08. Think he’s healthy again?
• Zack Smith left the game with an upper-body injury after playing just nine minutes. No update yet on his status going forward.
• Logan Brown only found his way into 5:21, 40% of it on the powerplay. Would’ve liked to see more of him, especially once Smith got hurt
• Kinkaid was perfect, but the Sens can’t be happy getting just nine shots in goal in a period + OT against a reliever. You gotta test a goalie who hasn’t had time to shake off the rust.
• Anderson looked a little behind the play a few times, especially on the last two goals. Everyone has off-nights though, so it’s hard to hold too much against him.
• Dalton Prout took a couple dumb penalties, and after the second one, he left the box and immediately charged at Jean-Gabriel Pageau and knocked him to the ground. I may have a new candidate for biggest neanderthal in the NHL./

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