Senators show improvement in a 5-4 victory against the Penguins

The Ottawa Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime on Jan. 18 and ended their losing streak of two games.

There was a change-up in the starting lineup between defencemen Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot.

“What Hamonic has done for Sanderson is really allow him to feel comfortable and be himself,” said coach DJ Smith, in a postgame interview on why he made this decision. “Part of the development of a young guy is putting him in those situations to develop properly.”

The Penguins had a good night against the Senators offensively.

Evgeni Malkin had a three point night with a goal and two assists. Sidney Crosby had three assists, and Marcus Pettersson had two assists. Mark Friedman, Jason Zucker, and Rickard Rakell each had an individual goal.

The Senators responded to the Penguins with their own offensive effort.

Brady Thachuk had four points on the night and scored the game. Tim Stützle had a goal and an assist. Stützle is the first Senator this season to reach the 20 goal plateau.

Drake Batherson also had a goal and an assist, Claude Giroux had an assist, and Alex Dabrincat got a goal. Shane Pinto was moved down to the third line as Josh Norris was returning from injury. This decision got him a goal for the first time in 11 games.

However, the team only made it to overtime because of Cam Talbot’s goaltending performance. He let in four goals on 20 shots.

Despite that, the Senators were able to secure their victory to make their record 20-21-3. They will face the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Jan 21.