The Ottawa Senators improved their playoff chances on Thursday night while also knocking another nail in the Detroit Red Wings' coffin. Despite spending much of the first period in the penalty box and then bending hard in the third, the Senators held on to defeat the Red Wings 4-3 at Little Caesars Arena.
Just two and a half weeks ago, in a 2-1 victory, Sens goalie Linus Ullmark frustrated the Wings with a season-high 48 saves. He was the biggest reason Detroit was held scoreless in a chaotic first period, as the Red Wings went 0-for-5 on the power play. Ullmark ended the night with 31 saves.
Despite the Wings controlling most of the early play, Ottawa struck first. Fabian Zetterlund notched his first point as a Senator, setting up a hard-charging Thomas Chabot. Chabot hustled up into the rush and beat goalie Alex Lyon with a wrist shot to make it 1-0.
Just over seven minutes later, Brady Tkachuk caught up to Lucas Raymond and manhandled him in the neutral zone. While the Detroit fans protested, the puck went the other way, and Tim Stützle beat Lyon with a wrist shot on the short side. At that point, the Senators were being outshot 12-3 but still led 2-0.
A chippy first period boiled over when Stützle and Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson got into a shoving match, prompting Tkachuk to step in. Edvinsson, at 6-foot-6 but not known for fighting, agreed to drop with Tkachuk. But the scrap was little more than a wrestling match.
The Red Wings’ luck didn’t improve in the second period. Defenseman Ben Chiarot attempted to dump the puck in off the boards, but it struck Michael Rasmussen and bounced right to Drake Batherson, who set up David Perron for a breakaway goal, stretching Ottawa’s lead to 3-0.
That marked the end of Lyon’s night, as he was replaced by former Senator Cam Talbot.
The Sens took that lead into the third and finally took one penalty too many. With Shane Pinto off for a cross-check, Patrick Kane broke through for the Wings on the power play. Former Senator Alex DeBrincat fed him a pass across the crease, and Kane was able to tap it in.
Michael Amadio seemed to put the game away with a breakaway goal, his sixth goal of the month, making it 4-1 Ottawa. It turned out to be the game-winner and Amadio's sparkling two-way game will be tough to leave on the fourth line much longer.
With just over eight minutes to play, in a dreadful piece of Ottawa defending, Raymond made it 4-2. He was left all alone in front of Ullmark and had all day to pick his spot.
Less than four minutes later, former Senator Vladimir Tarasenko beat Ullmark from the slot, cutting Ottawa’s lead to one and setting up a tense finish.
However, the Senators D fought back a heavy Detroit push for the victory.
With the win, Ottawa moves seven points above the Eastern Conference playoff cut line. They'll host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night in the first of three games against them in the final three weeks of the regular season.