2015 NHL Draft
SHARE
Share with your Friends


Fisher's OT goal gives Senators division lead

Tuesday, 11.24.2009 / 1:13 AM / Roundup

By Brian Hunter - NHL.com Staff Writer

A four-game winning streak has vaulted the Ottawa Senators to the top of the Northeast Division.

Mike Fisher's goal 1:14 into overtime completed the Senators' rally from a two-goal, third-period deficit and gave them a 4-3 win Monday night over the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Place.

Fisher, who entered with two goals and four assists in his past three games to earn the NHL's third star of the past week, batted a Chris Phillips centering pass out of the air and past Semyon Varlamov for the game-winner.

"We were hungry, we knew that we could come back," Fisher said. "We came at them hard and created opportunities and buried them when we got chances. It was an exciting win for us."

Chris Neil and Alexandre Picard scored in the third to erase a 3-1 lead by the Capitals, who lost their third in a row.

Peter Regin had opened the scoring for the Senators in the first period, but the Caps responded on goals by Chris Clark, Brendan Morrison and Jay Beagle, who scored his first NHL goal 11:44 into the second period to put Washington in seeming command.

"You score to win," Beagle said. "It's a tough loss. I still can't really believe that we let it slip away. I scored but at the same point you're disappointed with the loss so it's kind of a bitter feeling."

The Capitals continue to lead the Southeast Division, but fell to 1-2-2 in their last five. Coach Bruce Boudreau didn't mince words when talking about his disappointment with their play Monday.

"This was a collapse by 20 guys and I don't know how else to sugarcoat it," Boudreau said. "We had total control of the game after two. They didn't even want to be part of the game -- it looked like they wanted to go home. Something lit a fire under them and we couldn't match it."

The Senators, on the other hand, are rolling. They passed idle Buffalo, which they beat on Saturday, by one point for first place in the Northeast.

"We've been at home a lot and we knew we had to put some wins together and it was not going to be easy, especially against the teams we've been playing," said Fisher, whose goal was his second in overtime and fourth game-winner this season. "But we've been elevating our game against top teams and that's a great sign."

Bruins 4, Blues 2 | HIGHLIGHTS

Boston was excited to welcome playmaker Marc Savard back to the lineup, but it was Patrice Bergeron who stole the show Monday night with four assists.

The Bruins' specialty teams accounted for three goals, as Mark Recchi and Blake Wheeler scored on the power play and Marco Strum collected a shorthanded tally. Milan Lucic was also the beneficiary of a Bergeron helper.

"To be honest, the puck was just bouncing our way and the puck was going in," Bergeron said. "So we'll take it, but at the same time it's more about the win than anything else."

The win was Boston's third in a row, the first time this season they have managed the feat. Tuukka Rask once again subbed for the ailing Tim Thomas (lower-body injury) and finished with 29 saves – 15 of them in the first period.

"When your team is not fully awake, you try and keep them in it," Rask said. "In the second and third we really picked up our game."

Keith Tkachuk and Carlo Colaiacovo rallied St. Louis from a pair of one-goal deficits, but Lucic gave Boston a 3-2 lead with 7:50 left in the second period and the Blues had no answer after that.

"Some of our guys who we need to finish, again didn't get it done for us," coach Andy Murray said. "My understanding of our team is you expect these guys who you count on to get the job done. I keep expecting that."

Chris Mason finished with 19 saves for the Blues, but made a third-period gaffe that allowed the Bruins to score an insurance goal. St. Louis was on the power play and looking for the tie when Mason made an ill-advised backhanded clearing attempt to the boards. Sturm picked up the puck and scored the shorthanded goal with 8:42 left.

"Dumb. Just a bad play in general and it ends up in the net," Mason said. "It cost us any chance of tying it."

Savard, who missed 15 games with a broken foot, didn't record any points or shots in his first game back, but he took 20 shifts for 16:30 of ice time and was even for the night.

Stars 2, Hurricanes 0 | HIGHLIGHTS

Dallas had gone more than nine months without winning consecutive games in regulation, but Marty Turco made sure there was never a doubt on Monday.

Turco recorded his 38th career shutout with a 22-save effort, making Jamie Benn's first-period power-play goal stand up. Brad Richards added a goal on the man advantage in the third.

"There's been a lot of talk about not winning two in a row," Turco said. "We came out with an effort that deserved the win. We need to do that on a nightly basis."

Dallas is 11-6-6 this season and tied for second in the Pacific Division, but it had been since Feb. 13 and 19 of this year since they won back-to-back games with 60-minute efforts.

Manny Legace was solid in net for Carolina, stopping 27 shots, but the Hurricanes remained winless on the road this season (0-8-3). They had won three of four overall entering the American Airlines Center.

"We took too many penalties tonight that we didn't need to take, and we had a 5-on-3 where we needed to put one in," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said.

That happened early in the third when Krystofer Barch and Karlis Skrastins took penalties just 22 seconds apart, creating an extended two-man advantage for the 'Canes. It was a golden opportunity to at least cut their deficit in half, but Turco made four saves to hold the fort.

"Special teams were huge tonight," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. "That was a big kill for us. Your goalie is always your best penalty killer and Marty made some big saves there."

Benn scored off a rebound at 9:30 of the first -- "Right place at the right time," he said – and Richards doubled the lead just 2:07 into the third when his shot glanced off the stick of Carolina defenseman Joe Corvo, into the air and over Legace's shoulder.

That gave Dallas at least two power-play goals in three of its last four games.

"It's just shots on the net," Richards said. "Our guys are doing a really good job around the net."

Oilers 4, Coyotes 0 | HIGHLIGHTS

Edmonton hasn't exactly been threatening the records from the dynasty teams of the 1980s, but it set one Monday night as Sheldon Souray and Ales Hemsky scored seven seconds apart as part of a three-goal first period and Jeff Deslauriers stopped all 36 shots he faced for his first NHL shutout.

"It feels great, so exciting," Deslauriers said after blanking Phoenix. "It's nice to be in that club now. It's a good win for this team, too."

Souray gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead on a fluke goal at the 11:07 mark, as Matthew Lombardi's attempted clear of a puck in front of the net deflected off teammate David Schlemko and past Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Souray, the last Edmonton player to touch the puck, was credited with the goal.

Hemsky then took a Dustin Penner feed as the Oilers came rushing into the Coyotes' zone off the ensuing faceoff and deked Bryzgalov before scoring his 100th career goal.

"It's always great when you can pop two quickly in like that," forward Ryan Potulny said. "Everyone feeds off that. It gives everyone a little bit more energy, a little bit more jump in our step."

The previous Edmonton record for fastest goals was eight seconds, with Glenn Anderson and Wayne Gretzky accomplishing the feat against St. Louis in 1982.

"That was tough, giving up a bad goal like that and then seeing them score so soon afterwards," Phoenix defenseman Keith Yandle said. "It really gave them all the momentum."

Ethan Moreau started the scoring 7:59 into the first and Shawn Horcoff beat the second-period horn by tipping a Souray point shot for a power-play goal with one-tenth of a second remaining.

From there it was all Deslauriers, who started his third game in a row as Nikolai Khabibulin battles through a back injury. He was coming off a 5-2 loss to Chicago on Saturday.

"The other night he looked nervous, and stuff bounced off him, but he got by whatever jitters he must have felt before," Oilers coach Pat Quinn said. "He had really good focus tonight."

Ducks 3, Flames 2 (SO)
| HIGHLIGHTS

Anaheim lifted itself out of the Western Conference cellar and won for the second time in three games to begin a seven-game homestand on the strength of Teemu Selanne's goal in the third round of the shootout at the Honda Center.

After the first two shooters on each side were stopped, Selanne skated in, came to a complete stop in front of Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff and ripped a shot just under the crossbar and into the net.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who had denied Nigel Dawes and Olli Jokinen to begin the penalty-shot tiebreaker, picked up his first win of the season after Curtis Glencross shot wide on the Flames' final attempt. Giguere stopped 41 shots through regulation and overtime.

"It wasn't always pretty," Giguere said, "but we found a way to win. It was a big game for our team. It was a tough play at the end, but we answered back pretty well. We would have liked to win in 60 minutes, but sometimes it takes a little longer."

The Ducks were 18 seconds from claiming a rare regulation win, but Jarome Iginla forced the extra period for the Flames with his 16th goal of the season.

Glencross opened the scoring in the first period before goals by Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf 1:08 apart gave Anaheim a 2-1 lead it would hold for most of the remaining two periods.

"Aside from the goals that they got (early), I think that we played a really good game," Iginla said. "We had a great third period, a lot of quality scoring chances. I really thought we were going to get the win in the third."

Corey Perry assisted on the opening goal, extending his points streak to 15 games, a career best and the longest in the NHL this season.

"We are pretty happy with our effort tonight," Getzlaf said. "There was a little breakdown at the end, but overall we played a good hockey game and we played a good team tonight. We were able to pull it out. We got our two points and move forward."

Giguere, a Stanley Cup champion in 2007 and the Conn Smythe winner in 2003, had struggled to an 0-3-2 record this season. He missed time due to a groin injury and has been backing up starter Jonas Hiller.

"It's been a long time, but it feels good to win," Giguere said. "I'll soak it in here for the next 10 minutes, then move on and think about the next game. I'm really excited we got the win and everybody in the dressing room is. If we it would have gone the other way around, it would have been a pretty big blow to our team."

Material from wire services and team media was used in this report.

NHL.TV™

NHL GameCenter LIVE™ is now NHL.TV™.
Watch out-of-market games and replays with an all new redesigned media player, mobile and connected device apps.

LEARN MORE

NHL Mobile App

Introducing the new official NHL App, available for iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets. A host of new features and improved functionality are available across all platforms, including a redesigned league-wide scoreboard, expanded news coverage, searchable video highlights, individual team experiences* and more. The new NHL App on your tablet also introduces new offerings such as 60fps video, Multitasking** and Picture-in-Picture.

*Available only for smartphones
** Available only for suported iPads