WASHINGTON — The Senators took down the kings of the hill Tuesday night.
But they had to take a couple of different runs at them to do it.
After squandering a 3-1 second-period lead, Ottawa tied the game in the third before Alex Kovalev ended his 12-game post-Olympic break slump by scoring a power play goal on a redirection of an Erik Karlsson shot with 19 seconds left in overtime, giving the Senators a 5-4 victory over the NHL-leading Washington Capitals.
Asked how heavy the slump was weighing on him, Kovalev was defiant.
“I didn’t have a slump,” he said. “That’s what you guys call it, slump. For me, I play the game I always play. Look at it this way, I’m just doing my best. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. What else can I do? I’m not going to go out and buy a gun and shoot myself.
“It doesn’t matter what time you (score), a win is a win.”
“That will probably keep you guys off his back a little longer,” Senators coach Cory Clouston said when asked the importance of Kovalev finally hitting paydirt. “For confidence, obviously, it’s nice to see him score. He played a good game, he hit a crossbar earlier, he was strong on the puck ... and it was nice to see him get that goal.”
A 52nd consecutive sellout crowd watched the Senators end a seven-game losing streak at Verizon Center and prevent the Caps from claiming their 50th victory, which would have equalled a franchise record set by the 1985-86 squad coached by Senators GM Bryan Murray.
Kovalev’s goal also extended Ottawa’s winning streak to five games, and moved the Senators to within a point of clinching a playoff spot.
Jason Spezza had his second four-point night in 10 days, scoring twice and adding two assists. Peter Regin and Chris Campoli also scored for Ottawa.
“Obviously the puck was following me tonight,” said Spezza. “We had lots of chances as a line and we could have had a few more.
“You know it’s going to be a long night when you play them. We were up 3-1 and they kept coming and coming. It was nice to get the win.”
Clouston said the whole Spezza line stepped up.
“In order for us to have any success in the playoffs, those guys are going to have to be our best players. I thought Jason led by example,” said Clouston. “On the scoreboard, he was huge, but defensively he was very strong on the backcheck and I thought he managed the puck as well as he has all season.”
Even without Anton Volchenkov in the lineup, the Senators incredibly recorded 28 blocked shots. Andy Sutton led the way with seven.
Washington was led by a pair of goals from Alexander Semin, who now has five goals in the past two games against the Senators. Mike Green and Mathieu Perreault also counted for the Caps.
A defensive zone giveaway 24 seconds into the third period by Sutton — followed by a Perreault in-close backhand that beat Brian Elliott high to the glove side — marked the first deficit faced by the Senators all night.
But Spezza tied it 4-4.
The Senators saw their hard-fought 3-1 lead disappear when Semin and Green scored 54 seconds apart in the eighth minute of the second.
Green’s goal, a slap shot from the point, slipped between Elliott’s left arm and body. It was the second suspect goal Elliott had given up.
“It shows we’re becoming a pretty good team when a goalie doesn’t have his A-game, or close to it, and we can still pull out a win,” said Elliott. “It definitely shows a lot of character in the guys and shows if we stick to our guns, we can beat anybody.”
Told that Elliott admitted he wasn’t at his best, Kovalev stood up for his goalie.
“Best or not, he plays good enough to let us win. We’re not robots who are going to play 82 games perfectly. Right now he plays (good) enough to let us win.”
Alex Ovechkin fired 20 shots — five that were on goal, eight that were blocked and seven that went wide — but could not score.
From the opening faceoff and the tempo-setting play of the Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil line, the Senators dominated the first period. They outshot the Capitals 13-4 and outscored them 3-1.
don.brennan@sunmedia.ca
