Senators 4, Penguins 3 (OT)
OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators dramatically rallied from a three goal first period deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime at Canadian Tire Centre Tuesday night.
Winger Mark Stone's second of the night with 2:17 left in the extra session gave the Senators playoff hopes life, while preventing the Penguins from clinching a post-season berth.
Ottawa is now tied with the Boston Bruins for the final wild card spot, but the Bruins have a game in hand and win the tie-breaker between the two teams.
The Senators are also one point back of the Penguins, and two behind the Detroit Red Wings.
Senators winger Mike Hoffman fired a wrist shot from the point with 1:48 left in the third to complete Ottawa's comeback from a 3-0 first period deficit.
The Penguins successfully killed off a too many men penalty they took with 29 seconds left in the third, but Stone sealed the deal with a hard wrist shot from the slot behind Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Center Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Senators.
Center Sidney Crosby, winger Beau Bennett and winger Patric Hornqvist scored for the Penguins.
Fleury made 40 saves while Senators goalie Andrew Hammond stopped 25 shots to improve to 18-1-2.
Down 3-0, the Senators stirred to life when Pageau scored a shorthanded goal at 14:41 of the second period. Pageau sped over the blue line from the right side and centered a pass that went in off Pittsburgh defenseman Derrick Pouliot.
The Senators had a second chance on the same shorthanded situation, but Fleury made a great save off center David Legwand.
The Senators crept to within one 34 seconds into the third when a Crosby pass to winger Daniel Winnik in the defensive zone was mishandled and wound up with Stone in the slot. He beat Fleury with a shot to the stick side.
Crosby scored on the game's first shot on goal when he rifled a slap shot through Hammond from the left wing face-off circle 10 seconds after the opening face-off.
The Penguins made it 2-0 at the 5:16 mark off a Senators giveaway in the defensive zone. Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole found Bennett and he cut to the front of the net through open space before putting the puck past Hammond, just as the Ottawa goalie was being knocked to the ice by a crush of players.
The Penguins went up by three when Hammond made an acrobatic save off a Crosby backhand only to have Hornqvist knock in the rebound.
Senators captain Erik Karlsson was a minus-3 in the first period.
NOTES: Penguins D Kris Letang missed his fifth game with a concussion. But Letang has resumed training and coach Mike Johnston said he could be available for the playoffs if Pittsburgh qualifies. ... Senators RW Chris Neil is practicing with the team and cleared for contact, but it's unlikely he plays again during the regular season unless the team suffers an injury at the position. ... Penguins D Christian Ehrhoff missed his seventh game with an upper-body injury, but Johnston said he's skating in Pittsburgh and could rejoin the team this weekend. ... Senators D Erik Karlsson needed one goal on Tuesday to break the record for most goals by an Ottawa defenseman he established two days earlier when he scored his 21st against Toronto. The All-Star defenseman had one assist in the win, but no goals. ... Senators RW Bobby Ryan entered the game with one goal in the previous 17 games.