Senators 4, Sharks 3 (SO)
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Center Mika Zibanejad was the only shooter to score in the shootout as the Ottawa Senators beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 at SAP Center on Monday night. Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson denied Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi and Logan Couture in the shootout.
Ottawa right winger Bobby Jones tripped Sharks defenseman Brent Burns at 3:08 of overtime to give the hosts just their second power play of the game, but the Sharks failed to score despite putting four shots on net.
Ottawa lost leading goal-scorer Mike Hoffman in the second period when the center crashed head-first into the goal post. He was favoring his right shoulder while skating slowly off the ice and to the visitors' dressing room.
Couture and Matt Nieto scored third-period goals as the Sharks rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to take a brief 3-2 lead.
Couture's second goal of the season came 2:47 into the final period when he turned in the slot and shot across his body to surprise Anderson. The puck struck the surprised goalie in the mask and trickled over the goal line to tie the game 2-2.
Just over five minutes later, the hosts struck again on a pretty passing play that culminated with Nieto's sixth goal at 7:54. Donskoi keyed the sequence with a nifty stickhandling move in the slot before spotting Nieto, who slipped behind Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson to score on the backhand.
But the Senators tied the game on a short-handed penalty-shot goal by center Zack Smith at 14:29. Smith scored his ninth goal of the season, upheld after a lengthy review, after getting tripped by Burns as the Sharks defenseman tried to deny Smith a short-handed breakaway.
The teams traded goals scored only eight seconds apart in the second period.
The Senators jumped out to a 2-0 lead at 4:08 when it took right winger Bobby Ryan only 11 seconds to convert the only power play through the first 40 minutes.
Ryan's wrist shot from the right circle tipped off the blade of Burns' stick past San Jose goalie Alex Stalock, who was moving away from the left post.
San Jose right winger Joel Ward tripped Ottawa center Jean-Gabriel Pageau to give the visitors the man-advantage.
The hosts struck back in quick fashion, however. After winning the draw at center to restart play, Burns dished to center Joe Thornton, who in turn spotted left winger Tomas Hertl charging to the net on the weak side. Hertl redirected Thornton's perfect feed past Senators goalie Craig Anderson at 4:16.
Hertl has four goals and three assists in six games since being moved from center on a second or third line to left wing alongside Thornton and Pavelski.
Ottawa scored the only goal of the opening period thanks to a curious decision by an over-aggressive Stalock.
The San Jose netminder charged from his net to try and pokecheck Ottawa's Max McCormick, but the right winger corralled the bouncing puck just in time to punch a shot between Stalock's pads at 11:12.
McCormick's second goal of the season in 14 games came via a cross-ice stretch pass from Ottawa defenseman Cody Ceci. San Jose defenseman Dylan DeMelo turned to skate with McCormick and angled him to the left circle, where Stalock had ventured 20 feet from his crease on the bad gamble.
NOTES: With 14 assists in his past 15 games, Sharks C Joe Thornton passed Stan Makita (926) for 17th place on the all-time assists list. Larry Murphy is 16th with 929. ... Ottawa D Chris Phillips (back) and LW Clark MacArthur (concussion) remain out. A lower-body injury prevented Senators D Marc Methot from playing Monday. ... San Jose LW Dainius Zubrus continues to battle an upper-body injury, while RW Raffi Torres remains with San Jose of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. ... Ottawa completes a five-game road trip Thursday at New Jersey. ... San Jose next plays at Arizona on Thursday. ... C Ben Smith and D Matt Tennyson were San Jose's healthy scratches, while D Jared Cowen and LW Shane Prince did not dress for Ottawa.