Justin Tang / The Canadian Press via AP
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Jonathan Marchessault (81) celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Ottawa, Ontario.
Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 | 10:02 p.m.
OTTAWA, Ontario — Tim Stutzle scored the winner in the shootout as the Ottawa Senators overcame a two-goal deficit and a late tying goal by Vegas to beat the Golden Knights 4-3 on Saturday night.
“I think maybe in the past, if we got down early, obviously we still worked, but I think now we’ve come back in a few games and we believe that we can come back,” said Drake Batherson, who scored his 18th goal of the season for the Senators.
Josh Norris and Thomas Chabot also scored for Ottawa while Anton Forsberg, getting his third start in four games, made 26 saves.
“He’s played well,” interim coach Jacques Martin said of his goaltender. “I think early in the game, he wasn’t as sharp, but as the game went on, he played with a lot of confidence and poise and made some big saves for us. And in the shootout he was perfect.”
Chandler Stephenson scored twice and Jonathan Marchessault had the other goal for the Knights, who lost their third in a row. Logan Thompson stopped 30 shots.
Vegas trailed 3-2 with just under two minutes remaining, but forced overtime after Stephenson scored his second of the night at 18:45 with Thompson on the bench.
There was some relief to finally be rewarded after pulling the goalie.
“That’s been a problem for us all year,” said Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. “So, we changed up a bit of our structure on it and found the open guy and got it to the net.
“Part of our problem with that is we haven’t been executing that play to get it to the net down low, so that was good. Obviously, helps us get a point but at the end of the day I felt we played well enough to get two.”
With the game tied 2-2 Norris scored to give the Senators the lead at 5:48 of the third by tipping in Chabot’s point shot.
Vegas took a 2-0 lead just three minutes into the second on Stephenson’s power-play goal from the left faceoff circle, but Chabot cut the lead to one with a wrist shot from the high slot.
“I think it’s something to build off for a long road trip here,” said Stephenson. “Obviously, would have been nice to secure that two-goal lead we had here, but credit to them for their push and for us to get one late to get a point out of it. Shootouts can go either way.”
Chabot has goals in each of his last three games.
Forsberg bailed the Senators on a bad turnover stopping Sheldon Rempal on a breakaway late in the period.
With Ottawa on the power play Brady Tkachuk fed Batherson in the slot to tie the game with under two minutes remaining in the second.
The Knights opened the scoring at 5:41 of the first when William Karlsson stripped Stutzle of the puck along the side boards deep in Ottawa’s end and fed Marchessault, who beat Forsberg off his backhand for his 30th of the season.
Marchessault is the first player in Vegas franchise history to have two 30-goal seasons, the last coming in 2021-22.
