Penguins squander power-play chances in overtime loss to Ottawa

The hot takes have been present in Pittsburgh for weeks and months.

Years, really.

Who should be entrusted as the starter at the team’s most important and scrutinized position?

On Saturday, one of those debates was thrust into a maelstrom because of a startlingly strong performance by a person left on the scrap heap.

And in the other discussion, Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was largely left to defend himself as his teammates were diced up by the Ottawa Senators in a 5-4 overtime loss at Canadian Tire Centre in Canada’s capital city.

Senators forward Tim Stutzle’s seventh goal at 1 minute, 10 seconds of overtime was the difference.

Making 21 saves on 26 shots, Nedeljkovic’s record fell to 5-2-2 as he started his third consecutive game in place of Tristan Jarry.

Saturday’s result came as the Penguins’ inconsistent power play provided plenty of reasons to air grievances as it was a miserly 1 for 8, including an extended five-on-three sequence that lasted 1:38 and began only 2:25 into regulation.

That futility was amplified by the Senators generating some of their offense moments after successful penalty kills against the Penguins.

Having won four of their previous five games before Saturday, the Penguins had any positive momentum they had gained with that surge euthanized by a Senators team that entered this contest on a six-game losing streak and was five days removed from firing previous head coach D.J. Smith, replacing him on an interim basis with former Penguins assistant Jacques Martin.

The Penguins might have lost this contest in regulation were it not for a strong third period in which they scored two goals on 23 shots.

“I thought we raised our level of urgency and we raised our level of execution (in the third),” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to the Canadian Press in Ottawa. “There was no flow in the game in the first 40 (minutes). I thought we competed hard in the third.”

Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun’s sixth goal of the season opened the scoring at 11:07 of the first period.

Settling a loose puck on the right half-wall of the offensive zone, Senators forward Josh Norris slid a pass to the center point where linemate Claude Giroux boomed a one-timer that went wide to the left of the cage. The puck clapped off the end boards and bounced to the left circle where Chychrun avoided detection by anyone in a Penguins jersey and lifted a wrister that clunked in off Nedeljkovic’s blocker on the near side. Giroux and Noris had assists.

The Penguins responded at 14:31 of the first period when forward Lars Eller scored his fourth goal while working with the team’s second power-play unit.

Controlling the puck above the left circle of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Reilly Smith slipped a cross-ice pass to Eller low in the opposite circle. Stopping the puck, Eller surveyed his options and released a heavy wrister that found an avenue between the near post and goaltender Anton Forsberg’s left shoulder. Smith and defenseman Kris Letang claimed assists.

Norris’ 12th goal restored a lead for the hosts at 15:01 of the opening frame.

From the left point of the Penguins’ zone, Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom chucked the puck to the end boards. Fending off Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson, Senators forward Brady Tkachuk claimed the puck and muscled his way to the right of the cage where he swept a forehand shot attempt toward the crease. The puck hopped up off the left skate of backchecking Penguins forward Noel Acciari, allowing Norris to dart in from the slot and swat it out of the air over Nedeljkovic’s right shoulder. Assists went to Tkachuk and Brannstrom.

The hole got deeper for the Penguins when Tkachuk tacked on his 15th goal 130 seconds into the second period.

Following a fruitless power-play opportunity for the visitors, Giroux gained the offensive zone on the left wing and pitched a clever backhand pass through traffic and to the far side of the blue paint where Tkachuk flew in and tapped a backhander by Nedeljkovic’s glove on the near side. Giroux and Chychrun tallied assists.

Penguins forward Rickard Rakell experienced some badly needed good tidings at 4:59 of the second period when the talented top-six winger broke through a hideous slump and scored his first goal of the season.

Entering the offensive zone on the right wing, Rakell initiated a give-and-go sequence and left a drop pass for linemate Sidney Crosby. As Rakell maneuvered to the slot, Crosby pushed the puck into the right circle. As Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson presented nugatory resistance, Crosby snapped a forehand pass to the front of the crease where Rakell deflected a backhander by Forsberg’s blocker. Crosby and Smith had assists.

“(Rakell) is getting better with every game that he plays,” Sullivan said following a practice session in Cranberry on Friday. “He’s getting strong. His timing is getting better. … He’s getting stronger on the puck. His conditioning is improving. All of those things with each additional game that he plays he’s going to get a little bit better at.”

The Senators restored a two-score lead 2:31 later via Brannstrom’s second goal.

After another timid offering on a power-play sequence by the Penguins, Sanderson pushed a breakout pass from behind his own blue line, allowing Brannstrom, freshly liberated from the penalty box, to generate a two-one-one with Tkachuk against scrambling Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Brannstrom dished a pass to Tkachuk in the slot. Pushing through Karlsson’s attempt to impede, Tkachuk fed a deft backhand pass to the left of the crease where Brannstrom lifted a forehand shot by Nedeljkovic’s scorched blocker. Tkachuk and Sanderson garnered assists.

The Penguins issued a coach’s challenge, claiming the sequence to be offside. Following a lengthy review, officials upheld the score and the Penguins were given a delay of game penalty.

Penguins forward Drew O’Connor’s third goal at 1:31 made it a one-goal game.

After O’Connor won a draw in the Senators’ right circle against forward Ridly Greig, Penguins forward Radim Zohorna fed a pass to Letang at the right point. From there, Letang offloaded a forehand pass to Pettersson at the left point. Backpedaling a bit to the high slot, Pettersson waited, waited and waited for a shooting lane to open then snapped off a wrister. Gaining position on Greig to the right of the crease, O’Connor tipped the puck by Forsberg’s glove. Assists went to Pettersson and Letang.

The contest was tied, 4-4, at 17:34 of the third period via Letang’s third goal.

Settling a loose puck at the left point of the offensive zone, Pettersson fed a forehand pass to the center point for Letang, who drifted a bit towards the right circle and then snapped off a far-side wrister that beat Forsberg’s blocker. Assists were given to Pettersson and forward Evgeni Malkin, who was moved to the third line in the third period per the team’s radio broadcast.

The Senators won a battle of wills to win the game in overtime.

After Malkin and Chychrun wrestled each other off the puck near the home bench, Rakell was unable to cleanly handle it above his own right circle, allowing Senators forward Drake Batherson to claim possession. From the high slot, Batherson slipped a pass to Stutzle below the left hashmarks. From there, Stutzle attacked the net and put a forehand shot through the five hole (and a poke check attempt) of Nedeljkovic. Batherson had the lone assist.

“Just go five hole,” Stutzle said to the Canadian Press. “Every time I used to do that, I scored. I don’t know why I kept not doing it, so I’ll just go back to what I was doing.”

Notes:

• The Penguins are now 3 for 5 on coach’s challenges this season.

• The Penguins were 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. They have not given up an opposing power-play goal in their past three games and are 9 for 9 over that span.

• Eller snapped a 12-game skid without a goal.

• The Penguins’ last overtime loss to the Senators came less than a year ago on Jan. 18. Tkachuk scored the winning goal in a 5-4 home win.

• The Penguins have lost three consecutive games to the Senators and four of the past five dating to Jan. 18.

• Pettersson (103 points) surpassed forwards Nick Harabuk and Warren Young (101 each) for 90th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Martin’s most recent win against the Penguins as a head coach came with the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-0 victory at what was then called Consol Energy Center on March 12, 2011. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals on 12 shots in that contest.

• Giroux now has 71 career points in 66 games against the Penguins. He is tied with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (71 points in 73 games) for most career points against the Penguins among active players.

• Batherson has 13 career points (six goals, seven assists) in nine career games against the Penguins.

• Penguins forward Vinnie Hinostroza and defenseman P.O Joseph were healthy scratches.