Senators’ comeback effort falls short as Golden Knights take 5-4 victory

OTTAWA – The Vegas Golden Knights survived a late surge by the Ottawa Senators and picked up a 5-4 win Thursday night to extend their winning streak to six games.

Meanwhile, the Senators (4-6-0) now find themselves on a four-game losing streak.

Mark Stone, Reilly Smith, Zach Whitecloud, Chandler Stephenson and William Carrier each scored for Vegas (10-2-0). Logan Thompson made 42 saves for the Knights.

Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle each had a pair of goals for Ottawa. Anton Forsberg allowed all five goals on 19 shots before Cam Talbot, making his season and Senators debut, came in and made 13 saves.

Ottawa made it a one-goal game 2:34 into the third when Stutzle took advantage of a Knights turnover and played a give-and-go with Brady Tkachuk before scoring his second of the night.

Vegas had an opportunity to pad its lead on a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 59 seconds, but Talbot made two huge saves for the Senators.

Stephenson’s short-handed goal made it 4-1 for the Knights just over five minutes into the second. A few minutes later, a brutal giveaway by Alex DeBrincat allowed Carrier to walk in alone on Forsberg and beat him through the legs.

That marked the end of Forsberg’s night.

However, by the end of the period the Senators managed to pull within two.

With the power play expiring, Jake Sanderson made a cross-ice pass to Giroux who made it 5-2 with his second of the night at 14:23.

With less than two minutes remaining, Thompson thought he had stopped a Tkachuk shot, but the puck trickled through his pads and Stutzle pushed it over the goal line for his second of the season.

Stone, a former member of the Senators, put Vegas on the board first picking up a loose puck in front and scoring just 1:22 in.

But the Senators managed to tie things up under three minutes later. Giroux, who was looking to go off on a line change, shot the puck from just over centre ice and score as the bounce of the puck fooled Thompson.

Smith added a power-play goal at the midway mark of the period. With just 31.6 seconds remaining in the first, Stone made a cross-crease pass to Whitecloud for his first of the season to give Vegas a 3-1 lead.

INTERESTING FACT OR STAT

Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg has faced the most shots in the NHL (276) going into Thursday’s game and has also made the most saves (251). Forsberg has played in nine of Ottawa’s 10 games.

NOTES: Ottawa goalie Cam Talbot, who was dealing with a rib injury, served as the backup goaltender for the first time this season. Shane Pinto was moved to the top line to centre Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson.

UP NEXT

The Senators host the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night, while the Vegas Golden Knights will head to Montreal to take on the Canadiens Saturday afternoon.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2022.

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