By Canadian Press

Tkachuk scores twice as Senators top Penguins 5-2

Oct 28, 2023 | 8:31 PM

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brady Tkachuk scored twice, Joonas Korpisalo made 39 saves and the Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Saturday night to snap a three-game NHL losing streak.

Ridly Greig, Dominik Kubalik and Drake Batherson also scored for Ottawa. Claude Giroux added two assists. Korpisalo withstood relentless early pressure from the Penguins to win for the second time in five starts.

Sidney Crosby scored for the second straight game for Pittsburgh and Jake Guentzel picked up his second of the season in the final seconds. Tristan Jarry, who got his 15th career shutout by beating Colorado on Thursday, stopped just six of the nine shots he faced before being pulled early in the second period.

The Senators came in winless on the road and hurting with defencemen Artem Zub, Erik Brannstrom and Thomas Chabot all out due to injury. Chabot is out at least a month with a fractured right hand, forcing Ottawa to call up Tyler Kleven and rookie Nikolas Matinpalo to fill in.

The Penguins, who easily put together their most complete performance of the season’s opening weeks in toppling streaking Colorado, created pressure relentlessly in the opening 20 minutes. They fired 37 shots in all, with 22 of them making their way to the net.

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It didn’t matter. Korpisalo turned them all aside and the Senators countered expertly.

Greig gave Ottawa the early lead when he redirected a pass from Giroux by Jarry just 4:24 into the game. 

Pittsburgh spent the next 10 minutes pinning the Senators in their end only to have Korpisalo — or occasionally a teammate — get a pad, a glove or a stick in the way.

Ottawa went nearly half the period without getting off another shot until Giroux found Tkachuk after the All-Star forward slipped behind Pittsburgh defenceman Ryan Graves. Tkachuk’s wrist shot zipped over Jarry’s outstretched glove at 14:14.

Pittsburgh kept coming but Korpisalo withstood the barrage and when the second period started, play became far more even. Travis Hamonic’s blast from the point 4:20 into the second appeared to give the Senators a 3-0 advantage.

The goal — and 27 seconds of play — was wiped out when Pittsburgh successfully challenged that Tkachuk had been offside when the Senators entered the offensive zone. No matter. Kubalik officially made it 3-0 with a laser from just above the right circle 5:28 into the period, his first goal with Ottawa and first since March 30 while playing for Detroit.

The marker chased Jarry in favour of backup Magnus Hellberg. The veteran made 15 saves in his first appearance since being called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL earlier this week with Alex Nedeljkovic sidelined by a lower-body injury. 

Bryan Rust fed Crosby with a nice cross-ice pass that Crosby tapped in for his fifth goal of the season late in the second period to give the Penguins some life. But Pittsburgh couldn’t close the gap, continuing an early season trend in which the NHL’s oldest team — one that is incorporating a fair amount of new parts, including reigning Norris Trophy defenceman Erik Karlsson — is struggling to find momentum.

Tkachuk and Batherson scored 16 seconds apart in the third period to give the Senators plenty of breathing room on a night they didn’t need it thanks to Korpisalo’s early brilliance.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host Los Angeles on Thursday.

Penguins: Finish up a four-game homestand on Monday against Anaheim.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Will Graves, The Associated Press