Sens leave it late as Stutzle scores OT winner with 37 seconds remaining to beat Oilers
Ottawa goaltender Matt Murray makes 37 saves in winning effort
The last thing the Ottawa Senators want to see is Tim Stutzle fighting, but on this night the young centre will be forgiven after scoring a highlight reel goal in overtime to lead his team to a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
With 37.6 seconds remaining in overtime Stutzle put the puck to the top corner to beat Mikko Koskinen.
"I actually tried to see if [Thomas Chabot] was open, but then I'm like I saw the little spot up there and just tried it shoot it and it went in."
Stutzle said he doesn't remember who dropped the gloves first, but he's happy to have his first NHL fight out of the way.
"Maybe a little bit stupid to go and fight there, especially that late in the game, but I kind of got aggressive there and tried to stand up for myself," said Stutzle. "I think it got the team going a little bit more there and they were coming. It was fun."
That being said the Senators would prefer the young forward to leave the fighting to others.
"Let's be clear, you don't want [Stutzle] fighting ever," said Senators coach D.J. Smith. "He gets in a fight, comes back and does what he does. I mean, we've got a real, real hockey player on our hands."
WATCH | Stutzle pockets OT winner:
Chabot and Nick Paul also scored for the Senators (14-21-4), as Matt Murray made 37 saves.
Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers (22-16-3) as Koskinen stopped 28 shots.
The game wrapped up a four-game homestand for Ottawa, who will take on the New York Islanders Tuesday night in their final game before the all-star break.
"I thought [Nick Paul] was our best player on the ice for us," Smith said. "There's very few people in the world who can skate with [Connor] McDavid, especially a forward backwards, and he did in overtime."
The Oilers will take on the Washington Capitals Wednesday for its final game.
Edmonton gave full credit to the Senators and admitted their overall effort fell short.
"Obviously, we're disappointed we didn't get the other point there", said Derek Ryan. "I don't know if we played well enough through 60 minutes to deserve a win, in my opinion, but good on us to battle through and stick with it."
Seconds later Evan Bouchard took advantage of a bad line change by the Senators and fed McDavid a stretch pass who beat Murray with a slapshot through the legs.
Ottawa regained the lead late in the second period on a power-play goal as Paul, with his eighth of the season, jumped on an Erik Brannstrom rebound.
Trailing 2-1 the Oilers were able to tie the game at the seven-minute mark of the third as Ryan made a great pass to a trailing Nurse, for his fourth of the season.
"I think we could've probably had another step up in our effort, especially in the middle of that game," said Nurse. "But with that said, we found a way to get a point. We haven't been doing that much lately."
