Ottawa Senators extend win streak with 5-4 OT victory over Vancouver Canucks

Ottawa Senators' Jake Sanderson (85) scores on Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) during overtime NHL hockey action in Vancouver, on Saturday, December 21, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

December 21, 2024 - 9:53 PM

VANCOUVER - Jake Sanderson scored 15 seconds into overtime and the Ottawa Senators stretched their win streak to six straight games with a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

It’s the first time since March 2017 that Ottawa has won six in a row.

Shane Pinto scored twice for the Senators (18-13-2) in regulation, while Claude Giroux added a goal and an assist, Josh Norris scored short-handed and Sanderson contributed a pair of helpers.

Leevi Merilainen stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced to earn his first NHL victory.

Brock Boeser scored twice for the Canucks (16-10-7), and Quinn Hughes had a goal and two assists.

Jake DeBrusk rounded out the scoring for a Vancouver side that lost its third straight outing (0-1-2). Kevin Lankinen made 15 saves.

TAKEAWAYS

Canucks: The team has lost four of its last five outings (1-2-2) and some of its top stars have gone cold offensively across the slump. J.T. Miller has not scored in the six games he's played since returning from a 10-game absence, Elias Pettersson does not have a point in his last six outings and Conor Garland last recorded a goal on Nov. 29.

Senators: Merilainen stepped in for Linus Ullmark, who has been a superstar for Ottawa in recent weeks. Heading into Saturday, Ullmark had powered the team to five straight victories after backup Anton Forsberg went down with an injury during a pre-game skate on Dec. 14. The 22-year-old Merilainen was called up from the American Hockey League's Belleville Senators on Dec. 15.

KEY MOMENT

Boeser knotted the score at 4-4 with four minutes and 50 seconds left in the game when he blasted a Pius Suter rebound in past Merilainen from the side of the net. It was the right-winger's second goal of the game and his 10th of the season.

KEY STAT

Hughes now has 40 points on the season (eight goals, 32 assists). He is the seventh defenceman in NHL history to hit the mark in 33 or fewer games in multiple seasons, joining Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, Brian Leetch, Randy Carlyle and Steve Duchesne.

UP NEXT

Senators: Close out a back-to-back set against the Oilers in Edmonton on Sunday.

Canucks: Host the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2024.