The Senators defeat the Penguins in overtime to end their six-game losing streak.
The Senators, who had been winless since Jacques Martin took over as interim head coach, were led by goals and assists from Brady Tkachuk, Jakob Chychrun, Josh Norris, and Erik Brannstrom. Goalie Anton Forsberg of Ottawa made 30 saves.
For the Penguins, who had won two straight, Kris Letang got a goal and two assists. Lars Eller, Rickard Rakell, and Drew O’Connor also scored for the team.
Knezdikovic produced 21 saves. At 11:07 in the first, Chychrun scored the first goal. He collected the puck as it caromed off the end boards from the lower left circle, and he blasted a knuckler inside the near post to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead. Eller knotted the score on a power play at 14:31 of the first, squeezing a shot inside the near post from the bottom of the right circle.
Thirty seconds later, Norris gave the Senators their lead back. Norris swatted the puck out of the air after Tkachuk centered it from deep to make it 2-1.Tkachuk extended Ottawa’s lead to 3-1 at 2:10 of the second period with a back-door deflection off a pass from Claude Giroux close to the right post.
At 4:59 of the second, Pittsburgh pulled back within a goal. Rakell deflected a puck that Sidney Crosby had shot from the right dot past Forsberg’s blocker to make it 3-2.
At 7:30 of the second, Brannstrom moved it up to 4-2. He and Tkachuk engaged in a two-on-one rush, with Erik Karlsson of the Penguins pursuing hard. Tkachuk’s assist to Brannstrom was converted for a goal that eluded Pittsburgh’s offside challenge. At 1:51 of the third, O’Connor deflected in a Marcus Pettersson shot to make it 4-3. Letang’s far-side shot from the right point with 2:26 remaining in regulation tied the score.