Ottawa Senators Defeat Vancouver Canucks 5-4 In Overtime For A Sixth Straight Victory

The Ottawa Senators have their sixth straight victory and third straight to begin this nine-game road trip. They won 5-4 in overtime over the Vancouver Canucks, a resilient club that wouldn't go away on Saturday night.

Jake Sanderson had one of his best games of the season, putting up three points and scoring the winning goal 13 seconds into overtime.

Shane Pinto scored twice for the Sens and now has five goals in his last five games. Not bad for a guy who was riding a 19-game winless streaknine days ago. Meanwhile, in just the third start of his career and his first in a year and a half, Leevi Merilainen got his first NHL win.

It couldn't have been easy for the Sens to voluntarily sit out the blazing hot Linus Ullmark, but in a back to back situation, the 22-year old rookie did everything you could ask of a backup, looking poised and stable.

The Sens blew leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 before finally nailing things down on in overtime. Sanderson sprinted down the left wing to support Tim Stutzle. Stutzle hit him in stride with a pass and he beat Kevin Lankinen between the legs for the win.

Claude Giroux and Josh Norris also scored for the Senators.

Michael Amadio left the game in the third period after taking an elbow to the head from 6-foot-7 Vincent Desharnais and going into the end boards awkwardly. Amadio left the game and did not return.

The Sens have now won the first three games of this nine game road trip. They're a team that's playing the right way, confident that it can win instead of praying it doesn't fall apart. They'll be in Edmonton to face the Oilers on Sunday.