Cole Hutson scored after the penalty expired in overtime and the Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night at Canadian Tire Centre. Hutson also had an assist, turning a game Ottawa had led into a road win for Washington.
The result turned on a late swing that left the Senators chasing the game and then walking off with little to show for a strong start. Matt Roy scored 35 seconds into the game, Ridly Greig answered at 11:05 of the second period and Hayden Hodgson put Ottawa ahead 2-1 with under four minutes left in the second. Pierre-Luc Dubois tied it again at 12:31 of the third, and Ottawa still had a chance to finish it after the Senators outshot Washington 25-17.
That chance tightened into a difficult finish. Nick Cousins left the game with about three minutes remaining in regulation after a hit from Jakob Chychrun, and with less than a minute left Fabian Zetterlund was penalized for shooting the puck over the glass. The Senators could not protect the lead they had carried into the third period, and the overtime loss ended their two-game winning streak and dropped them to 11-6-2.
For Ottawa, the damage was not only the standings point it missed. The late injury scare around Cousins hung over a game that had already slipped from its grip, and the Senators now turn quickly to Thursday night, when they are scheduled to host the Colorado Avalanche.
