STOCKHOLM — Tim Stutzle ended a wild game with a wild goal that had him channelling a baseball legend.
Stutzle scored with just two seconds left on the clock in overtime,natting the puck out of the air for the winner, and the Ottawa Senators salvaged a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday in the opening game of the NHL Global Series.
“Seemed like it took forever for the puck to come down. He looked like Babe Ruth out there,” Senators forward Josh Norris said of Stutzle’s winner.
“Not really how we drew it up but sometimes that’s the way it goes," added Norris, who had a goal and an assist in the game.I thought we tightened it up in the third then Timmy scores an unreal goal to end it."
The Senators had led 4-0 early in the second period, but Detroit mounted a furious comeback and had the game tied after 40 minutes.
Brady Tkachuk had two goals for the Senator (7-7-0) while Jake Sanderson and Josh Norris also scored. Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists each. Joonas Korpisalo made 37 saves,
Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere had the goals for the Red Wings (8-5-3), who got 29 saves from James Reimer.
The start to their Sweden trip could not have gone better for the Senators as they built a 4-0 lead by the 1:18 mark of the second period. The Red Wings stormed back and tied the game 4-4 on Gostisbehere's goal with less than three minutes left in the period.
Tkachuk got the first two goals at 5:57 and 9:57 respectively. The first was a tip in from off a Batherson shot that eluded Reimer. The second came off an incredible feed from Stutzle, who sent a behind the back pass, from his knees and facing the corner boards, right to Tkachuk at the side of the goal.
Sanderson increased Ottawa's lead to 3-0 at 13:09 as his shot from the slot got just between the arm of Reimer and the post.
Norris made it 4-0 when he completed the tail end of a give-and-go with Mathieu Joseph and beat Reimer with a quick shot from the right side.
The Red Wings got one back as Raymond kept the puck on a two-on-one and beat Korpisalo under the arm at 9:39. It was their 25th shot of the game.
Detroit cut the lead to 4-2 when a point shot hit Perron in front of the net and bounced over the head of Korpisalo at 13:20.
Former Senator DeBrincat pulled the Red Wings to within 4-3 at 16:33 of the second and Gostisbehere tied the game around 40 seconds later.
The Senators recovered with a better third and outshot the Red Wings 12-5 in the period.
“I’m proud of the guys. Between (the second and third) periods, to regroup, come back out, stick with it, take care of the puck and leave with the win. It’s way easier to learn a lesson when you win the game, and we leave feeling good about it,” Senators coach DJ Smith said.
“There are still lots of things we can learn.”
NOTES
The game marked the second of four meetings between the teams this season. The Red Wings were 5-2 winners in Ottawa on Oct. 21. They will meet again in Detroit on Dec. 9 and Jan.13 … Tkachuk has five two-goal games this season to account for all 10 of his goals…Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin played his 60th NHL game Thursday, all with Detroit…Forward Zack MacEwan and defencemen Jacob Larsson and Tyler Leven were scratches for the Senators. Scratches for the Red Wings were defenceman Justin Holl, forward Austin Czarnik and netminder Ville Husso.
UP NEXT
The Senators will play their second of two games in Sweden when the face the Minnesota at 11 a.m. ET Saturday. The Red Wings will play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET to complete their two-game Sweden trip.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2023.
The Canadian Press
