That lead didn't make it through the 3rd. Washington tied it at 2 and the teams finished regulation even, so Ottawa took a point it badly needed with a thin forward group. Eklund, Foegele and Burakovsky are all still on IR, and Linus Ullmark was listed out on game day after practicing Monday. The Senators didn't have the bodies to play loose, and for 40 minutes they didn't.
The shot count says the Capitals were lucky to get 2 points. The live updates had Ottawa ahead 25-16 in shots through regulation, so a Washington team that had scored 4 or more in 4 of its previous 5 spent most of the night in its own zone. It took 3 goals to win, 1 fewer than the Capitals usually needed lately, and the defense, still missing Rasmus Sandin and Vincent Desharnais, held up better than the 11 goals it allowed against Minnesota and Dallas would have suggested.
The finish came from the blue line. Cole Hutson scored in overtime, with Alex Ovechkin on the assist, and that was it. On a night when Washington's shorthanded defense was the obvious weakness for Ottawa to pick at, a defenseman ended it. Our 1 box-score search didn't turn up a line for Wilson, so we can't tell you whether the hit that hung over this game came back into it. He didn't decide the game. Hutson and Ovechkin did.
Ottawa has lost its last game but still got a point, and is 11-6-2. The Senators got the low-scoring game they wanted, held a lead into the 3rd and outshot the Capitals. They just couldn't hold on. Washington is 10-6-0 and has won 2 straight on the road, both 1-goal games with a thin blue line. Neither win was convincing, and both of them count.
