Sanderson's goal in OT gives Senators Game 4 win against Maple Leafs

OTTAWA -- Jake Sanderson scored at 17:42 of overtime, and the Ottawa Senators recovered to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

“It was awesome,” Sanderson said of the celebration with his teammates after scoring the game-winner. “Especially just ending up on the glass there and turning to them all (the fans) so excited. I feel like we’ll enjoy this for a little bit tonight, but shift our focus onto the next game pretty quick here.”

Sanderson, who also had an assist, sent a wrist shot from the left point that fluttered through traffic past the glove of Anthony Stolarz.

“I think I was coming off a long shift, so I was gathering myself and then saw it go in,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “Just a relief. I mean, what a goal, what a timely goal. I honestly can’t even really describe the feeling. It happened so fast. And to do it in front of this unbelievable fan base that’s sticking with us on this hard road ahead of us, it was a special moment.”

The Senators killed off a four-minute power play midway through overtime after forward Drake Batherson was given a double-minor for high-sticking Chris Tanev.

“I don’t know if it was a boost, but relief,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Anytime a team like Toronto gets a four-minute power play, you know you’re in one, especially with how good their power play is. A lot of credit to our penalty kill tonight. They really got the job done. Gutsy effort.”

Tim Stutzle and Shane Pinto each scored his first playoff goal, David Perron had a goal and Linus Ullmark made 31 saves for the Senators, who are the first wild card from the East.

“Really happy for him,” Green said of Ullmark. “We came out, played well, really well in the first period and, like a lot of good teams too, they pushed back and they pushed hard. And I thought Linus really showed what he’s all about tonight. It’s been a lot of talk about him in the series, a lot of doubters, even in this room, and man, he looked like a guy that has won a Vezina and [that you] can win with and the pressure was not a big deal for him and he stood very tall for us.”

John Tavares and Matthew Knies each scored his third goal of the series, William Nylander had two assists and Stolarz made 17 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are the first seed out of the Atlantic Division.

“He was solid. That last goal, he can’t see anything there,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said of Stolarz. “I mean, there were a lot of people in front of him on that shot. He made a lot of good saves for us. I thought he was comfortable, played well. I’m not concerned about Stolarz.”

The Maple Leafs lead the best-of-7 series 3-1 and will have the opportunity to move onto the second round in Toronto on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, TVAS, ESPN).

“We know what’s coming,” Tkachuk said. “We know it’s going to be the biggest, hardest game coming up in a couple of days. We’re going to expect their absolute best and we’re going to be at our best to give ourselves a chance to win.”

Stutzle gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 9:03 of the first period when he one-timed a Sanderson pass over Stolarz’s glove from the top of the right face-off circle on a power play.

“I always knew how good of a player he was going to be,” Stutzle said of Sanderson. “Obviously, it’s hard; I mean, he’s matched up against the top guys every night. And you don’t feel great every night, but I think he’s done a really good job taking care of his body. He’s a really good pro and I can look up to him in certain ways. He just gets better.”

Pinto poked the puck past Mitch Marner at the Senators’ blue line, skated in on a short-handed breakaway and put a snap shot between Stolarz’s pads to make it 2-0 at 14:11.

Tavares redirected a Nylander shot-pass to cut it to 2-1 at 19:05.

“I thought our team played extremely hard and did a lot of great things,” Berube said. “We gave up four shots in two periods. I thought we defended hard, played hard. Bounces go one way or another, I’m not too concerned about it. I thought our team was ready to go. Did a lot of good things tonight and it didn’t work out.”

Knies chipped a loose puck between Sanderson and Artem Zub, skated in on a breakaway and finished a deke over Ullmark’s blocker to tie it 2-2 at 10:12 of the second period.

“I saw that the D were kind of talking there,” Knies said. “I think they miscommunicated a little bit on who was going to go there, so I thought I’d jump and just poke it ahead of them because I thought I had more speed. Just tried to put it upstairs on [Ullmark].”

Perron gave Ottawa a 3-2 lead at 7:32 of the third period when he tapped in a pass from Zub into an open net.

“You’ve got to go through the experience a little bit,” Perron said of his team’s young core in its first-ever playoff series. “And it’s nice that we’re able to kind of start building our game. Even like, talk about ‘Timmy,’ ‘Sandy,’ all those guys, I’ve been so impressed with their commitment to wanting to win, wanting to get better on the team aspect, on the individual aspect. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Oliver Ekman-Larsson tied it 3-3 at 14:31 when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Nylander past Ullmark’s glove.

“I mean, we’ve put ourselves in a great spot here,” Knies said. “So, on to the next one. We’re going to look at what we can do better. It’s been close games, three overtimes. It’s great hockey out there. I’m sure it’s fun to watch. So, we’re just excited to get back after it and move on here.”

NOTES: The Maple Leafs are 1-12 in playoff elimination games since 2017. … Marner leads the series with seven points (one goal, six assists) in four games. … Sanderson became the fourth player in franchise history to stave off elimination with an overtime goal, joining Matt Carkner (Game 5 of 2010 Conference Quarterfinals), Mike Fisher (Game 6 of the 2004 Conference Quarterfinals) and Chris Phillips (Game 6 of 2003 Conference Finals). … Tkachuk had a game-high seven hits.