Pinto Scores Twice as Senators Beat Avalanche in Overtime

Shane Pinto scored twice, including the winner 2:08 into overtime, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 on Friday, November 13, at Canadian Tire Centre. Pinto opened the scoring in the first period and finished the game unassisted in overtime. Ottawa led 2-0, trailed 3-2 in the third period, and tied it on Drake Batherson's goal with under four minutes left in regulation.

Ottawa's start was clean. Pinto scored his eighth goal of the season unassisted at 7:11 of the first period, and Tim Stutzle made it 2-0 at 13:13, his 10th, with assists from Fabian Zetterlund and Dylan Cozens. Colorado didn't score until the second period was nearly over, and the Senators carried the lead deep into the game.

Colorado's answer came on the power play, twice. Artturi Lehkonen scored on the power play at 18:04 of the second period, his 14th of the season, assisted by Nazem Kadri and T.J. Hughes. Gabriel Landeskog put Colorado ahead 3-2 on another power play at 10:03 of the third, his eighth, from Brock Nelson and Devon Toews. Three straight Colorado goals flipped a 2-0 game in about 22 minutes.

Batherson pulled Ottawa back at 16:04 of the third. His 10th goal of the season, a backhand assisted by Jordan Spence and Pinto, tied the game 3-3 and gave Pinto a three-point night before overtime started. It's the kind of goal that changes what overtime means: Colorado had the win in hand, and one shift gave it back.

Overtime didn't last long. Pinto scored unassisted at 2:08, his ninth goal of the season, and the Senators took a game they'd led, lost, and recovered in the space of one evening. Batherson's tying goal and Pinto's winner both came with Ottawa chasing, which is why this one reads differently from a blown lead: the Senators gave the game away and then took it back twice.

The loss is a strange one for Colorado to file. The Avalanche scored three straight goals, both of their last two on the power play, and led with under 10 minutes left in the third period. They leave Ottawa with one point instead of two, and the deciding plays were an unassisted goal in the first period and an unassisted goal in overtime, both from the same player.

The bookends tell the story of Ottawa's night. Both of Pinto's goals were unassisted, the first at 7:11 of the first period and the last at 2:08 of overtime, and the Senators scored their first two goals 6 minutes and 2 seconds apart before Colorado's power play took the middle of the game away from them. Ottawa needed a tying goal at 16:04 of the third just to reach the overtime Pinto ended, which is why his winner landed the way it did: the Senators didn't protect a lead, they recovered one that was gone.