The last time the Penguins hit the road for a Saturday night game, they were blown out by Toronto, 7-0. Last night, on another Saturday night, and they slogged to another loss, 5-4 in overtime to Ottawa, which had lost six games in a row and was playing under interim coach Jacques Martin, the former Penguins assistant who replaced the fired D.J. Smith earlier in the week.
The Senators’ Tim Stuzle scored at 1:10 of the extra period to send the Penguins home with a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings. The Penguins’ power play sagged to a 1-for-8 performance, including a 5-on-3 for 1:38 early in the first period.
The loss disappointed Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who saw his team fire 23 shots and scored two goals against Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg in the third period.
Lars Eller, Rickard Rakell, Drew O’Connor, and Kris Letang scored for the Penguins, Letang’s goal coming at 17:34 of the third. Alex Nedeljkovic started his third straight game in goal for the Pens and made 21 saves.
The Penguins visit the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
