Penguins edge Senators in shootout, move into 2nd in Metropolitan

OTTAWA -- Rickard Rakell had two goals and an assist for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-3 shootout win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel scored in the shootout for Pittsburgh.

Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for the Penguins (36-20-16), who had lost two in a row and are 2-2-1 in their past five games. Stuart Skinner made 26 saves.

“We had a fantastic second period, I think that’s when we controlled the game the most,” Karlsson said. “Unfortunate we couldn’t come away with a bigger lead, or a lead at all, I could say. … But I think today, everybody stepped up, everybody chipped the small way, which in the end got us two points.”

Pittsburgh moved into second place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“It was a lot of emotions this game,” Rakell said. “It was a really tight game from the start of it. And I thought it was a real battle out there, great effort from everybody throughout the lineup.”

Sidney Crosby left early in the second period for the Penguins and did not return. Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said Crosby suffered a lower-body injury but did not have any further update.

Crosby had previously gone down the tunnel following his last shift of the first period after appearing to get his left leg tangled up. He had one shot on goal in 6:39 of ice time.

The 38-year-old Penguins captain missed 11 games with a lower-body injury sustained during the second period of Team Canada’s 4-3 overtime win against Team Czechia in the quarterfinals at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 18. He did not play in the semifinals and a 2-1 overtime loss to Team USA in the gold medal game on Feb 22.

“When Sid leaves the game, obviously, we have two options,” Karlsson said. “We can hang our heads and admit defeat, or everybody can just say to themselves that I’m going to do my absolute best every time I get out there. And I think we did that today, not only myself, but everybody really chipped in.”

Drake Batherson scored twice, and Tim Stutzle had two assists for the Senators (38-24-10), who had won four straight and are 15-3-3 in 21 games since Jan 25.

Ottawa fell one point behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Linus Ullmark made 35 saves.

“Right now, we obviously want to get two,” Batherson said. “But we’ll take the point and we got another big one against Tampa on Saturday.”

Batherson scored on the power play to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 4:28 of the first period, finishing a cross-crease pass from Brady Tkachuk.

With the secondary assist, Stutzle became the youngest player in Senators history to reach 400 points.

Rakell tied it 1-1 at 13:46. After a clearing attempt by Tyler Kleven was kept in at the blue line by Karlsson, he found Rakell in the high slot, where he beat Ullmark with a snap shot left corner.

“It feels a lot worse, I guess, because it was such a tight game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We played a pretty good game.”

Cousins regained the lead for Ottawa, 2-1, at 1:50 of the second period. Off the rush, Cousins attempted to pass across to Michael Amadio, but the puck deflected off defenseman Samuel Girard and back to Cousins, who tapped it in on the backhand.

Karlsson tied it 2-2 at 3:45, connecting again with Rakell for a goal from the left face-off circle.

Rakell’s power-play goal gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead at 1:43 of the third period, their first of the night. Karlsson fed Rakell at the left dot during a 5-on-3 for his third goal in his past two games.

“We’re trying to have more fun with it, even though it’s a lot on the line,” Rakell said. “You just got to be patient when you take shots; it’s a 1-on-1 when you score.”

Batherson’s second goal of the game tied it 3-3 at 3:58 after collecting a netfront rebound from a Stutzle shot following the face-off. The Penguins challenged for goaltender interference, but the call on the ice was upheld following video review.

“I saw (Claude Giroux) was in the blue paint, there’s contact there,” Muse said. “I felt like it affected Stu’s ability to play it with the way that he spins, he gets his stick, that impacts the goalie’s ability to make the save.”

Both sides made multiple big saves in overtime, including Ullmark robbing Tommy Novak on the breakaway with under 20 seconds to go.

“I think Linus got us that point tonight,” Tkachuk said. “He played unreal tonight, made some huge saves at the right time. We got the point because of him.”

NOTES: Stutzle became the fourth German player in NHL history to reach 400 career points, joining Leon Draisaitl (1,053), Marco Sturm (487) and Jochen Hecht (463). He also became the seventh player to reach the 400-point milestone with the Senators. Stutzle required the third-fewest games among the group to hit the mark (439 games), behind only Jason Spezza (388) and Alexei Yashin (417). … Karlsson collected his 714th career assist and surpassed Daniel Alfredsson (713) for the fifth most by a Swedish player in NHL history. … Karlsson has recorded three or more points in each of his past three road games. The only defensemen with a similar streak in NHL history are Bobby Orr (4 games in 1970-71 and three in 1973-74), Kris Letang (three in 2023-24), Roman Josi (three in 2021-22), Phil Housley (three in 1992-93), Borje Salming (three in 1984-85) and Paul Coffey (three in 1983-84).