Senators rally to beat Predators in shootout for best start in 12 years

OTTAWA — Shane Pinto scored in the shootout to give the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 comeback victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

Drake Batherson tied the game 2-2 with 1:23 left in the third period, tipping a shot from Pinto past goaltender Matt Murray with the Senators' net empty for an extra attacker.

"I felt bad because I thought it was going in for (Pinto)," Batherson said. "But no, I think we were all pumped just to tie the game up."

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Tim Stutzle also scored in the shootout for Ottawa, and had a goal and an assist in regulation. Linus Ullmark made 16 saves for the Senators, who have won four of their first five games for the first time in 12 years.

"I thought we showed a lot of grit," said Pinto. "Last year, we probably lose that game. We just found a way. We didn't have our best tonight."

Jonathan Marchessault and Ross Colton scored for the Predators. Murray, making his Nashville debut and first NHL start since Jan. 8, 2024, stopped 18 shots.

"He's pretty much the reason why we're still in that game," Marchessault said of Murray. "In overtime, like he was unbelievable. He gave us a chance to win."

The Senators went 22 minutes and 22 seconds without a shot on goal during a stretch from the second period into the third.

"I didn't know that," Batherson said when asked about the long shot drought. "If I'd known that I'd probably have been pretty frustrated."

Colton opened the scoring at 8:50 of the first period, beating Ullmark high glove side. Marchessault made it 2-0 on a power play at 13:10, beating Ullmark five-hole for his first of the season.

Stutzle cut the deficit to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 9:29 of the second, one-timing a pass from Dylan Cozens. Ottawa had a 54-second two-man advantage later in the period but could not score.

Ullmark made a key stop on Roman Josi on a breakaway in overtime and stopped Steven Stamkos on the final shot of the shootout. He has won his first four starts of the season.

"He's confident, and when he's confident like that, it's hard to score on him," Stutzle said of Ullmark.

Andre Burakovsky made his Senators debut after missing the first four games due to injury. For Nashville, defenceman Jayden Struble made his team debut and centre Vitali Pinchuk recorded his first NHL point with an assist in his debut.

Stamkos had an assist for Nashville to extend his season-opening point streak to five games. At 36 years, 245 days, he became the eighth-oldest player in NHL history to record a season-opening point streak of at least five games.

"I feel it's been a little common in the past few games. We kind of lay off the gas a little bit and let teams back in the game," Marchessault said. "One point is good, but I mean, at the end of the year, they're pretty hard to get those points."

The Senators visit the New Jersey Devils on Monday. The Predators host the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

With files from The Canadian Press, CityNews and Ottawa Citizen