Josh Norris makes it a night to remember with OT winner

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The Ottawa Senators survived a third period collapse Thursday night.

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Facing the expansion Seattle Kraken for the first time in franchise history, the Senators squandered a 3-0 third period lead and then Josh Norris saved the day by scoring the winner with 2:26 left in overtime in his 100th career NHL game.

Norris one-timed a pass home on the power play for his second of the night to give the club a 4-3 victory over the Kraken in front of 11,622 at the Canadian Tire Center.

Captain Brady Tkachuk had a two-point effort while Parker Kelly also chipped in as the Senators made this a whole lot harder on themselves than it had to be.

This wasn’t one of Anton Forsberg’s better nights, but didn’t get a lot of help in the third.

“That can’t happen but we dug in and found a way to win. Like Josh said after the game, we found a way to win,” said Tkachuk. “It wasn’t pretty but we’ve just got to learn from those little things that we strayed away from.”

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Ahead by three goals going into the third, the Senators quit doing what made them successful in the first two periods and let the lead slip away. Really, this one should never have been closed.

The Kraken tied it up at 13:01 of the third when Mason Appleton beat Forsberg through the five-hole and that’s one he’d want back.

This one got interesting in the third when the Kraken struck for two quick goals to cut Ottawa’s lead to 3-2. Coach DJ Smith called a timeout after Ryan Donato scored his 12th of the season with 10:10 left in the third.

That came only 36 seconds after the Kraken’s Jared McCann got his club on the board at 19:14. He fired a shot from the slot that appeared to deflect off Artem Zub’s stick and get by Forsberg.

This was the first game at home since capacity limits in the province have been lifted and there was a good atmosphere in the building.

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Coming off a 4-1 decision over the St. Louis Blues Tuesday, the Senators wanted to set the tone for this five-game home stand with this one. The club has played well defensively in its last two games and wanted to continue that trend.

“We’re under the siege there and, as a coach, you’re always aware it wasn’t a 3-0 game.” said Smith. “The fear is, and we saw it, we laid off and started making high-risk plays thinking the game’s over and we got exactly what we deserve.

“Credit to us, we found a way to win and we’ll take that, but it’s an important learning lesson. You just keep doing what you do that you got you the 3-0 lead and you probably win 5-0.”

The club opted to go back to Forsberg after he stopped 22-of-23 in the victory over the Blues. He came into this game with a save-percentage over .909 in his last eight games and had a 5-2-1 record since the all-star break.

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The Senators did a good job frustrating the Kraken and making it difficult for them. Once Ottawa pulled out with the big lead you didn’t get any feeling the Kraken would get back in this one but that’s dangerous thinking.

With the Senators ahead 3-0, Forsberg made a strong pad stop on Colin Blackwell with Seattle on a shorthanded two-on-one with only four minutes left in the second period. Give the Kraken credit, they kept pressing.

It’s been nice to see Kelly get rewarded for his hard work. He did a good job picking up a turnover in the Seattle end, breaking through the middle of the slot and then showed poise beating Chris Driedger through the five-hole at 7:40.

Tkachuk’s 20th of the season gave the club a 2-0 lead at 5:43 of the second. It was the first time in his career that he scored in three consecutive games and he did it by beating Driedger with a backhander.

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It’s the third straight season Tkachuk has reached the 20-goal plateau.

There was a quite a turn of events in the first and the Senators held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Fifteen seconds after the Kraken had a goal called back because it was offside, the Senators got on the board. Norris scored his 21st of the season by beating Driedger with 11:28 left in the first on the glove side.

Tkachuk threw a beauty pass through the seam to Norris and he fired it home from the right circle. That was Ottawa’s first goal against a Seattle-based team since Frank Nighbor in Game 5 of the 1920 Stanley Cup final.

“Great play by Brady. He’s done that a thousand times before,” Norris told TSN after the first. “He’s such a smart player and good passer, I just knew to get open and he’d give to me. It was a good way to start off the game.”

That had to be tough for the Kraken to swallow. Mason Appleton redirected a shot by Forsberg at 8:17 of the first, but the Senators challenged right away and it was ruled Yanni Gourde was in the zone early.

The Senators will host the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday.

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Twitter: @sungarrioch