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 However, rather than fire a shot, he chose to make a drop pass to
defenseman Erik Karlsson.
"I was thinking about shooting it," said Zibanejad, who then had a
second thought when he saw the lane to the net close. "I see Karl,
and I hear him, so the best option for me was to just fake the shot
and drop it to him. It worked out. We won the game."
Karlsson's snap shot eluded Canucks goalie Eddie Lack at 1:21 of the
extra session, giving the Senators a 4-3 decision on a night when
they trailed 3-0 midway through the second period.
Zibanejad had the first two-goal game of his career, and he added
two assists to continue a tear that has seen him score four times in
the past three games and five times in the past seven. Center David
Legwand had the other Ottawa goal, while winger Bobby Ryan chipped
in with three assists.
Wingers Radim Vrbata and Brad Richardson and defenseman Kevin Bieksa
scored for the Canucks (18-8-2).
The Senators (11-11-5) put a season-high 45 shots on net, and Ottawa
goalie Craig Anderson made 30 saves for the win. Ottawa grabbed
momentum with seven power-play chances, including four during the
second period, when they scored three goals in a span of eight
minutes and five seconds.
 "We were playing our game, getting pucks deep and putting pressure
on their 'D', all the things that have been making us successful in
the first part of the season," Bieksa said. "Then the second, it all
started with the penalties, myself included. Too many guys in the
box. You can't give a team that much power-play time and that much
momentum. They took the game over there."
During their slump, the Senators either led or were tied in the
third period of all five games.
Karlsson seemed to determine to change that trend with a focus on
attack. He fired a total of 23 shots toward the Vancouver net, with
eight hitting the target and the rest either blocked or going wide.
"We created a lot of good scoring chances which we just didn't score
on," said Karlsson, who has seven goals on the season. "By the end,
we deserved to get the two points."
Richardson scored his seventh of the season, scooping up a blind
bank shot off the boards by Senators defenseman Chris Phillips and
firing a wrist shot past Anderson off the far post at 5:03 of the
second period to give the Canucks a 3-0 lead.
The Senators took over from there.
Legwand put Ottawa on the board on the power play at the 10:53 mark
of the middle period, snapping a shot over Lack following the save
of a Zibanejad shot.
Ottawa narrowed the gap to 3-2 when Zibanejad broke down the right
wing, took a shot that was stopped by Lack, then picked up his own
rebound, circled the net and banked a shot in off the skate of
Canucks defenseman Yannick Weber at the 14:12 mark.
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Zibanejad tied it himself 4:46 later, picking up a blocked shot in
the slot then sending a backhand behind Lack (41 saves).
"We gave chances up, obviously, but we did a good job eliminating
second and third opportunities," Ryan said. "We knew (Anderson) was
going to shut the door and give us a chance to come back."
The Canucks jumped out to a first-period lead on goals 65 seconds
apart by Vrbata and Bieska. Breaking down the left wing on an
odd-man rush with Karlsson caught up ice, Vrbata went in deep and
held on to the puck for seconds before putting a smooth deke on
Anderson and tucking it in the net for his 12th of the season.
"We didn't have it in control, not even in the first period," said
Canucks coach Willie Desjardins, whose team has lost two in a row
for only the second time this season. "They had lots of chances. Our
chances went in, but they had lots of chances."
NOTES: Senators D Marc Methot sat out the game with some discomfort
related to the back/hip injury that forced him to miss the first 24
games of the season. Methot, who played the previous two games,
participated in warmups Sunday before experiencing the problem. ...
Canucks backup G Eddie Lack was playing for the second time in
consecutive nights. Lack relieved G Ryan Miller in Toronto on
Saturday and stopped all 13 shots he faced in 34:02 of action. ...
Canucks C Shawn Matthias missed the game with a suspected concussion
after taking a hit from Leafs D Stephane Robidas Saturday. ...
Senators LW Milan Michalek missed the game with an upper-body injury
sustained Saturday in Pittsburgh. The underachieving Michalek, who
lost the puck on the Penguins' game-winning goal, celebrated his
30th birthday Sunday. ... Senators LW Mark Stone was back in the
lineup after missing one game with a bruised foot.
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