While everyone in Ottawa is excited about first-round draft pick Carter Yakemchuk, no one has been even thinking about the notion of him being ready to play in the NHL this season, let alone talking about it.
That’s all changed after his performance in Toronto on Sunday night. Yakemchuk was excellent all night at both ends of the ice, but saved his best for overtime. Yakemchuk breezed past Auston Matthews’ forecheck, dangled past Jake McCabe and beat former Senator Matt Murray for the winner.
Jan Jenik and Cole Reinhardt led Ottawa with four points apiece. Back in junior, when Sens GM Steve Staios had Jenik in Hamilton, he called him the best player in the OHL. If he wasn’t already, Jenik is now definitely on the radar for the Sens, who only have one (maybe two) forward jobs up for grabs.
As home teams typically do in the preseason, the Leafs dressed the stronger lineup but it was all Ottawa in the early going. The Sens outshot Toronto 14-1 in the first period and the Leafs were fortunate to only be down 1-0 after 20.
The Senators expanded their lead to 3-1 after 40 before things got a little crazy in the third. Toronto needed just over five minutes to grab a 4-3 lead but to their credit, the Sens came right back with two goals of their own to reclaim the lead. The advantage held up until the dying seconds when William Nylander scored to tie the game with 22 seconds left, forcing overtime.
The two clubs meet again in Ottawa on Tuesday night.
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