Byfield OT Winner Survives Ottawa's Stunning Four-Goal Third-Period Comeback

Ottawa scored four unanswered goals in the third period to erase a 5-1 deficit and force overtime, then watched Quinton Byfield end it with a snap shot at 3:37 of OT to give LA a 6-5 win. The Senators clawed all the way back to 5-5 and still lost — that's the kind of night that leaves a locker room staring at the ceiling.

The first period was deceptively tidy. Tyler Kleven opened the scoring at 11:24 on a backhand, assisted by Fabian Zetterlund and Tim Stützle, and that 1-0 Ottawa lead held until Erik Haula tipped one past Samuel Ersson at 15:09 to level it. Then the second period happened, and it happened fast. Trevor Moore tipped in a Quinton Byfield feed at 6:51. Mikey Anderson blasted a slap shot past Ersson at 10:17. Joel Armia added a wrist shot unassisted just 37 seconds later at 10:54. Artemi Panarin — who would finish with a goal and an assist — snapped in his 8th of the season at 15:43 with no help needed. Ottawa was down 5-1 heading into the third, Jonas Johansson had replaced Ersson in net, and this game looked finished.

It wasn't. Dylan Cozens scored at 7:18, then Drake Batherson answered at 7:51 — two goals in 33 seconds to make it 5-3 and suddenly the building had a different feel. Cozens struck again at 12:34, this time on a poke, with Stützle and Batherson picking up assists, cutting it to 5-4. Then Shane Pinto tipped one home at 18:20 — assisted by Batherson and Cozens — to tie it at 5-5 with under two minutes left in regulation. The comeback was complete. Cozens finished with 2 goals and an assist. Batherson had a goal and 2 assists. Stützle contributed 3 assists. All three ended with 3 points. Ottawa's top end showed up when it mattered most.

And then Byfield ended it. His snap shot at 3:37 of overtime, set up by Drew Doughty and Panarin, gave LA the 6-5 final. Darcy Kuemper allowed 5 goals on 23 shots — not a performance he'll frame — but the Kings didn't need him to be perfect in OT, just good enough for one shift. The turning point, structurally, was Kleven's opening goal shifting the margin from 0 to -1 in favor of Ottawa — a lead they couldn't hold and a deficit LA turned into a five-goal cushion before Ottawa made it irrelevant. The Senators are on a five-game road trip, and this one — blowing a 4-goal lead and then nearly completing a miracle comeback — looks like the kind of loss that stings twice. LA takes the two points. Ottawa takes a very complicated flight.