Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a rare penalty shot game-winning goal with just over 16 seconds remaining, lifting the Senators to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Panthers.
The Senators ended their six-game losing streak, while the Panthers kept pace with the Devils (who also earned a point in a 4-3 OT loss to the Penguins). Holding one game-in-hand, Florida sits three points behind New Jersey in the race for the final Wild Card spot.
But the postgame story revolved around Erik Karlsson. The Senators captain opened up, wanting to say thanks to all who supported him and his wife, Melinda, and for allowing them to grieve in privacy after the loss of their stillborn son, Axel.
“I’m doing ok, it’s been an extremely tough time. It’s a situation that I never expected be in. I want to thank my teammates for understanding, this organization, this community, people around the league and people that we don’t even know for giving us their support and giving us our time be by ourselves to grieve,” a somber Karlsson said.
MORE: Karlsson issues statement on loss of stillborn son
“Looking back it meant a lot for us for the all the people that reached out, people that we know, people that we don’t know. It helped us get through this a little bit. It’s going to take us a very long time to get back to normal. We’re (Melinda and I) going to do everything we can stay as positive as possible. I think my wife has handled the situation better than I could’ve imagined and it’s not something that you can prepare yourself for,” Karlsson noted.
“At the end of the day we really appreciate everything everybody has done for us. And helped us out as much as they could, respecting our privacy, the way we wanted to handle things internally. For that I’m extremely grateful. To be in the position I’m in, it was a very public thing unfortunately. It’s not something we wanted to go through. At the end of the day, we appreciate everybody we know, people that we don’t know for reaching out and telling their stories and showing support.”
“I want to thank my teammates, this organization, the community, people around the league and people that we don’t even know for giving us their support…”#Sens captain Erik Karlsson speaks with the media following tonight’s victory over the Florida Panthers. pic.twitter.com/2FrQjN7afQ
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 30, 2018
The ultimate professional, Karlsson has picked up points in all three games that he’s played since returning, but finds it tough to get into the flow of things.
“It’s been hard to get the motivation. At the same time, it’s been kind of a comfort zone to get back into a routine and think of something else for awhile. At the end of the day, these guys mean a lot me. When we go through something like this everybody gets together. They really embraced me, given me everything I need in this time. For me just to get back to normalcy, everybody else behave normally, it helps me a lot. Hopefully, I can play the remainder of the season out.”
Karlsson will travel with the team to Detroit Friday with some trepidation. The Senators play an afternoon tilt with the Red Wings Saturday.
“I am going to go to Detroit tomorrow, leaving the house for the first time, see how it goes. My wife is still struggling a little bit. Overall she is doing fine physically, which is a relief. We’re going to take it day-by-day and not look to far ahead. I’m going to play in Detroit and I’m definitely going to play against Winnipeg (Monday). After that I’m going to re-evaluate if I’m going to play the last three games on the road.”