Anderson great but not good enough, as Pens win in OT

Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - James Neal's marker at 1:55 of overtime sent Pittsburgh past Ottawa, 2-1, at CONSOL Energy Center.

Evgeni Malkin started the play by picking up a loose puck along the left-wing boards, then dishing to Robert Bortuzzo cruising up the middle. His shot was kicked back out into the slot, where Neal gathered, outwaited a sliding Marc Methot and scored the winner from the right side.

Brian Gibbons netted a power-play tally for the Penguins, who have won three of their last four. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots for the hosts.

"We stuck with the game plan and kept getting pucks to the net. Nealer made a great play in overtime for the win," said Gibbons.

Stephane Da Costa scored for the Senators, who had cruised to a 5-0 win on home ice against the Metropolitan Division leaders back on Dec. 23.

Craig Anderson was stellar in defeat, making a season-best 46 saves.

Da Costa opened the scoring as the clock ticked under six minutes remaining in the first period, whipping a shot inside the near post from the left wing after deking several Pens defenders near the boards.

Gibbons responded on the power play just over two minutes later, deflecting a Maatta offering past Anderson.

Ottawa was under siege for wide swaths of the next 40 minutes of regulation, as Pittsburgh collected 31 shots to just 17 for the visitors. Anderson was equal to all of them, but couldn't hold out for the whole extra session.

Fleury made a highlight-reel sweeping glove stop on Sens defenseman Erik Karlsson just after the midway point of the third, which caused Pens head coach Dan Bylsma to label it "flat out the best save I've ever seen him make."

"We knew we had to come out hard after the second half of our game in Toronto, which was not up to our liking," Anderson said. "We needed to come back and have a good game, and we knew they would want to come back hard at us too after we beat them in our building."

Game Notes

Fleury leads the NHL with 30 victories ... Pens defenseman Kris Letang was a scratch for the third straight game with an undisclosed illness ... Anderson's previous season high for saves was 35, last accomplished on Jan. 30 against Tampa Bay ... Pittsburgh travels to Buffalo on Wednesday, and Ottawa heads to St. Louis on Tuesday.