Erik Karlsson rallies Senators past Coyotes in overtime thriller

Erik Karlsson is doing his best to keep the Ottawa Senators rolling.

The Senators' captain had two goals and an assist, including the winner 40 seconds into overtime, and Ottawa edged the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 on Thursday night for their fifth consecutive victory.

Karlsson tied it 2-2 when the star defenceman put in a rebound at 12:47 of the third period. He has 17 points in his past 14 games and 61 points for the season.

"We created a lot of good scoring chances," Karlsson said. "We stuck to it in overtime, it's a toss-up. You get the first break and we ended up capitalizing on it."

The Senators moved within two points of first-place Montreal in the Atlantic Division. Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for Ottawa and Mike Condon had 39 saves.

"I don't see anybody better around," Senators coach Guy Boucher said of Karlsson. "It's unbelievable. He's doing it all. This guy is just golden right now in every aspect of the game."

Brendan Perlini and Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona. Mike Smith made 28 saves.

Special teams not special for Arizona

The Coyotes power play dropped to 3 of 39 over the past 13 games after an 0-for-4 night. Arizona has lost four of five.

"Some good, some bad," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "You would like to win that game but we didn't."

The teams scored 41 seconds apart in the second period. Perlini took a pass from Tobias Rieder, with a defender on him, got a shot off from the left wing that slid under Condon's pads at 11:30 of the second period.

It was Perlini's 11th goal of the season.

Moments later, Pageau won a faceoff in the Coyotes' zone and skated toward the net, where he was in position to knock in a shot from Fredrik Claesson to tie it at 1 at 12:11 of the period.

Arizona made it 2-1 late in the second on Crouse's goal. His wraparound went over the goal line with Condon's foot unable to stop the puck in time at 17:49. Crouse has four goals on the season.

The Senators improved to 6-3-1 in the second of back-to-back games this season.

"We had to reload mentally for the third period, which we did," Boucher said. "We found away. Our players have shown a lot of character throughout the year, so nothing new."

Coyotes right wing Radim Vrbata played in his 1,000th NHL game, and was recognized on the video board during the first period. Vrbata leads Arizona in goals with 15 and assists with 33.