Ottawa Senators Lose In Shootout(Again) To Montreal Canadiens
By Phil Lemay
Another game, another one goal game and another game needing extra time. Seems like the usual for the Ottawa Senators these days as this marked the seventh game out of twelve in which the Senators needed the extra period. Ottawa was playing catch up all night long and did managed to tie this one but just couldn’t ever get the lead.
Mar 13, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens center
Gabriel Dumont(37) misses a chance to score against Ottawa Senators goalie
Robin Lehner(40) as defenseman Chris Philiips (4) defends during the first period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
GAME RECAP
It was Lars Eller, who played very well tonight, that opened the scoring at the 7 minute mark. It was courtesy of Gabriel Dumont who fought off, the talk of the town (or twitter universe), Kaspars Daugavins, in order to get a shot off of Robin Lehner. To which Lars Eller was able to shot the rebound in the back of the net. Thanks to a Colby Armstrong tripping call, the Senators were able to tie this one up on a power play goal from the stick of Mika Zibanejad, his 5th goal in 10 games. The first period ended knotted up at one.
The Habs were able to take back the lead six minutes into the second period. They were rewarded from strong play from P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty during the power play. The goal was awarded to Brendan Gallagher, but it was Pacioretty that did all the work taking the shot that found its way passed Lehner that was tipped in by Gallagher just inches before it crossed the goal line. Montreal found themselves once again on the man advantage near the end of the period and added another goal, this time from P.K. Subban. Just seconds before the horn sounded to end the second period, the Sens captain, Daniel Alfredsson wired a shot passed Carrey Price that also hit the camera and bounced right out. But the 40 year old was very sure he scored having already celebrate the goal and telling his teammates it was in on time. His findings were later confirmed by the referee. The Montreal Canadiens were up by one after the second period.
In the final period of regulation the Habs goaltender allowed a weak goal on a Patrick Wiercioch to tie this one up at 3. Just like many of the Sens game this season, this one needed some extra time to award a winner. Overtime could not solve this one and we were off to yet another shootout. For everyone wondering Kaspars “Dogman” Daugavins was not given a chance to shoot as the shootout only needed 3 rounds. Here is out the shootout worked out:
- Alex Galchenyuk – GOAL
- Daniel Alfredsson – Price save
- David Desharnais – Lehner save
- Jakob Silfverberg – GOAL
- Lars Eller – GOAL
- Kyle Turris – Price save
Once again Robin Lehner has an issue with the shootout. It always seems like a forgone conclusion that if the Sens end up in a shootout with Lehner between the pipes it’s almost an automatic loss but the complete opposite with Ben Bishop, who dressed as the back-up tonight. Final was 4-3 in favor of Montreal.
OBSERVATIONS
- Even though Lehner did save a lot of pucks tonight I don’t see this as one of his strong games, he did play well enough to keep the Sens in this one though and has yet to register a regulation loss this season
- Mika Zibanejad is really starting to develop into a quality player. It seems he is getting more comfortable and better with each game, which is a great thing to see. Should be interesting to see what he will do in the future after getting his first year under his belt.
- I thought it was easily Eric Gryba’s worst game yet. He seemed flat footed for a good portion of the game, which explains both his penalties. He’s going to need to bounce back with a better game on Saturday.
SENSHOT’S PLAYER OF THE GAME
I can’t give this to any Ottawa Senator, P.K Subban and Lars Eller played far superior to any of them. They both dominated when they were on the ice, controlling the play where ever they were. Those two players alone is the reason why Montreal came out on top, Eller himself scoring the shootout winner.
NOTE
Reported by Bob McKenzie the Ottawa Senators are close to signing UFA WHL overager Troy Rutkowski to an entry-level contract. Originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 5th round, Rutkowski is a puck moving defenseman with a big shot, he is scoring at a nearly point per game pace this season for the Portland Winterhawks. Only knock on his game is his skating, my guess is the Senators are hoping their power skating coach, Marc Power can help with that aspect of his game.
With Matt Kassian coming to town I would not be surprised to see Mark Stone be sent down to work on his game and play top minutes with the Binghamton Senators. He has struggled a bit playing in Ottawa since he was recalled.
UP NEXT
The Senators will play back to back this weekend, they will first travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in an afternoon affair starting at 3 PM. Then on Sunday will come back home to host the Winnipeg Jets at 5PM.