Ottawa Senators Take Control Of Series With Dominating Effort In 6-1 Win Over The Montreal Canadiens
It was a message game, and a game that Ottawa really stepped up and answered the call shift after shift as the Canadiens lost their cool and forgot about the game at hand. Ottawa dominated the game mostly from start to finish, and Montreal has a big job ahead of them to regroup after this game if they want to get back into the series.
May 5, 2013; Ottawa, ON, CAN; Ottawa Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson (11) scores on Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) in the first period in game three of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at Scotiabank Place. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
The game started with a flurry of bodies flying and pressure from the Senators in the Montreal zone. Ottawa got a 5 on 3 advantage and they finally made a power play count. Sergei Gonchar fed a pass to Daniel Alfredsson who picked the puck out of his skates and jammed it past a diving Carey Price to give the Senators the lead just before the six minute mark. Then the game started to get chippy, and both teams started taking penalties as the referees struggled to get control. A roughing penalty to Chris Neil on Brendan Gallagher proved costly as Rene Bourque‘s rather weak shot from the slot went under Craig Anderson‘s toe pad and trickled across the goal line. The goal evened the score with 5:26 left in the period. That was how it ended as Montreal outshot Ottawa 12-11.
Ottawa got on the board early in the second as Jean-Gabriel Pageau broke in and wristed a shot past Price. On the play, P.K. Subban took a hack at Pageau’s stick and Subban’s stick bounced up and hit Pageau in the face, knocking out one of his teeth and drawing a penalty. Ottawa had some quality chances, but couldn’t double the lead. Each team took another penalty in the period, but there was no more scoring.
Ottawa got the much needed two goal lead before the two minute mark of the second as Pageau scored again, taking a pass from Chris Neil and putting a shot off the far post and in from near the faceoff dot, through the screen of defenseman Jarred Tinordi. After a period of 4 on 4 play that had Montreal get some momentum, Ottawa broke in 3 on 1 and after Karlsson missed the cross-ice pass, Alfredsson dug the puck out to Turris who shot it past Price to give the Senators a 4-1 lead. Off the ensuing faceoff, Ryan White gave a viscious two hander to Zack Smith, that triggered an old fashioned line brawl. Ottawa had the upper hand in all 5 tilts, and ended up with the power play. Off the ensuing faceoff, Milan Michalek found the loose puck and fed it across to Jakob Silfverberg who picked the puck out of his skates and put it past Price for the second Ottawa goal in an 8 second span, that seemed like 20 minutes. Subban and Turris “scrapped”, with Subban getting the extra minor for slashing and a 10 minute misconduct. Prust took a roughing penalty and Ottawa had a 5 on 3, with only 10 players available so the line changes were not very difficult. After another Prust cheap shot to Conacher’s head, Gallagher then sucker-punched the Ottawa rookie and the two shortest players on the ice squared off. On yet another power play, Pageau scored his third of the game taking a pass from Erik Condra and firing a wrist shot from the slot that beat Price to make it 6-1.
OBSERVATIONS
- Ottawa played with 5 defensemen for a majority of the game as Patrick Wiercioch left the game after playing just 1:47. He has a lower body injury and his status for Tuesday is unknown
- This game could be the turning point in the series, as the Senators asserted themselves physically as well as capitalizing on their chances.
- If this was a message game, then the Message was sent. Ottawa will not be pushed around, and it will be interesting to see if Montreal has any push back.
- The Senators have the Canadiens off their game as they seem more focused on Paul MacLean and his mindgames than on the series. The timeout Ottawa called in the dying seconds is just an example of that, and the frustration on the faces of Therrien and the Habs was very telling.
- There were 234 penalty minutes assesed in the game, 127 to Montreal and 107 to Ottawa.
SENSHOT’S PLAYER OF THE GAME
With the game still in doubt, Pageau scored two goals and was the difference maker. Then he added his third goal for the hat trick in the third with the game out of reach.
UP NEXT
Tuesday night, you don’t wanna miss the game as puck drop is at 7:00 at Scotiabank Place. We will see what each team is made of.