Ottawa Senators Score 5 Straight To Beat Montreal

After losing a crucial game against the Bruins at home, the Ottawa Senators overcame an early 2-0 deficit by scoring five unanswered goals to notch a convincing 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Andrew Hammond was strong again winning his second start against the Habs, and improving to 8-0-1 on the season.

GAME RECAP

Going into tonight’s game, Max Pacioretty had 2 goals and 4 points against the Senators in the previous three games. He added to that early by tipping home a powerplay goal (initially credited to PK Subban) at the tail-end of a double minor penalty to Alex Chiasson for high sticking Tomas Plekanec. His 32nd of the campaign stung the Senators as they had done a great job killing off the first 3:46 of the penalty.

At 8:54 of the period, a little over two minutes after Montreal’s first goal, Pacioretty would strike again for his 33rd, this one short-handed, when he took a breakaway feed from Lars Eller to score his second of the night. Give Pacioretty credit, he reads the play well in general, and especially so against the Senators. The Habs outshot Ottawa 12-8 in the first period, and the Sens didn’t even register their first shot attempt until 4:02 into the game. Suffice to say, the Senators looked sleepy, and it cost them. 

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However, fans on Team Anti-tank wouldn’t be fretting for long as the Senators rebounded strong in the second period. Erik Karlsson, who had been held pointless in the last two games, scored his 17th of the season at 2:50 of the middle frame to draw the Sens to within one. Ottawa also matched Montreal in shot attempts at 23 just 4:01 into the second period, as the Senators seemed to find their legs. While he was not bad at all in the first, Hammond seemed to improve as the game went on, making a few key saves when Ottawa needed them to keep things close.

Hammond’s efforts paid off as the Senators would tie the game at 18:21 on an Erik Condra goal, his career-high ninth of the season, off a great feed from Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The line of Pageau, Condra, and Curtis Lazar was buzzing again tonight as their smart play resulted in a lot of play in the Habs’ end of the ice. By the end of the period, the score remained tied, and the Habs had only a sligh edge in shots and shot attempts over the Senators at 19-17 and 40-38 respectively.

Things continued to go Ottawa’s way as Plekanec took a tripping penalty against Pageau just 26 seconds into the final period. While the Senators’ powerplay has struggled of late, and had earlier in this game, they connected here when a Patrick Wiercioch wrist shot was tipped home by Mark Stone for his 17th goal of the year. Suddenly, the Senators found themselves in the lead after being in a 2-0 hole after the first.

Montreal could have tied it up on another four minute powerplay after Matt Puempel high-sticked P.A. Parenteau, but the Senators were up to the task of killing off the penalty. After Bobby Ryan was booed by some Habs fans when he got up on his own strength after falling awkwardly into the boards, Karlsson struck again for his 18th goal this season at 9:43 of the third just as Puempel’s penalty expired. Montreal seemed completely out of sync for the next few shifts as the Senators often prevented them from even entering the offensive zone with possession. The notion of a Montreal comeback was put even further out of reach when Marc Methot scored his first goal in almost a calendar year at 12:36 after Chiasson put in some great work behind the Canadiens’ net to get the puck to him. When all was said and done, the Senators had scored five unanswered goals on Carey Price, which happens about as often as a blue moon.

NOTES & OBSERVATIONS

• The Hamburglar is now 8-0-1 in his nine career NHL starts and has allowed just two goals or less in every one of those games. While this run is simply unsustainable, given the position the Senators are in, namely chasing the Bruins for the final playoff spot, perhaps riding Hammond until he falters is the way to go. Not that Craig Anderson was bad at all in the two games he played, but right now the team seems to win when Hammond is between the pipes. It will be very interesting to see what coach Dave Cameron decides to do tomorrow against the Islanders.
• Mark Stone has been sensational this season, pun intentended. Nine of his 17 goals have come in the third period, and his 44 points so far is already good enough for the 4th highest point total all-time by a Senators rookie. The guys ahead of him? Alexei Yashin with 79 in 93-94, Daniel Alfredsson with 61 in 95-96, and Alexandre Daigle with 51 also in 93-94. There’s a good chance he’ll get the eight points needed to pass Daigle in the final 16 games of the season.
• With his three points tonight, Erik Karlsson passes the injured Chris Phillips‘ 288 to take second place on the all-time list of points by a Senators defenceman with 290. He also knocks Phillips out of the top ten Senators scorers of all time. Yes, Phillips was in the top ten in franchise scoring for much of the last few seasons. When you play that long, even a defensive defenceman racks up a decent number of points.
• While getting the win is great, that Pacioretty seems to get so many breakaways against the Senators is disconcerting. He’s very good, but you’d think the Sens would show a bit more awareness when he’s on the ice and at his own team’s blueline waiting for those feeds.
• Despite picking up two points, the Senators remain seven back of the Bruins as they pulled out a 3-2 shootout win against former-Senator Ben Bishop and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Go figure, Bishop hurts the Sens in multiple way by winning when he plays them and then losing to mutual opponents.
• Mark Borowiecki is one tough customer. He took a puck to the face in the third period, which resulted in him hurrying straight off the ice to get a few stictches, only to return to finish the game.
• Jared Cowen‘s return to the Senators’ lineup was, well, okay I guess? He wasn’t abysmal, but he was caught flat-footed a few times, often trying to make hits that weren’t really there to make. He played 15:56, ahead of only Borowiecki, who missed a chunk of the third with that puck to the face, among Sens defenceman. His Corsi of -6 at even strength left something to be desired, but for his first game back after sitting for eight, it wasn’t bad. Although, what does it say about Cowen’s play in general that many Senators fans will take that over some of his more memorable performances the last two seasons?

UP NEXT

The Senators head to New York for a date with the Islanders. Barring the Sens running the table and squeaking into the playoffs, it will be Ottawa’s last game at the storied Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.