Senators 3, Canadiens 2
Adversity is supposed to build character.
The Ottawa Senators had to gut one out Wednesday night by digging deep to score a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in front of 19,657 at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Facing the Habs without four of their top nine forwards, the Senators received a solid effort from goaltender Cam Talbot along with multi-point nights from captain Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Alex DeBrincat, while centre Shane Pinto also chipped in with a goal.
Coming off a 32-save shutout and two consecutive wins, Talbot made his third straight start. He came into this game with a 6-2-1 lifetime record against the Habs, a 1.42 goals-against average and an incredible .947 save percentage.
The Habs made this one interesting with two third-period goals in a span of five minutes. Christian Dvorak scored on a delayed penalty at 13:12 to cut Ottawa’s lead to 3-2.
Kirby Dach broke the shutout bid at 8:05 of the third when he was alone in front and beat Talbot glove side. That halted Talbot’s shutout string at 117 minutes and 50 seconds.
The Senators have faced their share of injury issues this season, and losing Tim Stutzle (shoulder) along with Tyler Motte, a veteran third-liner to an upper-body injury, against Anaheim is just another in a long line of ailments.
The club is already without centre Josh Norris for an extended period along with winger Mathieu Joseph, and defencemen Artem Zub and Jacob Bernard-Docker. The depth is being put to the test and the Senators know injuries can’t be an excuse.
Since Ottawa coach D.J. Smith didn’t want to break up the line of Pinto with DeBrincat and Batherson, he moved veteran Derick Brassard into the middle of Tkachuk and Claude Giroux.
Trying to make up ground before the NHL’s holiday break gets underway Christmas Eve, Ottawa trailed the New York Rangers for the final wild-card spot in the East by nine points.
The Senators moved within two points of the Habs and the club has a 7-2-1 record in its last 10 games.
“We’re fighting to get back in the pack,” Smith said. “That was a really gutsy effort. We’ve got some guys down the middle out. I thought we got a lot of good efforts and we checked really hard.”
The Senators have now picked up points in six of their last seven games and have won three straight. It’s the first time the club has won three in a row since Oct. 20. The club also moved its record to .500 at home at 7-7-0.
“We’ve just brought our road game home,” Talbot said. “We’ve been a lot more gritty at home, we’re playing a little smarter with the puck, and maybe before we were trying to do too much and give the fans a bit of a show. Now, we’re just playing smart hockey.”
A parade to the penalty box in the second period by the Habs broke this one open and the Senators made their opponent pay by outshooting Montreal 16-3.
The Senators pulled to a 3-0 lead in a span six minutes and 30 seconds in the second. Two of those came on the power play, and it was Tkachuk who tipped a DeBrincat shot by Sam Montembeault at 8:02 to give the club a three-goal lead.
DeBrincat is on a heater, with three goals and eights points in his last five games.
Batherson’s eighth of the season came on the power play at 5:41 of the second. Only 10 seconds after the call was made, the Senators won the faceoff, Batherson went to the net and was able to knock the puck home by his own stick through his legs.
Batherson said he didn’t know it was between his legs until he saw the replay.
“We get up for these games, we know it’s going to be sold out, even though it’s about half-and-half (Senators and Habs fans),” Batherson said. “It’s still fun to play and the rivalry goes back a long way. It’s always fun to play, especially when you beat them.”
Pinto opened the scoring only 1:28 into the second. Breaking in on a 2-on-1, Pinto used Batherson as a decoy and made no mistake by firing it past Montembeault on the glove side. That was Pinto’s 10th and he’s only the second rookie to reach double digits in goals.
Locked in a scoreless tie after the first, the Senators needed Talbot to step up and he did. The club was outshot 10-5, but both teams were using their speed, playing physical and neither were able to capitalize on their power play opportunities.
The Senators didn’t record their first shot on Montembeault until there was just 7:30 left in the first. At that point, the shots were 8-1 in favour of the Habs and the Senators had done a solid job killing off a Montreal power play.
“They had a good push at the end, but we stayed with it. We just tried to stay calm, but Talbot made some big saves. I know it got a little hectic, but I’m glad we were able to get the two points,” Pinto said.
The Senators will start a three-game road trip Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesar’s Arena.
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