SENATORS GET HIT WITH DOUBLE WHAMMY
Loss compounded by injuries to Duchene, Ryan
Just the other day, Ottawa Senators coach Guy Boucher was talking about the surprising run of good luck among his group of forwards from an injury perspective.
He should have knocked on a piece of wood as he said those words.
The Senators dropped a 5-2 decision to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, with Ottawa boy Paul Byron scoring a pair of goals, allowing them to sweep the home-and-home series in convincing fashion.
But the bigger, perhaps devastating news for the Senators, was the loss of both Matt Duchene and Bobby Ryan to injuries.
Duchene left the game in the second period, grabbing his leg as he skated off the ice. The Senators described it as a “lower body” injury.
Duchene leads the Senators in scoring, with 12 goals and 22 assists and he had netted eight goals and 14 assists in his previous 14 games.
Ryan left the game late in the first period with what was described as an “upper body” injury — possibly a concussion — following a collision with Canadiens defenceman Brett Kulak.
Asked, immediately after the game, whether there is a concern that the injuries could be long-term, Senators coach Guy Boucher said, “could be.”
As for the defeat, it was an all too familiar story for the Senators.
The Senators were determined to start faster and to not let the game get away from them, as they did in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss in Montreal.
For all that, the second period Thursday looked like déjà vu all over again.
The Canadiens dominated in the second frame, forcing the Senators’ young defence into mistake after mistake, turning a 1-1 game into a 3-1 advantage.
It was a particularly tough night for rookie defender Thomas Chabot, but he was hardly alone.
Senators goaltender Craig Anderson held the fort for the longest time, but he couldn’t do much to stop the 2-on-1 breaks that allowed the Canadiens to jump ahead.
First, it was Byron, who finished off a Phillip Danault pass for his first of the night.
Then there was an Andrew Shaw goal, which came after he was fed a cross-crease pass from Jonathan Drouin.
“Any time you lose to Montreal, it stings a little bit more,” said Colin White, who had a goal and an assist for the Senators. “We made a couple of mistakes and it cost us gain.”
White’s late second period power play goal narrowed the gap to 3-2, but the Senators had little push in the third. Brendan Gallagher made it 4-2 early in the period and Byron ice the game by scoring into an empty net with 2:32 remaining. The Canadiens outshot the Senators 19-3 in the third period.
“It’s tough to come back in this league, especially when you’re down two bodies up front and we were chasing for the whole thing period,” said Mark Stone.
The game was deadlocked 1-1 after the first, after Stone and the Canadiens’ Nicolas Deslauriers exchanged goals only 20 seconds apart.
If the opening few moments were all about Price’s outstanding work in the Canadiens net, the second half of the period was all about Anderson keeping the game tied.
Price’s highlights included stoning Magnus Paajarvi twice around the four-minute mark and making a fantastic trapper save off Brady Tkachuk.
Only seconds after the Tkachuk save, however, Stone caught the top of the net after White cleanly won a faceoff Danault.
On the ensuing shift, though, Deslauriers’ floater from the blue line sailed over Anderson’s trapper, tying the game and leaving Anderson shaking his head.
From there, Anderson owned the remainder of the first as the Canadiens picked up their pace.
He earned a few “And-ee, And-ee” chants from the crowd after making a pair of superb stops off Brendan Gallagher twice within 30 seconds.
But the fans left the rink wondering just how long the Senators could be without Duchene and Ryan.
LIVING THE LIFE
The “hockey life,” as Luke Richardson refers to his gig as a behind-the-scenes assistant coach, continues.
After spending last year with the New York Islanders, Richardson — the former Senators defenceman and former head coach of the Senators AHL’s franchise — has adjusted seamlessly into his role as Claude Julien’s assistant with the Canadiens.
“Another move this summer for (wife) Steph and I, but that’s the hockey life, we’re used to it. It’s been good. We’re really enjoying Montreal.”