Win against Habs breaks nine-game slump
Tight victory over Canadiens breaks team’s nine-game losing streak, boosts confidence
That loud sigh of relief you heard Thursday night came from the Ottawa Senators' dressing room.
The Senators made the short trek home feeling good about themselves after the club halted a nine-game winless streak (0-81) with a 3-2 victory over the Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Led by a three-point effort from rookie forward Tim Stuetzle, along with a strong 36-save effort from goaltender Matt Murray, the Senators celebrated a win this season for the first time since Jan. 15 as they wrapped up a seven-game, 14-day road trip.
Defenceman Thomas Chabot had a two-point effort with a goal and an assist while Connor Brown also chipped in with a goal on Montreal's Carey Price to start this two-game series.
Really, this was one of the club's best efforts of the year and the Senators can only hope this will serve as a boost of confidence.
Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher replied for the Habs.
“It was a very good feeling and it feels good,” said Stuetzle.
“Everybody wanted to win, it was very important and everybody played a great game. It was very good for us.”
Of course, there were some nervous final moments as the Senators had to kill off two power plays late in the game. But they were able to shut the door with help from Murray.
Then the Habs got a short-handed effort from Anderson with 1:29 left in the game to pull within a goal.
Stuetzle, 19, is the second-youngest player in franchise history to record a three-point game. Alexandre Daigle had three points on Oct. 9, 1993 against the St. Louis Blues.
“I thought we played a really good road game,” said a smiling coach D.J. Smith.
“We tried to limit the number of chances as much as we could. They had a really good push at the end but Murray held us.
“We had some really good individual efforts. I thought our defence and penalty-kill was really good.
“I'm just happy we got a win under our belts for these young guys.”
Not only was this one of the club's most complete efforts of the season, they did a good job creating chances and did a better job defensively than they had in the previous nine games.
The Senators looked like a team firing on all cylinders and they were getting the saves from Murray who spent Tuesday working with goalies coach Pierre Groulx in Edmonton.
That work looked like it did Murray some good. He was challenging the shooters more and made some key saves as the Habs tried to press to get back into this one in the third, testing Murray repeatedly.
“I came into this game wanting to get a win and get off this skid we were on,” said Murray.
“I just felt like as a team, the way these games have been going for us, it's really frustrating and it's not a lack of effort. We're trying our best every night.
“It just seemed like we were fighting against everything.
“It felt good to get off that streak and this will propel us in the right direction.”
Ahead 3-1 after 40 minutes, the Senators had put together two of the best periods of hockey they've played since the club's season-opening 5-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The club also had to kill off a five-on-three by the Habs, but Ottawa did a good job limiting the chances.
You have to give Nick Paul some credit for coming to the aid of Chabot.
Paul stepped up because he didn't like a hit Alexander Romanov made on Chabot and ended up dropping the gloves.
Sure, Paul got the extra two minutes, but it sent a message that the Senators won't be pushovers.
Making his season debut after being called up from Belleville, Erik Brannstrom made an immediate impact.
He picked up an assist on Brown's first of the year when he tipped a shot from the point past Price at 8:12 of the second to give the Senators the two-goal lead going into the third.
While the Senators surrendered the first goal for the eighth-straight game, they didn't dig the hole any deeper and that set up some heroics in the last minute of the first. The Senators struck for two goals 18 seconds apart to pull out to a 2-1 lead after being outshot 12-8 in the first.
Stuetzle's third of the season came on the power play when he took a pass and fired it by Price with only 20 seconds left.
Stuetzle also set up Chabot for his second of the season when he beat Price with a wrist shot from the top of the circle at 19:21.
Gallagher had opened the scoring when he fired a loose puck into an empty net at 10:31 of the first, but the Senators didn't let it rattle them.
They made sure the damage didn't get any worse and Murray was there to make the key stops, which should bode well for his confidence.
The Senators will host the
Habs on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., at the Canadian Tire Centre.