Condon slams door on Panthers
Goalie makes early goals stand up as Ottawa now two points behind first-place Habs
The early-season trade for Mike Condon continues to pay off handsomely for the Ottawa Senators.
After the Senators built up an early 2-0 edge on goals by Erik Karlsson and Derick Brassard Saturday, the Panthers pushed back. They couldn’t, however, find any answers against Condon, who made the early goals hold up.
Condon stopped 24 shots, including a superb pad stop off Denis Malgin with 2:50 remaining, to post his second shutout in five games since joining the Senators from Pittsburgh. Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo faced 21 shots.
The Senators have moved to within two points of Atlantic Division-leading Montreal.
Playing in front of 15,149 fans, the Senators also put a winning stamp on the end of an unusually heavy stretch of home games. Since Nov. 1, they have played 12 of 17 games at Canadian Tire Centre.
It was far from a perfect game for the Senators — the power play looked disorganized, going 0-for-7 — but they got the early jump and got the big saves they needed in the final two periods.
The Senators have Condon to thank for being up by two heading into the third period.
Barely tested while the Senators controlled the opening moments of the game, Condon stopped 13 shots in the middle period. His best work came with the Panthers enjoying a 5-on-3 manpower advantage for 1:23 following yet another Ottawa too many men on the ice penalty.
During the two-man advantage, Condon made superb point-blank stops off Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad and Jaromir Jagr.
Forty seconds into the period, Condon also stopped Vincent Trocheck on a breakaway, preserving the two-goal first-period lead.
Before the Panthers pushed the pace in the latter stages of the second, the Senators had every opportunity to extend their 2-0 lead, but did nothing with their four power-play chances.
The Senators entered the game Saturday flirting with their first three-game losing streak of the season.
They lost 3-2, in overtime, to Philadelphia Thursday and dropped a 5-4 decision to Buffalo Tuesday.
The Panthers came to the arena on the heels of a 2-1 win over Detroit Thursday, their first victory for general manager/interim head coach Tom Rowe.
Rowe was also behind the bench for a 2-1 shootout loss to Detroit Tuesday, following the controversial firing of former Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant last Sunday.
The Senators took advantage of the sleepy Panthers early, getting to Luongo quickly. Karlsson got it started, sliding a shot between Luongo’s legs after taking a pass from Ryan Dzingel at the 6:46 mark.
Only 19 seconds later, Brassard padded the lead to 2-0, showcasing outstanding eye-foot-hand co-ordination to undress Luongo with a nifty deke. It was Brassard’s first goal in six games and his fourth of the season.