ALFIE, SENATORS BLOW BY HABS
Zibanejad shines as Spezza’s replacement
Captain scores first of the season in 5-1 win; Ottawa improves to 5-1-1
No Jason Spezza. No Sergei Gonchar. No problem for the Ottawa Senators.
With the No. 1 centre and the veteran defenceman out of the lineup due to injuries, the Senators continued their torrid start, rolling to a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
The Senators (5-1-1) are now tied with the Boston Bruins atop the Eastern Conference standings, while the Canadiens (4-2-0) suffered their first defeat following four straight wins.
The Senators’ power play made the difference, breaking open a 1-1 deadlock with a pair of goals only 1:58 apart midway through the second period.
The club’s Swedish elder statesman and the new 19-year-old Swede did the damage with the man advantage. Fittingly, perhaps, that 40-year-old captain Daniel Alfredsson’s first goal of the season was followed up by the first career goal from 19-yearold Mika Zibanejad.
With Spezza out of the lineup, perhaps for an extended period, the door has opened for the Binghamton call-up to stick around in the NHL for a while.
Only 1:37 after Zibanejad’s goal, Chris Phillips put the game out of reach, scoring following an outstanding shift by the line of Chris Neil, Colin Greening and Zack Smith. That line finished off the scoring with 5:14 left, as Neil jammed the puck into the Canadiens while as much of the crowd of 19,620 left Scotiabank Place early.
Meanwhile, the Senators weathered the storm defensively without Gonchar, a late scratch due to a lower body injury. For the first time this year, Binghamton callups Patrick Wiercioch, Mark Borowiecki and Andre Benoit all played in the same game.
Of course, a hot goaltender can paint over any and all cracks, and Craig Anderson has been the NHL’s best since the lockout ended.
Anderson made 31 saves, improving his record to 4-01, while keeping his goals against average below 1.00. He should challenge San Jose’s Patrick Marleau for NHL player of the month.
The Senators also took advantage of a rare start by Canadiens backup Peter Budaj. Canadiens No. 1 goaltender Carey Price had played the previous five games.
Once again, though, the Senators took a while to warm up. For the sixth time in their first seven games, the Senators allowed the first goal.
Tomas Plekanec scored on an early Canadiens power play, resulting in the “olé, olé” chorus from the Canadiens faithful at Scotiabank Place.
The Senators tied the game when Jim O’Brien jumped on a fat rebound from Budaj. O’Brien has goals in back-toback games and three for the season. Before this year, he had only three career goals.