The Ottawa Senators clearly swept the Montreal Canadiens off the ice 5-0 on Saturday night at the Canadian Tire Center and thus clinched their third win in a row. The second row in particular ran around double packers Claude Giroux hot, but also goalkeeper Anton Forsberg stuck out.
“He played well,” said the German center forward Tim Stützle exclusive to NHL.com/de via Giroux. “He’s incredibly calm, does so many things right. It’s fun to learn from him. He’s a super nice guy.”
Giroux is taking over the game and aiming for the top 100
In the local derby, which the fans affectionately call “Duel for Route 417” – this highway connects Ottawa and Montreal – the second row of Senators towers over: left winger Alex DeBrincat (1-0-1), center Ridly Greig (0-1-1) and right winger Giroux (2-1-3) scored five points together. “We just have fun as a row,” said Giroux.
Video: MTL@OTT: Giroux with a nice goal
Now with 970 scoring points (313-657-970) in 312 NHL games, Giroux is the 104th top scorer in NHL history and needs just two more points to beat Shane Doan (402-570-972) and Joe Pavelski (435-537-972) There are currently four points missing for the all-time top 100. stand in front of him Phil Kessel (Vegas Golden Knights, 408-568-976, 100th), Andy Bathgate (349-624-973, 101st), Doan and Pavelski (tied 102nd).
Ottawa goalie Forsberg defused all 28 shots to celebrate his second NHL shutout of the season and third in his career.
The German center forward Stützle received next to in the 1st row Brady Tkachuk and Mathieu Joseph 19:39 minutes ice time (of which 3:46 in powerplay and 2:29 in penalty killing, four shots on goal, one block), but remained without a scorer point.
Ottawa’s strong middle third
However, the Canadiens got off to a better start, developing an optical advantage in the first third and, despite 8:10 shots on goal, booked the significantly better opportunities. Had the best of it Alex Belzile with a smash hit, but Forsberg also made some brilliant saves to be able to go into the first break 0-0.
22 seconds after the restart, Ottawa turned the game upside down: In a 2-on-1 situation, DeBrincat crossed the path with Greig in the neutral zone, then fell into the offensive zone via the right and scored the first shot on goal in the second Third into the left corner to make it 1-0 (21st).
As a result, the Senators were allowed to throw their power play rows onto the ice in quick succession. In the second attempt, the second majority formation switched on the goal lamp: Giroux used a long pass from Greig at the right post with a tip-in to make it 2-0 (28th).
Just 93 seconds later, Giroux struck again to double: his backhand pass to the back post was caught by the Montreal defender Arber Xhekaj unluckily deflected into his own goal – 3:0 (30th). Ottawa needed just six shots in the middle third for the three-goal lead.
Montreal invested heavily in an answer, but Forsberg was always the last stop.
“Forsberg was our best player,” said Senators coach DJ Smith. “I don’t even know how many chances he thwarted in the first period alone.”
Shutout for Forsberg
Anton Forsberg makes 28 saves to secure his second @pepsi shutout of the season for the @Senators third straight win. ???????? pic.twitter.com/wMtA8GnMQi
– NHL (@NHL) January 29, 2023
In the final third, the Senators skillfully managed their comfortable lead, continued to play in a controlled manner and successfully kept the Canadiens away from their own goal. The guests scored the first shot on goal in this period of play at 14:50 minutes in this round, despite an interim power play and an extra attacker on the ice. A testament to Ottawa’s strong defense and willingness to block shots.
In the final minutes, Forsberg had to sweat a lot for his shutout, because on the power play Montreal again pulled the goalkeeper for an additional striker and threw everything forward again. With 86 seconds left on the clock, Joseph eliminated the last doubts with an empty net hit (59th, sh). But that’s not all: Derick Brassard broke through again with 47 seconds left and turned his solo effort into a 6-0 final score (60th).
“He played outstandingly yesterday in Toronto and again today,” said Stützle about Forsberg. “Starting back-to-back is unusual. Then getting a shutout in the second game is obviously outstanding. It was a lot of fun to watch him today.”
Forsberg passed on the compliments directly to the people in front: “The players probably work a lot more than I do over long stretches of a game, so I would also say that they work harder than a goalkeeper, especially in back-to-back games.”
Beck makes NHL debut for Montreal
Incidentally, Owen Beck made his NHL debut for Montreal. The 18-year-old was selected by the Canadiens in the 2nd round of the 2022 NHL Draft in 33rd place overall and has spent the previous season in the Canadian junior league OHL. He started the season with the Missisauga Steelheads (30 games, 17-24-41), was traded to his hometown to the Peterborough Petes (seven games, 2-1-3) on January 7, 2023, has now received the call-up in the NHL and was traditionally allowed to do the first laps alone during the warm-up. The right-hand shooter, who is 1.80 meters tall and weighs 86 kilograms, played as a right winger in the third row next to the centre Christian Dvorak and right winger Jesse Ylonen and received 9:16 minutes ice time.
“It was fast here,” Beck said of the pace in the NHL. “I think the preseason helped me not to panic on the puck. The NHL is the best league in the world, isn’t it? I felt ready for it and handled it pretty well. It was a whirlwind for me 24 hours. A lot of very special things happened, from my rookie round to the first substitution and then the rest of the game. Hopefully there are many more games to come that we can win too.”
See you soon on Tuesday
The Canadiens (20-26-4, 8th in the Atlantic Division) conceded their third defeat in a row and after a rather mixed five home games in a row (2-2-1, 14:17 goals) they couldn’t turn their backs on the road either.
With their third win in a row, the Senators (23-23-3, 7th in the Atlantic Division) reduced the gap to a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference to eight points.
The “second leg” will take place on Tuesday evening in a “home-and-home” in Montreal.