Anton Forsberg made 28 saves in a 5-0 shutout win for his Senators against the Canadiens in Kanata on Saturday night.
Claude Giroux led the way on offence for the Sens with two goals and an assist.
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Emergency call-up Owen Beck played 9:48 and was minus-1 in his Habs debut. David Savard and Arber Xhekaj had a rough night on the blue line, going a combined minus-7.
Beck’s family was in attendance for the big moment.
It was a scoreless first, with the Sens outshooting the Habs 10-8. It was a fast-paced opening frame with few whistles and no penalties.
That all changed in the second period, when the Senators scored three unanswered goals, including one with the man-advantage. The first goal started with a nice flip of the puck into the neutral zone, with Alex Debrincat taking it the rest of the way for his 16th on the season.
Montreal took two penalties in quick succession, and on the second one to Kirby Dach, Ridly Greig set up Giroux back door with a slick pass for the 2-0 lead.
Giroux would add an unassisted goal less than two minutes later for his second of the night, giving Ottawa a 3-0 advantage.
The Habs didn’t come out with much fight in the third period, needing nearly 15 minutes to get their first shot of the period. They finally put some pressure on late on the power play with the goalie pulled, but Mathieu Joseph responded with a bank shot empty-netter off the boards, followed by Derick Brassard beating Sam Montembeault glove high after corralling the bouncing puck. The Sens ended up with a 5-0 victory on home ice.
Montreal plays these same Senators one more time before an extended break for All-Star weekend, and the injury-depleted Habs could use some time to get healthy. After the game, Beck was returned to the Peterborough Petes of the OHL. A brief audition for the 18-year-old, but Beck is a name we’ll be seeing more in the not-too-distant future.
Not much fiery debate about the (in)action on the ice among the Liveblog commenters tonight, but plenty of talk about the coming trade deadline. Specifically, what’s going to happen to Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak? We know which vets are on their last legs in Montreal, and which rookies they intend to build around, but those two have long-term deals in place and could be attractive trade chips. Another GM may have to make Kent Hughes an offer he can’t refuse.
3. “I just realised why there was no rough stuff tonight, both Mark Kastelic, and Austin Watson their physical players were healthy scratches.” -Ryan Katz
2. “We have 3 more days before the 10-day break. Let’s hope some of the Vets are healed by the end of that stretch .. so we can trade them at the deadline :-).” -Carin Latzel
1. “How is it in the 4 years since Markov left, they never tried to acquire a quarterback for their power play.” -Ryan Katz
