OTTAWA — Anton Forsberg made 28 saves, and the Ottawa Senators won their third straight game, 5-0 against the Montreal Canadiens at the Canadian Tire Center on Saturday.
“Forsberg, he was the best player,” Senators coach DJ Smith said. “I don’t know what the chances are, but they had lots in the first period. They had some posts. And that’s expected, maybe [on a] back to back we’re a little flat coming out, but I thought as the game went on we got to the net a bit and we got some turnovers.”
Forsberg was playing for the second straight night after making 31 saves in a 6-2 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.
“I don’t really see it any different,” Forsberg said of playing two nights in a row. “The players probably work harder than I do in a game a lot of times, so I would say it’s harder for them to play in back to backs than a goalie.”
Video: MTL@OTT: Giroux gets a lucky deflection
Claude Giroux had two goals and an assist, and Nick Holden had two assists for Ottawa (23-23-3), which plays at Montreal on Tuesday.
“He’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play,” Smith said of Giroux. “I mean, he’s playing off the cycle, he’s blocking shots, he’s winning face-offs for us, penalty killing, and he’s making plays. You can’t ask for much more from a veteran player.”
Sam Montembeault made 31 saves for Montreal (20-26-4), which has lost three straight (0-2-1).
“I liked all of our game, for the most part, except for maybe in the third we had some challenges getting to the net,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “… We had trouble getting in the zone and had a lack of execution. The intentions were right, but I would have liked to have seen us have more shots in the third.”
Video: MTL@OTT: DeBrincat scores 22 seconds into the 2nd
Alex DeBrincat gave the Senators a 1-0 lead 22 seconds into the second period when he elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 and beat Montembeault with a wrist shot blocker side.
Giroux made it 2-0 on a power play at 7:59. Ridly Greig’s centering pass made it through a maze of bodies in front of Giroux, who tapped the puck in from the edge of the crease.
“I think it was lucky, [that] would be the word,” Giroux said. “I don’t know if [Greig] tried to give it to me, but if he did, it was a great play. He’s fun to play with. He competes. He’s a very smart player and brings energy to the line, and we’re just having fun.”
Giroux increased the lead to 3-0 at 9:32 when his cross-slot pass attempt deflected in off a Montreal defenseman. Arber Xhekaj‘s skate. Giroux has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak.
“I think in the second period we had a couple of [penalty kills] and we lost momentum a little bit,” Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak said. “They were opportunistic on their chances, and I think that cost us the game.”
Video: MTL@OTT: Forsberg blocks all 28 shots faced in net
Mathieu Joseph scored short-handed into an empty net to make it 4-0 at 18:34 of the third period.
Derick Brassard then converted on a breakaway with a wrist shot to the top right corner at 19:12 for the 5-0 final.
Montreal forward Owen Beck had 9:48 of ice time in his NHL debut.
“It was fast,” Beck said. “I felt like my experience in preseason helped me slow the game down a little bit and not panic with the puck or anything like that. It was obviously very fast. The NHL’s the best league in the world, right? But yeah, I felt like I was ready for it and handled it pretty well.”
Video: MTL@OTT: Brassard tallies a goal late in the game
Beck was recalled from Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League on Friday on an emergency basis. The Canadiens currently have nine injured forwards.
“It was a whirlwind 24 hours,” Beck said. “It was super cool going to dinner with [Nick] Suzuki and the guys, like I mentioned earlier today. A lot of special things from my rookie lap to my first shift and the rest of the game and the people that were here to see me. It was a great experience. Obviously not the result we wanted, but hopefully there are lots more games to come that we’ll win.”
NOTES: It was Forsberg’s second shutout this season and third in the NHL. … Giroux has 15 multipoint games this season. It’s the most by a player in his first season with the Senators since Clarke MacArthur also had 15 in 2013-14. … Ottawa forward Tyler Motte had one shot and two hits in 12:18 of ice time in his first game back from a broken finger. He hadn’t played since Dec. 22. … The Senators have won four straight against the Canadiens. … Beck was selected in the second round (No. 33) of the 2022 NHL Draft. He is the second 18-year-old to play for the Canadiens this season (Juraj Slafkovsky). It is the first time the Canadiens have had multiple 18-year-olds play in the same season since 1984-85 (Stephane Richer, Petr Svoboda).
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