Any hopes of a late Montreal Canadiens comeback were dashed when Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk scored the first of his injury-plagued season to date. The goal closed the scoring midway through the third to make it a 5-2 final. The Canadiens failed to create anything lasting and ultimately continued quietly Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Summary of the game
During the play, Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher and Senators defenseman Nick Jensen became tangled behind the visitors’ net. Gallagher fell to the ice and the crowd clamored for a penalty, especially since the Habs had already scored two power play goals in the game, but no penalty followed… until Gallagher retaliated seconds later as the game went the other way. With a delayed penalty looming for Gallagher, Tkachuk took a pass from Tim Stutzle in the slot and made no mistake, beating Habs goalie Sam Montembeault.
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The saying goes: you have to be lucky to be good, and good to be lucky. While Montembeault had a few bright spots, he seemed to struggle against the puck most of the night, which has been a recurring theme early in his season. Overall, he looked more lucky than good in this match, and he couldn’t have been that lucky as he conceded five goals in 29 shots. Overall, he just wasn’t good enough to make up for a team that stopped defending in the second inning when Senators Jake Sanderson and Drake Batherson scored within 1:10 of each other, each left relatively untouched to do as they pleased in scoring their respective goals.
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki responded on the power play a few minutes later when he scored from the side of the net off goaltender Linus Ullmark, who made 19 saves. That was as close as they could get, though, on a night that started promisingly with Juraj Slafkovsky scoring just minutes into the match. The Senators answered right back, though, as Fabian Zetterlund scored on a shot. Montembeault probably should have scored just 24 seconds later.
Defender Artem Zub rounded out the scoring just over ten minutes later when he followed an impressive pass from Tkachuk in front of the net, giving him all the time in the world to beat the Montembeault. Another recurring theme.
It was a crucial win over a division rival for the Senators, who finished a seven-game road trip with a 4-3 record. The now-13-9-4 Sens return home to take on the New York Rangers on Thursday. Meanwhile, the 13-9-3 Canadiens host the struggling Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, who have a players meeting behind closed doors after their last match. The Habs, in particular, will do that honor ex-defender Andrei Markov before the match.
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