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Ottawa Dropped in Shootout; Move Within One Point of Boston

March 14, 2012, 10:32 PM ET [48 Comments]
Travis Yost
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The Ottawa Senators may have stolen a road point at the always-raucous Bell Centre on Wednesday night, but Paul MacLean's team - as they were on Saturday night - has to feel a bit disappointed with their second-consecutive shootout loss.

Ottawa's 4-3 SOL to Buffalo on Saturday night wasn't anything to sour over, especially with the way the team played in every zone. The Senators were flying around the ice and seemed to be in control of the game for the majority of the night, but simply couldn't finish off a Buffalo team that refused to roll over.

Tonight's 3-2 SOL? Well, a bit lackluster on Ottawa's end. Credit Montreal for playing tough in front of the home crowd, but the Senators were a bit sloppy, and a number of Senators - starting with Jason Spezza - probably don't want to hit the replay button on tonight's tilt.

That's not to bang on Jason Spezza specifically, though. #19 did have a two-assist night and was responsible for a lot of the offensive-zone cycle that we saw from L1, but defensively(again, along with plenty of others), a step above nightmare is probably the right verbiage. The team in general looked out of sync in front of Ben Bishop positionally, and gave up far too many opportunities from high-scoring areas.

We'll give Jason Spezza a pass tonight, though. Not only is his wife expecting, but he's recently missed some skates, meaning he could be dealing with a minor injury of sorts.

As for the game itself - well, solid action on both ends for sixty-five minutes. Erik Cole and Colin Greening traded goals within twenty-seven seconds of one another in the first period, but Max Pacioretty's goal at 0:37 in the third period gave Montreal their first real shot at holding the lead.

Largely, Montreal had played tight-knit defense, and Carey Price was his usual spectacular self. But, as we've seen all year long, the twenty-one year old blue liner in Erik Karlsson was ready to deliver late in the crunch-time, beating Carey Price strong-side through traffic for the equalizer at 11:01.

For Karlsson, it was his nineteenth goal - and seventieth point - of the season. The nineteen-goal mark gave him a piece of the franchise record, locked even with Steve Duschene. One more, and he'll hold that record by himself.

Extra-time didn't provide much of anything, although Matt Gilroy did fan on what looked like a sure fire winner right outside of the crease. Carey Price was swimming in his net, but Gilroy - somehow - back-handed it wide.

In the shootout, David Desharnais was the only goal scorer, as Carey Price blanked all three of Ottawa's gunners en route to the victory. Price stopped 35 of 37 shots, and was once again the backbone for this Montreal team.

His equal in Ben Bishop played well, but still had a bit of trouble with rebound control - something I've noted here previously. Bishop stopped 25 of 27 shots, picking up the loss in the shootout.

With the extra-time loss, Ottawa's playoff percentage actually moves up a bit, as they continue to maintain that PPG pace. Still, this - along with the Buffalo game previously - was one they could've and should've had. And, they're going to seriously kick themselves if Boston continues to sputter in the divisional race. Can't leave points on the board.

Still, things continue to get interesting. Ottawa's now just one point back of Boston in the Northeast, applying the heat from below. Think this will serve as Boston's wake-up call? The Bruins are back in action tomorrow v. the Panthers.

Montreal and Ottawa again meet on Friday - this one at Scotiabank Place. Expect things to get a bit chippy, as tonight's tilt - highlighted by about four hours of trash talk between Erik Karlsson and Lars Eller - brought out the intensity on both ends.

Lastly, who says Erik Karlsson can't play in his defensive third? Check out this weirdness:



Back with more tomorrow.

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