The Ottawa Senators got back on a winning note with a nice 2-1 OT win over the rival Montreal Canadiens in a fairly entertaining game that could have easily gone either way.
Special teams, which has been the bane of the Senators existence so far this season played a big role as Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his second shorthanded goal of the season (both coming against the Habs) to open the scoring. His two shorties equals the best scoring output for any player with the man advantage, matching Milan Michalek's 2 PP goals.
While that kill worked out ok, it was the next one that came back to bite them as Dale Weise (as much a nemesis to the Senators of late as Pageau is to the Habs) was back door at the right time to have a pass deflect off his shin and past Craig Anderson.
The decisive shot came after a Montreal turnover in the Ottawa end created a 3 on 1 rush and Mike Hoffman made a great pass to Kyle Turris who roofed it for his 7th of the season on the first shift of extra time. It was the first time in 5 games that a Senators game that required extra time did not have to go to the shootout.
It was certainly a goaltending duel, and Anderson (who notched his 100th win as a Senator in the game) matched Mike Condon save for save and then some as neither team had a ton of great scoring chances but both were equal to the task when called upon. Ottawa was outshot by the Habs to the tune of 37-27, and each team had a goal called back. Brendan Gallagher was ruled to have interfered with Anderson on a point shot in the second period, while a whistle blew moments before Alex Chiasson jammed home a rebound through Condon later on. Both were the correct calls and it was a fairly well officiated game save for an obvious missed call when P.K. Subban took a stick in the face early in the second period that went undetected.
Hoffman showed no signs of any rust from the lower body injury that cost him 4 games, as he was flying for most of the night re-united with Turris. Curtis Lazar also returned to a lineup that saw Mark Stone serve the first of his two game suspension.
He will serve the second game on Thursday night when the Senators will look to put forth a similar effort when they host the Winnipeg Jets. Ottawa has shown an inexplicable inability to put solid games back to back and especially at home, so what it is tough to tell what to expect when the puck drops on Thursday night.
But I guess that is why we watch the game, to see what happens.