It was a repeat performance of Thursday night's game in Montreal. Ottawa was outplayed, thoroughly outshot, and managed just 15 shots on Habs goalie Dustin Tokarski while the Canadiens fired 37 on Matt O'Connor.
On the good side, Ottawa beat Tokarski on 1/3 of those 15 shots, putting up 5 on the Habs for the second time in 3 days. It was just enough as they hung on despite a number of comeback attempts that saw the Habs overcome a one goal deficit and then a two goal margin to tie it up twice. Ottawa took a 2 goal lead into the final minutes and although Max Pacioretty scored to bring Montreal within 1, they couldn't find the equalizer.
It was an eventful night for the Senators, and not all in a good way. It started with the news that both Marc Methot and Jared Cowen would sit this one out, prompting the recall of Mark Fraser from Binghamton. No real word on whether or not injury was a factor for either scratch, but it was a strange move if it was done just to rest the pair. It made for some interesting partners as Erik Karlsson played with Patrick Wiercioch, Cody Ceci with Mark Borowiecki and Chris Wideman with Fraser.
In the final tuneup for the regular season the forward lines played the left wing shuffle, as Mike Hoffman moved up to play with Kyle Turris and Mark Stone, while Milan Michalek shifted to the Mika Zibanejad - Bobby Ryan duo and Clarke MacArthur was dropped to the J.G. Pageau - Curtis Lazar line.
Speaking of MacArthur, someone should tell him to get his sights adjusted when he attempts to make a hit. Flask back to February 16th and it was MacArthur colliding with Robin Lehner that forced both out of the Ottawa lineup for significant time. In hindsight that worked out for the Senators as it was the catalyst to get Andrew Hammond in the net to begin his remarkable run. Back to Saturday night, and MacArthur on the backcheck missed his man and collided heavily with teammate Patrick Wiercioch. MacArthur didn't play another shift as he was held out of the rest of the game for "precautionary reasons" after playing less than 5 minutes of ice time.
The lineup shuffle worked out pretty well for the top line, as Turris (4A), Stone (1G, 2A) and Hoffman (1G, 1A) helped light Tokarski up, making the most of their combined 5 shots on goal. Stone has 6 points in his last 2 games, and has done it with and without Turris by his side. It didn't work so well for Ryan and Zibanejad, as their line with Michalek was held without a shot on goal, and just 3 attempts combined.
You don't usually like to point the finger at the goalie alone, and I didn't see how many of the goals against Carey Price on Thursday were really of the weak variety, if any, but Tokarski won't put this one on his personal highlight reel. Chris Neil scored the opening goal on a shot from the faceoff dot that went right through him, and Chris Wideman made it 3-1 on a clear shot from the point that just went 5 hole with no traffic in front, both goals that you would want your goalie to stop.
There was nothing Tokarski could do on Hoffman's toe-drag deke in close, and he probably couldn't see Cody Ceci's point shot through traffic that turned out to be the game winner, but when the team in front of you holds the opposition to just 15 shots and 37 attempts, you usually expect to come away with a win.
As for Ottawa's goalie, O'Connor was very good early on, and the big thing I noticed was how quick his legs were in reaction to deflections and rebounds, of which there were many. Two of Montreal's goals came by way of deflection, Dale Weise's shot from the side boards going off an Ottawa skate, and Brendan Gallagher showing great hands in batting a thigh-high pass past O'Connor at the edge of the crease to make it 3-3.
With Ottawa scoring 10 goals but just managing 37 shots in their last 2 games, you can look at it one of two ways, depending on if you are a glass half full person or one who believes the glass is half empty.
If they are playing rope-a-dope and waiting for their best chances that is a dangerous game to play, or they are getting outplayed and fortunate to catch goalies on a bad night. Somehow, I don't think that is the way the plans are drawn up in coaching meetings. However, you are going to win some you don't really deserve to win, and lose some you shouldn't over the course of the season. It could very well end up being the net difference between those two unofficial stats that determines whether a team advances to the post-season or not, so being clutch in those situations is very important as well.
So with that win, the pre-season comes to an end, mercifully. For what it is worth (and it isn't much) the Senators posted a 3-3-2 record. Now begins the long wait until Thursday's season opener in Buffalo, where the goals, saves and wins count for real.