Of course it happened like that. If one thing is certain in the Habs-Sens rivalry over the last couple of years, is that you should expect the unexpected.
Andrew Hammond was great in his first career start, making 42 stops for the win, while the Senators got goals from 4 different scorers against Canadiens backup Dustin Tokarski (and an empty net to boot) to send the Sens faithful home happy.
Aside from Hammond, Mark Stone was sensational for Ottawa, scoring once for what turned out to be the game winner and setting up two others. He has progressed remarkably this season and his steady, level play provides a great foil for the flash and dash of fellow rookie Mike Hoffman.
If you read the comments section yesterday there was a lot of debate over the difference between the Senators and Habs' roster. The fact is, if you put Carey Price in the Ottawa net, regardless of how well Craig Anderson has played, the Senators would absolutely be a playoff team.
While the Senators might not have a dominant goal-scorer like Max Pacioretty and his 27 goals, the Senators have 8 players with at least 10 goals (Habs have 5) and 10 players with 20 points or more (Montreal has 8). Ottawa is doing it by committee, moreso than the Canadiens. Both teams are icing relatively young rosters, or at least the core is youthful.
Ottawa has actually scored more goals per game than Montreal, but the big factor is goals against. While Price has the best GAA and SP of all regular goalies, Anderson is significantly worse in both stats, and when Lehner is included the disparity is even larger.
Every goalie gives up bad goals, but when you compare the number of goals that you would want your goalie to stop every time, the Senators tandem simply allows too many of them, and that might even account for the 0.5 goals against per game difference between the clubs.
As you can see, Other than Save%, the teams are pretty similar. Ottawa holds an edge in 5 vs 5 Corsi, percentage of scoring chances for, a slight advantage in shooting% and have a greater percentage of offensive zone starts. Don't get me wrong, Ottawa's team save% is in the top 10, but Montreal is #1 and being 1.1% better makes a huge difference. And like I said earlier, it isn't always the numbers but when and how they go in that can take away momentum.
The stats say that Montreal really shouldn't be as good as they are, which is something that I have felt over the last couple of years, and even before that. When you look at their roster (forwards and defense at least) top to bottom they aren't as skilled or talented as the teams they are competing with on most nights. Without the benefit of Price in the net they would probably be in the same position as the Senators and the other Canadian eastern conference team right now.
I pointed out yesterday about the Habs' futility against the weaker teams in the league, and when you look at who is starting those games, it is inevitably Tokarski getting the call in most of them. He has lost to Edmonton twice, Buffalo once, Arizona once and now Ottawa twice.
If Price were to go down again, the Habs would be in big trouble. I know you could say that about a lot of contending teams, but I think that it would be magnified in the case of the Canadiens. The numbers show that Price should have a solid case for the Vezina trophy this year, and also will be in the Hart conversation for MVP. He is why the Habs are sitting where they are, and proof that a mediocre team can win with outstanding and consistent goaltending.