It was a rough night for the Sens, who fell 4-1 to the Habs in their first game in seven days after Montreal’s Covid-19 problems caused rescheduling. The game also marked Gustavsson’s first loss in a Sens uniform after consecutive wins where he allowed only one goal.
By Zach Mulder
The scoring was opened by Phillip Danault halfway through the first period. Brendan Gallagher’s weak point shot was blocked and Danault was able to slot the loose puck into the wide open net. The Sens would fight back in the second half of the period, drawing a power play when Petry tripped Tkachuk to prevent a wide open breakaway with 47 seconds left in the frame.
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Ottawa would carry 1:13 of power play time into the start of the second period, however it would be Montreal who quickly struck. It took Paul Byron only 48 seconds to score short-handed and extend the Habs’ lead to two. The Sens would limit the second period damage to the one goal, but from that point on Montreal was clearly in the driver’s seat.
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Montreal would add two more goals in the third period. The first came from Corey Perry, who cleaned up a rebound from a very pretty Jake Evans spin shot. The second was scored by Gallagher, who took the cross slot pass from Danault and shot it into a wide open net. However the Sens would not take the loss lying down. With under two minutes to play Nikita Zaitsev would draw a tripping penalty while starting the breakout. From there it would only take Connor Brown seven seconds of power play time to rifle the puck past Jake Allen, giving the Sens their only goal of the night.
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One silver lining for the Sens is that the late goal from Brown means Ottawa is still yet to be shut out on the season. It was also the first time Gustavsson has allowed more than one goal since joining the Sens. It’s hard to place much blame on his shoulders considering the performance in front of him, with Ottawa getting out shot 38-23.
The Sens will have a chance to bounce back on Saturday when they face the Habs again at 7:00. After that it’ll be three more days off before Edmonton comes back to town for the final two games of their season series.
