Senators Survive Rough Third Period to Defeat Montreal 4-1

Shane Pinto scored his first goal of the season as the Senators won their third game in four tries.

The Ottawa Senators managed to hang on to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 on Tuesday night. In his second game since returning from a 41-game suspension, Shane Pinto scored his first goal of the season. Joonas Korpisalo made 27 saves for the win. 

It may seem odd to suggest that a team that just won 4-1 "hung on" for the victory, but that's how it was in the third period as Montreal dominated everything in the final frame, but just couldn't score. 

The first two periods were a much different story, though.

Ridly Greig and Jake Sanderson got the Senators off to a good start, both left all alone in front of Montreal’s net to score their seventh goals of the season. Greig’s goal at 7:45 was shorthanded off the faceoff. He picked up a rebound and patiently made a nice move to his backhand and slid home the first goal past a helpless Jake Allen. 

Sanderson replied 41 seconds later, alone in the high slot, ripping one in off the post. The Sens outshot Montreal 11-6 in the first.

In the second period, on a 4 on 4, the Senators made it 3-0 on a breakaway goal by Shane Pinto, his first of the season. From his own goal line, Claude Giroux saw Pinto get behind Montreal’s defence and hit him with a perfect bank pass off the boards. Pinto rolled in and beat Allen on the glove side. That was the only goal of the period, despite Montreal having four power plays in the middle frame.

Montreal came out with a hard push in the third period, forcing the Senators into a number of giveaways in their own end. During the push, Joonas Korpisalo made an amazing save on Cole Caufield and a couple of minutes later got some help from his post after a point shot trickled through his pads. 

Six minutes into the third, the Sens finally got a respite from the Montreal pressure after back to back penalties by Arber Xhekaj and Kaiden Guhle. But once that was done, the Habs were right back at it with heavy pressure and urgency. The Senators played a bend-don't-break kind of game, but were fortunate to hold their lead for as long as they did. 

With just over seven minutes to play, Montreal finally broke through with Johnathan Kovacevic scoring from the point on a puck Korpisalo never saw. All that did was break the shutout as the Senators somehow managed to stem the tide. Mathieu Joseph closing things out with an empty net goal.

The Senators have now won eight straight games (8-0-0) against the Canadiens.

Ottawa's next game is on Thursday night at home against the Boston Bruins, the team with the best points percentage in the NHL.

And Another Thing: