For the second straight game, the Senators started slowly but saved their best for last.
Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle led the way as the Ottawa Senators won their second straight game on Thursday night. The Senators came back from a 2-0 deficit in the third period to win 3-2 in a shootout over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The game will best be remembered for Claude Giroux's slapshot winner in the shootout.
Here are my three takeaways from the game.
1. Senators' resilience after slow start
After a team gives up a goal in the first 15 seconds of a game, your first instinct is that it's going to be a very long night. It was a tough game for the Senators, who were unable to crack the Blue Jackets' defences until midway through the third period.
However, despite being down 2-0 early in the third period, they didn’t give up. Anton Forsberg made several big glove saves to keep the Senators in the game – the kind of saves the Senators have been missing for the majority of the season.
The Senators took advantage of their goalie's strong play and their best players led the charge. Tim Stutzle and de facto captain Claude Giroux scored the two goals in regulation and the two goals in the shootout. The Senators have a newfound resiliency and it starts with their best players actually being their best players and on this night, Tim Stutzle and Claude Giroux were.
2. Anton Forsberg delivers
Throughout the entire season, the Senators have failed to get key saves at key times. On Thursday night, Anton Forsberg delivered. Despite the hiccup to start the game, Forsberg was steady all night, stopping 35 of 37 shots. Most importantly, after Columbus made it 2-0, Forsberg used his formidable glove hand to absolutely rob Alexandre Texier. Texier had a wide open net and would have scored if it weren’t for Forsberg's sprawling glove save.
Moments later, Forsberg made another save through traffic with that same red-hot glove hand. The Senators have been begging for any of their goalies to step up like this and keep them in close games. Forsberg came up big when he was needed and that’s all the Sens can ask for.
3. Giroux’s leading the charge
Jakob Chychrun said on Wednesday that the Senators needed more guys outside of Giroux to step up. Giroux pushed back on that narrative and stepped up again anyway on Thursday. He almost singlehandedly dragged Ottawa back into the game.
Giroux scored a goal quickly after Columbus made it 2-0 early in the third period to give Ottawa some momentum. He was a force all night, creating turnovers, making plays, and organizing the troops on the power play. He did everything in his power to get the team back into the game.
It was capped off with a memorable moment in the shootout as Giroux won the game with a slapshot. How did Giroux celebrate? He didn’t even break a smile. He just nonchalantly skated over to his celebrating teammates. Giroux kept the victory in perspective, and when he was presented with the fire helmet as player of the game in the dressing room, he immediately deferred and handed it off to Erik Brannstrom.
No matter how tough the season has been, Giroux hates to lose any game and he made sure his team didn’t on Thursday night.