Sens avoid season sweep, beat Habs 5-2

If the Sens needed to win one game down the stretch, it was probably this one, given that Montreal still had an outside chance of catching the Sens in the standings. This win all but seals it. Shane Pinto had a pair of goals, Michael Amadio had two assists, and Ridly Greig had one of each, as the Sens cruised to a 5-2 victory. They limited the Habs to just 22 shots, and Linus Ullmark made 20 saves to preserve the win.

The game started about as well as it could for the Sens. On the opening shift, the Sens got in hard on the forecheck. Artem Zub held the line, and the Sens' best line of late went to work. Michael Amadio and Ridly Greig got touches, and Shane Pinto put in the opening goal past Sam Montembeault.

Not long after, Montembeault couldn't handle a Nikolas Matinpalo point show, and Dylan Cozens put in the rebound for his first goal in 11 games.

We also saw that Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson share a single brain cell, and that cell was hyperfocused on Tim Stützle, so they kept running him. That focus earned the Sens the game's first powerplay. The rest of the first kind of went without incident. I did notice that Hayden Hodgson was in this game, earning his first callup of the season. I was so unfamiliar with him I first wondered if Cody Hodgson had signed a PTO. Also, near the end of the period, Josh Anderson nearly got a breakaway but Nick Jensen put on the jets and pushed him off the puck. It seemed like a good sign that Jensen is recovering from whatever had been plaguing him. The Sens outshot the Habs 14–5 in the first and looked like a much, much better team.

The second period opened the same as the first, this time with Ridly Greig as the goal scorer off the Sens' best line's shift.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite continue in that vein. First, Christian Dvorak got in on a partial break and scored a goal. Then the Canadiens got back to back powerplays, and Linus Ullmark started to be called upon to make some noteworthy saves. The Sens were better on the second PK, and then got some great good luck, with Drake Batherson's deflection going in off the skate of Alex Newhook.

Of course that wouldn't be it for the period, with Nick Suzuki getting the next goal. Then Hodgson made sure we knew he was in the lineup, getting into a spirited fight with Michael Pezzetta (in which I'd say Hodgson was definitely the winner). A late powerplay got the Sens nothing, so they maintained the two-goal lead entering the third.

As seems to happen a lot these days, after a raucous second period, the third period was rather quiet. The Sens just shut things down, only allowing 4 shots against, though they only took 9 of their own. Patrik Laine took the period's lone penalty, just 2 minutes in. Honestly, it was quite impressive to see the Sens shut it down and preserve the lead without taking a single penalty. The Habs pulled their goalie with 4 minutes left, but didn't get much going. Then a Zub dump-out got in behind the Montreal defence for Shane Pinto to race into and score into the empty net. I'm not sure if Mike Matheson was gassed or just had no idea Pinto was so close, but he didn't try to slow him down until it was way too late. That put the cherry on a comfortable 5-2 in. The Sens need a single point in their last 3 games (or the Habs need to drop a point in their last 3 games) to lock up the top wild card spot. Next game is Sunday against the Flyers, and I imagine a few players will be rested with next to nothing left to play for.

Game Thoughts:

• Shout out to the Pinto–Greig–Amadio line, who have been the Sens' most consistent line recently. They generated three goals tonight, and have added offence to their arsenal while remaining defensively responsible. I'm sad to say that probably Zetterlund or Perron get moved to the fourth line once Tkachuk's back because I doubt Green breaks that third-line trio up.
• As a bald man, I want to tell Brendan Gallagher, at some point you need to accept that the bald spot is as big as the non-bald spot and you should maybe stop pretending.
• I thought trading for Josh Anderson was a bad idea back before the Habs did it. It remains a bad idea.
• Apparently I'm thoroughly a Habs hater. I feel like I could've written 10 thoughts just chirping those two guys.
• The powerplay several times would get the puck down low to the guy in the bumper position, who would stickhandle along the goal line, then feather it in softly to the crease, where it would bounce off a Habs skate and then get cleared. This PP has too much talent for "soft puck to the net hoping for a lucky bounce". I don't like it.
• Linus Ullmark was sharp in the second when the Sens needed it. That's what you want.
• Jake Sanderson is a fluid skater and an excellent puck handler. We saw it at both ends of the rink tonight.

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