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Sens Sweep Season Series Against Montreal

Posted on by Neons

The agony of another lost season ends with the Senators hosting the Canadiens tonight in their final home game. On this page, the Senators are in the midst of another stretch of very good hockey. A true tale of their season, as they either hang with the best or play worse than the worst – and there's nothing in between. With the Habs fans in attendance tonight, the Senators looked to sweep the season series at home against Montreal to end the 2023-24 season.

The game was a back-and-forth affair until the Canadiens cut the deficit short. Jake Sanderson attempted a layup on the power play at the blue line, and Claude Giroux failed to complete a diving save. Mike Matheson struck out Joonas Korpisalo to make it 1-0 Montreal.

Shortly after Matheson's shorthanded goal, Jiri Smeikal was sent off for “roughing” the Habs captain's trinket, something Brendan Gallagher had no choice but to blame in his post-game interview. There are children watching.

What we would have liked to see, however, was Suzuki heading into the box minutes later and Brady Tkachuk finding the back of the net in response. Martin St. Louis chose to go against the goal for goalie interference (for some reason?) but ultimately failed.

The score was tied 20 minutes into the game, the shot clock was tied, but the Habs took the lead in the Corsi battle. In general, we had a hockey game.

Just over a minute into the second period, Cole Caufield restored Montreal's lead with his 26th of the period. Bow.

Nearing the halfway mark of the second period, the Senators drove into the Montreal zone, where Claude Giroux found Shane Pinto in the slot. The puck barely hit Pinto's stick before it hit the back of the net and tied things up. Later, Caufield once again restored Montreal's lead to a one-goal powerplay that most goaltenders would never have saved. This did not happen in Korpisalo.

The Sens got out of the second period and allowed the All-Star to play in the third period. With just 47 seconds left in the frame, Tkachuk connected with his 37th.

With less than five minutes left in the period, a pass in the slot found its way to the feet of Jake Cichrun and into the Montreal end behind Korpisalo.

Fortunately, Thomas Chabot wasn't ready to call it a game just yet. He scored at the 1:07 mark of the third period. An incredibly eventful overtime with plenty of great opportunities on both ends of the ice was a great way to end the season for the fans at the Canadian Tire Centre. His presence against Montreal added to the entertainment.

It took a shootout to decide the winner and of course it was your Ottawa Senators 4-3 in the home finale. Drake Batherson hit the winner and Korpisalo was huge.

Game notes

  • The Ottawa Senators will play the season series against Montreal. Does it hurt the draft position? Yes. Was it cool yet? Also yes.
  • For Korpisalo, this was a game where, if they lost, all eyes would be on the goalkeeper. He stopped just 21 of the 25 batters he faced for .840, but showed big results in that shootout.
  • Brady Tkachuk scored his career-high 36th goal of the season. He was also 37th. Two games away from reaching 40.
  • Ridley Greig had a game tonight and he was all over the place. If the Senators don't have a very good player, they at least have a player who likes to show up and play *in* hotly contested games.ouch* violator.
  • Jake Sanderson had three assists in the game, and Batterson was involved in both goals.
  • Ottawa's power play was a big reason why this game wasn't a regulation win for Montreal – they were cruising at a 50% clip tonight.
  • Claude Giroud tried to clap in the clouds and, unfortunately, failed. We appreciate your dedication to the beat, Claude.
  • Personally, I liked the line of Jiri Smeikal, Parker Kelly and Boris Katchuk. They played well at even strength and hit the puck hard, disrupting Montreal's flow and making decent runs of zone pressure.

Game Stream

Heat map

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