This Californian rebuked the American tradition of an NFL Sunday for an NHL one. Considering that this was a game between the Ottawa Senators and Montréal Canadiens, it was a decidedly Canadian Sunday. This was the first time that these two teams have met since their feisty match-up in the first round of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was also the home opener for the Ottawa Senators, and there was a beautiful video tribute to the fans to thank them for their outpouring of support when owner Eugene Melnyk needed a liver transplant from a live donor. Last spring, Melnyk made an appeal to fans to become donors when he revealed that he would need a liver, and fans from all over Canada responded. One fan was in fact a match, and the transplant was successful for both the recipient and donor. It was noted that many fans remained on the donor list. The fans gave a standing ovation as Melnyk and his daughters walked out to personally offer words of gratitude, and Melnyk was teary-eyed as he looked around the stands. It was truly a touching moment.
In this match-up, both teams had been undefeated and were coming off Saturday night wins. Because of the back-to-back games, both teams opted to start their backups, who both happened to be rookies making their NHL debuts. Mike Condon for the Canadiens took the backup role from Dustin Tokarski. He had previously played for Princeton University and the team’s AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. Matthew O’Connor for the Senators previously played for Boston University and was called from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, only after starting goaltender Andrew Hammond had to be sidelined because of a groin injury during training camp. Although O’Connor was brought up from the minors, he had never played a single game for the team.
The game opened with both teams looking a bit sluggish, but the Canadiens were a tad stronger as they possessed the puck for the first three minutes. About six minutes in, these teams started to give fans the game they expected as thing started to take a nastier tone. There was a small scrum with Marc Methot and Brendan Gallagher doing some pushing and shoving, but no fights. Both goalies were making some great saves and not giving up any juicy rebounds. That being said, the first goal of the game came at 9:41 of the period. Tomas Plekanec got the goal with assists to Max Pacioretty and Gallagher, but the puck bounced off O’Connor’s skate as he slid to close the gap between himself and the pipe. Plekanec took a wrist shot, and it may have deflected off Erik Karlsson’s stick before fatefully deflecting off the goaltender’s skate.
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Not long after the goal, Alex Chiasson of the Senators took a holding penalty for grabbing onto Tom Gilbert’s stick. Not long after Jared Cowen hit Gallagher near the bench, things started to take a nasty turn. The Canadiens struggled to maintain possession for the first half of their power play, but they tried to set up a play during the second half until Alex Galchenyuk got a high-sticking penalty against Methot. There was 21 seconds of four-on-four before the Senators went on the power play. They started well until the game got chippy. Although Mark Stone did high-stick P.K. Subban as his stick was clearly near his opponents neck, Subban exaggerated and failed to draw the penalty. In response, Dale Weise and Kyle Turris started to go at it a bit and each received two minutes for roughing to make it four-on-four. About a minute later, Plekanec scored his second of the night on a break away. Karlsson was just a hair behind, and O’Connor just got beat by one of the Canadiens’ top scorers.
The second period got weird, but it can be partly explained by The Tim Peel Alert. Those who are familiar with Greg Wyshysnki at Yahoo’s PuckDaddy understand. It should be mentioned that Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a nice chance but could not get past Condon within the first two minutes of the second. A few minutes after that, Stone got a penalty for cross-checking Gallagher, which in all honesty was a rather weak call. It was one of those calls that could have gone either way, and the Canadiens got the power play. As opposed to their first period efforts, they looked much better and were able to maintain possession for almost the first full minute. They kept the pressure on but lost momentum in the last 30 seconds and could not capitalize.
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About four minutes later is where the officiating got wonky. Methot took a shot and Turris tried to jab it in behind Condon. Now, it did look like Turris had taken a whack at the goaltender, depending on the vantage point, and it is unclear if that may be what started the ruckus. Suddenly, Turris shoves Alexei Emelin who had rushed over at him while Subban gave Turris the face wash. Stone came over and starting hitting Subban, and Torrey Mitchell came and started wailing on Stone. Everyone started getting in each other’s face. Devante Smith-Pelly received the lone penalty for the Canadiens while both Stone and Methot received roughing penalties for the Senators. Supposedly, Methot received the extra penalty because he was tardy for the party, but it really should have been even penalties meted out to each team whether one or two per. However, despite the Canadiens being on the power play, Pageau scored a beautiful short-handed goal on a turnover with an assist to Karlsson. Although he had been denied earlier, he got this one past Condon. The Senators now trailed the Canadiens by one with over a period and a half to go.
Shortly after the Pageau goal, Zack Smith got a penalty for hooking against Gallagher, but it looked like he fell and drew the extra penalty to give his team the two-man advantage for a little less than a minute. The Canadiens were unable to take advantage, and the Senators penalty kill looked red hot.
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Then the tables turned because shortly after the Senators killed the five-on-three, Alexander Semin took a penalty for hooking on Stone to make it four-on-four for 28 seconds. When the Senators went on the power play, it seemed that they were more ineffective than the Canadiens penalty kill being very strong. The best chance for the Senators came when Curtis Lazar forced a turnover and drove down the ice, but he could not quite out-skate Jeff Petry, who really should have been called for tripping or hooking because his stick was out and Lazar went down sliding into the boards. And this happened right in front of a ref who made no call.
By the third period, both teams were moving a little slower. There was some big pressure from the Senators. Nathan Beaulieu turned it over in the Canadiens’ defensive zone to Stone and lost his stick in the process. Stone tried to take advantage and put the puck in the net, but he was blocked by Condon. The Senators continued to play hard until Mitchell scored to pull the Canadiens ahead by two goals in a score of three to one almost six minutes into the period. Andrei Markov passed to Subban who took a shot from the blue line, and it bounced off the back of Turris and towards the net. None of the Senators seemed to see the puck, and O’Connor most definitely could not keep his eye on it with all the bodies in front of him. Mitchell was right next to the net, and he was able to deflect the puck in while the rest of the Senators were still looking for it.
The Senators were a bit shook up after that goal but regrouped. With about 12 minutes left in the game, Bobby Ryan passed the puck across to Mika Zibanejad who passed it back to Methot who shot it. The puck whizzed past Condon, but it hit the crossbar. The Senators pressed hard, but things got dicey for them when Patrick Wiercioch took a penalty against Weise for holding. That seemed like a questionable call, but the Senators’ penalty kill was strong. About a minute after that incident, Smith-Pelly took a penalty for slashing Cody Ceci. It was a no-brainer call since Smith-Pelly broke his stick doing it. However, about thirty seconds later, Turris hit Plekanec in the mouth and drew a few drops of blood, but it was Stone who got the penalty. It seems that given the history between the two teams that if Stone is near the injured party, he will just automatically get the penalty. It would be four-on-four for a minute and a half with less than seven minutes in the game. The Senators were still down two goals.
The Senators spent the last half of the game playing like a team that was fighting for a comeback, and the Canadiens, who were not sitting back, were playing more like a team who felt confident of a win. With two minutes left, Mitchell took a holding penalty against Clarke MacArthur. Although the penalty was deserved, it looked more like slashing or checking for his aggressive play rather than holding. Dave Cameron pulled O’Connor for the six-on-four. The closest chance came with about a minute left when Zibanejad got it to the net. Stone may have deflected it, and and the puck went behind Condon but somehow not for a goal. Condon pushed it to his right just past the post while sprawled on the ice. It was unbelievable.
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And we should not forget that Condon is making his NHL debut. The Senators pressed on. and with 30 seconds left, Condon lost his stick behind the net. Subban gave Condon his stick and retrieved the goalie’s stick. As they trade, Stone got a shot off, but Condon blocked and covered it. It was an exciting end to this game. Despite the score of three to one, O’Connor put on an impressive NHL debut for a guy who had not even made his AHL debut. Despite the fact that the Canadiens had seven power plays throughout the game, O’Connor did not allow a singe power play goal, and everyone knows that on the penalty kill the goaltender is the last line of defense. While Condon is receiving his accolades and deservedly so, we should not ignore the impressive performance from O’Connor as well.
