OTTAWA — Occasionally, a team will play a game so pure it has everyone imagining the possibilities if they did that more often.
The Ottawa Senators had such a game on Thursday night, a smothering 4-1 victory over the prodigious Dallas Stars. The visitors mustered just 15 shots on the Senators net, few of which gave goaltender Anton Forsberg much trouble.
It was as complete a game as the Senators have played all season and certainly their best in a defensive aspect, once they had a lead.
“That was probably the game that we did the best job of checking, our play away from the puck,” said interim Senators head coach Jacques Martin, whose defensive guidance is starting to show.
The Senators got pucks in behind the Dallas defence, hounded them to create turnovers and spent precious little time in the Ottawa end of the rink.
By the time the third period rolled around, the Stars looked like a team more interested in packing their bags for Carolina (their next stop) rather than keep trying to penetrate Ottawa’s persistent presence.
Routinely, there were four or five Senators players in view when the Stars were looking to make a play. A crowd of 16,118 at the Canadian Tire Centre, with a strong mix of Dallas supporters, took it in and marveled at the spirit and energy of the home side.
So much for the notion that the Senators would have a rough start in their first game back from a three-game roadie. That was dismissed in the first period, when Ottawa opened a lead with a goal from Josh Norris.
After the morning skate, Norris hosted a large media scrum to discuss his movement to a third line, with reduced ice time, not to mention the cold stick he has been wielding for some time.
The tip-in off a Drake Batherson wrist shot ended a five-game drought for Norris. It was his 14th of the season and his first since scoring in the 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 10.
By night’s end, Norris was plus-2 and punched the clock for better than 16 minutes of ice time.
“It feels good to contribute,” Norris said. “It’s been a little frustrating this year and I just want to do my part. Just taking it one day at a time right now. Definitely a step in the right direction.”
We always have to keep in mind that Norris, a 35-goal scorer two years ago at age 22, is returning this season after major shoulder surgery.
Getting that guy back, assuming he returns, will take some time.
He looked the part Thursday, but then so did everyone on the Senators roster.
The teams traded first-period power plays, but neither scored on the man advantage.
With the clock ticking out on the period, the Senators allowed an untimely goal. A shot from the slot by Joe Pavelski that got past Forsberg with just nine seconds left to tie the game.
If that rattled the home team, it didn’t show.
It would have befuddled the “old” Sens of last fall.
Before the second period was six minutes old, Norris had scored his second of the night, breaking in alone off a Batherson pass before tucking the puck between the pads of Jake Oettinger.
Batherson, with his 23rd and 24th assists, continues to display soft hands, whether around the net or dishing the puck, like the saucer pass to Norris.
“It might have something to do with his golf game,” Norris said. “He’s got really good mitts around the green. You’ve always got to be ready out there when he has the puck. I’ve said it a lot, he’s one of my favourite linemates I’ve ever played with. Good chemistry.”
After Norris’ second of the game, the Sens were rolling. When defenceman Thomas Chabot fired a long wrist shot past the glove of Oettinger at 8:56 of the second period, it ended Oettinger’s night. The starry Stars goaltender had yielded three goals on just 11 shots when he was replaced by Scott Wedgewood.
Wedgwood was quickly called on to make a couple of big stops, including a five-hole tuck by Claude Giroux that leaked through him but was cleared before Tim Stützle could jam it home.
Wedgewood made nine consecutive saves before Ottawa got to him, too, on a power play late in the second period.
After some slick passing work in the Stars zone, Giroux found Shane Pinto in his usual bumper spot, and though he was losing his balance as he delivered, Pinto’s low shot beat Wedgewood between the pads. Pinto was falling awkwardly as he shot the puck and burst out laughing as he celebrated his fourth goal of the season. What an impact Pinto has had since returning from his half-season suspension for a gambling violation. He’s earned his elevation to a second line centre role.
“That was definitely not what I was trying to do,” Pinto said, laughing again over his less-than-elegant delivery. “Just got lucky and found the five-hole. That was definitely not my best shot.”
Just like that Dallas, arriving on a three-game losing skid, was down 4-1 after two periods.
The Stars didn’t get a sniff, held to five shots in the third period after producing four in the second and six in the first. This from a serious Stanley Cup contender.
After taking three of four points in Florida against the Lightning and Panthers, the Senators have now put up three strong games in a row against playoff teams.
A pattern? Or just coincidence, because that is what the schedule provides at a time when the Sens are finding their game?
“I think it’s just honestly, lately, it’s been the way we’ve been playing and the way we have success is being a forechecking team and using our speed and everything else takes care of itself with the skill we have,” said Chabot, who has scored in consecutive games.
“We like playing good teams and I guess that’s a positive thing for this group.”
Another good team is in the on deck circle: The Vegas Golden Knights at the CTC on Saturday.
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