Cole Caufield‘s second goal of the night came 3:19 into overtime, lifting the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. Caufield’s goal sent the majority of fans at Centre Videotron in Trois-Rivières, QC, satisfied. The Krafthockeyville game was played to support of the nearby community of Saint-Boniface.
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William Eklund opened the scoring for the Senators on his first shift in a Senators uniform at 1:29. Canadiens Jayden Struble tied it three minutes later after Senators Ridly Greig turned over the puck on an attempted pass.
Despite being outshot 14-4 in the opening period, Senators Dylan Cozens put Ottawa in front, depositing a rebound of Nik Matinpalo’s shot with 12 seconds remaining,
Caufield evened the score at two 12 minutes into the third. The Canadiens’ 50-goal scorer faked a look to Lane Hutson cross-crease and in one motion slid the puck past Senators netminder Samuel Ersson.
Senators Takeaways
Ersson shines
It may have been only one outing, but Samuel Ersson provided Ottawa with stellar goaltending, making 31 saves. Ersson kept his team afloat, especially during six Canadiens power plays. His point-blank stop off Kirby Dach’s one-timer with 33 seconds remaining in regulation would’ve garnered the Senators a point had it been a regular-season affair.
Analytically, the 26-year-old was among the league’s worst goalies last season, though he did finish 6-1-0 down the stretch for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Ersson told reporters assembled Friday in Ottawa that he’s focusing only on what lies ahead: “I try to have a day-to-day and game-to-game basis. I’m just trying to do my best to compete every day, every practice, every chance I get. Obviously, you’re trying to push for starts and as much games as possible. But i’m not looking that far ahead.”
Senators second-line magic
Senators head coach Travis Green said to not look too much into opening lines during the first few days of training camp. However, a pair of trios have been intact since Day One Thursday with one minor exception. Tim Stützle, who was centring a line between Andre Burakovsky and Drake Batherson, didn’t dress Monday evening. Stephen Halliday slotted in for Stützle in Trois-Rivières.
But it was the line of William Eklund/Dylan Cozens/Fabian Zetterlund which accounted for each of the Senators goals on this night.
Eklund finished a Cozens feed. While Cozens himself notched a goal driving in a rebound off a Matinpalo point shot.
The combo looked dangerous all game, gaining chemistry as it wore on. It likely didn’t hurt the newcomer Eklund, as he and Zetterlund played together in San Jose during the 2023-24 season. It was also Zetterlund’s best season of his career, where he set personal highs of 24 goals and 20 assists.
Eklund noted, “We were feeding off each other. Trying to use each other’s skills out there. Obviously, that turns into good things if you do that a lot of times.”
What to do with Hutton?
Ben Hutton arrived in Senators camp on a professional tryout. A 33-year-old veteran defenseman of almost 600 NHL games made his mark by playing a steady game, which his previous coach in Vancouver, Travis Green, has viewed on multiple occasions. Hutton was an integral part of Ottawa’s penalty kill versus Montreal, which killed off five of six penalties. The Senators were shorthanded for all but 29 seconds over the final 4:29 in regulation.
For the native of Brockville to crack the roster, a few things have to happen on the back end. One: Artem Zub, who’s not likely to open the season, requires injury reserve, plus rookie Carter Yakemchuk starts in Belleville. The play of Yakemchuk will go a long way into where Hutton possibly lands.
Powerless Play
Assistant coach Ben Sexton was handed the reins, taking over the Senators’ power play after Daniel Alfredsson left for blue pastures.
The first game under Sexton saw the unit for the most part disjointed. The Senators PP went 0 for 4 and registered only one shot on goal. But we may have to give Sexton a mulligan for this game, mainly due to missing Stützle and PP quarterback Jake Sanderson as well as Claude Giroux.
The Senators are slated to play a pair of split-squad preseason games Wednesday versus Toronto.
