GARRIOCH: Alex DeBrincat’s second goal of the night seals 5-4 victory for Senators over Habs
Debrincat #Debrincat
Senators 5, Canadiens 4 (OT)
The Ottawa Senators made their only preseason stop at home Saturday night.
Sunday morning, several hopefuls will be packing their bags to open camp with the Senators’ American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville.
This was the last chance for some potential Senators to show they’ve got what it takes to stick around the National Hockey League and the effort was strong as Ottawa battled back to score a 5-4 overtime decision over the Montreal Canadiens in front of 15,878 at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Alex DeBrincat scored his second goal of the night 59 seconds into overtime on the power play for the win. Shane Pinto also scored twice, while Mathieu Joseph chipped in with the other for the Senators.
“It feels good. I thought we battled hard, we were down most of the game and I thought our (power play) was good and we were able to put few in to come back,” DeBrincat said. “It’s a good feeling to win a game no matter whether it’s preseason, regular season or playoffs. It’s always fun to win.”
He said he had spent too much time trying to find his teammates.
“Even in the first period, but then I decided that was enough and started shooting the puck,,” DeBrincat said.
Pinto had tied it up with a goal on a power play at 14:40 of the third period.
General manager Pierre Dorion, assistant GM’s Trent Mann and Ryan Bowness sat down with head coach D.J. Smith and the rest of the hockey operations staff after the game to cut down the Senators’ roster. There are now 30 players in camp.
The time has come to get down to workable numbers and to focus on being ready for the regular season.
The Senators made one roster move Saturday afternoon, sending defenceman Jorian Donovan, a fifth-round pick, back to the Ontario Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs.
Up front, the Senators were expected to keep 15 forwards. There’s still a decision to be made about the fourth-line centre position, with four players pushing for that spot. That group includes Dylan Gambrell, Mark Kastelic, Ridly Greig and Derick Brassard.
Greig, 20, suited up for his first preseason game Saturday after being sidelined with a shoulder injury during the IIHF world junior championship in Edmonton in August. He showed he isn’t afraid to get involved by blocking shots and doing what it takes to help the team.
Kastelic was back in the lineup against the Habs, too. He has made a hard push to convince the Senators he should be with Ottawa to start the season. He’s a smart player, he’s strong, and, even if he’s sent down, it won’t be long before he’s a full-time NHL player.
The 35-year-old Brassard is here on a free-agent tryout, given the opportunity to play on a line with Giroux and DeBrincat on Saturday. Brassard is on the bubble, but he understands his role, and he helped set up Pinto’s tying goal in the third period.
The biggest decisions to make are on defence.
The top four are pretty much locked up with Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub, Travis Hamonic and Jake Sanderson. Veteran Nick Holden will play, too, while the expectation is that Erik Brannstrom and Nikita Zaitsev are battling for playing time.
Brannstrom had a strong night Saturday and didn’t do anything to hurt his standing, while Zaitsev struggled.
Prospect Jacob Bernard-Docker didn’t get sent to Belleville, but, unless there are injuries this week, they likely won’t start the season with Ottawa.
For all the talk about the battle for spots, Smith wanted to see the players who have positions locked up step it up a notch Saturday.
“I just thought we played with so much more detail and purpose,” he said. “We tracked, we worked, we moved pucks and it was a way better hockey game, but there was also more structure to it.”
This was the first opportunity fans in Ottawa have had the chance to see newcomers Claude Girioux, DeBrincat and Sanderson. They didn’t disappoint. Giroux finished with four assists.
Mads Sogaard made the start in net and gave up three goals on 14 shots before leaving after two periods with Ottawa behind 3-2. Antoine Bibeau finished the game.
Justin Barron opened up a 4-2 lead in the third period for Montreal, but Joseph closed the gap.
Giroux had set up Pinto for a one-timer with the man-advantage that cut the Habs’ lead to 3-2 at 15:54 of the second period. Earlier, Rem Pitlick had scored for Montreal, restoring a two-goal lead after DeBrincat had pulled Ottawa within one by by snapping a shot from the faceoff circle by Habs’ goalie Cayden Primeau at 7:41.
Even though they trailed 2-0 after the first period, the Senators displayed a better effort than they had Friday in a 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Belleville, but mistakes ended up in their net.
Jake Evans scored his second of the game with 59 seconds left before intermission after Kastelic tried to knock down a puck with his glove and missed. Evans was there to fire the puck past Sogaard, who had no chance.
Only three minutes earlier, Zaitsev missed a bouncing puck near the Montreal blue-line, resulting in a 2-on-0 break. Pitlick showed good patience before throwing a pass across to Evansm who beat Sogaard glove side at 16:54.
At the end, though, the win felt good for the Senators.
“Especially the way we did it. I thought we dominated the game. Just to find a way to tie it up and win in OT is pretty cool,” Pinto said.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
Twitter: @ sungarrioch