Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) – Faint though it may be, the Ottawa Senators
still have a pulse.
The Senators staved off elimination Wednesday with a 1-0 win over the Montreal
Canadiens in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Mike Hoffman broke a scoreless tie at 9:05 of the third period, and Craig
Anderson made 28 saves for his third career postseason shutout.
Carey Price stopped 31 shots for a Canadiens team that was bidding to sweep a
first-round series for a second straight year.
Montreal has a second chance to dispatch Ottawa at home on Friday.
The Senators were able to break through after a failed clear by the Canadiens.
Cody Ceci kept the puck in the Montreal zone and chipped it to Hoffman, who
scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Price never saw the shot because of a screen in front by Mika Zibanejad.
The second period started with a lot of offensive zone time for Ottawa.
Price made a glove save on Mark Stone — playing through a microfracture in
his wrist — and turned aside Hoffman’s bid from in close. Hoffman had a
deflection go just wide of the net late in the first period.
Ottawa’s pressure ultimately led to a power play, but Montreal killed it off.
The Senators were called for a questionable penalty on a faceoff violation
near the midpoint of the second. After registering no shots on its first two
power plays in the game, Montreal pelted Anderson with five shots, and he
stopped them all, including a blocker save on Max Pacioretty.
Montreal’s Brandon Prust had a short-handed breakaway with under five
minutes left in the second, but Anderson came up big again to keep the game
scoreless.
Game Notes
All four games in this series have been decided by a goal … The Canadiens
have lost six of their last seven Game 4s … Montreal defenseman Greg Pateryn
made his NHL playoff debut.
