In Ottawa, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Senators on Thursday night, 4-1.
Jake Allen made 22 saves to get the win.
“I’ve played behind a few good teams in the past, I’ve been very fortunate,” Allen said. “Tonight felt like I was behind one of those really good teams again. Just the way the guys supported the puck, they were in the right positions, they were patient with it, they dumped pucks in, they didn’t force any plays.”
Connor Brown spoiled the shut out bid with a late third period goal.
“I think our intensity level was rusty, more than our skills,” Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said. “You’ve got to get that compete level at 100. They’re a desperate team over there and we weren’t as desperate.”
Phillip Danaultgave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
“It’s taken some time to buy into a system that [Dominique Ducharme] has put into place,” Allen said. “I’ve been through coaching changes. It takes a couple weeks, a month. I think that things are really starting to click and guys are buying in. If we can do that consistently, we’ll have a good chance to win most nights.”
Paul Byron and Corey Perry extended the lead to 3-0 for the Habs.
Brendan Gallagher made it 4-0.
Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves in the loss.
“They’ve got guys that want to get to the net, and we’ve got to be willing to hold them off,” Smith said. “It’s the same thing offensively. If you want to score, you’ve got to get to the net. And they got to our net, but we didn’t get to theirs.”
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