In Ottawa, Anton Forsberg made 28 saves, and the Senators shut out the Montreal Canadiens, 5-0, on Saturday. 
Claude Giroux hit for a double in the middle frame.
“Forsberg, he was the best player,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “I don’t know what the chances are, but they had lots in the first period. They had some posts. And that’s expected, maybe [on a] back to back we’re a little flat coming out, but I thought as the game went on we got to the net a bit and we got some turnovers.”
Ottawa improved to 23-23-3.
“I don’t really see it any different,” Forsberg said of playing two nights in a row. “The players probably work harder than I do in a game a lot of times, so I would say it’s harder for them to play in back to backs than a goalie.”
Montreal dropped to 20-26-4.
“I liked all of our game, for the most part, except for maybe in the third we had some challenges getting to the net,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “… We had trouble getting in the zone and had a lack of execution. The intentions were right, but I would have liked to have seen us have more shots in the third.”
After a scoreless first period, Alex DeBrincat gave the Senators a 1-0 lead in the second period.
“I think in the second period we had a couple of [penalty kills] and we lost momentum a little bit,” Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak said. “They were opportunistic on their chances, and I think that cost us the game.”
Giroux hit for his pair to send the game to third period with the Sens up, 3-0.
“I think it was lucky, [that] would be the word,” Giroux said. “I don’t know if [Greig] tried to give it to me, but if he did, it was a great play. He’s fun to play with. He competes. He’s a very smart player and brings energy to the line, and we’re just having fun.”
Giroux’s first was off the power play.
“He’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play,” Smith said of Giroux. “I mean, he’s playing off the cycle, he’s blocking shots, he’s winning face-offs for us, penalty killing, and he’s making plays. You can’t ask for much more from a veteran player.”
In the third period, Mathieu Joseph added an empty-net goal on a shorthanded strike, and Derick Brassard scored late for the 5-0 final.
Montreal forward Owen Beck made his NHL debut after being called up from the Peterborough Pets of the Ontario Hockey League.
“It was fast,” Beck said. “I felt like my experience in preseason helped me slow the game down a little bit and not panic with the puck or anything like that. It was obviously very fast. The NHL’s the best league in the world, right? But yeah, I felt like I was ready for it and handled it pretty well.”
The Habs are skating without none injured forwards in the lineup.
“It was a whirlwind 24 hours,” Beck said. “It was super cool going to dinner with [Nick] Suzuki and the guys, like I mentioned earlier today. A lot of special things from my rookie lap to my first shift and the rest of the game and the people that were here to see me. It was a great experience. Obviously not the result we wanted, but hopefully there are lots more games to come that we’ll win.”
Sam Montembeault made 31 saves in the Montreal loss.
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