In Ottawa, Marcus Hogberg made 25 saves for the Senators in a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.
“That’s [Hogberg’s] best game of the year, for sure,” Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said. “Didn’t have a lot of action in the second but made big saves.”
Olli Juolevi was the lone Canucks striker.
“It’s a fine line at this time of the year between winning and losing,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “I thought we made a couple of mistakes that we’d like to have back. We talk to our team a lot about how every shift matters, especially at this time of the year. Every turnover, every puck battle matters. I thought we let our foot off the gas, defended a little slow in the second. We made a couple of soft plays on the wall and we lost the momentum for about 7-10 minutes.”
Rookie Josh Norris staked the Sens to a 1-0 lead in the first period.
After Vancouver tied it, Drake Batherson for the Senators up 2-1 just past the midway point of the middle frame.
“The second period cost us the game,” Juolevi said. “We didn’t skate well, we didn’t move the puck well.”
Brady Tkachuk assisted on both Senators goals.
“It’s been a blast, not just learning how to win, but learning how to win against a desperate team who needed these points to stay in the playoff race,” Tkachuk said. “I think our team is learning so much through this experience. It’s definitely a better atmosphere and more fun when we’re winning.”
Braden Holtby made 25 saves in the loss.
“If we’re going to have any chance of getting in the playoffs, we can’t worry about what Montreal does or any of the other teams,” Holtby said. “We need to believe that we can win every game. In the end, hopefully that’s enough. But right now, it’s moving on to the next game and figuring out how we’re going to get two points there.”
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