(Montreal) Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored twice in the third period but it wasn’t enough as the Montreal Canadiens suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Center on Tuesday night.
It was a lucky Brady Tkachuk goal, scored in the third period with 78 seconds left, that made the difference.
Tkachuk attempted a shot that was deflected by defenseman David Savard, who slipped to block the puck. It changed course and slid into the net to Jake Allen’s left.
In the game, Tim Stützle collected his fourth point of the game, he, who had scored two goals, his 21ste and 22e the season.
Claude Giroux (20e) and Alex DeBrincat (17e) also hit the target. Thomas Chabot had three assists.
Kirby Dash (11e) and Mike Hoffman (9e), both on the power play, completed for the Habs.
After conceding two goals on the Senators’ first three shots, Allen made 24 saves. At the other end, Anton Forsberg, who knocked out the Habs in Ottawa on Saturday, held 28 pucks.
With the exception of Nick Suzuki, who will be flying to Florida for the All-Star Game weekend, the Canadian players will be on full furlough until February 9, the day training resumes at Brossard.
The Canadiens’ next games are Saturday, February 11 against the New York Islanders and the next day against the Edmonton Oilers.
Quickly in deficit
Unlike Saturday’s clash, the Senators didn’t wait until the start of the second period to open the scoring.
Just three minutes from time, Giroux, who was in front of the net, was hit by a shot from Nikita Zaitsev, who turned the puck behind Allen.
Less than a minute later, Stützle was able to sneak past Jordan Harris and stand alone in front of Allen, whom he hit in the upper stick with a well-aimed wrist shot.
The Canadian returned on his second power play of the first period.
After two unsuccessful attempts by Suzuki at the mouth of the net, Dach managed to push a loose puck over the red line behind Forsberg.
The goal ended a goalless losing streak of 97 minutes and 17 seconds since the closing moments of the second period of last Thursday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.
The numerical superiority that emerged for each side in the final four minutes of the second period.
At 4:23 p.m., DeBrincat put the Senators back to a two-goal lead when he completed a three-way play with Stützle and Chabot.
Then, with five seconds left, Hoffman hit with a one-timer during a penalty on Jake Sanderson.
In the third period, Harvey-Pinard stole the show by scoring twice in just over three minutes, allowing the Canadian to level a one-goal deficit each time.
But Tkachuk would spoil those moments of joy.
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