Senators Win Fourth Consecutive Place by Beating Hot Stars – TSN.ca

OTTAWA – One man’s misfortune is another man’s big break. This was the case with Magnus Hellberg on Monday.

After goaltender Anton Forsberg was taken out of the game due to injury, Hellberg came on for the third time in his NHL career. The first came almost nine years ago to the day.

All Hellberg did on Monday was 29 saves as the Senators beat the Dallas Stars 4-2.

“I’ve been waiting for a launch for a few weeks, so of course it was nice to finally be on the web,” said Hellberg, who was claimed waivers by the Seattle Kraken earlier this month.

Hellberg played one game with the Detroit Red Wings last season and signed with Seattle this summer after spending the last five seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

“I have this inner drive to play at the best level and I feel like I can play in this league as a full-time job,” he said. “Of course I’m very happy that it worked out this summer and that I can play in this league.”

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist while Shane Pinto had the win in his fifth straight game.

“It’s going in for me right now. It’s going to be pretty lucky, but I’m just glad we found a way to win this one. It was another mature win for us and we just have to keep going,” said Pinto, who is the first Senators rookie to score in five straight games.

Derick Brassard also scored in his debut of the season to give the Senators a 4-1 lead. Thomas Chabot had the other goal as the Senators (4-2-0) won for a fourth straight game.

The Senators were perfect in the penalty shootout, knocking out the Stars in their three chances. Killing those penalties was huge, according to Senators coach DJ Smith.

“I thought our penalty shootout would be the difference and that put our minds at ease. We started getting composure, got a little more involved emotionally and physically,” he said.

During their four-game winning streak, the Senators beat the opposition 10-1 in the third period.

“We understand how hard we have to work in a game to get into the third period and not be down. I thought we worked really hard in the second round to get that right,” said Smith.

Tkachuk had given the Senators a 2-1 lead five minutes into the third game before Pinto made it 3-1 just under six minutes later.

Joel Kivirianta struck after 6:31 of the first period and Wyatt Johnston struck late in the third period to cut the Senators’ lead to 4-2. The Stars (4-1-1) recorded the first eight shots of the game as they came out hard on Hellberg, who had only made two NHL starts before.

“I liked our start. I felt we came out of goal really well. I thought as the game went on their commitment and energy increased and ours decreased so we need to look at why,” said Stars coach Peter DeBoer.

“But you have to give them credit. They were the hungrier side for most of tonight’s game. When that’s the case, it’s difficult to win in this league.”

The Stars maintained their 1-0 lead late into the second half before Chabot ripped a point shot past Wedgewood at halftime 19:23 while the Senators enjoyed their third power play of the half.

Wedgewood was a wall that stopped all 22 shots he’d faced up to that point. Hellberg was equally impressive at the other end of the ice with 20 saves as the game tied 1-1 in the third.

REMARKS

Denis Gurianov and Joel Hanley were scratches for the Stars on Monday, while Dylan Gambrell, Nikita Zaitsev and Anton Forsberg were scratches for the Senators. … Kevin Mandolese was the Senators’ backup goaltender when he was called up by the AHL’s Belleville Senators following Forsberg’s injury. … Dallas Stars have not lost any men’s games to injury so far this season. … The game marked the first of two meetings between the Stars and Senators this season. They meet again on December 8th in Dallas.

NEXT

The Dallas Stars will wrap up their four-game road trip against the Bruins Tuesday night in Boston before starting a three-game homestand against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

The Ottawa Senators complete their six games against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and then travel to Florida for two games against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning on October 29 and November 1 respectively.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 24, 2022.

Note to readers: Corrected how Ottawa received Hellberg in the fourth and fifth paragraphs.