Sens turn it up to 11 against Canucks
Written by on February 4th, 2010 in Latest News.
Ottawa forward Jason Spezza, right, sends the puck into the crease, where it would eventually skid past Vancouver goalie Andrew Raycroft. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)
The familiar refrain of Jason Spezza scoring and Brian Elliott stopping everything in sight continued on Thursday night as the Ottawa Senators extended their franchise record winning streak to 11 games with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Spezza scored for the eighth consecutive game, a goal that held up as the winner. Milan Michalek scored early in the first, with Chris Kelly capping the night off with an empty-net goal.
Elliott finished with 29 saves to extend his personal win streak to a franchise record nine games. Elliott sports a paltry 1.21 goals-against average over the past nine games.
The Canucks made the Senators sweat late in the game. Already down a defenceman with Erik Karlsson hitting the dressing room with an undisclosed injury, Ottawa blue-liners Matt Carkner and Anton Volchenkov took successive penalties to give Vancouver life.
After making a number of stops, Elliott had no chance on Kyle Wellwood’s goal for the Canucks, the result of a pretty passing play.
The Senators have outscored their opponents 37-13 during their streak. They will try to make it a dozen Saturday in Toronto (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
Vancouver has now dropped two in a row on its Olympic-imposed road trip. The Canucks return to action Saturday afternoon against the struggling Boston Bruins, losers of nine straight.
Canucks goalie Andrew Raycroft made 18 saves in his first start since Dec. 5. He played two periods of shutout hockey in relief of Roberto Luongo on Saturday to help Vancouver come back against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
About the only aspect of Ottawa’s game that hasn’t been fully clicking is the power play, but the Canucks quickly obliged their hosts via a Mikael Samuelsson high-sticking penalty just 52 seconds after puck drop.
Michalek deftly redirected Mike Fisher’s pass from the boards past Raycroft.
Alex Kovalev also helped on the goal, giving him 11 points in his last 11 games.
Ottawa kept coming and buzzed around the Vancouver net just past the six-minute mark. Peter Regin misfired on a fantastic chance from the slot, while defenceman Carkner hit Raycroft high with a point shot soon after.
The Canucks stemmed the tide only at the midway mark of the period when Senators forward Chris Kelly went off for a minor penalty.
Mason Raymond rang his shot off the post, with the puck then bouncing off Elliott’s back and just wide of the opposite post.
The Senators went up by two late in the first, when Vancouver defenceman Christian Ehrhoff got caught in the Ottawa end.
Spezza outwaited Shane O’Brien on a 2-on-1 with teammate Michalek and sent the puck into the crease. Michalek, O’Brien and Raycroft all whiffed with their sticks, extending Spezza’s franchise record goal-scoring streak.
Tanner Glass of the Canucks tried to give his team a boost during the period by starting a fight, but all he got for his troubles were several Carkner blows to the head.
Jarkko Ruutu deflected a shot to test Raycroft early in the second, but it was Vancouver who would start to delight in the best scoring chances.
Wellwood had two chances during a Vancouver flurry midway through the period, and Elliott stretched to make a glove save on Canucks defenceman Alex Edler.
The intensity picked up in the final minutes of the period. Aaron Rome belted Fisher into the boards, while Chris Neil and Rick Rypien engaged in a prolonged scrap.
Kovalev cut in from the wing on Raycroft but could not slide the puck past the Canucks goalie, while at the other end Henrik Sedin’s shot got through a screen but was stopped by Elliott.
Ottawa defenceman Chris Campoli fell to the ice in the waning seconds of the period, allowing Steve Bernier to skate in alone. The huge Vancouver forward could not get his backhander past Elliott.
Senators forward Jonathan Cheechoo kept Raycroft honest in the third, forcing the Vancouver goalie to make a glove save, but the best chances came from the Canucks.
Ryan Kesler skated in alone but could not lift the puck over the hot Ottawa netminder, while Sami Salo’s blast from the point was gobbled up without a rebound.
Ottawa lost both games to the Canucks last year and had last beaten them in the 2003-04 season. The teams will play again in Vancouver on March 3, the day of the NHL trade deadline.
