Matt O’Connor made 31 saves for Ottawa.
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With no other games on the schedule, the 25-year-old turned aside 20 shots in a 3-1 win over the Senators.
A thin-looking Eugene Melnyk put in a brief appearance at centreice Sunday night before the season home opener at the Canadian Tire Centre between the Ottawa ASenators and Montreal Canadiens.
The Montreal Canadiens head into Ottawa on Sunday playing their third game in as many tries against division rivals to start the season and will be without Carey Price who will sit in favour of Mike Condon. This should be a good test for the Habs multi-layered offense to seek the next gear, even if it’s just their third game into the season.
Both teams were playing the second of back-to-back games. O’Connor is a solid prospect, but he stills needs a few work.
“A lot of times when the backup goes in there, you see (the team) changing, and we didn’t change anything”, Canadiens defensemen P.K. Subban said.
“It was a long night”.
He lost his shutout when Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored on a shorthanded breakaway after a turnover by P.K. Subban in the second period. The Senators scored their three power-play goals Saturday in a span of 4 minutes, 10 seconds.3.
“(Condon) made a few key saves at the right time”, said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien. “This is just something that he did through the course of the training camp and he played really well for us to get the first win is always something special for any player”. Plekanec added his third the season with 1:26 left, breaking in alone and beat O’Connor through the legs.
Plekanec opened the scoring at the nine-minute mark as he beat O’Connor with a sharp angle shot.
Notes: D Erik Karlsson played his 400th career game, while LW Milan Michalek played his 700th.
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They became the first starting goalies to make their National Hockey League debuts in the same game since 1967, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
