The Ottawa Senators improved to 7-1-2 over their past 10 games with a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
The strong stretch has moved the Senators within three points of the Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot with both teams equal in games played. The Columbus Blue Jackets are sandwiched between the Bruins and Senators, two points back of Boston, also with 63 games played.
Veteran netminder James Reimer posted a shutout in Monday’s win, making 16 saves to improve his record to 4-3-1 since joining Ottawa on a prorated one-year deal on Jan. 12.
“Just a complete game,” Senators head coach Travis Green said of the victory. “It’s a combination of our defensive game, take a lot of pride in it, our penalty kill did a great job, and we knew we needed this win.”
The Senators were dealt a serious blow on the injury front just hours before Monday’s game when Green announced that star defenceman Jake Sanderson is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Sanderson leads Ottawa in average ice time this time and is coming off winning at gold medal with Team USA at the Winter Olympics.
“Sandy is a massive part of our team, obviously,” Reimer said postgame. “You can’t replace him and the old adage is everyone has to chip in, right? But I think we’re built as a group, as a culture, to be able to do that. … We just dig in and know that we need to do our jobs well and be prepared to play.
“So for me, I was just trying to be in my own little bubble and make saves and give the guys a chance.”
It’s unclear when Sanderson will return to the Senators lineup with just five weeks left in their season. Thomas Chabot saw a team-high 24:29 of ice time Monday, upping his season average to 22:04 per game.
Can the Senators overcome the loss of Sanderson and make the playoffs? TSN Hockey analyst Frankie Corrado weighs in on the Senators’ surge up the standings in the East and if they have enough to overcome the loss of Jake Sanderson and make the playoffs.
The Senators will return from the West Coast swing to host the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday and have two days off before a back-to-back set on the weekend against the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks.
Ottawa will not face the Bruins or the Blue Jackets again this season.
