The old saying goes that defence wins championships.
But offence from the defence has played a big role in the Ottawa Senators’ success this season.
The Senators had six points from their defencemen in the club’s huge 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre and that was a key in the club closing out its lengthy seven-game trip with a 4-3-0 record.
While defencemen Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub both scored goals, Jordan Spence and Tyler Kleven both contributed with two-point efforts. That performance vaulted the Senators from 10th in the NHL in points from defencemen to four overall, just behind the Habs.
The Senators have 66 points contributed by the defence corps this season, including 13 goals and 53 assists. The Colorado Avalanche lead all teams with 74 points from the blueline, but they should because they’ve got a special player in Cale Makar.
It also should be noted that the Senators have achieved this without one alternate captain, Thomas Chabot, one of the club’s best blueliners at both ends of the ice.
Sanderson extended his point-scoring streak to four games with three goals and three assists for six points. The goal by Zub was his third of the season, which is a new career-high, and the two assists from Kleven were the first multi-point game of his career.
“I honestly thought this was probably one of our (defensive) corps’ best games of the season,” said Sanderson, who is putting himself in the conversation for the Norris Trophy. “We were skating the puck out of our zone and breaking pucks out cleanly.
“(Kleven) played awesome. He was playing so physically and aggressively. I just thought everybody had a great game.”
The Senators had five goals at five-on-five against the Habs.
Coach Travis Green doesn’t want his defencemen taking big risks, but he has no issue with them jumping into the play, either. Yes, Green demands that his team plays well defensively, but he has never tried to stifle offence.
“They were just solid,” Green said. “I talked to our (defence) about being more involved in the breakouts when they could. I thought they did a good job of that, and they did an outstanding job in the offensive zone as well.”
Up front, winger Fabian Zetterlund’s potential finally has turned into production.
He scored his fourth goal in six games in the club’s victory over the Habs and had one of his best efforts of the season, blasting one past Samuel Montembeault — which he’s still trying to find — to tie it up 1-1 in the first. That was Zetterlund’s third game-tying goal of the campaign.
Playing with Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk, Zetterlund was strong on the puck and won battles. He was the lucky recipient of being moved to the top line after Green decided to put Drake Batherson back on the right side of Dylan Cozens because that duo has had good chemistry.
“He’s such a horse,” Tkachuk said of Zetterlund. “The power in his game and I just feel like every puck he wins. He’s such a strong player and a good skater. I’ve played with Timmy for a long time, but I’m excited about the chemistry we had and the future games.”
It has taken Zetterlund a while to find his scoring touch, but lately he has been exactly what Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, expected when he acquired him from the San Jose Sharks at the NHL trade deadline last March.
“I’m gaining confidence,” Zetterlund said. “I’m playing with good players and making plays out there, so it’s nice.”
It’s also nice that, as a result, the Senators are having success.
The victory vaulted the Senators over the Habs into second-place in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa went into the game on the outside looking in, but the standings are so tight that two points can make a big difference.
That’s why being at your best is paramount every night.
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The Senators will open a three-game homestand against the New York Rangers on Thursday. It will be the first time the Senators have been back at the Canadian Tire Centre since Nov. 15.
Ottawa needs to carry over the performance against the Habs to this one because they saw what can happen in ugly losses — to St. Louis on Friday and Dallas on Sunday — if the club doesn’t play up to its potential.
“The difference was the positivity throughout the room,” Tkachuk said. “Everybody tried just focusing on one shift at a time, but also on what they can control. In St. Louis, we didn’t play a great game at all, and Dallas, it is what it is.
“Tonight shows the maturity that we really made a commitment to get the job done.”