OTTAWA — One man’s misfortune is another man’s great fortune. This was the case Monday for Magnus Hellberg.
After starting goaltender Anton Forsberg was ruled out of the game due to injury, Hellberg made only the third start of his NHL career. The first arrived almost nine years ago to the day.
All Hellberg did on Monday was make 29 saves as the Senators beat the Dallas Stars 4-2.
“I’ve been waiting to start for a few weeks now, so obviously it was nice to finally be in goal,” said Hellberg, who signed with the Senators this summer after spending the previous five seasons in the KHL. .
“I have this inner will to play at the best level and I feel like I can play in this league as a full-time job. Obviously I’m really happy that it worked out this summer and I can play in this league. .
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, while Shane Pinto scored in his fifth straight game in the win.
“It’s just going for me right now. It’s getting pretty lucky but I’m just glad we found a way to win this one. It was another ripe victory 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 on his season debut, giving the Senators a 4-1 lead. Thomas Chabot scored the other goal as the Senators (4-2-0) won for the fourth straight time.
The Senators were perfect shorthanded, blocking the Stars on all three chances. Killing those penalties was huge according to Senators coach DJ Smith.
“I thought our penalty kill was the difference and that calmed us down. We started to calm down, we got a little more involved emotionally and physically,” he said.
During their four-game winning streak, the Senators outscored the opposition 10-1 in the third period.
“We understand how hard we have to work in a game to get to the third period and not get downed. I think we worked really hard in the second to put that in place,” Smith said.
Tkachuk had given the Senators a 2-1 lead five minutes into the third before Pinto made it 3-1 just under six minutes later.
Joel Kivirianta scored at 6:31 of the first period and Wyatt Johnston scored late in the third to cut the Senators lead to 4-2. The Stars (4-1-1) recorded the game’s first eight shots as they came out strong against Hellberg, who had only made two NHL starts.
“I liked our start. I think we came out of the gate really well. I thought as the game went on their commitment and energy went up and ours went down, so we’ll have to see why,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said.
“But you have to give them credit. They were the hungriest team for most of the game tonight. Hard to win in this league when that’s the case.”
The Stars held their 1-0 lead late in the second period before Chabot fired a point shot past Wedgewood at 19:23 of the period as the Senators took their third power play of the period.
Wedgewood was a wall stopping all 22 shots he faced up to this point. Hellberg was equally impressive at the other end of the ice with 20 saves as the game entered the third tie 1-1.
REMARKS
Denis Gurianov and Joel Hanley were banned from the Stars on Monday, while Dylan Gambrell, Nikita Zaitsev and Anton Forsberg were banned from the Senators. … Kevin Mandolese was the Senators backup goaltender when he was recalled by the Belleville Senators from the AHL following Forsberg’s injury. … The Dallas Stars haven’t lost a men’s game to injury so far this season. … The game was the first of two meetings between the Stars and the Senators this season. They meet in Dallas on December 8.
NEXT
The Dallas Stars wrap up their four-game road trip Tuesday night in Boston against the Bruins before opening a three-game home game Thursday against the Washington Capitals.
The Ottawa Senators wrap up their six-game home game Thursday against the Minnesota Wild, then head to Florida for a pair of games against the Tampa Bay Panthers and Lightning on Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, respectively.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 24, 2022.
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