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SNAPSHOTS: Cam Talbot and the Senators were surprised the Ducks' shutout-ending goal wasn't overturned

"We got the win. That's what really matters."

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Cam Talbot likes a good challenge.

But the Ottawa Senators’ goaltender never likes his odds when it comes to the coaching staff challenging for interference after an opposition goal.

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The 35-year-old Talbot has been around the National Hockey League a long time and guesses that, if he’s been part of 10-15 challenges in his career, his winning percentage is pretty low.

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Asked by colour analyst Gord Wilson on Saturday how many times his teams had won challenges, Talbot didn’t miss a beat.

“Not enough,” he said. “Maybe one or two. For some reason I’m just not the guy who gets those calls. I don’t know what it is.”

Trying to record a shutout with the Senators for the first time since being acquired from the Minnesota Wild in the offseason, Talbot made 31 stops in a 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

A goal by Anaheim’s Max Jones with 2:50 left in the game was challenged by the Senators because they wanted to preserve Talbot’s shutout. Unfortunately, it wasn’t overturned even though it looked as if there had been interference in the crease.

“We got the win. That’s what really matters,” Talbot said.

Senators video coaches Mike King and Evan Mathias study this stuff religiously, which is why the club has so much success.

“The call gets made from the back. Evan and Mike haven’t missed one since they’ve been here,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. “They said it was goalie interference and I may have challenged it anyway just for the sake of Talbot and his opportunity to get a shutout.

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“We’re clearly fighting for him at that point of the game, and the guys were as well. We didn’t get the call, but he played well enough to have a shutout and we wanted to give him a chance.”

BLUELINE HELP

Getting defenceman Thomas Chabot back in the lineup against the Ducks was a huge boost for the Senators.

He missed five games after receiving a concussion on a hit by Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 5, but returned to play 25 minutes in Anaheim on Friday.

Senators forward Tim Stutzle (18) and defenceman Thomas Chabot (72) celebrate the power-play goal scored by Brady Tkachuk in the first period of Friday’s game against the Ducks.
Senators forward Tim Stutzle (18) and defenceman Thomas Chabot (72) celebrate the power-play goal scored by Brady Tkachuk in the first period of Friday’s game against the Ducks. Photo by Gary A. Vasquez /USA TODAY Sports

Chabot was a difference-maker as he partnered with Artem Zub. It was the first time they had played together since Oct. 27, and the Senators went 2-9-1 without them. Zub missed eight games with an unspecified upper-body ailment.

“(Chabot) has been a top defenceman in this league for a  lot of years and certainly since I’ve been here,” captain Brady Tkachuk said. “To get him back has definitely created a spark and energy for us. He’s an unreal player and leader for us.

“To have him back, and them back together, is huge for our group.”

Chabot had been expected to play Wednesday, when the Senators lost 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights, but wasn’t able to get medical clearance to play in that contest. The decision was made to have him skate Thursday and then, after taking the pre-game warmup Friday, the final determination was made that he could play.

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“You get into situations where you start skating and you feel good, but then little things start bugging you and you don’t want to force it,” Chabot said. “There’s so many games left … At the end of the day, any guy that’s hurt just wants to get back as soon as they can.

“It sucks not to play, but I think I did the right thing coming back (Friday). It gave me another day of skating, another of treatment and you’re more confident. You feel better on the ice.”

Have Zub and Chabot together helped to stabilize the blue-line, plus Zub scored his second goal of the season to give the Senators a 4-0 lead.

“We started the season together and I thought we played some good hockey. Then we got hurt,” Chabot said. “Coming back, just the way we can play the game together has been good. We were talking a lot on the bench and trying to get a feel for each other again.

“Seeing him get that goal was huge and we didn’t give up a whole lot defensively. Just for the first game back together, I thought it was awesome.”

Senators Tim Stutzle (18) celebrates his power-play goal against the Ducks in the second period on Friday.
Senators Tim Stutzle (18) celebrates his power-play goal against the Ducks in the second period on Friday. Photo by Gary A. Vasquez /USA TODAY Sports

THE LAST WORDS

With Talbot taking the day off the ice Saturday, goaltender Anton Forsberg was on the ice for practice at the Toyota Sports Complex. “He has the opportunity to backup tomorrow,” Smith said. “If he’s not 100 per cent, he won’t. We have (Kevin Mandolese) here, so he’ll back up. (Forsberg) is getting closer” … If the Senators are going to be more successful, they have to clean up their act. Ottawa is the NHL’s third-most penalized team behind only the Minnesota Wild and the Ducks. The club ranks sixth in minor penalties assessed and 17th in the 32-team league in penalty killing … Forward Tim Stutzle is confident the Senators can build off the effort in Anaheim. “I hate losing, but, in the end, it’s really frustrating to see us playing pretty good hockey and just small mistakes decide the game,” Stutzle said Saturday. “We always look at the best teams in the league and we talked about having to play harder in our end and give our goalies a better chance to win those games for us. Some games, there’s a lot of traffic in front of their goalies and we’ve got to do it for our goalies.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/sungarrioch

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