garrioch game | Ottawa Sun

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Win, and you’re in.

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As the Ottawa Senators prepare to face Alex Ovechin and the Washington Capitals Monday to start a two-game road trip, expect goaltender Anton Forsberg to make the start and there’s no need to debate the choice.

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Coming off a 26-save effort in a 4-3 shootout victory over the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre, Forsberg has won four straight games since returning from a right groin injury that kept him out a month and he’s helped to stabilize the net.

Forsberg held the Knights scoreless in all three attempts they had in the skills contest and Tim Stutzle had the winning goal as the Senators moved their record to 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

“He’s played well,” interim coach Jacques Martin said Saturday night. “Early in the game he wasn’t as sharp, but as the game went on he played with a lot of confidence and poise and made some big saves for us. And in the shootout he was perfect.”

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With back-to-back stops in Washington and Nashville, the expectation is Joonas Korpiaslo will return against the Predators Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena, but Forsberg deserves the opportunity to stay in the net.

He’s posted a 4-0-0 record in the four games he’s started since coming off the long-term injury reserve list (LTIR) Feb. 13. Forsberg has posted an impressive .917 save-percentage and a 2.21 goals-against average in that stretch, including a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars Thursday.

“I feel like I’ve had a pretty decent run here,” Forsberg said. “I feel more comfortable in my game. I’m having a lot of fun out there right now. I bet all the guys are having fun. Everything goes hand in hand, right?

“If I can come with some big saves, the guys can block some shots for me, and we start trusting each other more and more. That’s working pretty well right now.”

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Goaltending has been an achilles heel for the Senators all season.

Signed to a five-year, $20 million deal on July 1, Korpisalo was brought in to help stabilize the net. That hasn’t been the case, but he has been better of late with a 6-3-3 record in his last 12 appearances with an .899 save-percentage and a 2.81 GAA.

Getting saves gives everybody confidence.

“It’s a big difference when you’re getting saves at huge moments in the game,” said alternate captain Thomas Chabot. “The whole team is playing a lot better hockey lately, but (Forsberg) has been standing tall. He’s been a big key to us having success right now.”

It helps that the Senators are playing better in front of their goaltenders and not allowing as many high-end scoring opportunities. The old saying goes that defence wins championships and we’ve seen evidence that the club is making improvements at both ends of the ice.

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The Senators are doing a lot of things right in a lot of areas.

I asked centre Josh Norris, who has three goals in his last two games, what’s working for the Senators right now?

“Just our play away from the puck is probably the biggest thing,” said Norris, who scored his 16th of the season at 5:48 of the third. “It’s something that we talk a lot about in video. Just playing consistent games and knowing how we have to play every night.

“I know it’s a lot of boring answers, but it’s something that we’ve really drilled into our brains. It’s just complete hockey.”

That’s the way Martin likes his team plays and we like to call it refreshingly boring because the Senators aren’t allowing the opposition to fire shots from everywhere.

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And, in a lot of ways it’s completely turned this team around.

Fourteen points out of the final wildcard spot in the East it would take a miraculous run for the Senators to make the playoffs, but they did inch a point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens to rank No. 14 in the conference.

Trailing 2-0 in the second period, the Senators were able to mount a comeback and pull ahead 3-2 on the strength of Norris’ goal. This team is doing a much better job of not riding the rollercoaster of emotions that take place throughout a game.

“We know how to play and we’ve been doing that for a couple of games,” said Chabot, who started the comeback with his fifth of the season nine minutes into the second to pull the Senators to within a goal at 2-1.

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“We’re just sticking to it. We gave them two goals, but we know we can score two goals and it’s just about the fact that we have to keep on doing the same thing over and over again. We know we’re going to get chances, we did that, and we were able to find the back of the net.”

Now, the Senators need to continue to play this way from here to the end of the season.

“In the past, if we got down early, we still worked but now that we’ve come back in a few games we believe that we can come back,” said winger Drake Batherson, who tied it 2-2 on the power play in the second. “We know if we play more consistent, we’re going to have success.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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