Senators goalie Anton Forsberg facing long recovery from groin injury

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We won’t be seeing Anton Forsberg in the net anytime soon

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Interim head coach Jacques Martin confirmed Saturday that the Ottawa Senators’ backup goalie had been placed on long-term injured reserve. That means Forsberg won’t be eligible to play until after the club returns to action from the National Hockey League all-star break Feb. 10 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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The 31-year-old Forsberg, in his fourth season with the Senators, will miss at least a month with a right groin injury. He was hurt Thursday while trying to make a save in the 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

“He’s going to be out at least three weeks,” Martin said before the Senators faced off against the San Jose Sharks at the Canadian Tire Centre.

This has been a tough 12 months for Forsberg. He had to be carried off the ice in Buffalo because he couldn’t put any weight on the leg. Last season came to an early end in February because he tore the medial collateral ligament in both knees after the Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman fell on him during a collision in front of the net.

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While Forsberg made a full recovery, like everybody else on the Senators, he’s struggled to find his form this season. He has a 7-8-0 record with a 3.35 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage.

Forsberg’s injury meant the Senators recalled Mads Sogaard from the American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville on an emergency basis to dress as the backup to Joonas Korpisalo, who made the start against the Sharks.

This is the first time Sogaard has been recalled this season. With nine games left on the schedule before the break starts Feb. 1, the 23-year-old will get an opportunity to play, Martin noted.

Sogaard suited up for 19 games with Ottawa last season, when the Senators used a franchise-record seven goalies because of injuries. He posted an 8-6-3 record with a 3.32 goals-against average and .889 save percentage.

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A second-round draft pick, No. 37 overall, in 2019, Sogaard has had a solid first half of this season with the Belleville, compiling an 8-5-2 record with a .920 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average.

MAKING CHANGES

Setting Forsberg’s salary of $2.75 million aside on LTIR opened some much-needed cap space for the Senators.

If Forsberg hadn’t been placed on LTIR, they would have had to sign a goalie to a professional tryout agreement to dress as backup Saturday. With his salary off the books, though, the Senators were able to activate centre Rourke Chartier from LTIR.

Chartier had missed 12 games with a concussion from a Dec. 15 contest against the Dallas Stars. He skated with the club for the first time Friday, but had been back on the ice for a while, and the injury to Forsberg meant the club had room for Chartier’s $775,000 annual salary.

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Thrust into the coaching role last month after taking over for D.J. Smith, Martin is still getting familiar with this roster.

“They say (Chartier’s) a good checker and good penalty killer, so that’s going to make me happy, eh?” Martin said with a wry smile.

The decision to bring Chartier back meant defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker was a healthy scratch on Saturday.

“It gives us more depth,” Martin said. “We’ve played a couple of games on the road with 11 forwards and seven defencemen. That makes it more difficult. With having the four lines and six (blueliners), it’s probably easier to manage.

“It brings a player back whose strength is penalty-killing, and we’ve been suffering from a lack of penalty killers. It gives us a better distribution of ice time. We’ve used (Claude) Giroux a lot on penalty-killing and he’s on the first power-play unit.”

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Martin then told legendary colour analyst Gord Wilson, who celebrated his birthday Friday along with Giroux, that “like you he’s not a young man anymore.” Giroux turned 36. We’ll just say Wilson is older.

Centre Josh Norris missed his second straight game Saturday with an unspecified injury. There was no update on his status.

RAMPING UP FOR A RETURN

The Senators are happy to have centre Shane Pinto back on the ice.

He skated with teammates for the first time Friday, and the Senators are confident he’ll be ready to make his return next Sunday against the Flyers in Philadelphia after being suspended 41 games for violating the NHL’s gambling rules.

“It will be a big help when he starts playing again,” Martin said.

Martin met with Pinto before the recent five-game road trip to make sure he was fully prepared to make a return. He’s been skating in Ottawa for the past month.

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“He’s an impressive player and I think he can help our group a lot,” Bernard-Docker said. “You try to put yourself in his situation, but you can’t really do that right? He’s faced a lot of adversity here and I think he has as well. I think he’s just excited to get going.”

Bernard-Docker kept in touch with his former University of North Dakota teammate throughout the course of the suspension.

“I texted him a few times, just checking in to make sure he’s OK, and, the first day we saw him in here, the boys were super happy. It’s going to be fun to have him back,” Bernard-Docker said.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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