OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Claude Giroux’s game-winning purpose Wednesday night time possible gained’t stand out in his thoughts, however you may wager Ridly Greig will always remember it.
The 20-year-old Greig was making his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators and Giroux picked up a Greig rebound to rating what proved to be the winner in opposition to the New York Islanders in a 2-1 victory.
“It was unreal,” Greig mentioned after the sport. “You know, obviously a dream come true just to get out there and obviously to get the win it’s pretty good.”
Greig’s debut was spectacular as he had eight photographs on purpose, tying the file for many photographs on purpose in an NHL debut. His defensive sport was additionally spectacular.
“His hockey sense is really high,” mentioned Senators coach D.J. Smith. “He can skate. He’s really competitive. He’s a hockey player. He’s going to be a real good hockey player, it’s just over time is he ready now or not and I’ll tell you tonight he was effective.”
Greig performed alongside Giroux, who he idolized as a baby, and Alex DeBrincat and made a right away affect on his coach and teammates.
“He’s fun to play with,” mentioned Giroux. “His game is very mature. I remember my first game, mentally I wasn’t very there so it’s pretty impressive the way he was playing and winning puck battles and we had a good time.”
Shane Pinto additionally scored for the Senators, who snapped a two-game shedding streak with the victory. Anton Forsberg, who stopped 21 photographs, was known as into motion in the second interval after Cam Talbot, who made 14 saves, left the sport with a lower-body damage.
The Senators may have a greater evaluation on Talbot on Thursday, however Smith doesn’t anticipate Talbot to be accessible to the staff earlier than the all-star break.
The Islanders proceed to battle as their winless streak reached six video games (0-4-2). Brock Nelson scored the lone purpose for New York, whereas Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 photographs.
“We battled,” mentioned Casey Cizikas. “You can’t take that away. We battled hard. We worked. It’s just unfortunate. We’ve got to find a way to win these games. It’s definitely tough, but we’ve got to dig deep. We’ve just got to find a way.”
Trailing by one purpose the Islanders pushed exhausting for the equalizer with Varlamov on the bench, however Forsberg made a pair of huge saves to salvage the win.
Each groups exchanged targets in the second, however the Islanders have been ready to end the interval with a bit of momentum.
“I thought as the game went on we started to take the game over a little bit, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” mentioned Islanders coach Lane Lambert.
Ottawa took a 2-0 lead with a power-play purpose early in the interval.