James Reimer stopped all 16 shots he faced for his 32nd career shutout and Ridly Greig scored midway through the second period, as the surging Ottawa Senators won 2-0 over the lowly host Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.
Tim Stutzle extended his point streak to 13 games by assisting on Brady Tkachuk’s empty-netter for the Senators, who are on the outside of playoff position in the Eastern Conference, but won their third straight amid a 5-0-2 stretch. With the result, Ottawa finished a 4-0-1 road stretch.
Reimer, playing in his eighth game since joining Ottawa in January and making his first start since Feb. 5 as backup to Linus Ullmark, was not severely tested throughout the evening. However, he did make a key pad save on Zeev Buium late to preserve the lead for the Senators, who have allowed two or fewer goals five times over the last seven contests.
Reimer’s previous shutout came back on April 8 against Carolina, while playing for Buffalo. He was invited to camp with Toronto during the preseason, but released by the club prior to the regular season, and is 4-3-1 with a 2.53 goals-against average for the Senators.
Meanwhile, Kevin Lankinen was solid in making 22 saves for the Canucks. However, his Vancouver teammates were held to fewer than 20 shots on goal for the ninth time this season.
The Canucks, who own a league-low 46 points, are mired in a 4-20-5 rut. They’ve also lost five in a row at home, including the last three in regulation.
After a first period where the teams combined for 12 shots on goal and scoring chances at a premium through the first half of the contest, Ottawa finally opened the scoring with 9:49 remaining in the middle frame. Greig was focused enough to possess a bouncing puck in the slot and send it by Lankinen.
Even with star defenseman Jake Sanderson out of the lineup due to an upper-body injury, Ottawa was stout defensively the entire night, regularly limiting Vancouver’s scoring chances.
