Korpisalo makes 25 saves, Blue Jackets shut out Senators

COLUMBUS -- Joonas Korpisalo made 25 saves for his second NHL shutout, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Ottawa Senators 1-0 at Nationwide Arena on Monday.

It was Korpisalo's first shutout in 70 games, since making 24 saves in a 7-0 win against the New York Islanders on Feb. 25, 2017.
"It's nice, but most important we got back to the right way getting points," Korpisalo said. "We did a good job taking away their rebounds. I saw the puck all night."
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored 21 seconds into the third period to give the Blue Jackets (10-9-4) their fourth win in five games.
Craig Anderson made 18 saves for the Senators (11-12-1), who had a three-game winning streak end. They are 7-3-0 in the past 10 games.
"We knew going in that both were kind of similar teams, shut down and clog it up and try to win 1-0," Anderson said. "That was kind of the game plan. If you go over to their side, that was the game plan as well."

The defensive struggle did not provide many scoring chances, but Korpisalo stopped a 4-on-1 with 43 seconds left in the first period, snaring a shot from the left circle by Thomas Chabot.
He also stopped a shorthanded breakaway by Connor Brown that drew an interference call against Zach Werenski at 9:45 of the third period.
With an extra attacker on for the Senators, Korpisalo made the save on Tyler Ennis, Colin White and former Blue Jackets forward Anthony Duclair in the final 25 seconds.

Korpisalo has four straight wins, which ties his NHL career best set Oct. 4-27, 2018.
"He's taken that first goalie spot and I think he's been playing well," Bjorkstrand said. "He's played a lot of good games."
The game had little flow or end-to-end action.
"We knew they were a big box-out team and we needed to get in there," Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. "I guess it wasn't enough to score one. It looked like nothing was going on. Both teams were playing a solid neutral zone game."
Coach John Tortorella saw the same thing from the Blue Jackets perspective.
"Give them credit. They check hard," he said of the Senators. "They have a neutral zone system, a lock system on the left wing. It's tough to get through there. It wasn't a great game to watch but we were on the right side of it."
The Blue Jackets took advantage of an icing to score the only goal.
Boone Jenner won the face-off in the left circle to Werenski. The defenseman's shot from near the blue line was tipped by Bjorkstrand for his sixth goal. It was Jenner's 100th NHL assist.
"It was a big face-off win by Boone," Werenski said. "Their guys pressured me too hard. I had to skate a little. I just tried to throw it on net."

Bjorkstrand has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a four-game point streak.
Werenski extended his point streak to an NHL- career-high seven games to tie the Blue Jackets record held by Jaroslav Spacek, from Jan. 10-22, 2003, and Bryan Berard, from Oct. 24-Nov. 4, 2005. Werenski has nine points (three goals, six assists) in the streak.
"It's getting my offensive game going, which is something I wanted to do," Werenski said. "I didn't feel like I was creating much early on in the season."

They said it

"It was one of those nights where one [goal] was going to get it done. It was one of those defensive strangleholds that clogs up the neutral zone and keeps it to the outside. We didn't generate much. They didn't generate much. We have to be happy with our effort and our structure defensively. We gave ourselves a chance." -- Senators goalie Craig Anderson
"There wasn't much out there for either team. They stayed with it a little longer and got us on an icing, and then they scored on a face-off." -- Senators coach D.J. Smith
"I thought Oliver Bjorkstrand, in a mess of a game, played one of his better games as far as how hard he was on the puck." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella

Need to know

Senators defenseman Nikita Zaitsev returned to the lineup after missing the game Friday against the New York Rangers to fly to Russia for personal reasons. He arrived in Columbus on Sunday evening…. Senators forward Mikkel Boedker played for Max Veronneau after being scratched the previous nine games. … Duclair played his first game against the Blue Jackets since he was traded to the Senators for Ryan Dzingel on Feb. 23. He had three shots in 17:20.

What's next

Senators: Host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, TVAS, NESN, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSP+, NHL.TV)