Before Saturday night, 52 goalies had appeared in a game for the Ottawa Senators.
And before Saturday night, only one of those goalies (Mike Morrison, on March 25, 2006) had recorded a point in their team debut — which all changed shortly after Jonas Johansson picked off Mika Zibanejad’s dump-in with just over one minute in the game.
Johansson set the puck on a tee for Jake Sanderson, who had already thrown one attempt at the empty cage just moments earlier. Sanderson missed the net, but Michael Amadio was able to beat out the icing and slip it into the net.
The Senators added another empty-netter when a blocked shot from Drake Batherson trickled all the way down the ice, sealing a 7-4 win in Johansson’s first start with the team.
“Yeah, he was awesome, so good. I thought he did a great job getting out, playing pucks,” said Jake Sanderson.
“You know, for a defenceman, that's huge. Especially at the end of the game when they’ve got the empty net. So you know, he showed confidence. I think it bled into our group, so credit to him. He played awesome.”
“I thought he did a real good job getting out of the crease and stopping some of their rims,” said Travis Green after the game. “You know, a rim forecheck is hard to defend against, and he did a real good job.”
Johansson was acquired by the Senators from the Tampa Bay Lightning for future considerations on Sept. 25. He began the year in Belleville and played to a 3-1-1 record in the AHL before being called up to the NHL after Linus Ullmark was placed on injury reserve earlier in the week.
“It felt great. I mean, it was a tight game. Could have went either way, but we came up strong at the end there, so happy we got the win,” said Johansson.
“I just try to not change the way I play. I just try to do my best out there, whatever team I play for. But I mean, I'm really happy to be here. There's a great group of guys in here, and a really good team.”
Johansson was drafted two years after Ullmark by the Buffalo Sabres. They spent five years together in the Sabres organization, from 2016–17 to 2020–21. He was also familiar with Sam Ersson, who he trains with in the summers back in Sweden.
“It's really good [to be reunited]. I like Linus a lot, so we kept in touch, obviously. We're buddies. So no, I'm really happy to be with him, and also Ersson, I practice with all summer, so really good to be with those guys,” said Johansson.
Johansson said he wasn’t able to collect the puck from Amadio’s goal — which was the 31-year-old’s first career assist — but he did get the win puck, which may have been the same puck anyways.
Johansson and the Senators travelled to Vegas on Sunday, where they’ll prepare to face the Golden Knights on Tuesday. That game is the beginning of a five-game road trip.
