Anton Forsberg perfect as Senators blank Jets 3-0 in pre-season

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) saves the shot from Ottawa Senators' Tim Stutzle (18) as Jets' Rasmus Kupari (15) defends during third period NHL preseason game action in Winnipeg on Thursday, October 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Anton Forsberg liked the way the Ottawa Senators were playing in front of him so he did what he could to repay their efforts.

The Ottawa netminder made 21 saves as the Senators blanked the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 on Thursday in pre-season action.

"I feel like we play tight," Forsberg said. "We fight hard. Killed a lot of penalties and we had a lot of power plays, too.

"I liked the way we moved the puck. It works for me. It's awesome to watch."

Josh Bailey and Jakob Chychrun both had a goal and assist for Ottawa. Claude Giroux scored his team's first goal and Jake Sanderson picked up a pair of assists.

Forsberg recorded wins in all three games he played for Ottawa. Joonas Korpisalo is expected to start in net for the Senators in the regular season.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 30 shots for the Jets, who wrapped up exhibition play with a four-game winless streak.

Penalties were plenty for both teams, who iced lineups similar to the ones that will open the regular season next week.

Ottawa was 1-for-7 on the power play and Winnipeg 0-for-5.

"Still too many penalties. In a row, too," Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. "That really ruins the flow in the second period.

"But we came out really well. I thought we defended really well in our zone. We did enough to cut off odd-man rushes. The effort was there."

Jets head coach Rick Bowness said he'll have to continue preaching discipline.

"The third period was just self-destruction in terms of the discipline," he said. "And discipline comes in a lot of forms and one of them is clearly taking too many, too many penalties.

"That's not our team. We're far more disciplined than that."

After Winnipeg turned the puck over at mid-ice, Giroux scored on a breakaway with a deke that froze Hellebuyck for a split second at 16:58 of the first period.

Ottawa gave their penalty killers a stretch of work after taking four penalties in a row in a 10-minute span from late in the first period into the second.

Bailey scored at the same time a Winnipeg penalty expired to give the visitors a 2-0 lead at 17:26 of the second.

The Jets had their turn with penalty trouble early in the third, taking four penalties in an eight-minute span.

Chychrun beat Hellebuyck with 36 seconds remaining in an unsportsmanlike penalty to Mark Scheifele.

DEFENCEMAN DOWN

Jets defenceman Ville Heinola, who was on his way to earning a roster spot this season, got tangled up with Sens blueliner Erik Brannstrom in a corner with just over six minutes remaining in the first period.

Heinola couldn't get up on his own and was helped off the ice and down the tunnel while holding his left skate up. He didn't return.

"It's not good. We'll have more information on it (Friday)," Bowness said of Heinola's condition. "There will be another analysis and they'll look at it, but it's not a short-term injury."

NO GAME ACTION

Nikolaj Ehlers has missed all six of Winnipeg's exhibition games.

The speedy winger suffered an injury during a workout before training camp started that quickly gave him neck spasms. He did fully practice this week and head coach Rick Bowness had left it up to him to decide whether he was ready to play the Senators.

UP NEXT

Winnipeg has finished the pre-season and will open the regular season in Calgary against the Flames on Oct. 11. Ottawa wraps up its exhibition play Saturday at home against the Montreal Canadiens.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.