TORONTO — Last week, the Ottawa Senators seemed wonky after back-to-back losses against Buffalo and the New York Islanders. It didn’t help that those losses occurred in November, a month that has done more harm than good in the past. Seven years without playoffs, including bad Novembers, can leave a ton of scar tissue on a franchise.
It took two wins to set things right again, or as right as you can in the early days of an NHL season. But the Senators’ win over the Toronto Maple Leafs should serve as a model for how they need to play to make the playoffs again.
“Like I’ve said multiple times this year, I’m really confident in our group,” Senators forward Tim Stützle said. “I think we can beat any team. Especially if we play that way, I think we’re really hard to play against.”
The Senators throttled the Leafs 3-0 on Tuesday night, but the score should’ve been higher. Ottawa dominated Toronto at five-on-five, generated more high-danger chances, imposed themselves with speed, didn’t make mental mistakes in their zone, created turnovers and turned defence into offence (or at least hemmed the Leafs in their zone while thwarting their breakouts) and flashed skill and movement. (Nick Robertson still doesn’t know where Jake Sanderson went).
In turn, the Leafs weren’t at all effective. They didn’t start on time and offered little pushback against their rival. It isn’t uncommon for the Senators to get one up on the Leafs in these matchups. But in their first tilt since l’affaire Ridly Greig last season, the Leafs’ response was lacking. But even if the Leafs were at full strength and had Auston Matthews, this year’s Leafs seem much slower than in years past. This means the Senators should be able to use their pace to their advantage in every matchup against them going forward.
Aside from some penalty trouble, including some debatable calls that went against them, and their power play not finding success, the Senators were pretty close to playing to the identity they’ve been crafting throughout this season.
Make that back-to-back games opening the scoring for Josh Scorris 🙌#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/M7MhxrxqBd
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 13, 2024
“I think it’s right there,” Sens forward Noah Gregor said. “That’s our game. It’s playing fast, playing hard, playing physical, and then being committed on the defensive side. I thought we showed all those aspects tonight.”
But as most Senators fans know very well, it’s on them to do it again and again. Ottawa has yet to record a winning streak longer than two games in a row this season. The Senators’ next step is to show they can play to their identity consistently.
“We’ve had some games that we’ve really liked this year more than we haven’t,” Senators head coach Travis Green. “But we’ve had a few where we haven’t been happy with our game, and a lot of times it’s come off playing a good game. Maybe showed a little immaturity and didn’t play a good game in the next one.
“We’re still trying to establish our identity for our team. It’s got to start with our skating in our work. And when we do that, we play connected.”
But there’s some motivation for this year’s Sens to do it, and it goes beyond the potential of matching their wins in November in each of their last two seasons.
“This is the sort of thing that you have to do every night,” Senators goalie Linus Ullmark said following his 27-save shutout performance. “And with that comes also a lot of respect around the league. Because once you start putting game after game after game, in this sort of matter, people are going to start noticing you and know that you’re a good team, and start bringing their A-game and not take you for granted, so to speak.
“I think that guys want to be there. They haven’t been there in the last couple of years. But now, when they get a little bit of taste of it, they understand that okay, this is actually pretty fun. And then they realize when they win those games, it’s a lot of fun. Because when once you actually do work hard, and you’re doing all the right things, it feels a lot better about yourself, about your team game.”
(Top photo of Josh Norris: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
