MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens were already holding a 3-1 lead on the Ottawa Senators when centre Nick Suzuki was sprung on a breakaway. Cole Caufield immediately put the puck past Senators goalie Linus Ullmark on the rebound, and the Canadiens’ three-goal advantage put the wind out of the Senators’ sails.
But it was the ensuing celebration that, unfortunately for Ottawa, perfectly encapsulated their night.
Sens forward Nick Cousins tried to stop his skating stride after the goal was scored, running into Caufield and Suzuki in mid-celebration. The Sens’ fourth-liner wasn’t trying to play the role of aggressor but was still bumped by Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky. The young forward caught Cousins off-balance, leading him to fall backward into the boards.
It was the best way to personify an early-season loss the Senators would much rather forget.
“We weren’t good tonight,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. “First period, we weren’t strong. Second, I thought we were the better team. And third period, we kind of just went back and forth. So yeah, not a great effort by us tonight.”
It’s only been two games, so we are well past the need to signal for any significant alarm bells. But it doesn’t mean there aren’t things the Senators should be trying to improve.
“We’re not going to flush it,” Senators coach Travis Green said afterward. “When you win a game or, especially at this time of the year, when you lose a game, you get something from it, teaching moments. We’ll definitely watch the game again and learn some things from our game tonight.”
Here are some things the Senators’ coaching staff might look at with its players Sunday and other takeaways before Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
The good and bad of the Senators’ defensive structure
Let’s focus on the good first. The Senators had a good second period. It was a good response after a tough first period in which they allowed two goals and went 12 minutes between shots. The Sens generated chances on goal in the second and, more importantly, allowed only four shots on net and limited the Canadiens’ attack.
“I think they had 11 shots the first two periods. So that was pretty good,” Green said.
Now, the bad. The Senators’ defensive positioning on the first goal they allowed haunted them. Tyler Kleven made a mistake by committing to cover a Canadiens player below the goal line, which opened the door for Emil Heineman to score his first NHL goal.
The Canadiens have already had a handful of chances with too much open space. They’ve just whiffed on them (think of that Lane Hutson chance I mentioned earlier).
Heineman just happened to be able to connect on his. Sens need more discipline with their defensive structure. https://t.co/HYvmHz0HiV
— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) October 12, 2024
Moments earlier, Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson was found wide open in front of Ullmark and was fed a pass from Josh Anderson. Had he corralled the puck properly, the Canadiens would’ve opened the scoring there and that mistake would’ve been dissected further. But more egregiously than in the other two periods, the Senators defence left too much space for opposing players while giving them quality opportunities to score.
The Senators played with more discipline in the second, but their turnovers returned in the third period with time running low on their chances.
“I thought when it got to 3-0, we showed a little bit of immaturity by starting to run and gun a bit,” Green said.
Sens keep losing high-danger chance battles
Through two games, the Senators have yet to win a high-danger chance battle. The Florida Panthers held a significant 8-3 advantage despite losing Thursday night. The Canadiens one-upped the Sens 8-5 in that department Saturday night. A few Senators players have already flagged that part of their game as a concern. The reasons are simple enough: not enough time in the slot and blue paint and too many shots being spread out along the flanks.
“I think we didn’t get enough shots,” Senators forward Tim Stützle said. “Give them credit; they blocked a ton of shots. But we didn’t get those grade-A chances. (Not) a lot of them. Our line included, we’ve got to be better.”
“Didn’t have enough traffic,” Tkachuk said. “Didn’t have enough inside play. (They) made some good saves. But we need to do a better job. I know we had a couple of tips. But I think we need to make that more of our identity instead of outside shots and playing the perimeter.”
The Senators’ lack of penetration and success near the net have also affected their power play. The Senators’ power play has yet to connect consistently. The team is now 1-for-7 on the power play through two games, going 0-for-4 Saturday night.
“Power play is all about momentum too, right? So it’s about if you don’t score, it’s about getting that momentum for your team,” Tkachuk said.
Tkachuk’s third-period penalty
The Senators needed to turn their play up in the third while down 2-0. But when Tkachuk was called for a slashing penalty just as his teammate Jake Sanderson was making a rush up ice, it derailed what should’ve been a positive play.
“I guess that took away some momentum,” Tkachuk said. “Obviously, you can’t take that penalty.”
Instead, shortly after the Canadiens’ ensuing power play expired, Alex Newhook took advantage of the space in front of him and put the Senators down a 3-0 hole. Though Stützle brought one back, the Newhook goal ended up being a backbreaker before Caufield’s second of the night.
Ullmark and the penalty shot
Here’s something you don’t see or hear much every day: The Senators gave up a penalty shot in the third period after Sanderson tripped up Mike Matheson. Matheson missed his ensuing penalty shot, but Ullmark still discussed the play with an official afterward. We’re used to hearing players say that the referees make the wrong call or save themselves from being fined. So, the press corps was thrown a bit for a loop when Ullmark had this to say.
“I was just telling him that it was a good call,” Ullmark said. “You got to give them credit sometimes as well. You can’t just run your mouth against them at all times. (You’ve) got to give them credit as well. I never really understood the whole thing of yelling at the refs. That’s not going to make them love you more, so to speak. I just told him that, yeah, I think he made a good call. But I was going to be pissed at him if he scored it.”
(Photo of Brady Tkachuk and Kaiden Guhle: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
