By Ken Hawkins (a.k.a. khawk)
Having completed a gruelling 9-game road trip with a 4-4-1 record, the expectation was that playing at home would be a welcome change that would get them back into the win column. Not so much, as it turns out… at least not if their performance on Thursday night was anything close to their best effort. Details continue to kill the team, as BUF needed just 6 shots in the 1st period to establish a 2-0 lead, with both goals coming as the direct result of poor decisions in the offensive zone. From there the Sabres just needed to lean on the Senators, who are now 3rd-worst in the NHL with a 4-15-3 record when failing to score first. A couple of bad bounces later, and you have a crowd-silencing 4-0 loss on home ice to the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and the 2nd shutout of the past 3GP.
BUF 4 - OTT 0 (NHL Highlights)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGRpa3Dqckw/
The really frustrating part about a game like this is that it would be wrong to suggest that the Sabres played well, or were the better team. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a strong game in goal, but it would be a challenge to recall a single exceptional save. That’s because the Senators were beating themselves by trying to do too much at the wrong time. The second goal was a perfect example, because at the end of a failed PP the priority for Chabot shouldn’t be to take one more weak shot into a congested shooting lane. The priority should be to recognize that there’s now a fresh player on the ice behind you, and make a more defensively responsible decision with the puck. That kind of in-game awareness is really lacking in certain players, and continues to cost them games.
The Good - As many of the post-game interviews will suggest, the Senators actually did a lot of things well in this game… at least in the aggregate. They outshot the Sabres 35-21, outhit them 27-21, won 61.5% of the faceoffs, and the PK went 4/4. Tim Stutzle led the team with 5 shots and 4 hits, and Brady Tkachuk added 4 shots, 2 hits, and a fight in a losing cause. Unfortunately, the game was effectively already over by the time most of those things took place, and whatever secondary stats lines they managed to win had no meaningful impact on the outcome whatsoever.
The Bad - It would be easy to blame Anton Forsberg for giving up 2 goals on the first 5 shots of the game, but that can happen when you give up a breakaway and a 2-on-0 chance that early in the game. The real trouble on this night started and ended with the D-pair of Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen, who were a combined -6 rating. Between them, they made 3 unnecessary errors with the puck that directly led to goals against, each of which showed a troubling lack of recognition of defensive responsibility. That said, it would be wrong to give the rest of the team a pass, because it was at best a very passive effort across the board.
The Ugly - The Senators have now lost 4 straight games, and are just 2-5-1 in their last 8GP. Many people will automatically cite the Linus Ullmark injury as the root cause, but the problem runs far deeper. That same 8GP stretch has included season-worst production from all of Norris, Batherson, Stutzle, and Giroux, as well as the 3rd/4th lines. For some this is not a new problem, as Giroux has just 4G-8A-12Pts in the past 24GP, and Norris has just 7G-3A-10Pts in the past 24GP. It’s less surprising for Giroux, who is in the last year of his contract, and will turn 37 next week. For Norris, it feels like it could be the final straw, if GM Steve Staios has opportunities to move him.
The loss drops the Senators to 19-18-3 on the season, and they’re now 3 points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. And while they do have games in hand on both PIT/CBJ, they’ve also allowed both DET/MTL to effectively catch up with them in the Atlantic Division. The Senators now begin a very interesting part of their schedule, with their next 5 games coming vs. PIT, DAL, NYI, WSH, and BOS. Ironically, the “easiest” game might be vs. the Bruins, but regardless it’s very clear that it will take a far better effort to win any of those 5 games than was on display on Thursday.
What did you think of the Senators’ loss to the Sabres? Please leave your comments below, and as always thanks for reading!
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