Amid goalie-injury wreckage, Senators' Sogaard, Talbot making final playoff push

OTTAWA – In Monday’s 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers, Mads Sogaard provided exactly the type of goaltending a team needs to win.

He was square to shooters, filling the frame of the net with his own 6-foot-7 frame. Sogaard stopped 32 of 34 shots for his seventh victory of the season. In his past three starts, against Boston, Tampa Bay and Florida, the great Danish prospect has yielded two goals in each game, with save percentages of .943, .931 and .941.

“Just calm, letting the puck hit him,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith, describing Sogaard’s game. “If it beats him, it beats him, he goes again. Clearly, he is going to be really good. We know that. When he gets rest, he looks really good.”

And there’s the key. When he gets rest.

Sogaard is just 22. The Senators don’t want to rush him or hamper his development. He was pencilled in to play the entire season with AHL Belleville, but an ongoing goaltending crisis in Ottawa altered the game plan dramatically.

Both Sogaard and Kevin Mandolese had injury problems in Belleville, and yet both had to be called up on an emergency basis.

Remember when Cam Talbot and Anton Forsberg were supposed to provide a solid 1-2 (or 1-1A) punch in goal for the Senators?

There was to be stability at the position, in contrast to the past couple of seasons when Matt Murray, brought in to be the saviour, was injured more often than not. Murray was backed up by prospects such as Marcus Hogberg and Filip Gustavsson and a waiver-wire pickup, Forsberg, who was a godsend last season.

Take a step back, and you observe a calamity of circumstances. Gustavsson, just 23 last season, did not have a great season in 2021-22, so in the off-season he was dealt to Minnesota for Cam Talbot. The veteran Talbot was expected to anchor the position, provide stability for Forsberg, who hadn’t been a starter until he filled in for the injured Murray.

But while Gustavsson has blossomed with the Wild, Talbot has been injured at the worst possible times. He suffered a cracked rib in the pre-season and needed time to get comfortable when he did get back in the net. During that crushing month of November, when Ottawa went 4-9-1, Talbot suffered eight of those nine losses.

Talbot got better in December, but then Forsberg faltered. Forsberg bounced back, winning four straight games from Jan. 25-31, but suffered a torn MCL in both knees on Feb. 11, knocking him out for the regular season.

Over to you, Mr. Talbot. Oh, wait. Talbot suffered a groin injury in late January and wasn’t available again until Feb. 24. He appeared in four games until the first week of March, when he suffered an oblique strain and hasn’t played again since. Talbot did return to the practice ice on Monday and could back up Sogaard on Thursday versus the Flyers. Talbot might even start that game.

How the heck did the Senators survive without their two starting goalies, for most of February and all of March?

They didn’t, actually.

Wild-card contenders with Talbot, Sogaard

For that brief period, Feb. 24 to March 4, the tandem of Talbot and Sogaard was money. The Sens won five of six games and were three points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild-card berth and four behind the New York Islanders for WC1.

And then it happened. Talbot suffered the oblique strain and could not dress against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 6.

Starting with a 5-0 loss to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, the duo of Sogaard and Mandolese lost six of the next seven starts, killing the momentum toward a wild-card spot. Sogaard took five of the losses, Mandolese one. Sogaard survived a 5-4 win in Seattle, but gave up five or more goals in his next four starts.

The Sens were so desperate, and concerned about wearing out Sogaard, they brought up Dylan Ferguson from the AHL to start against the Penguins on March 20. You know the story. And what a story it was – Ferguson stopping 48 shots in his NHL debut as a starter, notching a 2-1 win.

The journeyman was the toast of Ottawa, briefly. No one was shocked when it didn’t last, Ferguson taking a 5-3 loss in New Jersey on Saturday.

His appearances set a franchise record for most goalies used in a single season. Remember them all?

Forsberg, Magnus Hellberg, Talbot, Sogaard, Mandolese and Ferguson.

Now, Talbot is ready to play again and Sogaard is coming off three terrific starts, the near future looks bright. Sogaard, as thoughtful as he is tall, assumes nothing about his progress.

“I think I’m taking steps in the right direction,” Sogaard said, after the win over Florida. “But it’s about resetting, right? It’s just about focusing on the next one. I don’t think too much about winning games, it’s just about going out there and doing my best.”

Decision on Talbot

The rest of the season will play out as it will, presumably with Talbot and Sogaard as the two starters. But what about next season?

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion opted to keep Talbot at the trade deadline as a show of faith in his group, that it would contend to the end of the season and require experienced goaltending. Talbot’s injury hurt that initiative, but should the Sens entertain another go-around with Talbot?

He seems to get on with his teammates, including fellow goalies, but Talbot will turn 36 this summer. He is earning $3.66 million on an expiring contract.

If he would agree on a one-year deal at a figure in that neighbourhood, Talbot might not be a bad idea. But if, as many believe, he is looking for something closer to $5 million and wants more than one year, I would thank him for his services and wish him well.

Given Forsberg’s recent knee injuries and Sogaard’s inexperience, it would be prudent for the organization to find an experienced goalie as insurance, if they don’t re-sign Talbot. They can’t have this position be a question mark again, as it has been, somehow, since Craig Anderson left in 2020.

It’s time to end Ottawa’s "goalie graveyard" reputation.