Artem Zub's return not enough to solve Senators' defensive issues

OTTAWA — A chorus of “Zuuuub” rang out at Senators practice on Thursday as teammates imitated the cheer Senators fans blare out whenever Ottawa’s defensive stalwart Artem Zub touches the puck. The occasion was his return to the lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion in the third game of the season.

“He’s hard, he’s strong, he moves pucks well. He’s excellent in all aspects,” said Jake Sanderson on Zub’s importance to the Senators.

But Zub alone isn’t enough to fix Ottawa’s defensive problems.

November is the scariest month for Senators fans. The team is 10-27-1 in November since 2021-22. Again on Thursday, the team fell by the wayside against the New York Islanders, 4-2 in Zub’s return to the team.

“Mentally, we weren’t maybe as sharp and physically as sharp as we needed to be early in the game,” said Ottawa coach Travis Green.

The Senators struggled out of the gate and were burned on the defensive end on multiple occasions. For the seventh time in 13 games, falling behind 2-0 to begin the game.

“Our execution was off, and some of our decision-making with the puck,” said Green.

In Zub’s absence, Travis Hamonic was paired with Sanderson and they had struggled. They were outshot 129-162 and outscored one to six at five-on-five.

In theory, Zub’s presence on Thursday might have allowed Sanderson to rise to the elite level he is capable of. However, even Zub’s steadiness could not undo the Senators’ little mistakes that were the difference in the game.

In the second period, both Zub and Sanderson found themselves on the wrong side of Bo Horvat and Anders Lee, leaving Lee to finish a goal from the slot to open the scoring 1-0. Minutes later, Sanderson got caught a step out of position at the offensive blue line, allowing Horvat to launch a saucer pass that led to former Senator Jean-Gabriel Pageau racing down the ice on a breakaway to score, putting the Senators down 2-0.

“We made a couple of mistakes on goals that we would like to have back,” said Green.

Despite the costly defensive slips that crept into the Senators’ game, Zub’s arrival did bolster the team’s overall play.

The Senators out-chanced the Islanders 69-45 during the game and 57-42 at five-on-five.

“I'm looking around the room and on the ice, and we got guys that are playing some really good hockey,” said Senators defenceman Nick Jensen. “I just think we got to take a shift-by-shift mindset of winning every shift because we just were playing really good and then we maybe take one shift off, and it's biting us.”

Two third-period goals from Jensen and Drake Batherson gave the Senators a shot at tying the game, but it wasn’t enough.

Zub’s return had a domino effect on the defensive lineup. In his absence, the third pairing of Tyler Kleven and Jacob Bernard-Docker had played exceptionally well for the Senators, out-chancing opponents 107-91 and outscoring opponents five to three at five-on-five. But Green made the curious decision on Thursday to break up the pair and match Kleven with Hamonic, even though they had been out-chanced 17-28 when playing together prior to Thursday’s game.

The rationale for Green in picking Hamonic over Bernard-Docker was simple.

“He’s a veteran guy,” said Green.  “We’ve got a relatively young group back there. He brings a physical element to the game. He understands the game too as far as when to speak up. He’s had a good start to the year.”

The decision to choose leadership over youth went poorly. A miscommunication between Ottawa’s goaltender Anton Forsberg and Hamonic behind the net allowed for Forsberg’s pass to be intercepted, directly leading to Kyle Palmieri’s game-winning goal.

Meanwhile, unlike in the last two games when Green played his three defence pairings almost evenly at five-on-five, this time Hamonic and Kleven played 6:47 less than Sanderson and Zub. Green’s next move should be to move Bernard-Docker from the press box onto the third pairing with Kleven to provide the Senators with three go-to pairs.

Zub’s return gives Green more defensive options, but he won’t fix everything. Cleaner, consistent play will be needed for the Senators to go from 6-7-0 to where they want to be as a playoff team.

One clear success that emerged in Ottawa’s defensive game during Zub’s hiatus was the pairing of Jensen and Thomas Chabot. The two continued their excellent play against the Islanders.

“Both good players,” said Green.

A stable complementary defenceman for Chabot had been missing in Ottawa. Everyone from Nikita Zaitsev to Jakob Chychrun had run through Chabot’s right side. But the only partner that worked was Zub. Chabot and Zub outscored opponents 52-42 when they were paired together from 2021-22 to last season.

But Zub’s premier defensive skills were often required on other pairings.

“I mean, the past few years were a little bit different,” said Chabot “And I mean, it was every game where there was some difference (in partners). So, it's hard to build something and build some chemistry when you're always kind of switching partners.” That hasn’t been a problem with Chabot and Jensen, who joined the team over the summer in a trade with Washington for Chychrun. The Senators have outshot their opponents 207 to 165 when they’re on the ice while outscoring opponents 14 to 11. Their coach notices.

“You can see it analytically and with not just the analytics, just by the eye, I think they're both playing better.”

Throughout the Islanders game, Jensen and Chabot were dynamite, jumping into the rush, creating chances and dominating possession by out-chancing New York 27 to 15 at five-on-five. The pair were on for the Senators’ first goal when Chabot circled around on the point, flipping a beautiful pass to Jensen, who walked into the slot to rocket a shot past Semyon Varlamov. 

Their connection on the ice is working partly because of their growing connection off the ice.

“On the road, we are spending time together and getting to know each other,” said Chabot. “Going out for dinners, going out for a bunch of little things on the road. It's been fun.”

“He's good, he can skate, he can move the puck,” said Chabot about Jensen. “He's got really good poise. It’s been fun. Both of us can go up there and make some plays. Whether it's in the offensive zone or in the defensive zone. I think it's easy. Any of us can break the puck out and use our feet and use our skill to take over.”

Weird and concerning stat

In 13 games to begin the season, inexplicably every single game has started off 2-0, either in the Senators’ favour or in the other team’s.

Fun tidbit
Batherson told Sportsnet.ca that Claude Giroux changes his stick tape whenever he is on a scoring drought while citing that Giroux would always score last season when he changed his stick tape. However, Giroux did it again at practice on Thursday but did not score later that night. Giroux is on a five-game goal drought.