If this was just a blip, it was quite the blip.
As blips go.
The Ottawa Senators had been mostly cruising lately, winners of four of five since Boxing Day. That is, until the Seattle Kraken showed up on Saturday.
You remember the Kraken. Last year’s expansion fodder. About as automatic an opponent for grabbing two points as any in the NHL, north of Arizona.
Perhaps the Sens didn’t get the memo that this year’s Kraken are a very different creature from last season’s beastly team. They play fast, and seem to move in a pack, as challenging a five-on-five club as there is in the league.
The Senators found out the hard way, standing by slack-jawed as the Kraken put eight even-strength goals past two Ottawa netminders and owned the night 8-4. Emerging star centre Tim Stützle scored a hat trick and added an assist for the lone bright spot for the home team. One of those goals bounced off Stützle on a power play, so Seattle outscored the Sens 8-3 at five-on-five.
Senators head coach D.J. Smith, who had taken some pride in his team’s defensive play recently — allowing three goals or fewer in five of the six previous games — was at a loss to explain his club’s performance.
“You only win by playing hard defence in this league, and we didn’t play nearly enough defence to win the game,” Smith said.
Smith and his players often speak about the way they “have” to play to be successful. It’s safe to say they didn’t come near that standard.
“We have a certain way that we play that allows us to play with anyone, a certain structure, a certain game plan,” Smith said. “The first period we did, and everything they shot went in. We get it to 3-3 and the odd-man rushes we typically don’t give up, we give up. Didn’t break out, didn’t move out. Crazy mistakes, really.”
Smith was pretty decisive in hooking starter Anton Forsberg after Seattle’s third goal at the 15:13 mark of the first period, by Justin Schultz. Brady Tkachuk had replied to the Kraken’s opening goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand, so the score was 3-1 at the time Forsberg was replaced in goal by Cam Talbot.
No one figured that the Kraken would continue to light up Talbot. But any notion that the visitors would nurse their lead ended with Seattle putting five past Talbot.
“It was a tough night for both of us," Talbot said. "We'll both take the heat on this one. I know I can speak for him (Forsberg) because he is as accountable as me. You score four goals in a hockey game, and your goalie should be able to make the saves to win the rest of the game. I think he'd be with me when I say we need to be better, and we will be.”
The Senators have shown the ability to bounce back. As recently as Dec. 31 they had a weak showing in Detroit, a 4-2 loss, only to rebound with wins over Buffalo and Columbus.
The Nashville Predators are in town Monday to close out this four-game homestand before the Senators leave for three on the road — against Arizona, Colorado, and St. Louis.
As bad as Saturday’s loss was, the Senators have a chance to pull within five points of a wild-card spot if they beat Nashville tonight.
A rout, by the numbers
A 12-goal game is bound to show some statistical anomalies, and this game had a few. To start with, EIGHT different players scored for Seattle, all at even strength.
The Kraken took just 24 shots, meaning they scored on one third of them!
Jordan Eberle and Matt Beniers both wound up plus-4 on the night.
Senators forwards Shane Pinto and Alex DeBrincat wore minus-5 tags, while dependable defencemen Jake Sanderson and Travis Hamonic were both minus-4.
Stützle shines … again
Pucks continue to pour in for Tim Stützle, who recorded his second career hat trick on Saturday. That makes six goals in his three January games and eight goals in his past six games. The kid is on fire. He turns 21 on Jan. 15.
He is historically great. With 52 career goals before his 21st birthday, Stützle became the youngest Ottawa Senators player to score 50. Tkachuk surpassed Alexei Yashin when he scored 50 at the age of 21 years, 160 days. Stützle was 20 years, 357 days when he reached the mark.
"He's a star," Smith said. "Three and one (assist) tonight. We scored four goals. With four goals, you should win every time in this league if you take care of the puck and you check, and we just didn't check."
Another strong crowd
The Senators have drawn extremely well over the holiday period. A sold-out CTC for the Kraken (19,347) marked the fourth time since Dec. 22 that Ottawa has had a gate of at least 17,000. The overflow crowd of 20,016 to see the Boston Bruins play the Senators on Dec. 27 was the largest attendance in several years.
The climbing numbers prove once again that the location of the CTC in Kanata is much less of an issue than the interest level in the hockey club. Interest in the Sens is the highest it has been since the rebuild began in 2018.
Sens display Skills
The Senators held their annual skills competition on Sunday. Surprisingly, checking centre Mark Kastelic won the fastest skater competition, when Stützle stumbled. Drake Batherson won for hardest shot (103.9 mph) and injured centre Josh Norris took the shooting accuracy competition, a good sign regarding his future return to the lineup. More than 7,000 fans attended the event at the CTC.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.