Senators have achieved a new level, one where talent alone can win them games

During their long rebuild, the Senators had a difficult time with teams that should have beat. 

They had a habit of playing the contenders well, surprising the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins on more than one occasion, but would fall flat against the weak links of the league. 

That time seems to have passed. This season, Ottawa has counted victories against Anaheim (x 2), Arizona, San Jose and Philadelphia. Teams the Senators should beat. 

On Wednesday, the Senators prevailed over the Eastern Conference cellar-dwellers, the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-0. Sounds like a rout, right?

In fact, for the first time in years, we could say this was a case of the Senators winning a game on sheer talent, despite not really being 'on.’ The Blue Jackets were the better team in the first period, had several chances in alone on Sens goaltender Anton Forsberg — including a breakaway by Patrik Laine, who once scored 44 goals for the Winnipeg Jets. 

Forsberg stopped them all, and then some, en route to a 22-save shutout, his second straight win. A crowd of 14,457 took in the game at the Canadian Tire Centre. 

Forsberg’s early play allowed the Senators to rouse from their slumber to perform more like themselves in the second period, where they seized the game with three goals. Derick Brassard opened the scoring with a power-play tip of a Jake Sanderson shot, before Tim Stützle scored off a won draw by Claude Giroux. Drake Batherson added a power-play goal, ripping a shot post-and-in. 

Austin Watson scored a shorthanded goal in the third period. 

The Senators could thank the Blue Jackets for the wake-up call. 

“I think they kind of surprised us,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “They‘re a lot faster team than maybe we thought — their speed off the puck. But the response was great.”

This is what good teams do: they rebound after a slow start. Smith agreed this was a “mature” victory by his growing club.  

“Not a great start — we gave up a couple of breakaways in the first, but Forsy was outstanding,” Smith said. “In the second period we took it over.” 

Significantly, the Senators are over the .500 mark (18-17-3) for the first time since the last week of October, when they were 4-3-0. 

A focus for the Senators was generating more time in the offensive zone, something that has been a struggle in recent games. Stützle, in particular, drove possession time, wheeling and spinning in the offensive zone, without giving up the puck. 

After scoring in the second period, Stützle’s fifth in the past five games and 15th of the season, Stützle received a massive hug from defenceman Thomas Chabot. Asked afterwards what Chabot said during that long embrace, Stützle blushed and said, Chabot told him he was “effing nasty,” or words to that effect. 

“I don’t know if I should have said that,” Stützle said, laughing. The kid turns 21 on Jan. 15.

For the second straight game, Stützle was used in all situations, including the penalty kill, and was the busiest forward on the ice. He finished with 21 minutes, 39 seconds played. In the two games this week (Ottawa beat Buffalo 3-1 on Sunday), Stützle has played a total of 42:49. 

“It’s pretty good,” Smith said of Stützle’s game, laughing at his own understatement. “The edges are unbelievable. He’s feeling good. He needs a little rest, here. He’s played lots. Probably more than you want to play your No. 1 centre, but he continues to play well. These three days here will let him get a little rest.”

The Senators don’t play again until Saturday, when the Seattle Kraken visit the CTC. 

Even Giroux, who has been in the league since 2008, gets a kick out of playing with Stützle.

“He makes plays that — sometimes I’m on the ice and I have a little smile, ‘cause it’s pretty to watch,” Giroux said. “For me, Brady (Tkachuk) and Timmy, we’re just working on our chemistry. We’re going in the right direction, communicating together. We know we can play better.”

That’s a scary thought for the rest of the east, considering the play of Ottawa’s top line recently. 

Regarding the symbolic push past the .500 barrier, which the Senators finally got past after their third try, Smith wants the pedal to remain down. 

“We’ve got to do it again in January,” Smith said. “We want to get back in the pack (of contending teams). That’s our big goal. January is a big month for us.”

As a group, the Senators are taking their massive recovery from the deep hole of November in stride. It’s easy to forget this team was 6-12-1 on Nov. 23. 

Leave it to the mature Giroux to keep things calm. 

“We’re playing well, we’re getting the results right now, we could look at the standings, but it doesn’t change that we’re going one game at a time,” Giroux said. “It’s great that we won (against Columbus) but we’ve got to keep winning games if we want to get close to the playoffs.”

On Dec. 23rd, the Senators were in last place in the Atlantic Division with 31 points, sitting 11 points back of the last wild-card spot. Today, with 39 points, they have pushed past Montreal and Florida in their division and sit seven back of a playoff position. The Sens have won four of their past five games.

The shutout tradition 

To a man, the Senators were impressed with defenceman Travis Hamonic, throwing his body in front of a Laine shot late in the game. With victory assured at that point, the only reason for Hamonic to sacrifice himself was for Forsberg’s first shutout of the season. 

“D always take care of the goalie,” Smith said. “It’s gone on for a hundred years — a chance for a shutout. That’s Laine, a lot of guys aren’t getting in front of that, so that’s a lot of character.”

Norris still recovering

Centre Josh Norris, who started the season ahead of Stützle on the depth chart, is back skating with the team but won’t return from his shoulder injury any time soon. Perhaps late in January. Smith said the shoulder is not yet 100 per cent and the Senators are not going to take any chances with their young centre, who scored 35 goals last season.