Winning Weekend: All kinds of good signs for Senators

So, how was Your weekend?

If it was half as good as the Ottawa Senators' home-opening weekend, it was probably a thumbs up. 

By Sunday night, the Sens were rated two thumbs up after two wins over two Eastern Conference rivals. Talk about consistency, Ottawa beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 on Saturday afternoon and then handled the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Sunday. 

Which particular box would you like to check first?

How about the captain, Brady Tkachuk, scoring two goals in both games, to lead the way. In both games, Tkachuk scored the fourth goal of the game to eliminate any thought of a visitor comeback. Tkachuk could have a hat trick Sunday but flipped a pass to Tim Stützle instead, “to give Timmy a touch,” Tkachuk said. There’s your selfless leader, folks. 

How about both goalies, Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo, earning their first victories of the season? Forsberg stopped 19 of 21 Flyers shots on Saturday while Korpisalo, the big off-season signing, recovered from his loss in Carolina in the season opener last Wednesday to beat the Bolts with 22 saves off 24 shots. 

How about getting Vladimir Tarasenko going? The free-agent winger had a goal and an assist in his best game as a Senator. OK, he’s only had three games with Ottawa, but this was a very good sign. 

Finally, remember all the talk from head coach D.J. Smith about the Senators reducing play in their own zone and getting rid of the 40-plus shots against scenario? Well, the Sens systematically won these two games and outshot their opponents by a combined 68-45. That is two consecutive games allowing fewer than 25 shots against. 

“I think we’ve done a really good job of not vacating the front of the net and helping the goalie,” Smith said. “That helps when you break out, it helps when you’re in the O-zone a little longer. We still want to work on that, but I thought we worked really hard.”

Little things separate the good teams from those that merely want to be good. 

The Sens are starting to understand that. Smith feels that the learning took place over the past few years as his growing club watched the elite teams grind them down. 

“We’ve been beat up a lot as a group,” Smith says. “As young guys, they took a lot of beatings. They know how hard it is to try to beat these good players. I think we respect the fact that it takes the chip and the chase, just winning an inch here, an inch there.”

On Sunday, the once feared Lightning clawed back to a 2-2 game, despite getting outshot and outplayed by the home team. The old Sens might have found a way to lose to a veteran team like Tampa, but this time it was Ottawa with the dagger – a go-ahead goal by Mathieu Joseph with less than a minute left in the second period. 

Tarasenko made a terrific play to steal a puck and get it to Joseph in the high slot. 

The Sens closed it out in the third on goals by Tkachuk and Stützle, into the empty net. Tampa Bay didn’t really get a sniff at victory, or even forcing overtime. If the Senators can make a habit of closing out games, this will be a playoff team. 

“There were those years where teams were putting an automatic 40 (shots) on us and our goalies had to stand on their heads,” Tkachuk said. “So, that’s always been our goal, to try to limit the chances for either Korpi or Forsy and I think we’re starting to do that. I think we have the puck more, which helps and I think we’re playing fast and not giving up much in our D-zone.”

Tkachuk concurs with Smith that those losing years helped shape this team today. 

“We remember that feeling” of losing, Tkachuk says. 

It’s only one weekend. And this five-game homestand was supposed to give the Sens an opportunity for a strong start. But kudos for grabbing a four-point weekend when that was a solid par for this course. 

There remain kinks to work out, including the defensive pairing of Thomas Chabot and Jakob Chychrun, still sorting out their gaps as Chabot shifts over to his right side. 

Without a doubt the Senators have the strongest D-corps they have had in several years, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be tweaks, and perhaps even changes in the pairings. For now, they will get a chance to figure it out. 

There is also the matter of getting winger Drake Batherson going. With Josh Norris still out and Shane Pinto unsigned (there were more “We want Pin-to!” chants on Sunday), Batherson is on a third line with Rourke Chartier and Dominik Kubalik. They haven’t got much going so far. In fact, they haven’t registered a single point as a line. 

Attendance at the Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday was 15,584. A pretty decent second night crowd coming off a sellout with more than 100 per cent capacity Saturday -- 20,011. 

Tarasenko settles in 

A trio that has played well is the second line of Ridly Greig, Joseph and Tarasenko. They have combined for three goals and nine points in three games. Tarasenko has one goal and four points. Joseph has a pair of goals. 

Tarasenko’s goal versus Tampa was a thing of beauty. Greig used his hand to corral a high puck, tucked a pass through his own legs to Tarasenko, who then kicked the puck up from his skate to his stick before tucking it home. 

Tarasenko is being counted on to help replace the goals lost when Alex DeBrincat was traded to Detroit. On a one-year deal, Tarasenko had to feel some relief when he opened the scoring at 7:02 of the first period. 

“There’s always pressure with every season, the season begins, you try to score,” Tarasenko says. “It’s my first season, I’m starting with a new team and my family came (to Ottawa) a few days ago. It’s a big moment, I’m not going to lie. I said at the intermission, the guys created a good chance for me and we won the game so it’s a good day.”

Tarasenko and his wife, Yana, have three children. Tarasenko says he feels more settled, with a sense of “relief” now that the family is together in Ottawa.