The thinnest of margins makes an enormous difference.
The Ottawa Senators were not dominated or pushed around: they were simply outexecuted all over the ice on Saturday night, snapping their nine-game winning streak against the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-1 loss.
The play that summarized the difference between the teams was when Senators defencemen Travis Hamonic and Tyler Kleven both found themselves below the goal line while killing a penalty, leaving the Canadiens’ Emil Heineman open in front of the goal. Heineman slotted home a snapshot to open the scoring.
This season, new Senators coach Travis Green reshaped the penalty kill to a diamond formation intended to give the opponents the outside to shoot while protecting the middle at all costs. The first goal of the game was an example of the Senators not sticking to the gameplan, only to be burned by their mistake.
“It wasn’t a clean 60-minute kind of game,” Senators’ goaltender Linus Ullmark said. “Some breakdowns, some here and there, and we got punished.”
Unlike the Canadiens, who capitalized on their power-play opportunities, scoring one goal, and scoring immediately after a power play, while the Senators squandered theirs. The Senators went 0-4 on the power play despite ample opportunities. In the second period, Drake Batherson and Jake Sanderson had chances in the slot, but the Canadiens deflected the puck to scuttle both attempts. It wasn’t that the Senators played poorly, but the Canadiens made the little plays while the Senators did not.
The Canadiens also had a definite edge in net. Ullmark, the Senators’ newly signed former Vezina winner, was the first star in their season-opening win against the Cup champion Florida Panthers. But against the Canadiens, he was ordinary while the Canadiens’ Samuel Montembeault shone.
Montembeault stopped 24 of 25 shots, robbing Shane Pinto twice in the third period with two kick saves. Ullmark made some good saves, including on a penalty shot, but he will want back the short-side goal by Cole Caufield that beat him above his shoulder giving the Canadiens a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Sometimes, a shooter just beats you.
“Last game, for me I had the luck with me, and then this time it wasn’t as much,” Ullmark said. “And that’s just how it is. I’ve learned to kind of let these things slide like water off a goose.”
Don’t get it twisted, this game was not about goaltending. Ullmark played well enough to keep the Senators in the game. But the Senators made life for Montembeault too easy. The Senators had plenty of zone time against the Canadiens but were limited to the outside as Montreal swarmed them at every opportunity. While the shots were almost equal (26-25 for Montreal), when playing five-on-five the Canadiens had eight high-danger chances to the Senators’ five, according to NatStatTrick.com. A team that has prided itself on taking away the middle for their opponents had it done to them.
In the third period, with the game still in the balance at 2-0, the Senators fell short-handed. The Senators managed to survive the virtual must-kill, but moments after the penalty ended, their newly acquired defenceman Nick Jensen failed to clear the puck, throwing it onto Kaiden Guhle’s stick. The Canadiens maintained control in the offensive zone. A momentary miscommunication between Brady Tkachuk and Ridly Greig allowed the Habs’ Alex Newhook to stroll down the slot to clinch the game.
Mistakes like these have been the centrepiece of Ottawa’s failures in recent seasons; good teams don’t lose the plot like this — at least not as often.
“I thought when it got to 3-0, we showed a little bit of immaturity by starting to run and gun a bit,” Green said.
In the final frame, the Senators were outshot 15-9, regressing into the sloppiness and lack of attention to detail that has plagued the underachieving team in recent seasons. Late in the game, Thomas Chabot slid too deep into the Canadiens’ zone, leading to a quick counterattack, allowing Nick Suzuki to stage a breakaway with Cole Caufield, who finished the play to seal the 4-1 Canadiens win.
“We’re not going to flush it,” said Green when speaking about how his team will move forward. “When you win a game, or especially at this time of the year, when you lose a game, you get something from it, a teaching moment. (We) definitely will watch the game again and learn some things from our game tonight.”
Senators will need to learn that even though they are structurally sounder and committing fewer mistakes, it’s still not good enough.
“In this league, it’s all about not losing two in a row; that’s mindset that we got to have,” Ullmark said.
It’s up to the Senators as to whether it’s one poorly executed game or a regression back to bad habits.
Stutzle continues strong start
Tim Stutzle is doing his best to dispel any concern that his career is stalled after a pedestrian 2023-24 campaign when he registered 70 points in 75 games. Stutzle has come out of the gate wonderfully, scoring three goals in his first two games.
He dazzled with a spectacular goal against the Canadiens, dodging niftily past the last Canadiens defender and sniping a shot over Montembeault’s shoulder.
Through two games, he has been Ottawa’s best player, scoring three out of the four goals for the Senators. Now he needs his teammates to back him up.
Silly stat: Stutzle is on pace for 123 goals this season.