Maybe it just took 20 games to find themselves.
The Ottawa Senators have spent most of the first quarter of the season driving their fans crazy with loose and inconsistent play, despite what seemed to be a favourable early schedule laden with home dates.
Game 20, though?
That is how the Senators want to play every night. In a thorough dismantling of a New York Rangers team that had only lost four games in regulation, Ottawa hit all the right notes with a 6-2 victory.
Tighter team play. Strong goaltending. Timely scoring.
If they can get the power play back on track, the Senators will be a legitimate threat to beat anyone on a given night.
Where they are relative to expectations
During a media scrum at the owners’ meetings this week, Michael Andlauer was asked to evaluate what he has seen from the Senators so far. He responded with a deep SIGH. “There you go,” he said, chuckling, as his sigh ended. He added that there are “some areas for improvement” and ended on a positive note. “It’s so early in the season. We’ve got games in hand on many teams. I’ll leave it at that.”
Of course, Andlauer was speaking before the Senators win over New York, Ottawa’s second straight, which improved the overall record to 10-10-0.
Not great. But for a team that was two games below .500 after a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the mood and the outlook have changed considerably in the past several days.
The Senators still have a chance to live up to the pre-season expectations that they would be a playoff contender this season.
It will have to take a different path, because what was expected was that Ottawa would finally have a strong start to the season and build off that. Instead, it will try to mount a charge in the month of December. So far, so good.
Grading the top-six forwards
Brady Tkachuk: A
The team leader in goals (13) and fiery play. Sometimes Tkachuk’s emotion can get the better of him, but the captain of the ship might just want to bottle up the game he played against the Rangers Tuesday. Always in control. A menace in the crease. Defensively responsible. A leader all night long.
Tim Stützle: A
Ottawa’s most talented forward. So fun to watch. Had some early struggles to the season but is the runaway leader in assists and points (24). With just five goals scored coming off a 39-goal campaign, Stützle will improve on his 8.1 shooting percentage.
Claude Giroux: A
The veteran Giroux brings so many intangibles to this team. He has a knack for making the big play out of the smallest of details, keeping a puck in or making a hit to create a turnover. His passing is elite and he rarely loses an important faceoff, at 60 per cent overall. Tied with Tkachuk for second in scoring with 19 points.
Josh Norris: B-
Norris returned to the lineup with a bang on Oct. 18, with a pair of goals in a 6-1 victory over Washington. And he scored just three goals in the next 16 games. We are cutting him some slack for a return from a second shoulder surgery. Norris had a strong game against New York, and was engaged all night. Perhaps it will be the start of Norris getting on a roll and looking more like the player who scored 35 goals in 66 games in 2021-22.
Vladimir Tarasenko: B-
Tarasenko scored three times in the month of October and had none in 13 games before exploding for two goals and an assist against the Rangers. For a guy who has always played the right side, Tarasenko has looked more than comfortable at left wing on a line with Stützle and Drake Batherson. His play away from the puck is better than advertised. If this six-time, 30-plus goal scorer gets hot, look out. Having Stützle as his centre might be the answer.
Drake Batherson: B-
Batherson’s play has really taken off in recent games after a pretty ugly start to the season. Funny how a player can be better defensively when he gets a few goals, but Batherson’s all-around game has improved. Seven of his eight goals have come in the past 11 games.
Grading the bottom-six forwards
Mathieu Joseph: A
Remember when Joseph was supposed to be traded to clear cap space? That was such an August idea. Joseph was Ottawa’s best, most reliable forward in the pre-season and he has carried it over. No one expected Joseph to be in the top-six in scoring for Ottawa as well as providing a solid two-way game. At plus 11, Joseph has the best plus minus on the team. His speed makes him a constant threat to break up a play or get in on the forecheck.
Dominik Kubalik: C
As one of two players expected to replace the goal-scoring of Alex DeBrincat (Tarasenko being the other), Kubalik has been a letdown. Owns a team-worst -11. Had a decent start, scoring four times in his 11 games as a Senator. Two of his four goals were game winners. But he has zero goals in his last 9 games since a two-goal game versus the Leafs on Nov. 8.
Ridly Greig: B
Greig, who returned to the lineup on Tuesday versus the Rangers, had an excellent start to the season before his injury on Nov. 2 vs. Los Angeles. A third line centre with an edge, Greig has a knack for getting under the skin of opponents and has been productive, with seven points in just 10 games played. His return adds balance and depth to the forward lines.
Parker Kelly: B-
Kelly has been absolutely fine in his role as a fourth-line winger. He’s been physical, kills penalties and has the team’s only shorthanded goal this season.
Rourke Chartier: C+
Considering Chartier had just an outside shot of making the team, he has been steady as a third/fourth line centre, and needed as a replacement to the injured Mark Kastelic. Weirdly, Kastelic suffered a high-ankle sprain in the same game as Greig. Kastelic remains on LTIR. Chartier has averaged 12 minutes per game and has appeared in all 20 games for Ottawa.
Zack MacEwen: D
MacEwen’s most conspicuous contribution this season was a five-minute major and match penalty for an illegal hit to the head on Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers, in a game the Sens were trailing just 3-0, with at least some hope of getting back in the game in the third period. It ended 5-0. In eight games, MacEwen has zero goals and 25 penalty minutes. Seems perplexing that MacEwen was given a three-year, $2.3M contract in July. He saw 2:38 of ice time on Tuesday.
Grading the defence
Jake Sanderson: A+
Is there a defenceman in the NHL who has been handed more responsibility more quickly than Sanderson? The Senators sophomore continues to be Ottawa’s best defenceman. Their best defender. Tied with Jakob Chychrun for points by Ottawa defencemen. Two of Sanderson’s four goals have come on the power play, and Sanderson will see more time there with Thomas Chabot injured. Sanderson’s skating and his ability to read and shut down opponents’ moves and keep pucks in at the point are all off the charts.
Jakob Chychrun: B
With five goals, Chychrun leads Ottawa’s D-men in that category. Has had some defensive miscues. As a group, Ottawa’s defence has not lived up to the expectations based on paper. Is that about to change with the recent tweaks that have tightened up Ottawa’s overall team defence? The Sens have not had a blueline this deep for many years.
Artem Zub: B
Zub was so good a couple of years ago, he has had difficulty playing up to his own standard. Though he remains Ottawa’s sturdiest defender, he has had some injury issues, missing a chunk of time last season and then this year having a concussion. He is sorely missed when out of the lineup. He was a rock against the Rangers. Led the team in TOI with 24:42, had two assists and was plus 1.
Thomas Chabot: B-
Chabot’s biggest challenge this season has been staying in the lineup. After missing 10 games with a broken hand suffered Oct. 26 vs the Islanders, Chabot returned for Ottawa’s two weekend games but then suffered a knee injury in Saturday’s win over Seattle. Though he finished the game, Chabot was sent for more tests on Tuesday and did not dress against the Rangers. He still leads the Sens in average time on ice (24:22). Chabot’s offence has really dried up. A 14-goal scorer, with 55 points in 70 games played in 2018-19, he has no goals and four assists in nine games this season.
Erik Brannstrom: C+
I think we all look at Brannstrom through a different lens than we used when Brannstrom was considered the key piece in the Mark Stone trade and a potential star after being drafted 15th overall by the Vegas Knights in 2017. Now, fans are OK with Brannstrom being a steady defenceman who gets the puck out of his own zone and long gone is any thought of being an offensive sparkplug. Brannstrom has five goals and 50 points in 205 NHL games. There was a time when it wasn’t clear he could be an NHL regular and he has proved to be more resilient than many imagined. We won’t soon forget his game-tying goal in Stockholm.
Travis Hamonic: C
As a third pairing guy who is physical on a defence corps not especially hard to play against, Hamonic does serve a purpose. His mobility is limited. He’s a veteran that the young defenceman can look up to for advice and support.
Goaltending grade
Joonas Korpisalo: B-
There was a time when it looked as though Korpisalo was going to grab the starting job and run with it, but at the 20-game mark, Ottawa is still looking for consistent goaltending. Everyone liked the look of this tandem but to date both goalies have a save percentage below .900 and neither guy has more than five wins. To be fair, the Senators off-and-on defensive structure has not made them an easy team to backstop.
Anton Forsberg: B
Forsberg has had an up and down first quarter, but lately is back up again. He shut out the Seattle Kraken while making 39 saves and Tuesday was rock solid when needed in the 6-2 win over New York. Suddenly Forsberg’s numbers are more respectable: 5-4-0 with a 2.91 goals-against average. That .891 save percentage is improving as well after a couple of early blowouts made it ugly.
Big question for the second quarter
Are they contenders or pretenders?
Right now, the month of December means everything. With games every other day, the Senators have a chance to make up ground in the east, but they will have to earn it against some tough opponents and a five-game road trip mid-month.
How they respond in December and where they sit when the New Year rolls around will establish whether the Senators are in position to make any roster additions down the stretch. Even that won’t be easy, given their salary cap situation.
If they fall out of contention, the Senators have pieces that could be moved at the trade deadline.