2 quick takeaways from Senators' 2-1 loss against Rangers at MSG
The Ottawa Senators closed out October strong with an 8-1 home win on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues. As November arrived, the Senators hit the road to play the New York Rangers in New York City.
The Senators entered tonight's game struggling with losing six of their last nine games against the Rangers. With a new season, the Senators were eager to turn the tables against the Rangers, but couldn't catch an offensive break.
The Rangers defeated the Senators 2-0 at Madison Square Garden to drop the Senators to 5-5-0 on the season and make the Senators road record worse at 1-4-0.
Playing against the Rangers on the road offered a good test for the Senators to compete against one of the most elite teams on the road in a tough atmosphere. However, nothing went right at all for the Senators as the road struggles continued.
2. Goaltending appears to be back
Linus Ullmark made 26 saves in the Senators' win on Tuesday night against the Blues. After two days of rest, Ullmark would get his second consecutive start against one of the best offenses in the NHL.
Ullmark started the game off slow when Artemi Panarin scored 3:03 into the game. After Panarin's goal, Ullmark settled in and kept it a one-goal game.
That was until Alexis Lafreniere scored a powerplay just under three minutes into the third period. After Lafreniere's goal, Ullmark didn't allow in another goal and finished making 16 saves.
The Senators had every right to be concerned about Ullmark when he allowed in four goals in the Senators' second game of the season on Oct. 12 after a strong Senators debut. Now with allowing in three goals in the past two games, Ullmark appears to be right on track to showing why he is a top goaltender in the NHL.
1. Senators couldn't solve the Rangers' defense and got "goalied"
The Senators' offense was spectacular for the month of October with scoring 25 goals in the final five games of the month, and scoring eight goals in a game twice.
Heading into their game against the Rangers, the Senators were facing a challenge going up against a tough defense and arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, Igor Shesterkin. Even with facing a top defense and goaltender, the Senators weren't afraid, but couldn't carry their offensive momentum from October into the first game of November.
Even with firing from all different angels, the Senators only scored one goal and Shesterkin made 40 saves against the Senators. Adam Gaudette scored his fifth goal of the season to break up the shutout with 7:32 remaining in regulation to make the deficit 2-1, but the Senators couldn't follow up with another goal to tie the game.
They don't call him @Hockey_Gaud for nothing!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/oM9Vv1qHUv
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 2, 2024
The Rangers defense held the Senators, who came into the game with the second best powerplay in the NHL to 0-of-5 and finished the game with 22 blocked shots. Claude Giroux had his seven-game point streak snapped and was robbed big late in the second period by Shesterkin.
I-GOR 🗣️ I-GOR 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/5SJaJrkM8q
— NHL (@NHL) November 2, 2024
The Senators will be back in action tomorrow night as they close out their first back-to-back of the season as they host the Seattle Kraken at Canadian Tire Centre. Puck drop for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. The Senators and Kraken split the season series last season with both teams winning their game at home.