2 takeaways from Senators' awful 4-0 loss to Blues in St. Louis

Ottawa Senators v St Louis Blues
Ottawa Senators v St Louis Blues | Dilip Vishwanat/GettyImages

The Ottawa Senators began 2025 with a 4-2 loss last night against the Dallas Stars. After the loss to the Stars, the Senators would have another game in less than 24 hours against the St. Louis Blues.

The Senators were hoping to sweep their season series against the Blues after an 8-1 win against the Blues on Oct. 29 in Ottawa in the first meeting, but the second meeting was anything but the first one.

The Blues shutout the Senators 4-0 at Enterprise Center to drop the Senators to 19-17-2 on the season. With the loss, the Senators are 0-2-0 in 2025 and have lost four of their last five games.

Starting 2025 with back-to-back losses is a rough way to begin a new year. The Senators' trip to St. Louis was one they'd like to forget.

2. Not much of a welcome back

On Dec. 14, goaltender Anton Forsberg suffered an injury during warmups that caused him not to play. With a back-to-back, Leevi Merilainen started against the Stars last night despite Forsberg being activated of injured reserve. Forsberg would return in goal and start for the first time since Dec. 8.

Forsberg's start went rough quickly when he allowed in two goals to Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad in under 16 minutes. Both goals came on a backhander. Saad would later on score two more goals in the game to complete a natural hat trick.

With his game against the Blues, Forsberg has now allowed in four goals in four of his 12 starts this season. Tonight was the sixth consecutive game in which Forsberg allowed in at least three goals. The Senators have now lost five of their last six games when Forsberg starts.

1. Offense has been cold to begin 2025

When Brady Tkachuk and Ridly Greig scored in a 24-second span against the Stars in the first period, it appeared the Senators would have a hot offense to begin 2025. After the two goals in 24 seconds, the Senators were shutdown the rest of the way against the Stars by having 13 shots on goal in the game. Against the Blues, the Senators' offense continued their cold stretch.

Jordan Binnington recorded a 20-save shutout against the Senators to record his third shutout of the season. The closest the Senators came to scoring came on two chances in the second period. Nick Cousins had a wide open net, but couldn't get the puck past Binnington in the crease. Thomas Chabot appeared to have scored to cut the deficit to 3-1 with under 35 seconds left in the period, but the goal was called back after Cousins was offside.

After failing on their only powerplay attempt against the Blues, the Senators are now 0/5 on the powerplay two games into 2025. Also through two games in 2025, the Senators have only recorded 33 combined shots on goal. With being shutout against the Blues, the Senators haven't scored a goal in five periods.

The Senators will play their last game of their nine-game road trip on Jan. 7 when they play the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. The Senators won the first meeting against the Red Wings 2-1 on Dec. 5 in Ottawa.

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