After struggling late in their previous game against the Florida Panthers, the Senators again couldn’t contain their opponent in the third. Given how much more talent the Tampa Bay Lightning have, it’s not anywhere near as surprising as it was against the Cats. Still, now sitting seventh in the Atlantic Division, ahead of only Buffalo Sabres, and sporting only three wins in their last 10 games, the team needs to make some major course corrections or risk falling out of the playoff picture early.
GAME RECAP
The day started off badly for the Senators when it was announced winger Bobby Ryan had fractured a finger and their was no timetable for his return. Losing a playing of Ryan’s caliber would hurt any team, but when a team is short on top-end talent to begin with, as Ottawa is, it can be devastating. Another odd move was coach Paul MacLean announcing Zack Smith would be a healthy scratch for the game. While Smith’s struggles on the wing have been well-documented, he’s been a bit better since moving back to centre. If anything, this move allowed Colin Greening to get into the lineup, possibly to continue to showcase him for a trade, though MacLean’s fondness of Greening for his size and physical play (when he decides to engage) is known. Mika Zibanejad and also managed to get back into the lineup as a result.
Things actually started off well for the Senators. David Legwand, playing in his 1000th NHL game, scored on the powerplay to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead late in the first period. It was a solid play by Legwand to come off the wall after taking a pass from Erik Karlsson and shoot through traffic, which is what you need to beat a quality goalie like Ben Bishop. Ottawa also managed to outshoot their opponent, a rarity for the Senators, by a 9-5 margin in the first.
However, things began to shift against the Senators in the second period. The Lightning would manage to outshoot them 12-8, and Ryan Callahan, off a great feed from Steven Stamkos, would tie the game at 5:13 of the period. Eric Gryba pinched at the Lightning blueline, and his gamble backfired as it allowed Stamkos and Callahan to get a two on one break. Still, to be tied on the road with the Lightning isn’t bad, and it was still anyone’s game going into the third period.
Then the wheels game off for the Senators. Alex Killorn would give the home team the lead by tipping an Anton Stralman point shot at 1:16 of the final period and they never looked back. The Lightning’s speed and hustle to keep the puck in the Senators’ end was noticeable, and too many of the Senators’ players seemed to be standing still by comparison on the shift.
It didn’t stop there. Cedri Paquette hustled in and outworked Cody Ceci behind the net to feed Brendan Morrow for the Lightning’s third goal of the game. Jared Cowen missed picking up Morrow on the play, and it’s a shame as he and Ceci had actually been playing fairly solid of late. Young players will make mistakes, especially on defence against a good team like the Lightning, but this one still stung with the Sens trying to get tie it back up.
The Cowen-Ceci pairing was on the ice for the Lightning’s final nail in the Senators’ coffin this game, and this time Ceci missed picking up his man, Nikita Kucherov, on a Tampa powerplay. Cowen shot the puck into the boards immediately after the goal, visibly frustrated with how the game was going. The Lightning managed to outshoot the Sens 15-10 in the final period and 32-27 over the game.
GAME NOTES
Phillips Lays an Egg: In his second game back from injury, Chris Phillips was a team-worst -15 Corsi at even strength and played 21:54, 18:31 of that coming at five on five. Both of those numbers were second on the team to only Karlsson. The next worst Senator in this department was Alex Chiasson at -9. Phillips’ regular partner on the blueline, Karlsson, was only a -2, and the Sens’ second worst defenseman in this category was Ceci at -8. When a player is consistently giving the opposition that many chances with the puck, it exhausts the team and goalies, and allows the opposition to get into a rhythm and keep momentum . Phillips had some really solid games early in the year, but he’s been showing his age in a bad way the last few games, and was even before missing a few contests.
MacArthur Ice Cold: After a scintillating start to the season, which included seven goals in his first 12 games, Clarke MacArthur has only a single goal in his last 11 games, none in the past six, and only two points in that same six game span. Worse, he took six penalty minutes last game, including a double-minor for high sticking Killorn mid-way through the third period. The Bolts would go on to capitalize on that lengthy powerplay, putting them out or reach by a score of 4-1 over Ottawa. The Sens need their best left-winger to be better if they hope to compete.
Another Late Game Collapse: For the second game in a row, the Senators completely collapsed in the third period. Now, struggling a bit more in the second game of a back-to-back situation when the other team is well-rested isn’t unheard of, and the Sens didn’t get outshot as badly in the third period as they did against Florida (18-4 in Fort Lauderdale versus 15-10 in Tampa), but this is disturbing to see in two consecutive games, let alone a game where the Senators should have been fired up to ensure the same thing didn’t happen again. It’s even worse when you consider the Senators have a bad tendency of giving up a lot of shots already. Really, this isn’t too surprising, as many, including myself, wondered when this trend would finally bite the Senators. And in the last 10 games, it really has. General Manager Bryan Murray noted in a recent interview that the team’s defensive game was a bit disturbing, and after these last two games especially, you have to think he’ll be working the phones even more to try and trade for a defenseman to help the team. Marc Methot may be close to returning, but Ottawa needs more than just him to help shore up their lackluster blueline.
Murray may also want to start asking if the problem is with the coaches’ defensive system. In their first three seasons under Paul MacLean, the Senators’ average shots against per game have been 32.0 in 2011-12, 31.3 in 2012-13, and 34.7 in 2013-14. That’s good for 29th, 23rd, and 29th in the league in each respective season. Now the team is giving up an average of 35.2 shots per game this season, good for 29th again. Everyone talks about needing to return to the “Pesky” Sens style of play from the 2012-13 season, and while that team was better in terms of the average shots given up per game, it was still high. And if we’re being completely honest, that team was backed by spectacular goaltending in a lockout-shortened season. Was is sustainable? There’s a good case to be made that it wasn’t. And now with Lehner and Anderson again playing well, we’re seeing the sheer number of pucks they’re facing per night wearing them down. It’s pretty clear MacLean and his staff’s defensive system is lacking, and this team doesn’t have the offensive talent to play a run-and gun-game, even with Ryan in the lineup. Part of the defensive struggles come from the lack of talent on the team, not surprising when the team’s payroll is dead last in the NHL at the moment. But at some point it has to be asked if the structure being taught to the players is inherently flawed.
The Senators next game is Tuesday, December 2nd at 7:00 pm against the New York Islanders. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day.