Ottawa Senators Unable To Convert On Man Advantage, Fall To Capitals

The night began on a positive note, as Chris Phillips celebrated setting the record for most games played by an Ottawa Senator at 1179. It will be quite some time until that record is broken, if ever, as Ottawa Senators lose 2-1 to the Washington Capitals.

GAME RECAP

There’s not a whole lot I can say about the first period. The shots after 20 minutes were 6 apiece. At least there were very few whistles, so it went by fairly quickly. The most exciting moment of the period was actually when I went to the kitchen to find I had barbecue chips. Sweet.

The second period however began much differently than the first. As Erik Karlsson came around his own net, Alexander Ovechkin sent him into the boards, despite knowing he would make contact with nothing but Karlsson’s numbers. This lead to Bobby Ryan going after Ovechkin, giving the two of them offsetting minors.

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The remainder of the first half of the period had a few decent chances for both teams, but nothing got to the back of either net. The scoring was opened by Kyle Turris, after the Senators spent what seemed like an hour cycling the puck in the Capitals’ end. Eventually Mark Stone found an open Turris, who rifled it past Braden Holtby.

The Capitals tied it less than a minute later as Robin Lehner stopped Brooks Orpik‘s initial point shot, but the rebound found its way to Evgeny Kuznetsov who had a wide open net. The Capitals would then take the lead just 50 seconds later. Marcus Johansson sent the puck across the Senators’ zone to a streaking Jay Beagle. Beagle spun going towards the net, getting a shot in close. Ovechkin outmuscled Karlsson in front of the net, and batted the rebound in from mid air.

The third period was a little… How do I put this? It was saddening yet entertaining. The Senators spent all but 1:28 of the first 7 minutes of the period on the powerplay, and were unable to convert. The Senators spent the entirety of the third period barely able to get into the offensive zone, and they did manage to get it, they were rarely able to hold onto the puck for more than 30 seconds before it was cleared.

The Senators pulled Robin Lehner in a final effort to tie the game, but were unable to even it up. Sens lose 2-1

GAME NOTES

• Turris is on a line with Mike Hoffman and Stone. I cannot put into words how excited I am to see what they can do together.
• Karlsson had some ups and downs tonight, but his ups outweigh the downs. Good game for him tonight.
• Ovechkin was not a popular guy at the CTC tonight. It’s easy to forget how easy it is for him to get under the opposition’s skin.
• Man, the Sens’ PP sucks. Bad.
• Missed in all this, is the fact that Robin Lehner had a pretty solid game.