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Ottawa Senators: Minnesota Tear Sens Apart

By Conor Peniston-Bird

Mar 30, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal (12) skates with the puck past Ottawa Senators forward Viktor Stalberg (24) during the third period at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild win 5-1 over the Senators. Mandatory Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 30, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal (12) skates with the puck past Ottawa Senators forward Viktor Stalberg (24) during the third period at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild win 5-1 over the Senators. Mandatory Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports /
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What is happening to the Ottawa Senators? They’ve dropped off completely towards the back end of this month.

The Ottawa Senators now have the worst record of the top-five in the Atlantic Division over their last ten. Going 3-4-3 the results simply haven’t been good enough, last night once again proved the alarm bells are most certainly ringing.

Erik Karlsson’s ironman streak came to an abrupt end, suffering a lower-body injury whilst blocking a shot against the Flyers. That streak ended at 324 games, not too shabby if you ask me. The Sens are an absolute shell of a team once you take Karlsson out of that lineup. I’m surprised it wasn’t listed as a shoulder injury from carrying this side all year.

The first period Ottawa looked competitive, taking the lead from a well executed Mike Hoffman powerplay goal. Everything went south after that, bar a couple of decent chances for Kyle Turris who should’ve stuck one of them away.

Another alarming statistic from last night is the shot count. That was The Ottawa Senators lowest shot total since a home win against the Edmonton Oilers on January 8. Their third lowest shot output of the season. Now considering their lack of goals in recent games, you’d think the message would be to get more shots off, try and create some puck luck.

Ottawa have now scored just 18 goals in their last ten games, 1.8 a game is not enough for a genuine playoff contender. It’s not like the defensive system is making these lack of goals worthwhile either. Their last shutout coming on the 16th February courtesy of Mike Condon in New Jersey. In this ten game span they’ve conceded 26 goals, 2.6 a game is a high but not catastrophic number if your offence turns up.

Final Thoughts

The Ottawa Senators were shambolic last night. The Minnesota Wild have been hapless in March and the Sens couldn’t even get a point out of them. To be pumped for five as well is another sign that Ottawa could be in for a bumpy ride in the playoffs.

Toronto as predicted by many won last night, meaning that they are only two points off the Sens now. They play the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night, the same time as the Sens play the Winnipeg Jets. Scoreboard watching and nail-biting no doubt. Saturday becomes another must-win in a long line of must-wins.

Next: The Need To Score More Goals

It would be dreadful to the Sens lose grounding now and potentially a playoff spot. You may laugh, but it is not out of the realms of possibility with a resurgent Tampa Bay Lightning.

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