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Ottawa Senators Fall To The Washington Capitals In Season Opener

By Alexander O'Reilly

OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 05: Washington Capitals Center Lars Eller (20) stickhandles the puck against Ottawa Senators Center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) during the NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals on October 5, 2017 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Steven Kingsman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 05: Washington Capitals Center Lars Eller (20) stickhandles the puck against Ottawa Senators Center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) during the NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals on October 5, 2017 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Steven Kingsman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Ottawa Senators first game has come and gone and they came out of it with one point. They fell by the score of 5-4 in the shootout to the Washington Capitals.

The Ottawa Senators took on the Washington Capitals last night, the defending President’s Trophy winners. A tough first task for the Sens but they performed well and came out with one point.

First Period

The game started out well for the Ottawa Senators. Six and a half minutes into the game Chris Wideman sent a shot on net at a bad angle and it found its way past Brayden Holtby and into the back of the net. Up 1-0 the Sens weren’t able to hold the lead for long as less than two minutes later Brett Connolly scored to tie the game at one. That was where the score would stay heading to intermission, 1-1.

Second Period

The second period was a low scoring affair as Mark Stone scored the only goal seven minutes into the game. The Sens headed to the third period with a 2-1 lead.

Third Period

When the third started for the Sens they did their best to hold the one goal lead. It went even better than expected when Derick Brassard scored two minutes in to give the Sens a 3-1 lead. However, they were then hit by the force that is Alex Ovechkin. Over less than two minutes he scored twice to bring the game to a tie at three. Mark Stone quickly gave the Sens the lead again seven minutes into the third. However, half way through the period Ovechkin completed the hat trick to tie the game at four.

Overtime And Shootout

The game would go to overtime where there was no decider and then to a shootout. Despite Ryan getting the first goal it would be the Caps to finish it off. Evgeny Kuznetzov buried a shot past Craig Anderson to give Washington the win.

Positives

Much of the lineup performed well for the Ottawa Senators last night. Mark Stone had two goals and Brassard had three points. Wideman and Ryan also put up two points on the night. In his first game Logan Brown played decently despite not putting up any points.

Negatives

The biggest problem the Sens had was on special teams. The Sens were given five tries on the powerplay and converted none of them. Part of that can be attributed to not having Karlsson. However, despite that special teams need to be better for this team to succeed. If they had converted even one of those chances the Ottawa Senators would be leaving with two points instead of one.

Next: Ottawa Senators: Mark Borowiecki Signs Contract Extension

Next Game

The Sens play next on Saturday where they will face the Detroit Red Wings.

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