Sixteen games have been played by the Ottawa Senators this season. After last night's 4-2 win against the Utah Mammoth, the Senators have an 8-5-3 overall record.
As of now, the Senators sit in third place in the Atlantic Division with 19 points. The standings in the Eastern Conference are extremely tight right now, so every game matters with it being early in the season.
Even though the Senators are winning, there's one area that is hurting the Senators big, and a new Bleacher Report article hit on the area with giving it an awful grade.
Senators goaltending grade is pretty bad
Earlier today, Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report wrote an article titled "Goalie Report Cards for All 32 NHL Teams So Far." Yerdon's grade of the Senators was a whopping D-.
"The good news for the Ottawa Senators is they can score goals pretty regularly, but the bad news is they have to do that to give themselves the best chance to win because the goaltending has been going through it," Yerdon said.
There's no denying that goaltending has been the Senators' achilles heel. Had the Senators have better goaltending earlier this season, the team could be sitting atop the Atlantic Division.
In particular, most of the goaltending woes have been on Linus Ullmark. This season, Ullmark has struggled deeply. In 13 starts, Ullmark has a 6-4-3 record with a 3.24 GAA and .866 save percentage. Ullmark was named the worst goaltender in the NHL by MoneyPuck just over a week ago.
Ullmark does appear to be on the right track after he made 20 saves on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers to help the Senators earn an overtime win.
Leevi Merilainen has only started three games this season and has a 3.71 GAA and .871 save percentage. Merilainen's season began awfully when he allowed in seven goals in his first start against the Buffalo Sabres. Since then, Merilainen has won his last two starts with allowing in two goals in each start. Much better than his first start.
Bleacher Report was critical of the Senators' goaltending when it gave the Senators a C for their report card one month into the season. Now, the D- grade is another example of goaltending being a major issue for the Senators this season.
Even with struggles in between the pipes, Yerdon did add a fun quote the fact that the Senators trail the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins in the division standings.
"Hockey is a funny sport sometimes."
Tomorrow night's game against the Dallas Stars will offer another chance for the goaltending to once again be better.