A year ago, the Senators third game of the season was one of the NHL’s most exciting games of the year. It was a back and forth, 8-7 overtime victory by the Sens over the Los Angeles Kings. Unfortunately, today’s game wasn’t nearly as fun. Between the frustrating officiating, the Senators poor finishing ability, Tkachuk not playing down the stretch, and the great play of Juuse Saros, the Nashville Predators defeated the Sens 4-1, sealing the game with two empty netters. The two teams that finished 31st and 32nd in 5 on 5 scoring last season lived up to their low goal scoring standards today. Let’s dive into the details.
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Saros’ Brilliance
Let’s start by crediting Juuse Saros. He was phenomenal today, making quality save after quality save. Saros is coming off his worst statistical season, finishing last year with an .896 SV%. He’s started this year on fire, stopping 88 of the 93 shots he’s faced for a .946 SV%. Today, he stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced. From Nashville’s perspective, they are thrilled to have their star goalie playing as they’ve come to expect. From the Senators perspective, it’s frustrating to see the team struggle to finish on high quality chances, something that plagued them last season as well.
Tkachuk Limited
To make matters worse, Brady Tkachuk took a hit from behind by Roman Josi early in the game that seemed to hurt him. While he continued to play for a while, he ended up not taking any shifts towards the end of the game. He finished with just under 14 minutes of ice-time. For a team that has trouble scoring goals, they can’t afford to be without Tkachuk, who’s led them in goals in each of the last two seasons, all the while being the heartbeat of the team.
Additional Notes
Here’s a positive- the Senators killed all six of the Predators power plays. That was after giving up five power play goals in the first two games. They were noticeably more aggressive on the penalty kill today. Linus Ullmark also looked better today, saving 22 of the 24 shots he faced.
On the negative side, Jake Sanderson’s disallowed goal was a bit silly. If a review takes five minutes, perhaps there’s not enough evidence, or interference, to change the call on the ice. Inevitably, it was decided that Tim Stutzle interfered with Saros’ ability to make the save. Speaking of Stutzle, it’s time for him to start scoring. Through three games he has ten shots, plenty of them high quality, but no goals. It can’t just be Pinto scoring goals. Next up for the Sens, a road game on Wednesday against the struggling Sabres. Last season, the Senators lost all four games to the Sabres.
