By Ken Hawkins (a.k.a. khawk)
The Senators ended their 2-game losing streak on Sunday with a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Having scored just 3 goals in the previous 2GP, Head Coach Travis Green elected to try a more balanced series of forward lines that featured Tkachuk-Pinto, Stutzle-Batherson, and Norris-Giroux as the main offensive tandems, which also seemed to give the PP a bit of a spark. Despite trailing by a 1-0 score after the 1st period, the Senators came out very strong in the 2nd period and Ridly Greig got them back to a 1-1 tie. From there it was a back-and-forth affair until Josh Norris scored a key PP goal in the 3rd period, and Claude Giroux added some insurance with a high-effort EN goal. Leevi Merilainen made 30/31 saves, including several key saves down the stretch to earn his 2nd career NHL win.
OTT 3 - MIN 1 (NHL Highlights)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3R7K5G-KHQ/
In many ways, this game was a near-perfect example of the type of game they most likely would not have won last year… or earlier this season for that matter. They played a very poised defensive game, showed good resiliency and patience, and took advantage of their opportunity to win the game when it presented itself. Evidently Travis Green challenged them to win a 2-1 game vs. DET back on Dec. 5th, and they have been 9-3-0 since with a 1.92GAA and 35-23 goal differential. They’re even 2-1-0 when Merilainen/Sogaard have gotten the start, with all 3 decisions coming vs. playoff-quality Western teams. We’ll see if they can keep it up vs. DAL/STL later this week, but it certainly feels like they’ve adopted a more mature and playoff-oriented style of play.
The Good - It was really the line of Brady Tkachuk, Shane Pinto, and Ridly Greig that led the way for the Senators, with 1G-1A on 10 shots and a combined +4 rating. Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen were kept busy as the team’s #1D pairing, with over 24min of ice time and a combined 7 blocked shots. Josh Norris and Claude Giroux each had 1G games, and Jake Sanderson had another improved performance with 1A and a +2 rating. But a lot of credit has to go to Leevi Merilainen, who had a 1G and 30-save night where half of those saves came in the 3rd period. But he responded well to the pressure, and shut the door when MIN was pushing hard to tie the game.
The Bad - There were few bad performances on this night, as it was a hard-fought defensive battle by both teams. That said, there were at least 4 or 5 posts hit by the Wild, any one of which could have swung the momentum of this game. So there’s still work to be done in terms of cutting down on dangerous scoring chances, especially when they're on their heels. Another concern for the Senators would have to be mounting injuries, as they are now without Ullmark, Zub, Perron, Amadio, and Forsberg, plus they recalled Nikolas Matinpalo from the AHL to play on the 3rd pairing with Kleven. GM Steve Staios will surely look to bolster his blue line at some point in the near future, but it’s not clear how much he’s willing to invest in a roster upgrade.
The Ugly - This game was just the 4th time that OTT has won a game where they didn’t score the first goal. And while their 4-12-2 record in that situation isn’t the worst in the NHL, it’s 25th and far worse than is expected for a playoff team. In fact, the top-15 teams in terms of this metric just happen to be all 15 of the other playoff teams without a single exception, and #16 is PIT who just happens to be the Senators’ closest rival in the Eastern wild card hunt. Good teams need to be able to win games regardless of how they start, and it's clear that other playoff-quality teams have figured this out. It’s encouraging that 2 of their last 3 wins have come after not scoring first (vs. CGY/MIN), but it’s something they’re going to have to do with more frequency if they want to stay in the playoff hunt.
The win improves the Senators’ record to 19-15-2 on the season, and brings them up to the 40 point mark in the standings. It’s the best record the team has had at the 36GP mark since the 2016/17 season, when they had a 20-12-4 record and 44 points. It was also the last time the Senators made the playoffs, and will continue to be the benchmark for this team as they continue to try to fight their way back into the postseason. Next up for this team will be another back-to-back pair of games vs. DAL/STL starting on Thursday night. It’s not clear whether they will start Merilainen or Sogaard will get the start, but either way they’ll need to be ready for another tight defensive battle vs. the Stars, who have one of the best home records in the NHL and the 3rd lowest GA/GP in the NHL.
What did you think of the Senators’ win vs. the Wild? Please leave your comments below, and as always thanks for reading!
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