Sens Writer: Senators Win Home Opener vs. Defending Cup Champions

Good write up....

I can't help but think if Ullmark was in Ottawa's net for 2022-2023, where Sens would be. I think they make the playoffs. Stutzle with about 40 goals, Tkachuk & Giroux 35g 80p players - DeBrincat & Batherson combine for 128 points, Sanderson was stellar in his rookie year. That year if they make the playoffs, I think DJ keeps his job too. Ottawa had 7 goalies play that year

9 games in October. None are back to back. At what point do you even contemplate putting Forsberg in goal?

Florida , Montreal, LA, New Jersey, Tampa, Utah, Vegas, Colorado, St. Louis

A difficult schedule to start. You want to get off to a good start. I would assume Forsberg sees at least a game, maybe 2 games in October. But which ones do you put him in?

I would have said Montreal and Utah. But with Montreal being the 2nd game... you really want that one for a win to get off on a solid start.

9 games in October. None are back to back. At what point do you even contemplate putting Forsberg in goal?

Florida , Montreal, LA, New Jersey, Tampa, Utah, Vegas, Colorado, St. Louis

A difficult schedule to start. You want to get off to a good start. I would assume Forsberg sees at least a game, maybe 2 games in October. But which ones do you put him in?

I would have said Montreal and Utah. But with Montreal being the 2nd game... you really want that one for a win to get off on a solid start.
- OttawaB

MTL tomorrow - play Ullmark
LAK Monday - possibly play Forsberg
NJD 3 nights later - play Ullmark
TBL 2 nights later - play Ullmark
@UTAH 3 days later - play Ullmark
@VGK 3 days later - play Forsberg
@COL 2 days later - play Ullmark
STL 2 days later - play Ullmark

this is 100% ullmarks win, OTT got owned by FLA, if this was korpi or forsberg its 6+ goals for FLA.

you cannot play a system where you let the other team shoot, hope they don't score, hope you get the puck and then hope you get out of your zone and attack....would not surprise me if FLA has 2x more shot attempts than OTT.

Hmm first things first.
I don't think this was a sellout.
Home opener. Not a sell out. Times are tough. More privilege I guess. Heck even I wasn't there.

Next. First period was pretty damn good. Then a stanley cup winning coach adapts and his team completely clogs up the neutral zone for the rest of the game and our coaching staff does NOT adapt. I hope Travis' "no-no" film includes his perplexed look for the final two periods.

Finally the refs. The refs need to take a good long look at why Florida's forecheck is so good. They run pick plays. A LOT of them. They circle/cycle without the puck and run into opponents who are going to make a play. It looks innocent enough but it's completely intentional. I'm not saying Hamonic and Klevin weren't bad. But they weren't THAT bad. Ullmark will be out of saves by Christmas if he has to play like that every night.

The failed exits out of the zone are going to cost them, there were about 3-4 times they were hemmed in for almost two minutes because they couldn’t break out of the zone

Hmm first things first.
I don't think this was a sellout.
Home opener. Not a sell out. Times are tough. More privilege I guess. Heck even I wasn't there.

*****************

What are you talking about.

They had the highest number of fans of all teams playing last night with 19,356 in attendance and 104.4% capacity.

https://www.reddit.com/r/...z/attendance_league_wide/



- Octavarium[/img]

Ottawa goalie steals a win on opening night. Korpisalo made the Bruins look like the Sens in their home opener, we should not feel guillty about winning behind serious goaltending:

Thanks for the blog.

My biggest takeaway from the first game and the player performances was how Staios had done a great job of assessing the team's needs and filling out the roster.
Ullmark is the real deal and was an A+ addition.
Nick Jensen impressed and gives us a solid top 4 on D.
Amadio, Perron, Gregor and Cousins had solid outings.

The second and third period shows that the team has work to do on winning puck battles and clearing the zone. Florida turned up the heat and the team really struggled. Last year, we would have been down 4 goals early and Florida would have just cruised to victory.

Chabot and Kleven both looked good against a very tough opponent. Stutzle is ready to play!!!

A playoff spot looks like a real possibility.

Obviously not what you want every game, but its so nice to see Ullmark perform so well in his first game.

And while the Sens were getting hemmed in at large points, they still got 30 shots on Bob, so it wasn't exactly what we've seen so many times before.

Get a bit more of an idea when they play Montreal next. Also, Hamonic should not be playing, swap him out for JBD.

Obviously not what you want every game, but its so nice to see Ullmark perform so well in his first game.

And while the Sens were getting hemmed in at large points, they still got 30 shots on Bob, so it wasn't exactly what we've seen so many times before.

Get a bit more of an idea when they play Montreal next. Also, Hamonic should not be playing, swap him out for JBD.
- david22

Hamonic gets a lot of hate, but I think he's a more important part of the blue line than most people realize. Staios has gone out of his way to add multiple veterans throughout the lineup, and Kleven is the only rookie on the roster. You have to think a big part of the plan for Kleven's development involves pairing him regularly with Hamonic to gain the value of his mentorship. Bernard-Docker will no doubt play his share of games over the course of the season, but I'm not sure why some people just assume that he's ready to provide better support to a young D-man than Hamonic.

Belleville opened their season with a 3-2 win vs. Rochester on Friday night.
https://theahl.com/stats/game-center/1026480

Bourgault had a good start with 1G-1A on the PP, Reinhardt added another 1G-1A, and Daoust led the team with 7SOG (and had the GWG). Interesting that Merilainen got the start, but he stopped 22/24 shots to get the win.

The failed exits out of the zone are going to cost them, there were about 3-4 times they were hemmed in for almost two minutes because they couldn’t break out of the zone
- ClaudeFather

This. It was a problem as the game went on.

3 times MTL players left all alone in front of the net....

OTT going to lose this game. There is only so much even a vezina winning G can do and this team sucks just as bad as last years. hell MTL is a better team than OTT

Who do you all think of OTTs core players will be traded first when OTT is eliminated from the playoffs in NOV?

Who do you all think of OTTs core players will be traded first when OTT is eliminated from the playoffs in NOV?
- Mithos

Stop trolling you pinhead.

Mtl was due to beat them.

Its only the 2nd game but do need to correct some areas at both ends.

Chabot was having a bad night

Mtl was due to beat them.

Its only the 2nd game but do need to correct some areas at both ends.

Chabot was having a bad night
- spazzbot

ya only 2nd game, look at oilers 0-3, they had bad start last year too and went to finals and almost won cup BUT OTT is playing exactly like they did last year, and their PK is even more passive than last year, if this is just not them taking some time to adjust, the way they played in the first 2 games they will be in a hotly contested contest for last OA. Ullmark can only do so much as we saw in the game vs MTL who completely and totally outplayed them for most if not the entire game.

didnt OTT fire dj smith? i guess not.

who ever is in charge of the PK needs to be fired NOW because he sucks at it.

how the F did that happen wow what comeback, down by 2 goals 3 times during game...PP coaches on both teams are happy, PK coaches on both teams lost all their hair.

how the F did that happen wow what comeback, down by 2 goals 3 times during game...PP coaches on both teams are happy, PK coaches on both teams lost all their hair.
- Mithos

Fun game considering they won. Two bad teams, but seeing the offense explode will hopefully give the team some momentum going into the next game.

Shows how fragile the goalies are on this team though, hopefully Ullmark is ready for Thursday. The D was making the same mistakes were used to, but you need a save now and again.

Fun game considering they won. Two bad teams, but seeing the offense explode will hopefully give the team some momentum going into the next game.

Shows how fragile the goalies are on this team though, hopefully Ullmark is ready for Thursday. The D was making the same mistakes were used to, but you need a save now and again.
- david22

OTT should have picked a random person from the crowd and had them be the G, proly would have done better than both Gs this game...

OTT should have picked a random person from the crowd and had them be the G, proly would have done better than both Gs this game...
- Mithos

Great entertainment. This is not a bad game. Coaches get to make rude noises. Players know they were lucky to steal 2.