A Series of Unfortunate Errors Results in a 4-1 Loss Against the New York Islanders
So many missed Formenton chances
Coming off quite the exciting overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers, the Ottawa Senators were back at it against the New York Islanders tonight.
On the second game of a back-to-back, the first period is always a crucial one and usually sets the tone for the rest of the game. The Senators made sure to start the game with all the energy they could muster. Their efforts were almost immediately rewarded when Nick Holden shot the puck at the net to force Islanders’ goalie Ilya Sorokin to make an awkward save. That save was momentary as Sorokin ended up guiding the puck into the net with his own shoulder to make it 1-0 Sens. The perfect start, indeed!
The Sens continued to play with momentum for the following few minutes and had some good chances on some 4 on 4 hockey after Stützle and Wahlstrom went off after being involved in a slashing/roughing duo. The Islanders started picking up the pace as the period went on in an effort to tire out the Sens. While the Sens were losing a bit of their offensive jump, their defensive play was something DJ Smith can brag about. They did a good job slowing down the Isles in center ice and continued their flawless penalty kill after Josh Brown was called for holding when really he just got tangled up with the opponent.
As the period progressed, the Isles continued to push and the shot count was starting to tilt heavily towards their favour. Anton Forsberg was definitely doing a great job in the early going, fighting off several chances. While the Isles were getting shots on net, the Sens were still making sure the chances were manageable and showing a ton of composure in frustrating the Isles.
With less than 3 minutes to go in the opening frame, Clarke Bishop took an unfortunate tripping penalty and gives the Isles their second power play of the period. The Sens penalty kill was working its magic until a broken play in front of the net saw a huge crowd in front of Forsberg and eventually allowed Anthony Beauvillier pushed one through Forsberg’s five hole to tie things up.
The Sens had a few good looks in the dying seconds of the period but they went into the first intermission tied at 1 after a not so bad period, especially from a defensive perspective.
Both teams started the second period on a slower pace. A few shots back and forth but nothing substantial was happening.
Alex Formenton may have ignited the period with his unbelievable breakaway chance. Unfortunately, Sorokin’s save was even more impressive than the chance itself.
Alex Formenton SPEEDS by the Islanders defense but gets absolutely robbed by Sorokin who gets the best of this one. #Sens #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/s2PMbGdtdx
— Pesky Sickos (@PeskySickos) February 2, 2022
To make matters worse, moments later Wahlstrom took advantage of a Forsberg error to make it 2-1 Isles. Even though Forsberg made the initial save, in a split second he took to re-set, he inadvertently gave Wahlstrom the space he needed to slip the puck in.
The rest of the period seemed calm and a bit on the boring side — just how the Isles want it. The Sens were still limiting dangerous chances by the Isles but they also weren’t generating anything themselves. Unfortunately, unable to close the gap, the Sens conceded another one, this time off a one-timer from Mathew Barzal.
The Sens seemed a bit defeated for the next few minutes, but tried to keep up the effort. With less than 4 minutes left in the period, the Sens finally git a break when they get their first power play of the game. A good chance to close the gap? Unfortunately nothing gained as the work with the man advantage was anemic at best. Isles led 3-1 after two.
The first minute of the third saw the Isles looking dangerous but the Sens got an opportunity of their own through Sokolov’s attempted wrap-around.
A rare instance of double tripping penalties saw both team go to the box, and some 4 on 4 action was an advantage for the Sens as they were struggling to find any space against a tight defensive Isles team. Formenton had the best chance out of both teams but still nothing was going in for the Sens. As with the trend in this game, moments later the Isles came back to score. Both Stützle and Chabot lost track of Pelech who made a beautiful move to make it 4-1
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— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) February 2, 2022
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┻┳| •.•) Psssst.....
┳┻|⊂ﾉ PELECH BACKHAND
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With 11 minutes left, this game seemed hopeless for the Sens who looked half bored, half tired at this point. Nothing doing the rest of the way, and the Sens head into the All-Star break on a bit of a down note.
Despite the score line, Anton Forsberg didn’t have a horrible game but the Sens needed him to be absolutely flawless and he didn’t have that kind of game. In a game where the Sens really needed the offense, the impact of the injuries to the offensive depth was really apparent. Overall, the defense did a good job but the mistakes they made were capitalized upon every single time and the Sens just couldn’t mount the necessary offense. A tough night all around.