Game #3 Hub: Ottawa Senators vs Los Angeles Kings
Maybe I'll stay away from recaps this season if not doing so leads to more of what we saw on Saturday.
We thought the Ottawa Senators turned a corner by opening the 2024-25 season with a defeat of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, only to watch them turn two more corners in the same direction, effectively ending up back where they started at the end of last year in a lacklustre loss to the Habs. Oh well, the Cup isn’t ours just yet.
How will the boys bounce back today against the Los Angeles Kings? Will they even bounce back at all? The story of this season’s squad is only beginning to take shape.
Travis Green talks about what he wants to see out of the team heading into tomorrow's game against the Kings
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 13, 2024
Watch all of today's media 📺
Linus Ullmark and Ridly Greig both had maintenance days yesterday, and Travis Green didn't necessarily confirm they'd be in the lineup today. Earlier this morning, the team announced that Mads Sogaard had been recalled on an emergency basis. Ruh-roh. We’ll likely get the full story closer to puckdrop.
Game Notes:
- The Kings are 1-0-1 after suffering a 2-1 OT loss to Joonas Korpisalo and the Boston Bruins. Korpisalo held the door on the bench for his teammates as he watched Jeremy Swayman get the W.
- Overall, but especially in recent history, the Senators have struggled against the Kings, losing three straight and six of the last seven matches. Their previous victory was on November 7th, 2022, a 3-2 OT win. In fact, the Sens' recent struggles against the entire Western conference have been exceptionally awful, but would you believe me if I told you that last season, they did worse against the Western teams that missed the playoffs, as opposed to against those who didn't?
- Head coach Travis Green correctly identified the club's big issue of weak play with the puck. Yes, they've also struggled defensively, but even if you're a top defensive team, you'll still lose if you can't generate more than 5 high-danger chances in a game at even-strength. I thought that was Brady Tkachuk's whole thing. What the hell, man?
- The early goings are showing a regression to the mean for Tim Stützle. A very unlucky 2023-24 18-goal campaign has preceded a start in which he's scored 2 goals in 2 games on a goalie, plus an empty-netter for three of the Sens‘ first four goals.
- Today's game will start at 1:00 pm EST and will be aired on RDS2, TSN5, and TSN 1200.
