Sens completely blow out Blues 8–1

The Sens needed a statement game after two disappointing road losses. They got it in spades tonight in an 8–1 cakewalk. Tim Stützle had two goals and two assists, Brad Tkachuk and Adam Gaudette each also had a pair of goals, and Linus Ullmark made 26 saves in the win.

The game started off weird, with things getting underway 30 min late because of a power outage. It seemed to benefit the Sens, because they got the game's first goal just a minute in, with Josh Norris backhanding in a nifty Claude Giroux pass:

Then Brady Tkachuk got stopped on a breakway, and then Noah Gregor scored to give Michael Amadio his first point as a Senator and Zack Ostapchuk his first point in the NHL:

The Blues would use their timeout not even 5 minutes into a game that started half an hour late, and it's hard to blame them. That did seem to settle them down a bit, though Ottawa was still probably the better overall team. That pressure did turn into the third goal, a snipe by Tim Stützle.

The other good news for the Sens was that Linus Ullmark was strong when called upon, including in the dying seconds of the first off a bad turnover. That strong play in net carried on into the second period, when the Blues tried to regain some momentum. Attempts at a comeback were pushed down by the Sens scoring on the first powerplay of the game, with Stützle appearing to bobble the puck but then proceeding to turn it into what looked like a deliberate quick passing play.

On the next powerplay, Tkachuk did it again with a long-distance rocket.

That would do it for Hofer's night, as the Blues went (H)o-fer-two on the PK (sorry). Jordan Binnington didn't get any reprieve though, as Adam Gaudette buried his third in as many games just 42 seconds after the change:

The third period saw the Sens get up by a full touchdown + conversion, with Thomas Chabot showing key patience before hitting the trailing Tim Stützle to bury his second goal of the game:

The Blues would get their second powerplay, and finally put one past Ullmark, ruining the shutout bid. Not long after, the Sens would get called for another penalty that was soundly booed by the fans, who apparently hadn't gotten sloppy despite their team being up by six goals. The fans were rewarded for sticking around, as Adam Gaudette got his second two-goal game of the season after a terrible, terrible giveaway that probably only happens with the lack of focus that happens when a team is down by six.

The Sens would get another late powerplay, and Travis Green, as is smart but was also necessary due to Brady and Timmy being in the box, put out the fourth line and Tyler Kleven to run the powerplay. Those guys took an offsetting penalty, and the game ended 8–1. Kleven took a late knee-on-knee hit, but seemed to be OK in the celebrations after the game. Big win, and hopefully something they can build on.

My Thoughts:

• Remember a couple years ago when Brady Tkachuk seemed to transform over the summer from a good player into an absolute beast with the puck? Tim Stützle seems to have done something similar this past summer. He has the puck on a string this season, and it's super fun to watch.
• Zack Ostapchuk made a couple confident plays with the puck tonight, choosing to hold onto the puck when lots of guys would've just dumped it. It's a sign of things to come.
• Linus Ullmark has this laid back swagger when he plays net and I love watching it. So different from the past far too many years of Sens goaltending.
• The powerplay was effective, but the Blues also seemed to put no pressure on the Sens on entries or even after they'd set up in the zone. I'm curious if the Sens' PP can keep up this kind of effectiveness against a team with a much more aggressive PK style.
• A good journalist looks for balance in their writing, identifying the good in bad games and the areas for improvement in good games. But I'm not a journalist, so I'm not going to bother with the negatives. Sens win in a blowout. Go Sens Go!

Game Flow:

Heat Map: