Blues defeat Sens 4-0 via odd-man rushes, Saad hat trick

Brady Tkachuk said last night's effort against the Stars was unacceptable. Apparently those words rang hollow, as the Senators failed to muster much of anything against the Blues in an embarrassing 4-0 loss. Anton Forsberg wasn't good enough, allowing 4 goals on 25 shots, but the Sens also managed just 20 of their own, so it's not like the team gave him any chance to win. Brandon Saad scored a hat trick for the first time since 2017, and the Sens gave up breakaways, 2-on-1s, and 3-on-2s like nobody's business while failing to generate any sustained offence of their own. Top to bottom, this was an awful, deserved loss for a team that looks nothing like the team of three weeks ago. They can't score, they can't keep the puck. The only positive is that they once again limited scoring chances for the other team, but without an otherworldly goalie, playing no-offence hockey isn't a winning strategy.

The game was intriguing for a few reasons. First of all, the Sens had won this meeting 8-1 back earlier in the season. Second, the Tkachuk clan was in town to watch their son. Also, the Sens were coming off a listless game against the Stars last night in which they only managed 13 shots total, including 2 in the third period despite trailing entering said period. They were getting backup Anton Forsberg back from injury, so at least the team didn't have to keep playing with a pair of rookies as they had over the past three games.

To start, the Sens decided that defensive hockey was their best course of action, and kept the first period pretty low-event. Unfortunately, the first really high-event moment was a breakaway for Brayden Schenn, in which he split the D and scored on just the fourth shot against Anton Forsberg. Brady Tkachuk had seemed fired up in the angsty way to open the game, and sure enough, after the refs let a couple of his attempts go, they called him on an ugly cross-check. Thankfully, the Sens killed the penalty and had the chance to calm the game down again after weathering what could've been a storm. Unthankfully (disthankfully?), the Sens allowed the 2-0 goal on nearly the same play. This time, it was Brandon Saad who split the Chabot–Jensen pairing. Nick Jensen was too slow and Saad blew past him, Chabot took the wrong path (probably expecting his partner to cover the 1-on-1 on which he had clear body position), and Anton Forsberg played it like he expected either defenceman to do something. It was just an incredible set of awful events by several individuals.

In garbage time of the first, Nathan Walker threw a solid hit on Travis Hamonic that didn't look dirty to me in any way, but Hamonic hit the dasher awkwardly and stayed down. Cole Reinhardt (!!) stepped in to fight Walker, but there was (again, in my opinion, correctly) no penalty on the play. And usually it would be Tkachuk putting himself in the box to defend his teammates, so I appreciated that he'd still be on the ice with the Sens desperately needing a couple goals. I also appreciated that Hamonic was OK and came back out to play the second. I may not think he's a great everyday option in the NHL anymore, but I don't want to see anyone get hurt.

The Sens got a glorious chance to get back within one just before the first commercial break, but Nick Cousins defied all laws of physics and failed to tap it into an empty net. Just a horrifically unlucky moment, and I'm sure he's at least glad it wasn't in overtime or the playoffs.

The Sens started to show some life late in the second, so of course the Blues scored the next goal, and of course again it was an odd-man rush, and of course again it was Forsberg forgetting that sticks are most effective when blocking the five-hole rather than flapping around in mid-air. With 30 seconds left, the Sens got a glimmer of hope when Thomas Chabot blasted home a slapshot from close range, but Nick Cousins was two feet offside on the zone entry so it was quickly challenged and ruled no-goal. The end of the period probably couldn't come quickly enough for Cousins, who was a victim of awful luck, preventing two goals by himself.

I'm not sure what to say about the third. It went by without much event. With 2 minutes left, the Blues got a 2-on-1 when somehow Reinhardt was the defender (and Giroux was the next man back). Saad snapped it past Forsberg for his first hat trick in more than 7 years. And that did it for the scoring. The Sens allowed just 25 shots on goal for the fifth time in six games, so they're doing great at suppressing offense. But they only managed 20 of their own and couldn't score. This was a loss where everything failed; yes, you'd like to see Forsberg making more saves, but it doesn't matter when the Sens can't score a single goal.

On the bright side for the Sens, the Penguins and Canadiens both lost tonight, so Ottawa remains tied for the final Wild Card spot with three games in hand on Pittsburgh. Next game is Tuesday at Detroit, before the team (finally) returns home on Thursday.

Thoughts:

• I think this team's lines were reworked to optimize defensiveness with Michael Amadio (and maybe more importantly, Linus Ullmark) out. However, once you're down 2-0 in a game, you've gotta try to get offense. Putting Cousins with Norris/Giroux and Gaudette with Stützle/Batherson (and to some extent Greig with Pinto/Tkachuk) means each line has a guy who can't keep the cycle going. That leads to the Sens never getting more than one shot attempt per offensive zone entry. In fairness to Coach Green, the Sens have been very good at suppressing shots against with this lineup. The problem is, suppressing shots doesn't matter when you're down two or three goals. Choking the life out of the game so that you only lose by two isn't a winning strategy.
• We've said a lot about how good Nick Jensen has looked alongside Thomas Chabot this year. The Blues seemed to figure out how to make him look bad: make him skate. They kept pressuring him at their own blue line, chipping the puck past him and skating around him, forcing him into foot races that he kept losing. Hopefully this was a one-off off night, and not a sign that teams have figured out a way to exploit a weakness.
• While Thomas Chabot wasn't great on the defensive end of the puck, he was probably the best player at driving scoring chances.
• Tim Stützle is ice cold right now. Three games without a point, a single point in his last five. He also just seems off, bobbling pucks, messing up on passes, struggling as the offence driver on the powerplay. He's still over a point per game, but he's not looking his early season self. And the offence has mostly gone cold as he struggles.
• I'm not sure how you can ever win a game where you give up that many odd-man rushes and don't generate any of your own.
• Remember when there was a Forsberg/Ullmark goaltending controversy? Good times.

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