Powerplay Lifts Ottawa Senators Past Winnipeg Jets, 4-3
I think Jets fans might like Mark Stone a little bit too much
The Sens and Jets picked an odd time to play each other.
With the trade deadline inching closer and three important Senators reportedly on the block, and with Winnipeg in the mix for at least one of them, the game seemed to take on a significance greater than the end result. Even the Winnipeg crowd knew what was up, and even chanted “we want Stone” at one point.
Did I almost title this ‘Future Jets Shine in 4-3 Senators Win’? You know I did.
To make matters worse, the game started out on a bad note with an Auston Matthews feature, because of course, but things got much better right before puck drop because the Jets invited a group of Indigenous people to sing and drop the puck! Good job, Jets.
Anyways, the first few minutes of play were extremely eventful. Ottawa got a four minute penalty right at the start, and Mark Stone put the Sens on the board off a lovely feed from Brady Tkachuk. Of course he would score in Winnipeg...
The Sens looked fantastic for the first few minutes of the powerplay, controlling the play in a way they rarely have this season. Unfortunately, though, the Jets came back to even the score very quickly, when Ryan Dzingel gave the puck away to Brandon Tanev and the latter got a shorthanded breakaway.
The Sens got a lucky break when Dimitry Kulikov, the guy who had just been in the box, made the mistake of playing the puck before he had fully stepped out of the penalty box, earning himself another two minutes. It worked out pretty well for the Jets in the end, though, as Tyler Myers scored shorthanded to put his team up 2-1. Yes, barely five minutes had passed and three goals had been scored on Sens powerplays.
A return to even strength didn’t go too well for the Sens. Winnipeg took control of the game for a little bit, forcing Anders Nilsson to make a few good saves, but thankfully Ottawa took back the puck before too long and the rest of the period was incredibly fast-paced and exciting.
No more goals were scored in the first frame, although Pageau did get an excellent almost-breakaway.
Compared to the first period, the second got off to a pretty slow start. Play was fairly even for the first few minutes, and the first scary scoring chance of the period was stopped by Anders Nilsson. Pageau got another chance soon after that, and so did both Dzingel and Tkachuk. The Sens looked pretty good, but almost went down 3-1 when the Jets came within inches of getting the puck past Nilsson. Ottawa got another powerplay a little over halfway through the frame, and naturally it resulted in a shorthanded 2-on-1 for the Jets.
Eventually, Rudolfs Balcers tipped in a shot from Ryan Dzingel to even the score at 2. Of course, Winnipeg seemed to take back the lead immediately, but the goal was overturned when it was deemed offside.
A whole bunch of people got injured right at the end of the period through a series of hits and crashes, and at the end of it Ottawa somehow ended up with a 5-on-3 for about a minute and a half, with Trouba going to the box for a full four minutes. This looked good for the Sens, sure, but given how many shorthanded goals they’d just given up, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see them mess this up.
Ottawa started out the third with a two man advantage, took possession of the puck right away, and scored almost immediately! It was Duchene, because of course it was.
With a few exceptions, the last 20 minutes were all Ottawa. They controlled the play, and got a few nice shots on goal. It was a nice change.
Unfortunately, Bobby Ryan took a penalty with a little under ten minutes left to play. While the Jets’ powerplay was unsuccessful and frankly kind of pathetic, they did manage to keep the momentum going after Ryan had returned to the ice, and evened the score soon after the penalty had expired.
Despite good efforts from both teams, no goals were scored in the last few minutes, and the game went into overtime.
Ottawa was on fire during the extra frame. The trio of Stone-Duchene-Chabot almost ended things in the first few seconds, and Nilsson shut down the only good Jets chance. Dzingel finally ended things with a beautiful display of stickwork, to complete the Melnyk Hat Trick. Funny how they’ve managed that twice recently, and both times it was against the Jets.
Notable Performances
- Mark Stone certainly showed up in his hometown and potential future home
- Guess who else was good? Matt Duchene. And Ryan Dzingel! I love being a fan of this team!
- Shoutout to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who didn’t get on the board but definitely stood out with a few flashes of offensive brilliance
- My king, Anders Nilsson, was very solid between the pipes/