Senators Blank the Kraken 3-0
Another excellent team effort on the back half of a back to back
The game opened with a few quick minutes of back and forth, with both teams traded offensive time zone, but not really anything that qualified as "chances' until Adam Gaudette - who else (who thought we'd be saying that?) - collected a lose puck during a net-front scramble and backhands it into the open net. It was called off for goaltender interference immediately, but after a bit of stalling and a quick coach's challenge it was ruled a good goal and 1-0 Ottawa.
The rest of the period was pretty uneventful at 5 on 5. Seattle's only really good looks came while Drake Batherson was in the box for holding, while Giroux put the puck through the blue paint during a Sens power play that looked good but was ultimately unsuccessful.
The second period had a similar feel to the first - most of the action was during the power plays, while 5 on 5 was a good amount of back and forth but without many good chances.
The Senators found themselves in some penalty trouble on a pair of questionable calls, but the penalty kill was up to the task. Seattle did ring one off the post, but between the two penalties the Sens had the better opportunities overall. Shortly after the second penalty ended, Brady Tkachuk casually tipped a Jacob Bernard-Docker point shot past Philipp Grubauer for the 2-0 lead.
Ottawa then got their own power play opportunity, and again the PP looked good but failed to convert before it was cut short by another questionable call that sent Giroux to the box. The penalties weren't done yet, with Seattle cutting their own power play short with a too many men penalty.
The third period had a decidedly different flavour. Seattle came out firing on all cylinders and poured the pressure on and you could see the toll of the back to back start to set in for Ottawa, but Anton Forsberg came up with the big saves (and got a little help from the posts too). The Kraken would pull Grubauer with almost four minutes left in the game to try to get the two they needed to tie it up, but it was Tim Stützle with the empty netter instead.
In the little time left Seattle made a little push to try to break Forsberg's shutout bid, but he held on for the 3-0 win.
Game Notes
- How hot are Gaudette's hands right now? He's already half way to his career high goal total from the 19-20 season
- Forsberg was good when he needed to be in the first two periods, but stole the show (and a goal or two) in the third
- Captain2 - the recorded time for Brady's second period goal was 11:11
- Brady also has points in every game except the one in Vegas - just call him Captain Consistency
- The penalty kill showed up tonight, completely shutting down the Kraken PP when they were gifted several man advantages in the second
