Senators Fall 3-2 in a Wild Game
A recap of tonight's game between the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild.
After a scoreless first period, Minnesota struck early in the second period to grab a 1-0 lead. Senators captain Erik Karlsson collected a dump in, but unfortunately his clearing attempt went directly to a Wild player, who fed Matt Dumba at the point. Dumba wired a shot on net, beating Hammond. An ill-advised Matt Puempel penalty for slashing sent Minnesota to the power play. The Wild looked incredibly dangerous with several great chances to score. As the penalty expired, Matt Dumba jumped into the slot and potted his second of the period.
Ottawa got back into the game quickly, thanks to the Zibanejad line. Less than 30 seconds after the second Dumba goal, a Zibanejad wrist shot beat the red hot Devan Dubnyk to get the Sens on the board. Three minutes later, a nice passing play initiated by Zibanejad was continued by Karlsson and Mike Hoffman. Hoffman made an excellent move, faking the shot and passing off to a wide open Bobby Ryan, and Ryan one-timed the puck past Dubnyk. It was a great push by Ottawa's top line to get the team back in the game, but Ottawa was lucky Minnesota didn't capitalize more on the power play. Both the Puempel penalty and the second Michalek penalty were because of lack of discipline, but thankfully the Sens were able to regroup and shut Minny down on penalty kills two and three. Shots 25-17 in favour of the Wild after two.
The Sens were unable to capitalize on an early third period penalty to Ryan Suter, though they did look dangerous. The second half of the period was excellent, exciting. An Ottawa power play led to two Senators hitting the post and a gassed first PP unit got trapped in their own end as the Dumba penalty expired. Under pressure, Hammond was forced to make a couple big saves, including a double pad stack. Despite all the chances, neither team could add another goal, and the period ended tied at two, shots 36-28 in favour of the Wild. OT was wild with both teams having excellent chances to end it, but the goalies prevailed. Minnesota got the better of Ottawa in the shootout, winning 3-2. Shots 38-33 for the Wild.
Sens Heroes: Mike Hoffman, Mika Zibanejad, Bobby Ryan
A great second period from this line got Ottawa back into the game at a time when it looked like a dominant Minnesota might run away with it. Ryan collected 1 goal and 1 assist, Zibanejad had a goal, and Hoffman had a nice helper.
Sens Hero: Andrew Hammond
Another great for Hammond. He wasn't unbeatable tonight, but he was great once again and finished the game with a 94.7 SV%. Pretty good.
Sens Hero: Erik Karlsson
Karlsson was incredible tonight. Leading the rush, making strong defensive plays, and matching minutes with Ryan Suter. Late in the third period Karlsson even had a shift of 3:33, which is, objectively, ridiculous. He finished with over 35 minutes played. Not ideal every game, but he was flying tonight.
Honourable Mention: Mark Stone
Another lethal night from Stone. Excellent on the penalty kill for the Sens, especially in the second period, and just a strong overall defensive game
Sens Killer: Matt Dumba
Dumba recorded his first career two goal game, staking the Wild to an early lead. He also had a few chances for the hat trick, the guy was all over the ice tonight.
Shot chart via ESPN:
Game Flow via Natural Stat Trick: