Sens Collapse in 7-3 loss to the Calgary Flames

After a close game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators were off to continue their Calgary Flames battles hoping to get this road trip going. With the excitement of Ryan Dzingel finally getting into the lineup and DJ Smith blessing us with a Chabot-Zub pairing, nothing can go wrong, right? Oh well, stay tuned.

With a 9pm start, most fans started this game extremely tired and it seems so did the Sens. Two and a half minutes into the first period, Dzingel steps on the ice for his first shift but more importantly he got to witness a stretch pass to Brett Richie who makes it 1-0. Welcome back, Ryan. It’s ok, just a one goal deficit no big deal. Actually, the Sens made sure to set our expectations early on as 37 seconds later Zaitsev found himself the only defense in the zone with Josh Norris looking completely lost as Matthew Tkachuk made the perfect pass to Dillion Dube to make it 2-0 on a goal that Matt Murray really should have stopped.

The Sens didn’t want us to be completely disappointed and after a scramble around the Flames net with Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris in the midst of it all, the Sens cut the lead to 2-1 on a Norris goal. In the same sequence, Matthew Tkachuk attacked Connor Brown in the strangest roughing call I have seen. While nobody complained about the power play the Sens got, many wondered what got into Tkachuk’s head and the only viable reason found  was brought by our very own Beata:

He was angry and really wanted to fight someone but he knew his parents wouldn't let him fight Brady so he jumped on the guy who was furthest away from Brady and just beat him up

— Beata (@CBeataE) March 5, 2021

Back to the Sens, after that Norris goal surely they’d be energized and would finally wake up to a win. Nope, that power play did absolutely nothing for the Sens except for just settle the game for both teams. Just after we thought the game was stabilizing, young Tim Stützle makes a lethal turnover center ice which gives Sean Monahan the perfect opportunity to make it 3-0 as 4 Sens players literally left him completely unchallenged to score that goal. Whether you think Murray should have stopped that shot or not, DJ Smith should have pulled him at this point, he didn’t look comfortable since the very first minute of the game.

Things could have gotten much worse after Thomas Chabot got a puck to the face, but after quick repairs at the bench he was back and good as new. At this point Matt Murray was looking like he was settling in and restoring some confidence into this game. “Never mind”, he said as he let in a fourth goal on 11 shots. The disastrous first period finally came to an end and with it the hopes of a win.

The second period saw a slightly more energized Sens effort and a brand new goalie in net. Hello, Joey Daccord. The first six minutes brought some hope upon us as Daccord was playing very well and the Sens were starting to wake up. While Josh Norris had scored the only Sens goal this far, he was caught once again losing track of his player resulting in Dube’s second goal of the game. Oh look it’s 5-1 and comeback jokes once again coming to life, with less enthusiasm if I must add.

Nothing inspiring from the Sens as they had a few good chances but nothing to show for it. Then Chris Tierney makes an appearance as he sacrifices precious blood to give his team a 4 minute power play. In true Sens fashion, absolutely nothing came out of it. To make matters worse, right as the PP ended, Dube gets a golden opportunity for the hat trick but was stopped by Daccord. In the process, the Sens get a penalty and things just kept getting worse for the Sens. The second period ended with a fantastic penalty kill by the Sens and an extremely tired fanbase.

Not to be denied, Dube gets his hat trick at the start of the third period to make it 6-1. But it’s early in the third and the Sens can still come back from this. Again, this is a very tired fanbase hoping here. Artem Anisimov wanted to reward this tired hope and got us a power play goal to make it 6-2, bring on the comeback! Not long after, Ryan Dzingel makes gives us more false hope as he makes it 6-3 with a beautiful shot and suddenly this game got very interesting.

Ryan Dzingel scores in his first game back! Finding that scoring touch already. #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/3nZJiKeUe0

— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) March 5, 2021

It was a nice feeling for a minute or so until Derek Ryan dashed our hopes and dreams to make it 7-3. The rest of the game was spent trying to somehow make the time go faster on one disaster of a game. I guess next game will be our turn to do the whole response blowout game.

Game Notes:

• The saddest part of this game was the end of Drake Batherson’s point streak. I doubt he’ll be held long without a point but it was nice to see him getting the confidence boost.
• Tim Stützle had a less than average game and while it’s frustrating, it is absolutely normal at this stage. As far as growing pains go, Timbit has been quite low on the pain threshold so we’ll let tonight pass.
• I want to defend Erik Gudbranson, but tonight was another rough one for him. For a large physical player, he was completely flattened twice in the first period and pairing him with Brännström completely slowed the kid down. This experiment of Gudbranson in Ottawa needs to end soon.
• Ryan Dzingel had an awful first shift but as the game went on, he reminded us why we loved him so much. The goal was nice but it his speed and quick plays that stood out, will be fun to watch more of him.
• Matthew Tkachuk wants nothing to do with the new brotherhood developing between his brother Brady and the Tim Stützle:/

Matthew Tkachuk is already tired of his new brother. 😂#NHLonSN #ItsOn pic.twitter.com/7xY07wjwEC

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 5, 2021

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