Sens Get Goalie'd, Lose 2-1 to Rangers
Welcome to November!
We’ve officially reached the month of November, which means the pressure is on for the Ottawa Senators.
I don’t need to remind Sens fans that this month has not been kind to our team over the last few years. We’re all desperate for the team to at least hold off a little bit before completely tanking their season, and losing their first game of the month is not good.
They should have won this game. They were the better team, by a long shot, but they didn’t. Why? Because they’re cursed. The curse is still alive. Welcome to November.
The Sens and Rangers looked pretty evenly matched for most of the first period, but the Rangers drew first blood about three minutes into the game. 1-0 New York.
The game quickly got silly. The two teams traded chances, and the two vezina winners in net delivered on the duel we were promised. It was all offense and goaltending on both sides, barely any defense, just “how did that not go in?” over and over again.
Ottawa got the first powerplay of the game with about 5 minutes left in the first, and Gaudette came very close to tying the game, but Shesterkin held him off.
The Sens came out the gate flying for the first few shifts of the second period, but Shesterkin simply wasn’t letting anything in. The second frame was wildly entertaining and included three Sens powerplays, all of which were unsuccessful. The game wasn’t an even match anymore; the Sens were pretty clearly the better team. Shesterkin was just that good.
The Rangers got a powerplay at the start of the third period, and it was Ullmark’s turn to show off. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as right as time was running out, the puck bounced off Travis Hamonic and into the net. 2-0 New York.
Ottawa got another powerplay halfway through the period, and folks, I don’t know how the puck stayed out of the net. I’ve got nothing.
Finally, finally, the Sens’ best goalscorer lately - I’m talking about Adam Gaudette, of course - broke the shutout and cut the lead to one. 2-1 New York.
They don't call him @Hockey_Gaud for nothing!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/oM9Vv1qHUv
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 2, 2024
The Sens continued to do absolutely everything they could to tie the game, to no avail. They lost in regulation, not even picking up a point. At least they’re right back at it tomorrow, so we won’t have too much time to dwell on this loss.
Game Notes
- Sometimes the goalie stands on his head and there’s nothing you can do. The Sens played a very good game and you can’t fault their effort. There were times where I felt like they could have done a better job of crashing the net and looking for tips or rebounds, but I don’t think many goalies would have been able to keep them off the board.
- You can’t fault Ullmark for any of those goals against. He played very, very well.
- I thought Chabot made a lot of really smart defensive plays, on top of making things happen in the offensive zone as usual.
- Sanderson was great too, as always.
- I thought this was a really complete effort from all four forward lines. Brady and Timmy were on fire, Norris’s line was creating chances all night long, and the bottom six was really noticeable too, with Amadio and Gaudette being two of the biggest standouts.
