Sens Win Latest Battle of Ontario 2-1
Exactly what we needed after the distressing news that Tim Stützle shaved his head
Ah, the Battle of Ontario. A matchup that, at this point in the Sens' season, could have been exactly what they needed, or a surefire way to send everyone into panic mode. Thank goodness it turned out to be the former.
In terms of human experiences, there are few things worse than watching the Sens lose to the Leafs at home. There's something extra humiliating about spending your whole night dealing with belligerent Leafs fans only for them to get bragging rights over you in the end. Shoutout to every Sens fan who braved the CTC tonight. I'm so glad the team showed up for you.
We needed this win.
The vibes were terrible early on. Tim Stützle had no hair, the arena was full of Leafs fans, and the team hadn’t scored in an eternity. The one thing that was working was the team’s actual play on the ice, but even that didn’t matter much since they were still cursed. Even though the Sens were the better team, it was the Leafs who opened the scoring. Obviously. 1-0 Toronto.
The Sens got a powerplay right after the goal, and did all the right things but couldn’t find the back of the net. Not long after that, Nick Cousins got taken out by a big hit (he didn’t return to the game) and an absolutely thrilling 4 on 4 followed, with each team getting some good chances.
Finally - FINALLY - the Sens broke through and scored to tie the game. And who else to score the first Sens goal in a million years than the newly-bald Tim Stützle? I guess he learned Erik Karlsson's trick of cutting your hair to unlock new superpowers. 1-1.
Buzzing ✨#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/jY7em95ssk
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 26, 2025
Ottawa kept playing their game for the rest of the first period and the start of the second. They did a pretty good job of shutting down the Toronto offense, but couldn’t manage much sustained pressure outside of a bunch of odd-man rushes.
The Sens definitely got the best scoring chances of the game, though! Travis Hamonic (?) had an especially good one a bit over halfway through.
Outside of that, the second period was largely uneventful. Neither team scored, and there weren’t that many exciting chances either.
Things got more exciting in the third period, but not necessarily in a good way. Ottawa had to clear a puck out of their crease early on, but somehow they kept the game tied.
When you’ve been having trouble scoring, sometimes you just need to throw everything at the net and hope it works. That strategy paid off for the Sens about halfway through the third period! The puck bounced off Pinto’s knee and behind the goalie. A weird goal, but they deserved to have their luck turn around like this. 2-1 Ottawa.
Head, shoulders, knee from Pinto?#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/jEii7rppPT
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 26, 2025
Pinto got another great chance a few minutes later, but the Leafs goalie stopped it. The last few minutes of the game were incredibly stressful. Obviously, the Leafs turned the pressure up to 11. Even without pulling the goalie, they were all over the Sens. They actually waited a long time to get the extra attacker. Almost like they were afraid of leaving their net empty against the Sens…
We didn’t get any shenanigans this time around, but Forsberg did hold on until the final buzzer. The Sens won this edition of the Battle of Ontario.
Game Notes
- Tim Stützle is so back.
- Matthew Highmore stood out a lot on the bottom six. A very good game from him.
- Hamonic deserves his reputation among Sens fans, but I have to say I liked what I saw from him tonight. He made a lot of good plays, and I didn't feel like he was dragging Chabot down.
- Anton Forsberg had a great game. There were a few scoring chances that felt scarier than they needed to be, but at the end of the day he made the saves he had to, and he came up big in the final minutes.
