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Slow Start Costs Sens As They Lose 3-2 to the Oilers

But Tim Stützle scored so it’s all alright

Happy International Women’s Day!

After a nail biting win against the Calgary Flames last night, the Sens were at it again tonight against the second half of Alberta.

The Sens haven’t had much luck against the Oilers so expectations were tempered ahead of tonight’s game. Evgeni Dadonov however, decided to give us some hope by making it 1-0 less than a minute into the game.

Shortly after, Erik Gudbranson decided to test the skills he learnt from Austin Watson and came to Josh Norris’s defense after a very questionable hit from Jujhar Khaira. This was one of those rare times where a player fighting didn’t seem like such a horrible idea and as a bonus Gudbranson got a 15 minute penalty which meant that DJ Smith would be forced to use more talented players.

Unfortunately the fight seemed to have deflated all energy from the Sens as the Oilers slowly started to take over the game.  Joey Daccord was showing signs of stability in the net but a deflection off Kailer Yamamoto tied the game and seems to have set the tone for the remainder of the period. The Sens got a power play late in the period but failed to get ahead and as the period went on, the energy levels kept dipping. The Oilers finished the first period outshooting the Sens 12-6.

Things got way worse in the second period as the Sens completely lost the will to play any offense. Five minutes into the second period, Nikita Zaitsev takes a penalty and even through all of Daccord’s heroics, former Senators Alex Chiasson puts the Oilers ahead taking advantage of an absolutely atrocious line change. If we’re being extra critical here, this was a goal that Daccord probably should have saved but I digress. You could have had prime time Martin Brodeur in net for this period and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Almost half way through the second period, the Sens had two shots on net, TWO. The Oilers had more shots on net during that second period than the Sens had all game. There was a long stretch where the Sens couldn’t even get out of their own zone to save a life. Somehow it was still 2-1 so can’t give up hope yet.

After a flurry of five consecutive shots, the Sens showed some brief signs of life. I say brief as Leon Draisaitl came along on another horribly managed line change to score the same exact goal Chiasson scored to make it 3-1. There was still tons of time to come back from this but the Sens weren’t making it look like a great possibility.

Things were looking bleak until our German phenom came along and scored one fantastic goal off a laser shot with less than 3 minutes left in the period to make it 3-2. There’s hope, there’s hope!

Now this period was absolutely horrible and frustrating and basically drained whatever energy was left in the Sens. That being said, I would like everyone to take a moment to appreciate this gem of a save from Nick Paul on the PK. Just watch it over and over again and get mesmerized in the amazing player young Paul has become.

Onto the third! Much higher spirits now.

The Sens came out storming, you could tell someone did a lot of shouting and cursing in the second intermission. Feeding off Stützle’s goal and Paul’s criss cross save, the Sens were looking good to equalize the game. As the game went on, Stützle seemed to dazzle a lot and  it became clear he was adjusting to the NHL level quite well.

Almost halfway through the third period, the Sens got a golden opportunity to tie the game as Khaira took a tripping penalty. It started off with some great movement but quickly fizzled down into pure frustration. After that, the Sens took over the came in every way possible except in scoring. Daccord had played very well throughout the game but the series of saves he made with five minutes left were probably the most impressive of his entire 5-game NHL career.

The Sens kept pushing and had an impressive third period but unfortunately it was too little too late. There were a few good chances with the extra attacker on but for the most part, the Oilers kept the Sens contained to preserve the 3-2 lead.

Notable Performances:

  • People really like Joey Daccord. He played well but definitely needs a few more games to really clean up his games. But people really like him so we’ll leave it at that.
  • Thomas Chabot had a less than stellar game last night but made up for it in a big way tonight. He is absolutely overworked and sometimes it shows but his presence just brings stability to the entire team.
  • Brady Tkachuk is frustrated, he’s playing with Connor Brown and Chris Tierney so can you blame him? There was a bit of a changeup towards the end but you cannot sacrifice the success of Tkachuk just because he can handle it.
  • Colin White is silencing all the haters one by one and making it look like it’s child’s play./

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