Well-Oiled Machine Breaks Senators Six-Game Winning Streak in 3-1 Final

Tonight was the final game before the Christmas break for the Ottawa Senators, and they had just come off a thrilling 5-4 overtime win in Vancouver the night before. They came into Edmonton on a six-game winning streak, and were looking to make it seven in a row for the first time since April 2015 (during the Hamburglar run).

The best chances the Senators got early in the game actually came on the penalty kill—something they've been doing a lot of lately. Jake Sanderson took a bad puck-over-the glass penalty 2:50 into the game, but the Oilers weren't able to get anything going, and Ottawa actually had better chances.

The Senators should have gone on a powerplay with 11:57 left, as Nick Cousins was yet again knocked in the head by an opponent, but he was somehow given a coincidental minor for roughing, which kept things at 4-on-4 instead of on a powerplay. Nothing would come of that, and most of the period was uneventful until just under five minutes left. Twice within a few seconds, Travis Hamonic was unable to clear the puck from the corner and Connor McDavid took it from him. Meanwhile, Jake Sanderson didn't properly shoulder check to see that Viktor Arvdisson was wide open at the far post, so he was able to easily tap it in past Linus Ullmark on the pass from McDavid. After one period, it was 1-0 Oilers.

The first few minutes of the second period was quite hectic, as all of a sudden it was announced that Ullmark had left the game with an upper-body injury, with Leevi Meriläinen coming in. Nobody knows yet what happened, but just 25 seconds into the period, Cousins tied the game at one, which put people's minds on other things. He easily stripped Evan Bouchard of the puck at the blueline, and buried it top corner past Stuart Skinner:

Just 35 seconds later, Cole Reinhardt took a hooking penalty, which added to a chaotic first minute. The Oilers were unable to convert, nor were the Senators after Darnell Nurse took a high-sticking penalty. It wasn't as if Ottawa couldn't hold possession or get chances on the powerplay, but they just couldn't beat Skinner. Unfortunately the Oilers are the worst team to take too many penalties against, and Ottawa took another minor and double minor before the period ended. The first one was a slashing call on Brady Tkachuk that wouldn't have been called if Bouchard was holding onto his stick stronger, and Zach Hyman took advantage on the powerplay.

He scooped up a loose puck at the side of the net, and Merläinen couldn't get there in time. Ridly Greig took the other penalty before the period ended, an undisiciplined high-sticking penalty, which he had to sit four minutes for. Thankfully, Ottawa was able to kill it off with their stellar penalty kill efforts.

However, it didn't take much longer for Edmonton to add to their lead with 18:22 left. It was reminiscent of the first goal of the game, as Hamonic tried to make a bounce-pass behind the net to Sanderson but it was just out his reach and he lost a foot race on the side wall. Connor Brown dropped it down to Matias Janmark, who gave it to a wide open Adam Henrique, and Henrique had an easy goal to beat Meriläinen.

Ottawa looked like a team that had been on the road for almost a week and has just won an exhausting overtime game the night before, and they weren't able to generate much offense the rest of the way. The winning streak stopped at six, although the Senators are still 10-3-1 over their last 14 games, which is an incredibly impressive way to head into the Christmas break.

Now we pray that Ullmark is okay.

Notable Performances:

• After the gand, Travis Green had the following update on Ullmark:

• Meriläinen stopped 12/14 shots (.857 SV%), and he looked good enough despite the low save percentage. He wasn't the reason they lost at all.
• Cousins has been playing better of late and has contributed offensively. He's up to four goals and three assists in his last 11 games. They need more of this.
• As you'll see on the heat map below, Ottawa did a dreadful job of getting high-danger scoring chances, whereas Edmonton was all over the slot (the all situations one is even worse).
• It's pretty difficult to win a game on the road against a team like Edmonton when the powerplays are 5-1. That's not an excuse, if anything it's a good reminder of the importance of staying disciplined.
• Two goals against came as a direct result of the Hamonic/Sanderson pairing, which continues to be a problem—please come back soon Artem Zub.

Heat Map:

Game Flow: