takeaways: senators finish three-game homestand pointless in loss to new jersey devils
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new jersey devils defenceman jonas siegenthaler ties up ottawa senators left-winger brady tkachuk as the puck deflects off goaltender jacob markstrom in ottawa on tuesday.
adrian wyld
/
the canadian press
the struggle is real for the senators.
the senators were swept in their three-game homestand after the club dropped a 4-3 decision to the new jersey devils in front of 16,159 on tuesday night at the canadian tire centre.
it’s the first time since october the senators have lost three straight games — and this slide is showing no signs of stopping. nothing is good enough for the senators, and they’ve dug themselves a deep hole.
drake batherson scored twice for the senators, while tim stutzle also chipped in with a goal. goaltender linus ullmark had to come up with some big stops, but the senators just couldn’t beat jacob markstrom.
“it’s frustrating,” said captain brady tkachuk. “we played solid, and can’t find a way to win. we’re still positive, and it’s still a long season. i know it’s going to get magnified because it’s happening now.
“it’s just a rough stretch of games that every team goes through. we’re going through it right now, and we’ll be fine. i’m not going to sugarcoat that it’s not frustrating. it feels like we just can’t buy a point.”
cody glass beat ullmark on the glove side at 12:24 of the third period to give the devils a 4-3 advantage.
the senators came into this night with four losses in their last five. the devils had lost five straight. both teams needed a win in the worst way.
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“every night is a little bit different,” coach travis green said. “that’s three nights in a row where we’ve played a good game and didn’t get anything out of it. the powerplay was great, penalty kill was great and we had a lot of chances 5-on-5. i thought we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit.”
starts at the top
coming off a 2-1 loss to the st. louis blues on saturday, green decided to shift the forwards around because the club hadn’t scored a 5-on-5 goal in two straight losses.
the last time the senators scored at even strength was at 12:43 of the third period a week ago against the habs. that’s 186 minutes and 17 seconds without an even-strength goal.
“we’re getting looks,” said stutzle. “i thought we got a lot of chances, and their goalie was good. but we’ve got to make it harder for the goalies.”
thankfully, the power play was firing on all cylinders.
after a 1-for-7 performance against the blues, the senators were a perfect 3-for-3 with the man advantage on four shots at markstrom.
batherson’s second of the night tied it up 3-3. he went to the front of the net and redirected the puck by markstrom on the glove side at 10:35 of the second
a terrible giveaway by jordan spence to open the second allowed the devils to pull out to a 3-2 lead. paul cotter ended up on a breakaway and was able to slide it through ullmark’s five-hole at 4:21.
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see-saw battle
no lead was safe in the first 20 minutes.
twice, the senators led by a goal, and both times let it slip away. the devils tied it up 2-2 with 2:01 left when arseny gritsyuk was left alone in front and took a cross-crease pass to beat ullmark on the glove side.
stutzle scored his first in eight games with his 12th of the year with the man advantage at 12:59 of the first. he fired a shot from the slot that beat markstrom cleanly, and it was his first since nov. 22.
simon nemec tied it up at 5:09 on a shot that appeared to skip by ullmark.
batherson did a good job opening the scoring only 1:36 in the first. that came on the first power play the club had, and batherson lifted a loose puck in the crease over top of markstrom on the stick side.
with 10:17 left in the first, the fans weren’t happy when batherson had what would have been his second of the night called back. he redirected the puck with his left skate from below the goal line, which bounced off markstrom.
it took a lengthy review, but it was called back.
“i mean, if they see my soccer game off the ice, that would definitely have counted, because i couldn’t try to do that if i wanted to, but it’s the way it goes,” batherson said. “it happens every night. i feel like there are goals that should count.”
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an olympic faceoff
ullmark and markstrom could be in the same team sweden dressing room at the winter olympic games in milan/cortina, italy, in february.
ullmark made his second straight start, and 22nd of the season. he is trying to put himself back on the radar screen for the olympics after being passed over to play for his country in the iihf world championships last spring.
to make that happen, ullmark’s numbers have to improve. he hasn’t gotten a lot of support defensively on some nights, but he has a 10-7-4 record with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .877 save percentage.
the senators had markstrom so rattled, he even swung his stick at eller late in the second period. he and ullmark both made some terrific stops, but the senators were definitely in markstrom’s kitchen.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
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