Senators Postgame: Tkachuk and Stützle Lead the Way in Blowout

How’s that for a bounceback game? After two straight losses, the Senators absolutely smoked the St. Louis Blues, dominating right from the (delayed) start of this game. The final score was 8-1, with 12 different Senators scoring at least one point. Let’s dive into the details!

READ MORE: Revisiting the Mark Stone Trade

Tkachuk and Stützle Step Up

This is exactly what you’d want from your best players after a couple of tough losses. Two game losing streaks happens. It can’t turn into three, four, and five, as it has in seasons past. Tkachuk and Stützle are two fiery players who are clearly tired of losing. Learning how to win can be tough, though. Every now and then, it’s simply time to dominate. That’s what these two did tonight. It started with Stützle’s sweet goal off the rush to make it 3-0 toward the end of the first. Then it was Tkachuk’s turn, with back to back power play goals in the second. Stützle, by the way, assisted on both those goals. He then added another goal in the third. Add it all up and these two combined for four goals, six points, eleven shots, six hits, and six penalty minutes.

Power Play Dominance

As mentioned above, Tkachuk scored both his goals on the power play. That makes 12 power play goals for the Senators this season already, in just nine games. To put that in perspective, they scored just 51 in the full 82 games last season. Two seasons ago, the Senators had a top 10 power play in the league. It was the first time in a long time that fans watched them with confidence on the power play. Unfortunately, they regressed last season. Well, it looks like the Sens are back to dominating with the man advantage. What makes them so dangerous is the amount of weapons they have. Tonight, it was Tkachuk, but seven other Senators plays also have at least one power play goal. Their first unit, consisting of Tkachuk, Stützle, Batherson, Norris and Sanderson, is moving the puck great right now, with all five guys as threats to score. And then they roll out a second unit with players like Giroux and Chabot?  This really should be a top 10 unit, all season long.

Bounce Back From Ullmark

It’s been a tough stretch for Ullmark, from the injury to the poor game against Vegas. All of a sudden, people are looking at his stats and wondering what in the world is wrong with him? Well, let’s start with an important message: don’t bother looking at early season goalie stats. A great game makes the season numbers look great while a poor game makes the season numbers look horrible. Ullmark is a great goalie. His move to the Senators isn’t going to change that. I also love his accountability after giving up five goals to the Golden Knights. Sure enough, he stepped up tonight. I won’t pretend his stood on his head; the Blues were pretty lifeless for much of this game. Nonetheless, he stopped 26 of 27 shots in a convincing win. Now, it’s time for him to build off of this.

Additional Notes

Shoutout to Zack Ostapchuk for his first NHL point! He’s put up five points in six AHL games this season and will likely play his share of NHL games this season as well. Speaking of depth forwards, the Senators continue to get goals from some unlikely players. Tonight, it was Gregor with his second of the season, and Gaudette, who scored two tonight to give him four on the year. It was also nice to see Amadio score his first point of the season. Just one assist in nine games isn’t enough, but it also doesn’t do justice for Amadio’s mainly solid play this season. The points should start to come. Speaking of picking up points, how about another two points for both Giroux and Batherson? Next up for the Sens is a Friday night game in New York against the red hot Rangers.