Ottawa Senators Postgame: Ullmark Struggles, Sens Lose in OT

This was setting up to be quite the jolly write-up. The Ottawa Senators were the better team all night, making the Philadelphia Flyers look lifeless for most of the game. One of the only Flyers positives in the early going was a weak goal against Linus Ullmark less than three minutes in. Unfortunately, that trend continued. It was weak goal after weak goal that allowed the Flyers to win this game in overtime 5-4, spoiling a great effort from the players up front. Let’s dive into the details.

READ MORE: Solving the Senators Consistency Issues

Ullmark’s Poor Performance

It was just one game ago that Ullmark posted his first shutout with the Ottawa Senators. That came one game after a massive save in overtime led to the Brady Tkachuk game winner. Things were looking up, until this abysmal performance. Sanheim’s game opening goal was a pedestrian shot from the point that somehow beat Ullmark. Konency’s was the one good goal of the bunch, on a breakaway late in the second. From there, it was three straight duds.

With the Sens up 4-2 and in complete control, Ullmark gave up an ugly goal to Anthony Richard, and then just over two minutes later, he let out a brutal rebound on a Richard shot that led to Bobby Brink tying the game. Then, with the Senators dominating overtime, Ullmark gave up the winner from a horrible angle to Matvei Michkov. Game over. The shots were 37-19 for the Ottawa Senators, the ice was tilted in their favour throughout the game, but Linus Ullmark was badly outplayed by Ivan Fedotov, ending the Sens win streak at two, and costing them a point in the standings. Brutal.

Sanderson’s Even Strength Struggles

With an assist tonight, Sanderson is up to 10 points in 16 games. The crazy part about those points, though, is that none of them are at even strength. He has nine power play points and one short handed point. He’s also a minus nine on the season, including after a minus three performance tonight. That included allowing Konecny to get behind him for that late second period goal against. With Zub back as his partner, there are no excuses for Sanderson’s lesser play at this point. He’s been a key contributor to the special teams, but he needs to play better at even strength. Last season he scored 24 even strength points in 79 games, so around one every three games. To have none through 16 games isn’t good enough.

Chabot’s Strong Game, Season

While Sanderson’s not playing his best hockey lately, Chabot’s picked up the slack. Him and Jensen have worked so well together, and Chabot has brought into the two way style of hockey that Travis Green has demanded of him. He has five points in his last four games, including two tonight. He’s also playing trusted hockey in his own zone, including on the penalty kill. So far this season, he’s played almost 34 minutes short handed. In the seasons prior to this one combined, he played just over 39 minutes short handed, in 119 games. I’ve said in the past that sometimes Chabot tries to be too smooth, as if he’s playing hockey to the tune of jazz music. It seems he’s switched up the music and is playing with a lot more intensity this season.

Norris’ Hot Stretch

The way I see it, when Norris is scoring goals, Ottawa Senators fans are happy. When he’s scoring goals and playing strong to way hockey, Senators fans are even happier. And when he’s scoring goals, playing strong two way hockey, and doing all that with some added feistiness, well, you get the picture. Tonight was one of those games that Norris had it all going on. He scored, for the third straight game, had a sweet assist on Tkachuk’s goal, and wasn’t back down in any of the physical battles that he was engaged in throughout the game. The only way this game could’ve gone any better for Norris was if he could’ve pushed the puck a little further past Fedotov’s outstretched pad on his great chance late in the third. Nonetheless, it’s great to see Norris playing such inspired hockey lately.

Additional Notes

It will be interesting to see who Travis Green decides to start against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. It does have to be acknowledged that Linus Ullmark has been a split-starter throughout his career. As much as the Senators intend for him to be the go-to starter, he needs to show that he’s capable of taking on the heavier workload and playing well for long stretches at a time. I think I would start Forsberg, but maybe give me some time to get over this rough start and I’ll change my mind. Trying to end with a positive thought here, the Senators power play continues to be lethal, and their penalty kill has been great lately, too. Win the special teams battle, win the game. Well, I suppose that doesn’t always work. Anyway, onto Carolina!