Ottawa Senators Postgame: Sens Dominated By Panthers

This certainly isn’t how the Ottawa Senators wanted to go into the two week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. They arrived in Florida on a five game winning streak, but left on a three game losing streak. Tonight’s loss was a particularly bad effort, with the Florida Panthers outshooting the Senators 48-27, and winning this game 5-1. Let’s dive into the details on a bad Sens loss.

READ MORE: 82 Games of Stützle, Norris, and Pinto

Forward Depth Problems

Without Pinto or Norris, the Ottawa Senators have played their last two games with just 11 forwards. Needless to say, they really miss both those players. The Senators managed just two goals in the last two games. Of those 11 forwards, three started the season in the AHL- Highmore, Reinhardt and Ostapchuk. That makes for a forward group that’s not just playing with less players than normal, but also lacking firepower and depth. In that sense, the two week break could be coming at the right time for a depleted Senators forward group.

Penalty Issues

One week ago, I wrote about how the Ottawa Senators had fixed their penalty kill. A big reason for their success was the play of Pinto and Norris. Without them, Highmore and Ostapchuk have been asked to become regulars while down a man. It’s not as if the Sens kill has fallen apart in these last few games, but they haven’t been generating any offense while shorthanded, and they’ve given up some key goals. Tonight, the penalty kill allowed Matthew Tkachuk to score the game-tying goal as he kept the puck on his stick from a dangerous spot for way too long with no pressure.

The bigger issue in this game was the undisciplined play. The Sens had to play a clean game, knowing they were playing with a depleted lineup. Instead, they took five penalties, and Ridly Greig would’ve taken a sixth had the Panthers not scored on the delayed penalty. The Senators have been undisciplined all season long. They are now up over 200 minor penalties, giving them the fourth most in the NHL.

Additional Notes

I’ve never been a fan of the 11 forwards, 7 defensemen lineup, and these last couple of games have only reinforced my opinion. It feels awkward, with the bottom pairing d-men having to rotate in and out with each other and a top forward having to take shifts with the fourth line every now and then. Two Senators that came to play tonight- Linus Ullmark and Brady Tkachuk. Ullmark’s 43 saves were a season high. Tkachuk had 11 shots. These are also the two Senators headed to the 4 Nations Face-Off. Let’s just hope both can make it through those exhibition games healthy.