Ottawa Senators Postgame: Lackluster Effort in Loss to Habs

After two weeks off, the Ottawa Senators finally returned to action. Well, not all the Senators. Josh Norris, Shane Pinto, and Brady Tkachuk all sat out with injuries. Tkachuk of course, was fresh off the 4 Nations Face-Off where he was a physical force throughout the tournament. The Montreal Canadiens took full advantage of a depleted Senators lineup, winning this game 5-2. There weren’t a lot of positives to take away from this one. Despite being in the middle of a heated battle for a playoff spot, the Senators put forth an ugly effort on home ice, giving up a ton of high quality chances and losing their fourth game in a row. Let’s dive into the details on the Ottawa Senators disappointing effort.

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Ugly Ullmark Start

The biggest worry for the Ottawa Senators at the 4 Nations Face-Off was that Linus Ullmark would potentially suffer an injury playing for Sweden. Keep in mind, he was just coming back from an injury prior to the start of the tournament. The good news is Ullmark returned healthy. The bad news is how shaky he was tonight, giving up five goals on 15 shots before being pulled part way through the loss. That’s the first time Ullmark’s been pulled for performance related reasons this season. He needs to show himself to be a true number one down the stretch if the Senators want to make the playoffs. Let’s hope tonight was nothing more than an off night.

No Brady Tkachuk

While Ullmark came back healthy, Brady Tkachuk did not. It was just a few days ago I was writing about how Tkachuk had become the talk of the hockey world. He was arguably the biggest reason the four team tournament became as intense as it did, with him and his brother deciding to start their first game against Team Canada with a bang, both fighting in the first three seconds of the game. He was throwing his body around throughout the tournament, making Sens fans dream of seeing that version of Tkachuk in the playoffs with the Senators. Tonight, with the Senators back on their journey to make that playoff push, Tkachuk sat out with an injury. Obviously, the hope is that it’s just a one game absence. Even still, seeing Tkachuk battle so hard just a couple of nights ago in what amounted to an exhibition tournament, only to have him sit out tonight was highly disappointing.

Additional Notes

Drake Batherson was awful tonight. His inconsistency is a big frustration. As a guy who gets to play 18 and a half minutes every night with the other top forwards, it’s time for him to bring it every night. One thing’s for sure, the 11-7 forward-defense lineup does not work. As far as a positive, Tim Stützle looked like a hungry player who had two weeks off to re-energize. Aside from that, Ridly Greig threw a nice hit on Slafkovsky. That was about it, though.