The Ottawa Senators streak of five games (4-0-1) without a regulation loss came to a screeching halt Saturday in a 7-2 drubbing at the hands of the New York Rangers.
The Rangers exacted some revenge after being thrashed 6-2 by the Senators on December 5 in their last meeting at the Canadian Tire Centre.
A loss is a loss, whether it’s 2-1 or, in the case of the game Saturday evening, 7-2. However, it’s a difficult pill for the coaching staff and Senators’ players to swallow. Especially after the team was able to go toe-to-toe with the Winnipeg Jets last weekend, losing 2-1 in overtime. Then, the following day, down 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers on the road, the club forged back to earn a 5-3 victory. The Senators also displayed resiliency Thursday, tying the Bruins with under four minutes remaining to gain a point.
But on Saturday, the majority of the 19,262 in attendance went home disappointed. The Senators started well, jumping out to a 2-0 lead on Brady Tkachuk’s 20th goal of the season, the fifth occasion the captain reached the 20-goal barrier in his six seasons in the league. The only miss was in the 2020-21 Covid-shortened 56-game season. The goal assisted by Claude Giroux sent fans into an early frenzy as it was the 700th regular season assist of Giroux’s illustrious NHL career.
Jakob Chychrun netted the Senators’ second marker, cruising in from the point on the power play, taking a feed from Drake Batherson.
The game appeared to turn in an instant five minutes into the second period. Tkachuk dropped the gloves with Rangers’ Connor Mackey, who was making his team debut after the defenseman unloaded a hit on Senators’ Tim Stützle. While the hit wasn’t questionable, Tkachuk didn’t hesitate to defend his teammate.
“It was a clean hit, obviously, but if it was dirty, then there would’ve been a penalty. But then, I never like seeing Timmy get knocked over. other guys would do the same. He’s pretty strong kid, so for me when I see him knocked over, it’s no matter who it is, I don’t want anybody taking a run at one of best players. I want to stand up for him and for other guys to the same.” said the Senators’ captain.
All was going well for the Senators until Rangers’ forward Blake Wheeler grabbed hold of Mathieu Joseph, pulling him down. Joseph was subsequently called for an embellishment by official Mitch Dunning.
While the penalty was definitely debatable, it was the focal point in starting the Senators’ downfall on this night.
Rangers’ Chris Kreider scored six seconds later to put New York on the board when it arguably should’ve been the Senators possessing the man advantage instead of playing four-on-four. The Blueshirts went on to score four more goals in the middle frame, putting a five-spot up on a bewildered Senators’ team, of which four were tallied in 5:25.
The Rangers scored three of their five second-period goals with Tkachuk sitting on the box for five minutes.
One can argue and make a case for one of the Senators’ most important players to not drop the gloves, but interim head coach Jacques Martin supported his captain’s decision, doubling down his disappointment of the rest of Tkachuk’s teammates didn’t step up their games.
“I think he stepped up to defend one of his teammates. So I think you know, you should have a different response from your teammates. So that’s what I’m disappointed about. The response that we got, gave them three goals. So I think it’s just a situation where you got to stay the course and be prepared to compete.”
Martin added, “You know, when I first came on board, I think I saw that, but I thought we made a lot of progress not only on the ice but also as being able to be more resilient, aiming to be better at managing to the ups and downs of the game. Today was really a step back. That was the most disappointing part.”
Claude Giroux has played 1240 career games, and he’s seen it all. The 17-year veteran knows full well his club needs to be more resilient on a regular basis.
“Yeah, sometimes that happens when they’re coming at you, and you can’t stop the bleeding. But now we need to find a way as a group to push back to stop their momentum…We need to know that when that happens, we need to react differently and get back on our toes and just play the way that we know works for us. We didn’t do that.”
The Senators hold their Skills Competition on Sunday and must put this game behind them. The team plays at home Monday versus Nashville prior to paying a visit to Detroit Wednesday in their final outing before an extended All-Star break.
This will be their first engagement with the Red Wings since Mathieu Joseph and Parker Kelly combined to knock Dylan Larkin to the ice, resulting in a head injury to the Red Wings’ captain. a play that also saw David Perron suspended six games for his vicious attack on Senators’ d-man Artem Zub.
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