Sens Writer: Senators Rout Blues 8-1

Good write up and summary.
Of course I get to eat crow for suggesting that playing to AHL players instead of having Greig as third line center was "dumb". Looked pretty genius last night.

But the Blues were in a bad state. That game (once it started) was primed for the outcome that we saw. The Rangers game better be tight defensively. They can fly.

The Good: they did not allow the Blues to come back in the 3rd (they didn't collapse).

apart for stupid unnecessary penalties by brady and Gregor (both should not have played for the remainder of the 3rd) costing Ullmark a shutout OTT played well.

OTT problem has always been defense, they are a top 15 team in terms of scoring, if they can get top 15 defense they can easily be in the top 3 in the division.

They need to be more aggressive when defending tho... letting the other team do what they want in their zone is a recipe for disaster and increases the chance of injuries when they have to block 15-20+ shots/game. Thomas broke his ankle blocking a shot, something OTT cannot afford to happen to Stu/Brady/Norris/bath or Sanderson

Great game to see.

Two things I noticed. Numerous aggregious turn overs by the blues, something I'm more used to seeing from the Sens in the past, and Ottawa burying their chances following these.

Always nice to see a team finish their chances, that stuzle goal was beautiful. As others said, it looks.important to have a little more talent playing with the top line. That may become easier once Jensen / Pinto come back.

Bigger test vs new york, hopefully they can carry some momentum into that game.

My wife's family is new to Ottawa. I really wanted to take them to a Sens game. My wife already is slowly becoming a fan. But I thought - it will likely be a low scoring game - man was the complete opposite.

What an amazing game to watch live I imagine. 8 goals! Man I miss the days of the 2000s where Sens would get Pizza with 5 goals so much they had to change it to 6 . Another time I guess

There's a lot to like about this team, if Zub can get healthy, and we can FINALLY have Stutzle, Norris, Pinto all healthy with the others (Pinto was out last night) will be a good shot at competing for a wild card spot

Can someone tell me WTF the Sens are doing sending Adam Gaudette to the AHL?

Zack Ostapchuk is fine. But does loaning mean he'll be back against NYR on Friday?

Gaudette scored 2 goals against VGK and STL. 4 goals his past 3 games. He can literally be a star of the week and your sending him down.... something I'm missing?

Its just a paper transaction with Ostapchuk and Gaudette. It has to do with opening up more cap space as they move to the end of the season. Ottawa doesn't play again until Friday so both get sent down but never play for Belleville. Because Gaudette passed waivers at the beginning of the season, he can be passed back and forth to Belleville for a month or 2 (?) without having to clear waivers again. Ostapchuk doesn't need to go through waivers yet.

^^^^what he said^^^^

And I think it's 30 days.
It was a clever little waiver sneak out of training camp allowing them this exact flexibility.

I don’t think I have ever seen a team come out as flat as the Blues did. The awful travel schedule and strange power outage was a recipe for disaster. Was happy to see the Sens take full advantage. That is exactly what competitive teams need to do. However, not a game to say they have turned a corner or use it as a measuring stick. Most NHL teams won’t play that badly.

The game against Vegas was competitive but the game against Colorado was not. Will be interesting to see how this team fares against the Rangers. Eastern opponent and the Sens typically play well against them.

I will be really interested in Greig’s deployment while Pinto is out. There is an opportunity there for him. Would like to see Ostapchuk get a serious opportunity as well. He has the tools to be a decent NHLer. Really nice to see Gaudette contributing offense in the bottom six. Seems to have an underrated shot. Just not sure that can translate in quicker paced games.

Funny that Gaudette had such an explosion of goals in the AHL last year, and now is off to such a strong start. He's too old for a real breakout , but maybe some consistent depth scoring which the team will need through the season.

BOS is struggling big time, OTT needs to take advantage of this, pretty much all games are must win

BOS is struggling big time, OTT needs to take advantage of this, pretty much all games are must win
- Mithos

Yep, big opportunity here.

I'm hoping Washington is just overachieving at the moment too, it would be helpful if only 3 teams from that division made the playoffs.

Yep, big opportunity here.

I'm hoping Washington is just overachieving at the moment too, it would be helpful if only 3 teams from that division made the playoffs.
- david22

i think even TOR is iffy, when team tighten up defensively they will have trouble, they D and G aint that good compared to the other top team in the division, even OTT has better D and G. It will all come down to if OTT players can play defense consistently and well.

Interesting read on Formenton's lawsuit against his former representatives.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/fo...ent-wade-arnott-1.2198850

Can last night be boiled down to the the Sens just getting goalied? If they play like that most nights they should have a very good chance of winning, but still a feeling of frustration as they've lost 3 /4.

10 games in, 5-5. For large portions of the last few games they've looked quite strong, but I think fans will be wary that this is similar to what we've seen in the past. Hoping for a big push back tonight.

Can last night be boiled down to the the Sens just getting goalied? If they play like that most nights they should have a very good chance of winning, but still a feeling of frustration as they've lost 3 /4.

10 games in, 5-5. For large portions of the last few games they've looked quite strong, but I think fans will be wary that this is similar to what we've seen in the past. Hoping for a big push back tonight.
- david22

So the Sens have lost 3 of their last 4. Add some perspective ........... they lost to Vegas, Colorado, and Rangers. All 3 are viewed as Stanley Cup contenders. The Sens could have beat Vegas and Rangers .... played well enough to win.
I'm okay with this run. The Sens are not a Cup contending team. This has been a tough opening schedule against many contenders. Only Montreal and maybe St. Louis are not playoff contenders in the first 10 games we have played. I will reserve judgement on how this team plays against the lower level teams to see if they are making progress.