The Ottawa Senators didn’t play a bad hockey game on Thursday night, but no one is taking solace in moral victories or good efforts anymore.
The Sens were defeated 3-2 by the Vegas Golden Knights, marking their fourth straight loss at home and their fourth consecutive loss overall. The Sens made some big mistakes, which are tough to survive when scoring is suddenly hard to come by.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored the game-winner, and Ivan Barbashev assisted on two goals for Vegas. Adam Gaudette and Drake Batherson scored for Ottawa, which outshot the Knights 40-32.
Jack Eichel opened the scoring for Vegas just over six minutes into the game. Eichel hit Ivan Barbashev with a cross-ice pass. Linus Ullmark slid to his right to make the save, then fell. Barbashev got the rebound and passed it back to Eichel, who had moved to the slot unaccounted for, and he buried it into the vacated net.
While Eichel was cruising to the slot, Jacob Bernard-Docker had moved to the post to cover Alex Holtz, who was already covered by Tyler Kleven. That left Eichel all alone to accept an easy pass and bury it into the open net.
Ullmark was dialed in during the first period, making several excellent saves to keep the game close, stopping 14 of 15 shots.
Entering the game, the Sens were 1-8-1 this season when the opponent scores first, and now, well, they’re 1-9-1.
Just like in the first period, when Brady Tkachuk was denied a minute in, the Sens’ best chances in the second came early. Samsonov stopped a pair of two-on-one chances in the first few minutes, sliding from left to right to turn away David Perron and, shortly afterward, Tim Stützle.
Midway through the frame, Michael Amadio and Ridly Greig both made poor changes, allowing an easy stretch pass to Barbashev up the middle near the far blue line. Barbashev dropped it to Brett Howden, who put a snap shot on goal that dribbled through Ullmark. Not a good goal.
After two periods, the Sens had 15 giveaways to the Knights’ 4.
In the third period, after Samsonov was penalized for holding Claude Giroux, the Sens cut the lead to 2-1 on the power play. Adam Gaudette continued his scoring streak with his eighth goal, after a gorgeous no-look backhand pass from Greig.
Tkachuk had a spectacular chance right after that, cutting to the middle all alone and ripping a wrist shot wide.
After Kleven got caught pinching at the offensive blue line, leading to a 2-on-1 the other way, Pavel Dorofeyev restored the Vegas lead to 3-1. But Drake Batherson answered with a counterpunch, jumping on a loose puck and snapping it home to make it 3-2.
But that’s how it would end, even though the Sens badly outshot Vegas 18-5 in the third. Shane Pinto had the best chance to tie the game with under three minutes left, but Samsonov got across in time to make the save. It was a fine push and a solid effort, but again, no one in Ottawa is in the mood to take solace in moral victories.
With their fourth straight loss (and fourth straight home loss), Ottawa falls to 8-10-1 on the season and will be back at it on Saturday night at home against the Vancouver Canucks.
Key Changes:
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