It will surely go down as one of the most disappointing losses of the Ottawa Senators’ season.
In a nearly must-win game, the Senators fell behind 5-0 in the first period and lost 6-3 to the Florida Panthers, an injury-ravaged team with absolutely nothing to play for. Matthew Tkachuk led the way with four points in the game, earning bragging rights for the next podcast.
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Linus Ullmark carved out an extra day of rest for himself on Saturday in Tampa, but you wouldn’t know it from his performance. He was chased from this game after allowing five goals on 16 shots. They certainly weren’t all his fault, but he helped put the Senators on their heels straight away.
Despite all the rest, he was part of a clumsy miscommunication just eight seconds into the game. After the Panthers dumped the puck in, it bounced to the front of the Sens net and Ullmark motioned like he was going to play it, then changed his mind.
By that point, Jordan Spence had peeled off, so the puck was left sitting there for ex-Senator Noah Gregor to score an easy goal.
It was a nightmare start for Ullmark, who’d been a target of criticism after needing rest and making himself unavailable to start on Saturday.
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The Panthers then made it 3-0 on a pair of power-play goals, both set up by Ottawa high sticks. The first was a tip-in goal by Mackie Samoskevich to make it 2-0 just over a minute into the game.
Eight minutes later, Carter Verhaeghe scored his 22nd of the year, beating Ullmark from below the goal line, banking it in off his knee and back through his legs. Five minutes after that, AJ Greer tucked home his 14th goal, and 34 seconds later, Verhaeghe got another one to make it 5-0.
It was around that moment when the Blue Jays TV ratings suddenly spiked.
The Senators did battle back to make it semi-respectable on goals by Drake Batherson, Jordan Spence, and Michael Amadio. Batherson’s goal marked the first time in his career he’s hit the 30-goal mark. But despite having a 6 on 3 for over a minute in the third period, the Sens couldn’t get any closer.
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To add to their woes, the Senators’ already banged-up blue line endured yet another loss. Carter Yakemchuk left the ice woozy, dealing with what looked like a probable concussion. Noah Gregor caught him with a shoulder or elbow on a fly-by near the boards.
“Disappointing,” head coach Travis Green told the media after the game. “We talked about the importance of a good start in this building, and that was the opposite. We take three penalties in the first five or six minutes, give up two power-play goals, it’s 3-0 nine minutes into the game.”
The good news is that the much-maligned out-of-town scoreboard finally came through in every way for the Senators on a night they deserved it the least.
The Blue Jackets lost in regulation to Carolina.
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The Islanders lost in regulation to the Sabres.
The Red Wings lost in regulation to Pittsburgh.
The Flyers lost in regulation to Washington.
The Capitals are suddenly a factor again, just one point back of the Flyers, Red Wings, and Senators, who are all two points behind Columbus for the final wild-card spot.
So it’s no harm, no foul. But moving forward, out of town results really won’t matter if the Sens can’t get some healthy bodies back on the blue line. They’ll also need to come up with a hell of a lot more than they did against a banged-up Panthers team that’s been out of it for weeks, and slowly saying goodbye to their time as champions.
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Ottawa came into March like a lion, going 9-2-1. They went out like a lamb at 0-2-1.
The Senators will be back at it on Thursday night, hosting the Buffalo Sabres, a team that’s 25 points better than the team that throttled them on Tuesday.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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