SENATORS 8, BLUES 1
The Ottawa Senators delivered a lights-out performance.
The Senators shook off a short pre-game power outage in Kanata that delayed the start of the game at the Canadian Tire Centre and skated to a 8-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
Led by a four-point effort from top centre Tim Stutzle along with two goals from captain Brady Tkachuk, the Senators were great from the start of this game and had the finish as the club halted a two-game losing streak in front of 15,784.
Adam Gaudette also scored twice, while Josh Norris got the party started only 1:04 into the first period and Noah Gregor chipped in with a goal.
The delay didn’t seem to bother the Senators one bit.
“It’s not something that you’re used to, but our guys stayed focused and came out with a good first period,” Green told TSN’s Claire Hanna during a break in the second. “I can’t remember that happening before.”
Coming off losses to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday and an ugly 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche to wrap up a three-game road trip on Sunday, the Senators needed to have this kind of response.
BACK TO NO. 1
It was no surprise to see Linus Ullmark make the start in this one.
Ullmark looked like he might record his first shutout in an Ottawa uniform, but a power-play goal by St. Louis’ Dylan Holloway on the 20th shot the Senators’ netminder faced at 9:04 of the third broke the bid.
The Senators needed to get up off the mat and the best opportunity had in this one was to go back to the top goalie. He wasn’t great in the club’s 6-4 on Friday in Vegas so Ullmark needed a bounce back.
Ullmark has talked about the importance of being a steadying influence
“If you want to be successful you’ve got to keep the losses to one (game) and then go right back at it,” Ullmark said. “Can you do it every time? No, but if you don’t have the mindset to do that every day, and try to rack up a couple of wins, you’re going to be at the bottom.”
Ullmark made one of his best stops late in the first with the Senators ahead 3-0 and the Blues pressing to get back into it. A giveaway allowed Dylan Holloway to get in alone and Ullmark stood tall making the stop.
Blues’ goalie Joel Hoefer was chased after allowing five goals on 21 shots in 31 minutes of work.
It looked like Ullmark might end up in a fight with five minutes left in the third when Jordan Binnington jumped into a scuffle behind the Ottawa net, but it fizzled quickly.
SWITCHING LINES
Green moved the furniture around and it worked.
While Ridly Greig is a natural centre, he was moved to the right side of Tkachuk and Stutzle for this one. The club had been using Michael Amadio in that spot recently, but he went into the visit by St. Louis with no points in his first eight games.
Greig was used in a third-line role with centre Shane Pinto sidelined, but it’s become clear that Amadio wasn’t bringing enough in his role.