PREDS TOO MUCH FOR SENS
More Ottawa goal-scoring woes
PREDATORS 5, SENATORS 1
There was little hope of the Ottawa Senators stealing another game Thursday.
They were no match for the hungrier, speedier Nashville Predators in a 5-1 loss in front of 15,480 at Canadian Tire Centre.
“It was bad from the start and we couldn’t really pick it up,” Senators captain Erik Karlsson said.
“We stayed in the game for a long time, but we just didn’t have it. It wasn’t one or two guys, it was everybody. We need to find a way to have a better game Saturday (against Florida).”
The Predators received goals from Colton Sissons, Ryan Ellis, Pontus Aberg, James Neal and Mike Ribeiro.
Derick Brassard replied for the Senators, breaking a 15-game goalless drought.
It was the second time in 10 days the Predators have outclassed the Senators, including a 3-1 Predators win in Nashville on Nov. 8.
On top of that, the injury bug is beginning to strike the club’s forwards in a big way. Bobby Ryan left the game in the first period with an upper body injury.
There was no exact word on the extent of the damage following the game, but coach Guy Boucher wasn’t optimistic about a quick return. With Mike Hoffman also missing the game due to an undisclosed injury, the already offensive ly challenged Senators — 10 goals in their past eight games and fewer than three goals in each of their past 11 games — are starving for players with touch around the net.
The club could be forced to recall another player from Binghamton, with Curtis Lazar a possible candidate.
Senators goaltender Mike Condon, giving No. 1 netminder Craig Anderson a night off, needed to be sharp to try to keep Thursday’s game close.
For the longest time, he did just that. In just the first two periods, Condon had faced a game-full of shots — 34, to be exact — and the Predators were fully deserving of their 3-1 lead.
The back-breaker came when Aberg scored on a two-on-one break — his first NHL goal — with 2:50 left in the second period, as Chris Wideman was caught pinching at the Predators blueline.
“We were doing pretty well until the third goal, fighting hard and getting some decent chances and we had a little bit of momentum, but that third goal was kind of a momentum-killer,” Condon said.
Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne came up big when he had to, making 30 saves.
While the Senators’ offensive slumps leave little margin for error for the goaltenders, Condon says his job is to take care of his end of the ice.
“As goalies, that’s not our concern. We’re part of the team, but I’m focused on doing my job. My job is to keep the puck out of the net and I didn’t do that tonight.”
Neal and Ribeiro put the game out of reach with third-period goals.
It was the second time since Oct. 28, a stretch of 10 games, that the Senators have yielded more than two goals in a game — both times against Nashville.
The Senators had a couple surges along the way and a couple of long-overdue bright spots, including Brassard’s power play goal in the first period.
The Senators also didn’t allow the Predators a power-play goal, extending their franchise record streak to 12 games in that regard.
Yet from the outset, it was the Predators that had the jump. They controlled large portions of the opening period, out-shooting the Senators 15-6 and taking a 2-1 lead into the second.
Ellis broke a 1-1 deadlock with 4:26 remaining in the first, taking advantage of the Senators’ sloppy defensive zone coverage and the fact Karlsson was forced to play without a stick after breaking his several seconds earlier.
Brassard’s power play goal tied the game 1-1. It was his first goal in 16 games, dating all the way back to the season opener. It also alleviated some of the pressure on the club’s struggling power play.
The Senators entered the game with a league-worst 8.9 per cent success rate on the power play. They had gone 0-for-14 with the man advantage in their previous five games and a meagre 1-for-26 in their previous nine contests.
“It was good to get on the board for the guys, but I wish it was in a victory for our team,” said Brassard, who acknowledges the scoring woes are becoming a deep concern.
“We have to help our (defence) corps and our goalies. Since we started the season, our goalies have been our best players and we have to find a way to score more goals.”