Post-Game Talk: Sens lose 3-1 to EDM

[cudi]

Perhaps a lousy take...

I thought the Senators were very good the first half of the game. Picked right up where they left off from the Montreal series, IMO. Things appeared to fall apart in the second half of the second period (and never recovered) and appeared directly related to the team's inability to complete line changes to the far bench, leading to players like Gudbranson and Stepan pulling nearly 2+ minute shifts. You could visibly see the entire team wilt, the Ottawa pace slow to a grind, and players stop moving their feet and instead start vaguely waving at the puck. Passes stopped being relatively crisp and started becoming vague un-aimed chips.

There were times last night when I felt like DJ was experiencing the "hallelujah" moment, like when he ran out a PP1 of Dadonov / Tkachuk / Stutzle / Batherson / Chabot...but then I'm watching Gudbranson trip over his own feet and seeing Reilly pull off his best play of the season to stop a 2v1 and wondering "why are these two still being paired together?"

Agree 100%. We were swimming up stream the whole 2nd half of the game. By the middle of the 3rd the Sens legs were dead from chasing the play. Our D looked better, but our offense has miles and miles to go.

 

[Xspyrit]

Very disappointed in Norris since the last couple of game he doesn’t skate and look disinterested.

I have said it at the beginning but the line combinations are probably the worst DJ could come up with. It's not a surprise to me that Tkachuk-Norris-Dadonov is not working out

If you look here at 1:19, you see what Norris can do. He permutes to find open space then a perfect pass for the one-timer, Tkachuk missed of course.



Of course, Norris still has a lot to learn but he just seems like a young player that is under coached. He's probably second guessing a lot what he is supposed to do. If you start with the notion that our coaching staff is heavily outmatched, it's easier to understand why most of our players struggle and why it takes time to adjust. It's not surprising that the only guys "not struggling" are the new inserted players, like Brannstrom and Zub for example.

Norris advanced stats are still pretty good for a 21 y/o on a discombobulated team (for the most part). He has to learn and gain experience, even if he has to figure it out himself. I'd rather this to be done THIS year than next. Unless we want to be in a perpetual rebuild, we have to start graduate young players. The only drafted player graduated since 2016 draft is Brady Tkachuk. Stutzle will be next with (normally) Batherson and Brannstrom. Norris should be there too.

This team really needed a veteran Center, it's just that Stepan wasn't the good candidate at all. Take the 2nd given up for him, the 4th used on Josh Brown and Balcers (waived) and you have Balcers + 2nd + 4th. One good piece and you could get a good center, no?

Or the UFA route? I would have overpaid for Mikael Granlund. 1 year, 5.5... he still says no?

Stutzle-Granlund-Dadonov
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Paul-White-Brown
Galchenyuk-Tierney-Watson
Chlapik

Paul-White-Brown is your matchup line, they get plenty of ice-time. You don't have a 1st line but you use the other lines based on performance, go with the hot hand.

This team gets 1-2 high danger chances a game, while we defend quadruple that

Not statisticcally. NST shows we average 11.66 HDCF/60, and we give up the same amount HDCA/60 , which is high event both ways.

Difference is :

- The nature of these chances. We fight hard to create these chances. Defensively, we give up chances on a silver platter, many GA have been GIFT WRAPPED GOALS

- We lack finish. We do create good chances but we didn't elevate the puck enough or simply just missed the shot, whiffed on the puck, etc. Other teams have been way more opportunistic.

We have been doing fine "coriscally". The problem is in the execution. Complete that last pass, don't miss that shot, find a better spot on the goalie, don't mishandle the puck in that situation, etc... That's just offensively.

Defensively there's even more factors but at least we have seen major improvements since that 4-0 Oilers lead 4 games ago.

 

[Xspyrit]

Now that our D is a bit better the obvious lack of skill upfront can be the next focal point here. Lets have at it!

Can't win many games scoring a goal lol

Now that we have parlayed getting Brannstrom and Zub in the lineup, I guess it's time to do the same for Logan Brown and Formenton

It's almost like we are telling them what to do

I don’t expect chabot to dominate mcdavid but I expect him to at least slow down Tyler Ennis

Uh... are you talking about Edmonton's 2nd goal?

That goal is mainly White, Zaitsev and Tkachuk. Zaitsev pinched for no reason (which opened space), White bats that puck the wrong way and it creates a 2 on 1, he should have an assist on that goal. Tkachuk lazy change also created that situation. Chabot panics a bit and Ennis made a nice toe drag then a quick snap shot. But overall, another situation that shouldn't happen. There was absolutely no reason for that outside of not being focused as a group and not working as a 5 men unit.



You wish Murray made that save but at some point, you can't expect your goalie to make all those key saves. He made plenty of tough ones in that game

20% on Tkachuk
20% on Zaitsev
40% on White
10% on Chabot
10% on Murray

 

[Alex1234]

We can't even get a point.... So frustrating... Technically we were shutout.

Would have been funny to win the game without scoring

 

[Jorge Garcia]

I don’t expect chabot to dominate mcdavid but I expect him to at least slow down Tyler Ennis

Are you talking about the play when Colin White hit Ennis in stride with a perfect lead pass breaking in on the Sens goal?

 

[Bileur]

Of course, Norris still has a lot to learn but he just seems like a young player that is under coached. He's probably second guessing a lot what he is supposed to do. If you start with the notion that our coaching staff is heavily outmatched, it's easier to understand why most of our players struggle and why it takes time to adjust. It's not surprising that the only guys "not struggling" are the new inserted players, like Brannstrom and Zub for example.

Zub has a huge advantage given that he doesn’t speak English.

 

[Odie Cleghorn]

Zub has a huge advantage given that he doesn’t speak English.

If the players just ignore the coach the Senators will improve dramatically.

 

[Jorge Garcia]

I don't think so. We looked even better against the Habs the game after we beat them.

If you watched the Habs games, knowing only that one team was at the top of the standings and the other was at the bottom, you would have a hard time guessing which was which. Ottawa probably should have won both.

 

[devbouz12]

From best to worst:

Forwards

1. Josh Norris - He was good tonight.

2. Chris Tierney - He's still... There. Tried as he often does, but his limited skillset prevented him from making a difference. Still, he was far from being the problem here.

3. Colin White - Okay. Not great. Not terrible.

4. Drake Batherson - Almost invisible as Edmonton held the puck all game.

5. Nick Paul - Tough player to fault even when he's not on his game.

6. Evgeny Dadonov - Still passable defensively, but he wasn't good anywhere else tonight. Made a bunch of random plays. Killed a handful of good plays. The effort is clearly there, but there's no execution whatsoever. He needs to pick up soon.

7. Tim Stützle - It's becoming increasingly apparent that he's not ready. He's a split second behind NHL pace and desperately needs to mature physically (failed/forced passes, easily nudged off the puck, can't compete along the boards, struggles to contribute defensively, etc.)

8. Brady Tkachuk - Disappointing. He was never confused with a ballerina, but his skating has been particularly horrid in the last stretch. Still not as much focus on the puck as you'd like. Minimal effort on backchecks. Passes completely off. Can get a shot off. Just not great right now.

9. Alex Galchenyuk - A couple of decent moments in the Oilers zone, but also some glaring and unnecessary defensive mistakes that won't endear him with the coaching staff.

10. Connor brown - The place where offense goes to die. Honest effort, as always. But he's a 4th liner. And so far, not nearly as effective as he was last year on either side of the ice.

11. Austin Watson - First game of the season where he didn't look like a competent fourth liner. Couldn't react or keep pace under intense Oilers pressure.

12. Derek Stepan - Why is he still here?

Defense/G

1. Thomas Chabot - Good news is that Hotsam was back to being the best defenseman on the ice and it wasn't close.

2. Artyom Zub - Steadily increasing responsibilities and he still passes the eye test.

3. Nikita Zaitsev - Little to fault tonight.

4. Erik Brännström - One play where he could have managed the puck better (that led to a goal). Otherwise solid.

5. Erik Gudbranson - An horrific sequence where he tripped, fell, took himself out of the play and lost the puck completely unpressured in the neutral zone. Take that out and he's still on the uptrend from where he began.

6. Mike Reilly - Mixed bag of good and bad plays. Palatable since being paired with Zub and miles better than he was at the start of the season.

Matt Murray - Simply magic. Again.

Where do I even begin with this post? Rewatch the game or something

 

[Matsens15]

Where do I even begin with this post? Rewatch the game or something

Ya I read number 1 and I stop .. Norris was not good.

 

[Cosmix]

q

Was Galchenyuk benched tonight or leave the game early?

How has he looked for you guys?

I think he has looked decent on occasion. I hope he is given more ice time to see how he plays. We need to ditch the duds (Stepan, Anisimov, etc.)

 

[Jorge Garcia]

Have you seen our D...

We have D in the pipeline that will be here before any Dman picked in the draft.

 

[BondraTime]

We have D in the pipeline that will be here before any Dman picked in the draft.

Who is going to be here before, and play a role even similar, to Sanderson? He’s talking about last draft.

 

[Jorge Garcia]

To be fair, they also called that puck over glass when the oiler player was 6 feet out of the Dzone...

But yeah, the reffing this game was among the worst I've ever seen.

It needs to be acknowledged that one McD-Drei Oilers PP is worth about 10 Senators PPs.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Are you talking about the play when Colin White hit Ennis in stride with a perfect lead pass breaking in on the Sens goal?

Break in on the sens goal or breaking in on Chabot one on one.

 

[Ice-Tray]

Tierney is turkey bacon, egg whites and dry gluten free seed bread...you’re always gonna want thick cut real bacon, 2 sunnyside up eggs with big orange yolks, and fresh Texas toast saturated with butter. The first one feeds you but you’re not gonna like it

Uhhhhh the second one is the one that will kill you....... Not sure this is the analogy you wanted it to be.

 

[branch]

Uhhhhh the second one is the one that will kill you....... Not sure this is the analogy you wanted it to be.

You're looking into this a bit too far @Ice-Tray