Tag: Ottawa

Categories
NHL (National Hockey League)

Senators aim to maintain momentum ahead of rematch with Lightning in Ottawa

Ottawa Senators (NHL)

The Ottawa Senators, despite some tough injury updates this week, are in a strong position as the 4 Nations Face-Off break nears, currently holding a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

However, the Tampa Bay Lightning are just two points behind them in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa will look to extend its lead when they play Tampa Bay on Thursday night in the second game of their series.

In Tuesday’s game, the Lightning won 4-3, ending Ottawa’s five-game win streak. Despite the loss, Ottawa has gone 10-3-1 in its last 14 games, with defenseman Thomas Chabot playing a key role. Over his past six games, Chabot has one goal and five assists.

“It’s my third year playing with him, and every year I thought he was a great player and doing a lot for our team,” said Ottawa forward Claude Giroux of Chabot. “Obviously, offensively he’s creative. He can skate. But his defensive play has been really good.”

Chabot has four goals and 22 assists in 53 games this season.

The Senators are also dealing with injuries, having lost Josh Norris to a mid-body injury over the weekend, which will keep him out for a couple of weeks. Forward Shane Pinto also left Tuesday’s game after just 2:57 of ice time due to an upper-body injury and did not return.

Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)

Thursday’s game will mark the first time the Senators have played two consecutive road games in the same city during a regular season. The only other time this occurred was during the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Tampa Bay will be looking for a win to start a potential winning streak, as they haven’t won two in a row since Jan. 16-18. In Tuesday’s win, Brandon Hagel scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Ryan McDonagh sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at 18:25. Ottawa’s Drake Batherson answered 15 seconds later with a goal of his own.

Tampa Bay’s victory came without Conor Geekie, who was sent down to AHL Syracuse earlier in the day. Lightning coach Jon Cooper acknowledged Geekie’s contributions, saying, “This was talked about with Geeks in training camp, so the fact that he was here 50 games is a tribute to him.”

Geekie, 20, has contributed six goals and six assists in 49 games this season. The Lightning are also dealing with injuries, as Nick Paul (undisclosed) left Tuesday’s game after just 1:17 of ice time.

Categories
NHL (National Hockey League)

Senators defeat Predators in Ottawa for fifth consecutive win

Ottawa and Nashville (NHL)

Adam Gaudette and David Perron each scored a goal and had an assist, Shane Pinto netted the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Ottawa defeated Nashville 5-2 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to five games.

Jake Sanderson scored for the third game in a row, Brady Tkachuk and Artem Zub each recorded two assists, and Tim Stutzle picked up his 300th career point with an assist for Ottawa, which is now 10-2-1 since January 11.

With the game tied 2-2, Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot sent the puck toward Nashville’s net, where it was deflected into the slot. Pinto then chipped the puck past Predators goalie Juuse Saros (34 saves) at 6:17 in the third period to give Ottawa the lead.

Perron added a power-play goal, his first of the season, with 5:54 remaining. This came after no penalty was called when Nashville’s Adam Wilsby was taken down on a short-handed breakaway. Ridly Greig sealed the win with an empty-net goal.

Filip Forsberg scored and assisted on Jonathan Marchessault’s goal for Nashville, which has now allowed 20 goals during its five-game losing streak.

The game began with both teams having eight shots on goal in a scoreless first period. Ottawa challenged a no-goal call due to goaltender interference with 3:33 left, but the challenge was unsuccessful.

Nashville Predators (NHL)

Nashville opened the scoring early in the second period at 3:59. Forsberg capitalized on some great passing from Roman Josi, in his 957th game with the team, and Vinnie Hinostroza, and beat Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg (25 saves). Forsberg ended a three-game point drought.

Ottawa responded when Stutzle drove the net and had a shot blocked, with Gaudette picking up the rebound to score at the 10:02 mark.

The Senators took the lead with 6:56 left in the second when Sanderson fired a wrist shot through traffic and past Saros for his ninth point in the last five games.

Nashville tied the game 47 seconds into the third period on the power play when Marchessault scored a one-timer off a passing play involving Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly.

Ottawa’s Josh Norris, who has 19 goals this season, is expected to miss a couple of weeks with a mid-body injury, according to coach Travis Green.

Categories
NHL (National Hockey League)

Lightning face a tough challenge in cooling down the red-hot Senators in Tampa

Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)

The Tampa Bay Lightning will wrap up their five-game homestand with matchups against the in-form Ottawa Senators on Tuesday and Thursday.

Although these games will feel like early playoff showdowns, the chances of these two Atlantic Division teams facing each other in the first round of the postseason are slim.

A recent slump in scoring for both the Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets, along with the Detroit Red Wings’ six-game winning streak, has pushed the Lightning out of a playoff position. This is surprising given Tampa Bay’s strong goal differential of +34.

“You look at the first three months of the season, and scoring wasn’t that difficult,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after his team posted a 7-8-1 record in January. “And (in January) we played like 14 games in 24 days, three different time zones, 10 on the road. I’d probably say fatigue was a part of it. We were probably scoring more than expected, and then we started scoring way below expected.”

Nikita Kucherov leads the team in assists (52) and points (76), while Brandon Hagel is second with 54 points. Brayden Point, however, has just three points in his last six games and hasn’t had a multi-point game since his three-point performance against the New York Rangers on December 28.

The Senators, on the other hand, have been on a roll, having defeated Tampa Bay 5-4 in their first meeting in Ottawa on October 19.

Ottawa Senators (NHL)

However, Ottawa took a hit when Josh Norris (mid-body injury) was unable to travel with the team on their four-game road trip. Norris, who has 19 goals this season, is expected to miss a few weeks after taking two hard hits during Saturday’s 6-0 win over the Minnesota Wild.

In that game, the Senators dominated, outshooting Minnesota 52-16 and completing a perfect 4-0-0 homestand.

To replace Norris, Ottawa called up Cole Reinhardt from their AHL team in Belleville. “Any time someone goes out, it’s another opportunity for someone else to come in,” said Senators coach Travis Green. “(Reinhardt) will draw in the lineup tonight, and someone else will play center.”

That “someone else” was Ridly Greig, who scored in Ottawa’s 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Monday.

Goaltender Anton Forsberg made 25 saves to secure the Senators’ fifth straight win, marking the second time this season they’ve had a winning streak of at least five games.

Linus Ullmark, who has been sidelined since December 22 with an injury, served as Forsberg’s backup and could start in Tuesday’s game in Tampa.

Tim Stutzle, 23, reached a milestone by recording his 300th career point with an assist on a goal by Adam Gaudette. Defenseman Jake Sanderson extended his point streak to five games (three goals, six assists) by scoring for the third straight game, and David Perron netted his first goal with the Senators in his 15th game with the team.