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Sharks 6, Senators 3
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Goaltender Matt Murray remains winless this season and Ottawa Senators coach D.J. Smith offered a blunt assessment of why the latest game slipped away.
“The difference tonight is probably their goaltending,” Smith said after yet another rough third period in what ended up as a 6-3 loss late Wednesday to the San Jose Sharks. “I didn’t mind our details. I just think we’ve got to get someone to take the net for us and start to win us some games when we give that effort. We need someone to get in there and hold us right now. We’re a young team that needs someone to steal one for us, probably.”
The game was there for the taking in the third period before Timo Meier ripped a shot in the slot over Murray’s trapper with 8:42 remaining to break a 3-3 deadlock.
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Logan Couture and Jake Middleton then iced the game with empty net goals.
Murray, whose season has included extended absences due to injuries and illnesses, was playing his first game since coming out of Covid-19 protocol. He finished with 23 saves on 27 shots.
For the season, he’s now 0-5, with a 3.26 goals against average and .890 save percentage in what the organization was hoping would be a bounce-back year following his shaky first season with the club in 2020-21.
As a team, the Senators have won only one of their past 10 games, stuck in the league basement with an overall record of 4-12-1.
For the longest time Wednesday, the Senators were in a decent position to break out of their slump, showing plenty of spunk following their sloppy 7-5 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
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After battling back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, they went up 3-2 late in the second period when Brady Tkachuk and Connor Brown scored goals only 1:33 apart.
Before the period was out, though, Nick Bonino tied the game 3-3 on a power play, with Tkachuk serving a questionable roughing penalty.
That set up the Sharks three-goal third period. For the season, the Senators have been outscored 28-9 in third periods.
As a whole, Smith liked what he saw from his team Wednesday.
“We deserved better, one point or two,” he said.
If there was one goal that stood out as particularly bad for Murray, it was Tomas Hertl’s bad angle shot to the short side that gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead 47 seconds into the second period.
At this point, the goaltending decision for Friday’s U.S. Thanksgiving Day matinee against the Anaheim Ducks is up in the air. Both Filip Gustavsson and Anton Forsberg are also with the team.
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There could also be some other forward re-shuffling. Parker Kelly came in for Logan Shaw on the fourth line against the Sharks, but that unit was on the ice for the game winner from Meier. On the health front, Nikita Zaitsev returned to the defence after coming out of Covid-19 protocol, bumping Michael Del Zotto.
Drake Batherson is now the only player still missing due to the virus, but he won’t return until Dec. 1 against the Vancouver Canucks.
With every fresh loss, the frustration grows.
“We’re going to have to learn from this one,” said Tkachuk. “We’re going to have to apply these things that we’ve learned.”
Tkachuk acknowledged being distracted by “things we can’t control”, including penalty calls that went against him and the team.
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“We made a couple of mistakes tonight, individually as well, that cost us that third goal, the power play goal.”
Tkachuk didn’t, however, lay the blame for the defeat at the feet of Murray.
“Whatever goalie is in net, we have the utmost confidence and we’ll do anything to support them. We’ve just got to limit the chances as much as we can. That fourth goal (by Meier) is a shot right in the high slot, so we have to do a better job of defending and not let those chances happen.”
In the fast-paced first period, the Sharks opened the scoring on a Matt Nieto goal. Josh Norris tied it 1-1, jumping on a loose puck in front of Sharks goaltender James Reimer, who is now 17-6-3 in his career against the Senators.
“I thought we played a good road game, to be honest with you,” said Norris. “We controlled the play at times and had the puck a lot in their zone and I thought we moved it around pretty good. You’ve just got to find a way to win. It’s not always easy. We’ve got to dig ourselves out of it.”
In an attempt to spark more life to the offence, Smith moved Tim Stuetzle to centre, with Brown and Nick Paul on his wings. Stuetzle held his own throughout, earning post-game praise from the coach.
“Really good,” said Smith. “Great speed, (better) breakout, it was a big difference for us. If he can give us that, it’s going to be a huge help for us going forward.”
Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren
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2021-11-25 12:11:16Z
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