SENSNEWS

Ottawa Senators game recap: The Ottawa Senators have won back-to-back games after defeating the New York Rangers by a final score of 6-2! Vladimir Tarasenko and Brady Tkachuk led the way offensively, and Anton Forsberg stood tall in the crease. The Senators are back in action Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, where they will look to win three straight. Check out below for an entire recap of tonight’s game.

Ottawa Senators Game Recap

Senators Rangers First Period Recap

The Ottawa Senators would need to be sharp in the game’s opening against the New York Rangers. The Rangers are currently atop the NHL standings and have only been defeated five times this entire season. After a strong game against the Seattle Kraken, the Ottawa Senators were going to need to continue with their good habits against the top team in the Metro.

The first period started perfectly for the Ottawa Senators. The Sens went toe to toe with the Rangers, trading scoring chances back and forth. The team was cycling the puck well and defended the incredible Ranger’s offence very effectively.

The scoring started just over the halfway mark through the first period. After being unsuccessful on the power play, the coaching staff rolled out the top line of Tkachuk, Giroux, and Norris. The Senators controlled the puck in the Rangers zone for quite some time before striking.

Claude Giroux picked the puck up on the half boards and threaded a pass to Artem Zub at the point. Zub fired a slap shot on net, and Brady Tkachuk got his stick free to tip the puck past Igor Shesterkin. The goal put the Senators up and brought some solid momentum for the team.

The Senators remained hungry after the game’s opening goal. The team continued to be quick on pucks and played excellent hockey through the neutral zone. The top line was looking for more offence with the period coming to a close.

Brady Tkachuk started the play beneath the goal line in a ten-second back-and-forth board battle with Jacob Trouba. Tkachuk eventually kicked the puck to Josh Norris, who moved it to Jacob Bernard-Docker at the point. JBD unleashed a shot that went high and wide before landing behind the net.

Claude Giroux quickly picked up the puck and made a dash to the opposite side of the net on a wrap-around attempt. Shesterkin made the first save before Giroux followed up on the rebound, knocking it in off the back of the Rangers’ netminder.

Giroux had put the Senators up 2-0 late in the first, and the Senators were looking to take their lead into the intermission. They were successful in this regard, but an unfortunate penalty by Dominik Kubalik put the team short-handed with just 15 seconds remaining. The Senators penalty kill was going to need to stand tall against a lethal Rangers power play to start the second period.
This may have been the most exciting period of hockey in recent Senators history.

Senators Rangers Second Period Recap

It all began on the Senators penalty kill at the start of the period. While the Senators did a decent job at limiting the opportunities on the penalty kill, a floater shot from Artemi Panarin got the Rangers on the board.
With the game at 2-1, times were tense for the Ottawa Senators and fans alike. The second period has been notoriously bad for the Senators this season, and they were looking to break this trend.

The offence got started just five minutes into the period for the Senators. Drake Batherson started the play by moving the puck up to Vladimir Tarasenko at the Rangers blue line. Tarasenko picked up the puck and entered the zone on a 2-on-1 with Tim Stützle. Tarasenko elected to shoot, and he beat Shesterkin over the glove to extend Ottawa’s lead back to two goals! The goal finally ended Tarasenko’s goalless streak, and the Senators were feeling good!

But they gave it away just as quickly as they gained their two-goal lead. The Rangers would make their way back into the game after a scrambling defensive shift by the Senators. Anton Forsberg started off by making an excellent cross-ice save on Alexis Lafrenière. The puck slid into the slot and ended up on the stick of K’Andre Miller, who fired home the rebound to bring the Rangers within one just 20 seconds after Tarasenko extended Ottawa’s lead.

Just like that, we were back to tense moments for the fans. But the Senators did not back down, and they were sniffing around the Rangers net once again. Just like the play started on his goal, Vladimir Tarasenko entered the zone on a 2-on-1 with Drake Batherson.

With the passing option taken away, Tarasenko fired the puck into the pads of Shesterkin, looking for a rebound. The puck shot out towards the slot, and Drake Batherson spotted the rebound, which he backhanded past the glove of Shesterkin to regain the two-goal lead!

Following this goal, all hell broke loose in the Senators game. The Rangers and Senators traded odd-man rushes like it was a AAA scrimmage game. Igor Shesterkin and Anton Forsberg stood on their heads during this stretch, making countless high-danger saves. Even Jakob Chychrun got in on the action, making a goal-line glove save to bail out Forsberg!

It was inevitable that someone was going to break through, and luckily, it was the Senators who did. After Claude Giroux battled to pick up the puck below the Rangers goal line, he fed the pass to Brannstrom at the point. Brannstrom went D to D with the pass setting up a wide open Artem Zub. Zub dusted off the puck before misfiring on his shot toward the net as it slid wide into the end boards.

Luckily for Zub and the Senators, the puck went straight onto the stick of Brady Tkachuk at the side of the net, and he flipped the puck over the pad of Shesterkin before he could get back to the post. The Senators had taken a three-goal lead late and would enter the second intermission with this lead.

Unfortunately, the Senators would take a late penalty, just like the first period. The Senators would go on to start the third period on the penalty kill for 1:20 or less.

Senators Rangers Third Period Recap

Anton Forsberg and the Ottawa Senators penalty kill did well to kill off the Rangers scoring chances on the opening power play. Most of the chances were kept to the outside, and the Senators would get back to even strength without being burnt.

However, the penalty troubles didn’t stop there for the Ottawa Senators. Josh Norris was guilty of taking a high-sticking minor against Artemi Panarin to send the Rangers to the power play. On the ensuing play, Vincent Trocheck drew a VERY soft tripping penalty against Tim Stutzle to give the Rangers an extended look on the 5-on-3.

This was going to be a massive test for the Senators penalty kill, and they absolutely aced it. Mathieu Joseph arguably had the most dangerous chance on the special teams play, and the Rangers were limited to just one shot on the two-man advantage.

The Senators would kill off the remaining time on the clock to win their second game in a row. After a tough showing tonight, Dominik Kubalik got himself involved by fighting Erik Gustafsson of the Rangers. It was nice to see that Kubalik was emotionally involved in the game even though the puck was not bouncing his way.

Vladimir Tarasenko would score an empty netter assisted by Drake Batherson to wrap up tonight’s game. Batherson and Tarasenko would both earn their third point of the night on this play, and the Senators would go home feeling great!

Ottawa Senators Standouts

Vladimir Tarasenko

Vladimir Tarasenko was an absolute killer tonight against his former team. Tarasenko finished the game with two goals and an assist while his line dominated all night long. Tarasenko has been excellent since being elevated out of the bottom six, and I fully expect him to continue with this offensive stretch.

• 19:15 TOI
•  2 Goals
•  1 Assist
•  55.17 CF%
•  69.92 xGF%

Drake Batherson

Drake Batherson continues on his hot streak for the Ottawa Senators. Batherson finished tonight with three points, and as mentioned with Tarasenko, his line was elite in tonight’s game. Outside of a soft holding penalty call, Batherson’s game was nearly flawless tonight.

• 18:13 TOI
•  1 Goal
•  2 Assists
•  61.11 CF%
•  71.94 xGF%

Brady Tkachuk

I couldn’t go through tonight’s standout players without mentioning the captain, Brady Tkachuk. Tkachuk earned himself yet another multi-goal game tonight (6th of the season), and he led by example all night long. Tkachuk started the scoring off tonight and was a nightmare in front of the Ranger’s net.

• 18:34 TOI
•  2 Goals
•  76.74 CF%
•  81.97 xGF%

Anton Forsberg

Anton Forsberg was tonight’s most underrated player for the Ottawa Senators. Forsberg went toe to toe with one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, and he outplayed him for 60 minutes. With two straight great performances, the Senators may give Forsberg a run as the starter while he’s hot.

• 2 Goals Against
•  33 Saves
•  .943 SV%
•  1.20 GSAx

Honourable mentions go out to Artem Zub, Claude Giroux, and Erik Brannstrom, who all had multi-point games for the Senators.