The Ottawa Senators have been shut out five times already this year. No, not this season. This year… and it is still January.
Their latest two shutouts have come back-to-back as they lost 5-0 to the New York Rangers in a bit of a blood bath on Jan. 21st and 2-0 to the Boston Bruins on Jan. 23rd.
Two teams that they are now behind in the Wild Card race.
The Senators’ struggle to get the offense rolling has been the story for the Ottawa team all season. And it starts at the top.
The Senators’ top-end talent simply isn’t doing as well as other teams’.
Tim Stützle (15G 30A) is the top point-getter in Ottawa with 45 points in 48 games, just barely cracking the top 40 skaters in the league when it comes to points. That means not a single player on the Ottawa Senators is a point per game.
That’s a problem when you are in a race with teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, and Montreal Canadiens. All teams that have guys (or in some cases multiple guys) are currently above a point per game.
The bottom line in Ottawa is beginning to sound like a broken record.
If you want to be a playoff team, your top line needs to score goals.
That leads to the real root of the problem as of late; Captain Brady Tkachuk has been on a cold streak to start the new year, going pointless over his last nine games.
While the Senators still remain 5-3-1 over their captain’s drought and maintain their spot in the tight Wild Card hunt, they can’t stay scoreless forever if they want to make it to their first post-season since 2017.
The part that makes the lack of goals all the more frustrating, is the fact that despite missing Linus Ullmark, the best goalie the Sens have had in a while, their goalies are keeping them in it. Anton Forsberg and Leevi Merilainen have a combined 2.5 GAA in the month of January.
You can’t ask for much more from your number two and three guys while they are taking over full-time for a former Vezina winner. Looking at this offense, they should be scoring upwards of three goals a night anyway.
Perhaps the best chance for Ottawa to wake up offensively will come Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Facing their in-province rivals at home might be just what the Senators need to get back on their feet.
The Senators have won four of their last five meetings against the Leafs despite being the historically worse of the two teams each time.
One bright spot for Ottawa recently has been their secondary scoring.
While it may not be the guys they want to score, players like Artem Zub, Zack Ostapchuk, and Nick Jensen have been getting the Sens on the board as of late. If they can keep the supporting cast in the picture while also dialing up the scoring from guys like Tkachuk, Shane Pinto, and Josh Norris, this team has the ability to be scary come April.
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