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There was no let-up; against the NHL’s second-worst team (at least that’s what the standings say), the Ottawa Senators kept their foot on the gas pedal.
With a 3-1 win over the lowly Nashville Predators on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre, the Senators got back to .500 (with a 12-12-2 record).
Two down, two to go. In a four-game home stand where each opponent is in the bottom half of the standings (Ottawa has beaten the Detroit Red Wings and the Predators), they’re now hoping to get past the New York Islanders Sunday and Anaheim Ducks Wednesday (Dec. 11).
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The Senators have picked up the pace and are 4-1-1 since Nov. 25.
“The record speaks for itself a bit,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “We’ve played some good hockey lately, we’re still grinding.”
The Predators, who opened the vault in this past summer’s free-agency period, should be much better (and maybe they will turn it around). They have world-class goalie Juuse Saros, elite defenceman Roman Josi and good veteran wingers Filip Forsberg (94 points last season), Steven Stamkos (81 points last season) and Jonathan Marchessault (42 goals and 69 points last season).
Saturday, the Senators did plenty of good things, a lot of things they can carry forward. Most importantly, they limited Nashville’s scoring chances with strong play in their own zone. They looked solid from the first line to the fourth, with effective work from their defencemen as well.
Taking a nice cross-ice pass from Tim Stutzle, Jacob Bernard-Docker, moving up on the right side, ripped a shot past Nashville Juuse Saros 5:07 into the second period. It was Bernard-Docker’s first goal of the season.
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Claude Giroux made it 2-0 with 3:08 left in the period.
With Nashville’s defencemen pinching in to try to create some offence, Michael Amadio knocked the puck past the blueline and it was retrieved by Nick Cousins, who broke in and went top shelf for the goal with 7:23 left.
The Predators prevented the shutout with 1:57 left on a goal by Fedor Svechkov. They nearly had another one less than a minute later with the puck getting behind Senators goalie Linus Ullmark during a scramble around the Ottawa goal.
Ullmark was especially sharp, while Saros also had his moments.
The Predators had 38 shots on net, 18 of those in the third period.
Ullmark’s steadiness and poise are what’s needed if the Senators are to get something going.
“We played a really solid 60 minutes, we had some big (shot) blocks at crucial moments,” Ullmark said. “It shows how much we wanted it. It takes a lot of balls (to block shots). I appreciate it when they do it; there were a lot of big bodies in front of the net.”
You don’t see many Senators other than Brady Tkachuk drop the gloves and get into a fight. But 6-foot-4 Zack Ostapchuk was a willing goer Saturday, answering the challenge of Nashville’s Cole Smith. Ostapchuk, who was recalled from Ottawa’s minor-league affiliate in Belleville a bit less than two weeks ago, knocked the Predators winger to the ice with a couple of mighty rights.
On the Senators’ fourth line, with Noah Gregor and Ridly Greig, Ostapchuk had a solid game.
“Osty might have had his best game of the year, not just because of the fight,” Green said. “You can tell he’s starting to feel more comfortable with the puck.”
After scoring four goals last season, Bernard-Docker was excited to get his first of the 2024-25 season.
It happened on a beauty feed from Stutzle. A period earlier, Bernard-Docker was also the trailer on a 3-on-2.
“The first one, he was yelling for it and I didn’t give (the puck) to him,” Stutzle said. “So, I told him, ‘Next time, I’ll find you.’ He wasn’t yelling for it, so maybe that’s why I gave it to him.”
“Timmy obviously made a nice play and I just tried to pick the far corner,” Bernard-Docker said.
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