Get ready, Senators fans, because the playoffs are becoming realistic
It’s time to mention the P word to Ottawa Senators fans. Not prospects. Playoffs. Alex Adams explains.
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OTTAWA — It’s time to mention the P word to Ottawa Senators fans.
Not prospects. Playoffs.
After back-to-back wins against two teams on the Senators’ tail, it’s OK for fans to talk about the playoffs. First, they beat the New York Rangers before squeaking out a 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.
Yes, it’s time to believe.
According to moneypuck.com, Ottawa has an 84.3 per cent chance of making the playoffs.
As someone who attended playoff games in 2017, including almost falling off my seat when Erik Karlsson found Derek Brassard for a wizardly goal in Game 2 of the first round against Boston, Ottawa fans deserve it. Monday wasn’t as electric, but it was up there, as the Senators crowd was ear-piercing loud all night, rejoicing for their team. It felt different.
Recently acquired Senator Dylan Cozens noticed after scoring the game-winning goal.
“Just sent chills down my spine,” he said. “To be cheered for like that was an unbelievable feeling.”
Why does this Senators core — composed of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson — seem poised to make the playoffs compared to previous iterations that faltered in the big moments? GM Steve Staios.
Ottawa’s recent wins, including Monday night’s, and its rise up the standings have been thanks to the culmination of Staios’ moves paying off. (Unlike his Red Wings counterpart on Monday, Steve Yzerman, who made no substantial moves in the off-season or at the trade deadline.) In Staios’ first full season in charge, Ottawa has been reshaped.
That includes his latest move in acquiring Cozens and his first monumental transaction, acquiring Linus Ullmark last summer. Ullmark was the main reason Ottawa had a chance to beat Detroit, showcasing a goalie clinic in his heroic 48-save win.
Monday’s game epitomized why Ullmark was brought to Ottawa: to steal games when the Senators needed an important win. As I wrote about recently, Ullmark hasn’t been perfect this season. He’s had one stretch, from Nov. 27 and to Dec. 22, where he was dominant, posting a .952 save percentage and 1.48 goals-against average. But since returning from a back injury in February, he had been average, with a .892 save percentage and 3.72 goals-against average heading into Monday’s game. However, he steadied the ship in the third periods of both games to keep his team alive and squeak out two overtime wins against New York and Chicago.
Nonetheless, you still need goals to win, of course.
In the second period against Detroit, three of Staios’ recent acquisitions teamed up. First, Cozens used his speed to force Justin Holl to take a holding penalty. On the subsequent power play, Staios’ other recent deadline addition, Fabian Zetterlund, used his enormous lower-body strength to win a puck battle, which led to a prime shot opportunity for David Perron, who buried it to open the scoring. It’s not been an aberration for Perron to produce, even though it took him until Game 15 to score his first goal. The 36-year-old Perron has a point in each of the Senators’ last four wins.
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Staios wanted leadership with production, and he got it from Perron.
Meanwhile, Zetterlund was effective in his Senators debut. He had two golden opportunities at five-on-five on the fourth line with Adam Gaudette and Matthew Highmore owning the shot share five-to-one versus Detroit. Zetterlund’s speed, shot, strength and pace were noticeable, including creating the opening goal.
Zetterlund is missed in San Jose, where his fellow Swede William Eklund said it was “one of the toughest days in my life” to lose his closest friend, according to Max Miller of the Hockey News. In Ottawa, he’s already been welcomed into the family. Tim Stützle immediately reached out to Zetterlund after the trade to offer him a place to stay until the newest member of the team figured out his living situation. That’s the culture Staios preached after the deadline, where players care about each other. He believes it leads to winning and, so far, he’s been proven right.
Back to the Swede of the moment.
After Ottawa took the lead, Ullmark was next-level. On a Detroit power play in the second period, he made ridiculous saves on Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat in tight as a barrage of shots hit from pad to chest protector to glove, leading to the fans’ roaring chants of “Ullmark, Ullmark.” The crowd erupted with a standing ovation.
When was the last time Senators fans serenaded a goalie?
Staios got his guy.
Later, Ullmark made a miraculous glove save on Craig Smith, again in tight. Detroit would be handed another power play, and the same outcome occurred. Ullmark stood on his head, making a great stop on Larkin in front and then a flurry of chances ensued where he spun around in the chaos, only for the puck to hit him.
In Senators fans’ minds, that was a ton of angst and joy, but for Ullmark, it was simple.
“Absolutely nothing. It’s just about the next one,” said Ullmark, when asked what was going through his head in the second period.
In the zone.
However, Ullmark couldn’t stand tall forever, Dylan Larkin beating him to tie the game 1-1 as Ottawa allowed a season-high 49 shots. (Coach Travis Green said, jokingly, post-game “the goal was to keep them under 48.”)
But then, Ridly Greig drew his second penalty of the game by getting under Moritz Seider’s skin while Detroit was once again hemming Ottawa in. Greig was recently signed by Staios to a four-year, $13-million contract. The ultimate pest did his magic (just ask Morgan Reilly); Greig is fourth on the team in penalties drawn, with 17. He had also scored a pivotal goal against the Rangers on Saturday that had started the comeback.
“Rids is really on top of his game right now, and quietly,” said Green post-game. “He doesn’t have to score to be really effective.
“No one really talks about him, but there’s a lot of things in the game that help you win.”
Green mentioned Greig’s ability to defend, kill penalties and play down low on the power play as attributes that make him effective.
On the power play that Greig earned, the puck found Sanderson in the slot on a mini two-on-one. Sanderson used his poise to find Cozens, who launched a puck into a wide-open cage for his first goal with the Senators. Poetic: Cozens’ first goal as a Senator was the game-winner in a crucial matchup.
Staios took a chance on Cozens, who had struggled in Buffalo but had the upside of a dominant two-way force as a top-10 pick in 2019. Cozens has points in both games he has played as a Senator and has gelled seamlessly with Ottawa. Staios bet on yet another player from Buffalo with extreme talent but who had struggled in a losing culture.
Sportsnet.ca asked Cozens before the game whether he noticed how many talented players (Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Ryan O’Reilly, Linus Ullmark) have left Buffalo, only to thrive in their new homes. Cozens smiled and acknowledged he was aware of the trend.
In the end, Ottawa got over the finish line thanks to Ullmark, who, like Cozens but in an immensely longer sample size, has shined since arriving. With the game in the balance, Ullmark made a ridiculous glove save with Lucas Raymond in tight in the dying minutes of the game to preserve the win.
For a second, there was a worry that Ullmark didn’t finish the job when he allowed a goal to Raymond as time expired.
“Felt like those three seconds were eight seconds or whatever, it felt like forever,” Ullmark said about the Raymond goal that went in after the buzzer. “Then it hit me in a weak spot of the manhood, so I wasn’t feeling really good at that point.”
In the past, Ottawa would be in a weak spot to make the playoffs in March. It’s not guaranteed, but through the shrewd Staios moves, he’s added the right mix of talent to put Ottawa in a driver’s seat to end the seven-year playoff drought.
Adams apples’
• Stutzle’s 14-game point streak came to an end on Monday. When was asked by Sportsnet.ca if he’d get a new haircut if his point streak snaps, Stutzle said, “probably not,” jokingly.
• Drake Batherson has been hosting Cozens at his own place until he finds a place to live, as Stutzle has with Zetterlund. Batherson said that he’s cooked the best meals of his life for Cozens in the couple days that Cozens has stayed with him.
