Senators missing defensive stalwart Artem Zub in a big way
For a team that is in desperate need of playing with defensive responsibility, missing a stalwart D-man like Artem Zub is painfully obvious, writes Alex Adams.
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OTTAWA — If you take out one piece of a Jenga puzzle, it can fall down.
For the Ottawa Senators, Artem Zub is that piece.
“He’s very underrated for our team. And we’ll miss him while he’s out,” Senators’ Jake Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca, referring to his defence partner.
Zub is the Senators’ leading stay-at-home defenceman, tasked with shutting down opponents’ top players, on a team whose other defensive stars, Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, are rushing defencemen. In the last couple seasons when Zub has been out of the lineup, the Senators were discombobulated in their own end. His low-key style means he may be inconspicuous but his absence is obvious, especially because of the Senators’ lack of other high-quality right-shot defencemen.
Zub suffered a concussion against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday that forced him out of Thursday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. He is expected to be out at least a week, according to head coach Travis Green.
Sanderson has come to rely on Zub, as has the entire team.
“So very solid defensively,” Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca. “He’s always there. And I like to get up in the play, and he’s always there to kind of bail me out and just (be) very reliable defensively.”
On Thursday night, Zub was missed as the Senators went down to New Jersey 3-1. The Senators were not porous but were simply not as good as the Devils when it came to the details of the game for a team that is in desperate need of playing with defensive responsibility.
In the second period, the Senators were in a tight-checking, goalless game. They had just killed off a penalty when the Devils’ Erik Haula eluded Jacob Bernard-Docker, who had been inserted into the lineup because of Zub’s injury. Haula deflected a puck past Anton Forsberg to open the scoring. It’s those little moments that make the difference.
“I know I’ve got to be better,” said Bernard-Docker. “And (I’m) a little disappointed on that first goal and (it) happened so fast, the guy came across and I probably should have picked up his stick.”
Bernard-Docker knows the shoes he’s trying to fill.
“He’s a great player,” Bernard-Docker told Sportsnet.ca. “I think Zub brings a calm demeanor and (he’s) obviously a very good player in the corners and defensively, eliminating plays and a good penalty killer.”
Green had been playing Zub and Sanderson more than any other defensive pairing. They were dynamite last season, out-chancing opponents when they played together, according to Money Puck. This season, their stellar play had continued, allowing no goals during five-on-five play when paired up.
In Zub’s absence on Thursday, Green decided to roll with Sanderson and Travis Hamonic. But Green reduced their minutes and increased those of Chabot and Nick Jensen. Sanderson and Hamonic played just one second more than Chabot and Jensen during five-on-five play. Both pairings struggled to limit the Devils’ shot attempts during five-on-five play. Without Zub on Thursday night, when Sanderson and Hamonic were paired, the Senators were out-chanced 16 to 21 by the Devils, while in increased minutes, Jensen and Chabot were out-chanced 8 to 20, according to Natural Stat Trick.
With added minutes, Jensen had a couple of outstanding plays, providing a kick-save block on the penalty kill to prevent a surefire goal in the second period and then stopping a Jack Hughes two-on-one pass in the third. Nevertheless, with the Senators down 2-0 in the third period and the game still within reach, Jensen lost New Jersey’s Paul Cotter, who picked up a rebound to put the nail in the coffin and make it 3-0 New Jersey.
It was the kind of moment when Zub often thrives, with the little stick check in front or finding a guy off a rebound.
“It’s just a little battle here and there,” said Green. “Sometimes it’s the difference between a puck getting over the line, out of your zone, or just even a little faceoff and battle.”
Scoring woes
If it wasn’t for the hellacious eight goals that the Senators scored on Monday night against the Kings, the Senators’ difficulty scoring would be a dominant topic. Leaving aside the game against L.A., the Senators have combined for five goals in three games, including an empty-netter. Of the four goals scored with the goalie in the net, two have been on the power play.
Long story short, the Senators have struggled to score during five-on-five play: the Senators have been out-chanced 22 to 34 in high-danger opportunities in their four games, according to Natural Stat Trick. Their shooting percentage is 4.9 during five-on-five play is third-worst in the NHL. But perhaps it will regress closer to league average: the Senators hit four posts on Thursday. Sometimes you just don’t get the bounces.
Nevertheless, the Senators cannot rely on their power play, which accounts for five of their 13 goals, to generate the majority of their scoring. As good as the Senators power play has looked scoring at a 37.5 per cent clip, it is not sustainable.
Stick to the game plan
The Senators lost the plot after a great first period on Thursday, when they played suffocating hockey, limiting the Devils to the outside and only four high-danger opportunities, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“That was a great first period,” said Green. “If you’re a hockey person and you watch the game, it’s tight. You have to work for everything you got. Their top guys weren’t getting a lot. Our guys weren’t getting a lot.”
But the structure on display in the first faded as the game went on.
Veteran forward Nick Cousins, who was brought on during the summer to add some maturity, noticed the Senators reverting to old habits: “It seems like when we get down a couple goals, we kind of change our game, which isn’t a recipe for success in this league.”
It began with a missed coverage on the first New Jersey goal early in the second period and then, four minutes later, a horrendous back pass from Claude Giroux on the power play that led to New Jersey’s shorthanded goal. In a five-minute stretch, the game turned on a swivel and those two goals would be the difference.
“I thought we had a lot of the game that I liked,” said Green about his team’s performance.
“But I thought there was a few moments where it got away, we got away from our game, and they stuck with their game a little longer.”
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