Takeaways: Ottawa Senators left singing the Blues in 2-1 loss to St. Louis

BLUES 2, SENATORS 1

The Ottawa Senators spoiled the party at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Playing on a Saturday night at home for the first time in three weeks, the Senators dropped their second straight since returning from a seven-game road trip in a frustrating 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Only Fabian Zetterlund was able to solve St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer on the 41 shots he faced. That came late in the third period with the Senators trying to erase a two-goal deficit, and that was as close as Ottawa would get.

“It’s unfortunate that’s the result,” said captain Brady Tkachuk. “There isn’t a lot of success right now, but in the big scheme of things, there are a lot of learning opportunities throughout this game and this little stretch.

“We’ll be fine, we’ll be good, and we’ll try to get out of it.”

Hofer even tried to score on an empty net with 34.7 seconds left and then jumped in to try to fight Tim Stutzle in a mix-up with six seconds remaining.

NICK OF TIME

We know the Senators are shorthanded without centre Shane Pinto, but they have to overcome that because they’re the first to say that injuries aren’t an excuse.

An area the Senators have to be better at is with the man advantage. The club was one-for-seven on the power play, and that didn’t happen until Zetterlund pulled the club to within a goal with 4:21 left in the third.

Up until then, the club didn’t look good at all with the man advantage, and that just can’t happen. Coach Travis Green was seething.

“We did a lot of good things, but we’ve got to find a way to win that game,” said Green. “Their goalie played well again, but our powerplay wasn’t good enough.

“There’s a lot you can say are the keys, they’re just not getting the job done. They’re on the outside a lot of time and the execution hasn’t been good enough.”

Only 12 seconds into the third, the Blues extended their lead to two goals. A turnover on a rim play in their own zone resulted in Jake Neighbours’ second of the game when he redirected a shot by Linus Ullmark to make it 2-0.

Trailing 1-0 after 40 minutes to St. Louis, the Senators had to be wondering what it would take to solve Hofer after outshooting the Blues 25-13.

Plus, Hofer was on fire, and that allowed the Blues to hang around.

Neighbours broke the 0-0 tie by going to the net and getting a fortunate bounce off himself in the crease at 17:36 of the second. That didn’t count as a power-play goal for St. Louis, but it happened as Claude Giroux came out of the box.

Pinto’s absence meant that forward Ridly Greig moved to centre. The Senators have to do a better job getting to the front of the net on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils than they did versus Hofer. He saw too many shots.

SIGH OF RELIEF

There was a scary moment early in the first when Tkachuk took a stick near the eye from St. Louis forward Robert Thomas.

It was accidental, but Tkachuk went straight to the room when the stick caught him underneath the visor. The officials missed the initial call, but went to video review to confirm that it was a double-minor to Thomas.

“I know he probably felt sh-tty about that, but it’s all good,” Tkachuk said.

Fortunately, Tkachuk came running back to the ice after being checked out by the club’s doctors. The fans were chanting his name, but Tkachuk was icing his eye when he went to the bench.

Tkachuk was trying to prevent the eye from swelling because he’s only played seven games this season after missing six weeks with a torn ligament in his thumb that required surgery.

“It feels fine. It probably looks worse than it actually is, but hopefully the swelling stays down the next couple of days,” said Tkachuk.

Unfortunately, the Senators couldn’t do anything with the ensuing double-minor to Thomas. That summed up what was a frustrating first period because the Senators went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Senators came into this game 2-for-12 on the power play in their last five games, and both of those were against New York.

Ottawa outshot the Blues 15-2, but the two clubs played to a scoreless tie after 20 minutes.

FALLING SHORT

The last time the Senators faced the Blues, the club surrendered three goals in the third period and dropped a 4-3 decision on Nov. 28 in St. Louis.

The Senators wanted to redeem themselves for that effort, and they played better, but the Blues turned the tide late in the second.

After backing up against the New York, Ullmark made his 21st start of the season. He came into this game with a 10-6-4 record, a 3.05 goals-against average and a .876 save percentage.

Ullmark’s lifetime record against the Blues was 4-2-1 in seven starts with a 2.10 GAA and a .928 save percentage. The Senators need that kind of effort in this one against the Blues.

He had the best seat in the house in the first period when he faced a shot in the first minute and another in the last minute. Ullmark did make a diving stop, while heading for the bench late in the third.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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