The Ottawa Senators have lost a few games this season that they deserved to win. But on Wednesday night (Thursday morning) in San Jose, they won a game that they not only deserved to lose, but deserved to lose by a significant margin.
In their first game of a West Coast road trip, the Senators seemed to have no energy, but still managed to beat the Sharks 4-3. Adam Gaudette led the way with two goals for the Senators, including the game-winner in the third period.
Gaudette now has 11 goals this season, tied for first on the team. Not bad for a guy who is in Ottawa on a one-year, two-way contract. Tim Stutzle scored both of his goals and finished with three assists. But Linus Ullmark was the one keeping things tight. He made the difference in the match as the Sens were brutally dominated by the Sharks 39-11. This ends Ullmark’s personal four-game losing slide.
The shots were 12-4 in the first, 12-6 in the second, and in the third period, the Sens had absolutely nothing left, dominated 15-1 on shots. The fact that Gaudette managed to get a shot on goal for the Senators was almost as surprising as the goal itself. And the goal was a one-handed redirection of a central pass from Stutzle that might as well have ended up in the stands.
Despite being brutally outshot, Ottawa still had a 3-1 lead after two periods thanks to goals from Gaudette, Josh Norris and Tyler Kleven with his first NHL goal. But after a goal from rookie Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith began to stir up trouble in the neighborhood with the tying goal for San Jose to tie it at 3. But Gaudette’s second with less than 5 minutes to play slowed the momentum of the Sharks and the Senators somehow managed to close it out.
11 shots from @Senators tonight, they tie their fewest wins in franchise history (also April 12, 2013 in a 2-0 win at NJ) #GoSensGo
– Jon Perlberg (@jonperlberg) November 28, 2024
The Senators now have a few days to adjust their biological clock before facing Los Angeles on Saturday night.
