The Senators will be on the search for their second win of the season on Thursday night when the Seattle Kraken come to town.
Ottawa has played well at even strength despite losing three of their first four games, but the team is looking to improve their penalty kill, which has allowed eight goals on 17 opportunities.
“There’s been a few breakdowns,” acknowledged Travis Green about the penalty kill on Thursday morning. “There’s also been a few lucky goals that have kind of found their way in the net… I know it’s a hot topic [for the media], it’s also a hot topic in our room.”
Lars Eller pointed to better execution when clearing pucks and communication as the biggest things that needed to change to improve the kill.
“After we came back from the Florida trip, we talked about being way more aggressive [and having better] anticipation. I think that was a little better against Nashville and perhaps we took a little bit of a step back yesterday, and now we have to take a step forward today. Again, I think it’s well within our capabilities to be a good penalty killing team, and right now we’re facing some adversity,” said Eller.
“I think it starts with doing the little things, the simple things,” said Green. “When you do that, everything kind of falls in order. I thought the game against Nashville we saw a version of what we want to be as far as being aggressive, but if you don’t do the simple things right you end up being a bit tired and that’s where you have breakdowns.”
Green did stress that the team is getting good results at even strength. Through the first four games of the season, they have generated nearly two more expected goals than their opponents at 5-on-5 per NaturalStatTrick.
“We did a lot of good things last night,” said Green. “If you looked at the game overall, 5-on-5, it was a pretty good game. Special teams played a big part of the game last night, it’s played a big part in a few games. Our 5-on-5 game was close [though] we needed to stay consistent with our 5-on-5 game. I thought for 45 or 50 minutes we did a real good job last night.”
In fact, the Senators didn’t allow a single shot against at 5-on-5 through the entire first period. Of the Sabres’ seven goals, three came on the powerplay, one came shorthanded, and one was shot into the empty net after Green pulled Leevi Meriläinen for an extra attacker late in the game.
At even strength, Ottawa and Buffalo each scored three goals, despite the 8-4 scoreline — a stat that underscores just how strange the game really was.
