While the Sens left Toronto pointless, they found success on the penalty kill while Josh Norris buried his first goal of the campaign, as Three Thoughts examines.
Perfect penalty kill
The Senators penalty kill was perfect Saturday night, killing off all three Toronto power play opportunities.
More so, the Sens were able to prevent the Maple Leafs from scoring on a 66 second 5-on-3 during the second period.
"Our penalty kill was good tonight," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said. "We did a real good job especially on the 5-on-3. At the end of the day, we won the special teams, and a lot of the time you'll get a point or better but they won the 5-on-5 game."
The Sens' penalty kill is currently ranked 18th in the NHL and working at a 75 per cent success rate.
"For the most part we limited their opportunities in the middle and kept them outside," said Nick Holden who played 2:23 on the penalty kill. "We were aggressive when we needed to be. I think after our video we made sure that we were detailed and that helped us kill those penalties."
Norris gets power play goal
It may have acted as their lone tally on the night but for the second straight game, the Sens got a power play goal.
Norris, who buried six goals on the man advantage a season ago, got his 2021-22 campaign off and running as he beat Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell five-hole out front after Drake Batherson's magnificent pass found him.
"It was clicking pretty good there in the home opener and to get one on the power play is obviously nice," Batherson said. "Looking forward to building that into tomorrow's game and throughout the season."
The secondary assist on the goal went to Tyler Ennis, who with three points this year, leads the Sens in scoring early on. Ennis had Ottawa's power play goal during Thursday's 3-2 victory over Toronto.
Limited shots
After firing 36 shots on goal during Thursday's opener, Ottawa was limited to just 21 shots Saturday against the same Maple Leafs squad.
"They played way harder defensively tonight than they did the other night and we weren't able to create," Smith said. "I didn't think we moved the puck overly well and breakouts wise we missed a lot of sticks and didn't get a lot done."
Of their 21 shots Saturday, only five came in the third period when the Sens were trailing. In 2020-21, the Sens averaged 29.7 shots per game, good for 18th in the NHL.
