Red Wings-Senators quick take: gut punch

The 10-11-and-4 Detroit Red Wings played something of a “barometer game” against a team with a similar record in the 10-12-and-2 Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

The Senators are usually a team whose size, strength and after-the-whistle shenanigans tend to vex the Red Wings, so the game promised some potential fireworks for interested viewers–and a reunion of the “Pizza Line” of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza for Sens fans.

On Thursday night, Detroit was able to keep the Sens to a zero on 5 power play opportunities, Detroit scored a power play goal of its own, and the Wings rallied from a Josh Norris goal in the 1st with a mid-3rd-period PPG from DeBrincat…

But Norris scored again on an easy rush with 42.8 seconds left in regulation time, and Detroit lost 2-1 to Ottawa, which has now tied the Red Wings in points.

Detroit can’t seem to win in Ottawa, and this one was just crushing in terms of the nature in which the Sens won a “walk-off” late.

In pregame warmups, Ville Husso and Linus Ullmark led the teams out to the ice at the Canadian Tire Centre:

The Senators lined up as follows…

While the Red Wings employed the following lines:

The starters and scratches were as follows:

In the 1st period, Larkin drew in for an opening faceoff opposite Josh Norris, the Sens won the draw and chipped and chased, Detroit pushed the puck back to the point and Husso made a good stop;

Ottawa held possession and Norris blasted a shot wide before the Sens regrouped at center and iced the puck 34 seconds in;

DeBrincat, Compher and Kane came over the boards for the offensive zone draw, but they lost it, and Petry and Chiarot regrouped, Kane charged through center, dropped to Compher and his shot was tipped high and wide;

The teams changed at 1:20, with Tarasenko, Berggren and Kasper coming out, and Edvinsson and Seider returning to the ice…And play was stopped when the net was dislodged by a Senator behind Ville Husso.

The Kasper line remained on the ice as the 2-minute mark passed, and Ottawa pushed the puck through center and into Detriot’s zone, and for some reason, the Red Wings were called for a penalty at 2:06 as Berggren was called for hooking.

On the penalty-kill, J.T. Compher won the right-side faceoff dra wand Detroit cleared the zone, but Ottawa regrouped, and Detroit repelled a Senators push into Detroit’s zone;

Stuetzle, Norris and Tkachuk battled down low, but Raymond and Larkin tried to stifle the Sens, Sanderson and Stuetzle returned and a shot was blocked by Chiarot;

Sanderson and Stuetzle cycled, Larkin chipped a puck away after Husso made a stop and Grieg set up for Gaudette, Giroux fired a shot wide of the goal and down the ice it went.

Chabot charged through center, dropped and the Sens tried for a “home run pass,” but Ottawa felt that the puck wasn’t iced, and it was offside. Detroit killed the penalty.

As 5-on-5 play resumed, Johansson and Holl played their first shift, working with Kasper’s line, and they were strung out to some extent, affording Ottawa a scoring chance and a wraparound chance by Norris that Husso snuffed out 5:03 in.

5:06 in, the Senators had a 5-0 shot advantage, and Rasmussen did a good job of blocking a shot off, but the pass went to Tkachuk who broke away, and Husso made a good out-of-the-net stop, Rasmussen then deflected a Tkachuk wraparound attempt into Husso, and Detroit pressed the other way, with De”BOO”cat battling down low…

Edvinsson got the Wings’ first shot some 6:20 into the 1st period, by which time the Sens had 6 shots and 9 attempts.

The Fischer-Copp-Motte line didn’t get a real “first shift” until some 7 minutes in, and the Senators dominated possession and control during that shift.

As play continued, the Senators amassed a 9-1 shot lead by the 10:37 mark, and the game wasn’t chippy in the physical sense–it just had very little rhythm.

Patrick Kane did a very nice job of attempting to jab a DeBrincat pass into the net from below the goal line at 11:15, and the Sens’ Ullmark had to squeeze the play dead.

The Wings followed up the Kane shift with Larkin generating a scoring chance thanks to a Rasmussen recovery in front of the net…

Sadly, off a deep offensive zone faceoff, the Senators chipped, Husso gave the puck up to Seider, and Drake Batherson fed Brady Tkachuk, he was stopped and the rebound went to Josh Norris, who jabbed the puck past Husso at 13:14.

Norris scored from Tkachuk and Batherson at 13:14. 1-0 Ottawa.

The Wings had a good bump-up shift, where Christian Fischer was high-sticked, but Motte and Johansson got their looks at Ullmark;

Ottawa was forechecking particularly hard, and Detroit tried to regroup, but the Senators were disrupting after almost every whistle, and Detroit’s focus seemed to not necessarily be on the game itself.

When play resumed after a TV timeout, Edvinsson really deked and dangled his way up the ice, generating some scoring chances, but he also gorfled up an exchange with Larkin that yielded an icing against, and as you might imagine, the Red Wings were called for a penalty at 14:56.

On the penalty-kill, Compher, Motte, Edvinsson and Seider drew in for the d-zone draw, the Sens won it, Husso made a good stop but the Sens held the zone, cycled down low, and then cycled up high, with Norris, Tkachuk and Batherson exchanging the puck….Ottawa used Tkachuk as the “bumper,” Norris retrieved the puck, Motte got spun around, Sanderson found Stuetzle, he cycled for Tkachuk and Husso made a good stop…

1:00 into the PK, Rasmussen, Chiarot, Petry and Raymond came out, Grieg fired a shot into Husso that was stopped, but the Sens took the rebound and Chabot, Giroux, and Pinto were repelled by Chiarot;

Petry rimmed a shot around the boards down the ice with 20 seconds left in the penalty;

Bernard-Docker was repelled by Copp…

And the Wings killed the penalty.

The Holl-Johansson pairing really had some trouble on the ice, especially with the Kasper line on the ice;

As the period wound down, Detroit’s focus was much more so on the game on the ice, and Detroit was at least moving the puck up the ice with efficiency, defending with some aplomb, and not affording the Senators as much ice in the defensive zone;

Seider and Edvinsson were also attempting to give-and-go laterally a lot to avoid Stuetzle’s line’s cycle, and it was met with mixed success.

In the 2nd period, Rasmussen, Larkin and Raymond started with Edvinsson and Seider, opposite the Tkachuk like, and the Wings won the draw, but had to go D to D and dump and chase, Rasmussen fed Seider, Edvinsson was blocked by Tkachuk and Edvinsson battled Tkachuk to stop a breakaway, Jensen hit Seider in the groinular area, and Detroit iced the puck 47 seconds in.

Detroit won the faceoff and cleared the zone, but Husso had to glove down a Sens shot from center ice 56 seconds in, and you can’t change any more when goalies stop play that way.

Again, a slow start.

As play continued, Chiarot, Kane and DeBrincat battled the Sens’ tough defenders, and had a good shift, repelling a Sens rush and affording the Sens a lot of “boo” time against DeBrincat.

Tarasenko, Berggren and Kasper did a good job of cycling on their shift, and again, Johansson and Holl were a little scrambled, but they were able to clear the d-zone;

And Motte, Copp and Fischer worked as the team’s fourth line, Chiarot and Seider refused to let some Sens players penetrate the zone, and Husso made a good stop on Gregor…

But Ben Chiarot was called for tripping Gregor at 3:24 of the 2nd period because Gregor toe-picked. Detroit headed to the PK.

With Simon Edvinsson in the room due to a Tkachuk slash on the arm, the Senators broke in after regrouping from a faceoff loss, but they were repelled by Seider and Holl;

Stuetzle and Batherson cycled vs. Larkin and Raymond, Norris and Stuetzle worked to Tkachuk, to Sanderson, Husso made a good stop, Holl could not clear, and a puck was tipped wide of the goal;

Stuetzle weas wide-open and fired a puck wide…But Drake Batherson scored to make it 2-0 on the power play off a strange bounce off the back boards at 5:29.

Detroit challenged the goal (Batherson from Stuetzle and Norris at 5:29) for offside on the entry, and the goal was disallowed at 3:03 of the 2nd.

So the penalty-kill continued…Compher lost a blueline draw for the puck, and Ottawa battled the puck deep vs. Seider and Holl, but Motte and Compher broke out 2 on 3, Motte fired a shot wide, and up came the Sens’ Stuetzle, Seider and Holl tried to disrupt, Norris came back and Motte cleared the puck down the ice…

Detroit took a deep offensive zone draw but Larkin lost it, and up came Ottawa on the PP, with about 45 seconds left;

Grieg was stood up by Seider, Petry battled to help and Raymond and Larkin battled the Sens’ Chabot, Gaudette held the zone but Seider bumped, Ottawa cycled, and Detroit afforded Ottawa the opportunity to clear the zone themselves…Killing the penalty.

Detroit’s PK was 3-for-3.

At even strength, Kane, Copp and DeBrincat had a very good shift, and they generated a couple of shots;

It was Chiarot and Seider without Edvinsson, and they work pretty well together…

Larkin, Raymond and Rasmussen had a good shift together and Chiarot and Seider bumped and pushed the puck deep, respectively…

Long story long, the Sens were no longer in complete control of the game.

Ridly Grieg got a mini-breakaway vs. Husso and Husso stoned the Sens’ Grieg some 9:30 into the 2nd.

With Simon Edvinsson returning to the Wings’ bench, the Sens’ Pinto, Kleven and company cycled deep in Detroit’s zone, but Kasper, Tarasenko and Berggren ground the puck down the ice, partially changed and Seider and Berggren cleared the zone…

Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond both nearly scored some 12:45 into the 2nd, but Tim Stuetzle blocked off Larkin, and Raymond shanked the puck wide…

Kane also fed Petry for a high-and-wide shot that had Ullmark beaten…

Detroit tried very hard to battle back against Ostapchuk, Pinto and the rest of the Sens some 15:00 into the 2nd, but Husso and the Wings stood their ground and at least did not surrender a goal against while the Senators dominated possession and control.

After the TV timeout, Motte, Fischer and Copp worked with Seider and Edvinsson, but Detroit was unable to hold the blueline, and they had to change lines. Berggren, Tarasenko and Kasper did a good job of exchanging with Johansson and Holl, but Thomas Chabot may or may not have gotten away with chipping the puck over the glass…

Larkin, Raymond, Rasmussen and Chiarot and Petry got a good cycle going about 17:25 into the 2nd, and they generated a couple of shots and a LOT of zone time…

Ottawa’s Stuetzle line then generated some zone time and a shot on Husso with 1:30 remaining, but Kane, Compher and DeBrincat were having none of it, and Detroit managed to kill off the remainder of the period.

In the 3rd period, Detroit started the Larkin line yet again, and Edvinsson and Seider supported them as they pushed deep, were repelled to the Wings’ blueline, and Ottawa chipped and chased, but Seider and Edvinsson negated Ottawa’s rush.

Raymond did a nice job of dekeing and dangling at the Sens’ line, but Detroit went offside, so the Wings changed, and Ottawa fired a shot wide of Husso, so Detroit changed and pushed forward.

Kane’s lateral pass for DeBrincat went wide via Ullmark, and Compher chipped a shot high and wide of Ullmark as well…

The Kasper line fared poorer, and Holl and Johansson continued to look a little shaky, but the Wings held their own, and when the Senators’ Stuetzle line pushed, Detroit repelled them.

The Sens’ Pinto fired a shot high and wide when the Sens broke in 3-on-2 vs. Motte and Petry;

Detroit and Ottawa earned a 4-on-4 at 4:28 when the Sens’ Norris cross-checked Seider, who went down too easily, and was called for “embellishment.”

On the 4-on-4, Kasper won a deep d-zone draw and Petry worked it up to Kasper LW side, Tarasenko fed Kasper and his shot was blocked away by Ullmark’s stick;

Chiarot and Petry held the line, worked deep and Chiarot was tripped, so Detroit got a power play at 5:00 of the 3rd.

Detroit worked a 4-on-3 with Larkin, Kane, Raymond and Petry, Larkin won the draw in the offensive zone, but it was shot down the ice by Pinto;

Larkin charged up the ice, cycled for Kane, Petry got it to Raymond, he reversed for Petry, Raymond cycled for Kane, he looked for Larkin, he fed Raymond and he was stopped off the outside of the net…

Petry one-timed it to Kane, whose shot went wide;

Sanderson was battled by Larkin, Kane helped, Petry fed Raymond, to Kane it went, down low Larkin jammed and Ullmark sealed the ice, and Larkin was NOT HAPPY that Raymond got cross-checked after the whistle went.

Compher, DeBrincat, Tarasenko and Edvinsson lost the deep zone faceoff, but Edvinsson pinched to stop, Tarasenko fed Compher, Compher fed DeBrincat and he slid a 1-1 goal through Ullmark.

Alex DeBrincat tied the game from Compher and Tarasenko at 6:14 on the power play. Edvinsson did a nice job of holding the offensive blueline as well.

Off the bump-up shift, Raymond cycled hard, reversed to Larkin, and Ottawa broke away 4 on 3, but Detroit stifled the Sens’ attempts.

Better, Tim Stuetzle got nailed at 7:19 for slashing, affording Detroit a 5-on-4 power play.

On the power play, Detroit lost the deep offensive zone faceoff, but Raymond, Larkin and Rasmussen jammed deep vs. 3 Senators, Sanderson sealed it trying to get a faceoff and the refs let the Sens kill 31 seconds of PP time by just pinning it to the boards.

Detroit lost the next offensive zone draw and blasted the puck down ice, but Husso gave it to Seider, he fed Larkin and Raymond and Rasmussen cycled to Seider, deep it went for Rasmussen, DeBrincat cycled to the line, DeBrincat set up and walked, looked, fed Seider, DeBrincat took and fired a puck off a body, could not jam, Raymond fed Seider, Larkin blasted a shot wide, Detroit held the Norris clear, DeBrincat helped, Seider fed Larkin, he was blocked off, Seider and Raymond fed Larkin, DeBrincat fanned, Raymond was tripped, and Giroux blasted the puck down on Husso…

Power play over.

Detroit continued to press with a 7-2 shot advantage in the 3rd, but the Sens were continuing to win the faceoff battles, so it was not surprising when Jonatan Berggren was called for holding at 10:29.

On the Senators’ power play, Motte, Compher, Seider and Edvinsson worked the lost draw into a block from Edvinsson, a second block from Edvinsson, and a clear down the ice and a change 25 seconds into the PK.

Ottawa regrouped and Batherson charged up, walked around Petry, the Sens worked the line, Batherson and Sanderson cycled, Stuetzle fed Sanderson, to Norris it went, then Tkachuk, Detroit boxed Ottawa out, and the Sens sent one shot wide;

Larkin, Chiarot, Petry, Raymond and company cleared their zone;

With 30 left in the PK and 8:01 left in the 3rd, Ottawa worked the puck deep but Chabot was called for interference at 13:09, affording Detroit 20 minutes of 4-on-4 time, then a 1:40 PP.

On the 4-on-4, Seider set up for Tarasenko who was sttopped, the Sens worked the other way and Amadio was bumped by Seider, Tarasenko helped, Edvinsson and Seider set up…

Edvinsson charged forth, dropped to Compher, Kane walked in for Compher and the puck was blocked away, Edvinsson was stood up by Giroux but got through, Kasper battled Norris and Kasper was called for WINNING A BATTLE VS NORRIS.

With 6:52 left, Detroit had a 4-on-4 for 1:01, then a PK.

Raymond, Larkin, Chiarot and Petry worked together for the 4-on-4, Petry walked deep past Jensen and fed Raymond, to Chiarot it wenet, he charged up himself, cycled back for Raymond who was held–sans call…

Larkin was held up as well, battling Pinto, no call there…

And Ottawa iced the puck with 6:01 left.

Motte, Compher, Seider and Edvinsson took the deep offensive zone draw, lost it right to Ullmark, and as the Sens tried to “home run” Chabot out of the penalty box…

Compher tied up the draw, Edvinsson held the right side and forced the Sens to take one more draw, heightening the drama…Detroit won the draw and Edvinsson flicked a shot wide, so Chabot went to the bench.

On the PK, Ottawa’s Sanderson and Stuetzle walked deep, Seider dumped Stuetzle sans penalty, and Detroit let the Sens chip the puck into the Wings’ bench with 30 left in the PK.

Compher drew in vs. Tkachuk and tied up the faceoff, Motte and Holl cleared, and the Sens pushed the puck deep and reversed, but Seider and Edvinsson defended, Stuetzle cycled for Sanderson, to Stuetzle, and he went down, but Larkin was not called for a penalty.

With 4:40 left, Rasmussen tried to go coast-to-coast, Copp and company battled…

Copp jabbed a shot into Ullmark…

Stuetzle was stopped by Husso…

Detroit REALLY put the hammer down physically, and as time wound down, the Sens’ fans were booing DeBrincat lustily…

But Detroit was winning puck battles, and looking to force overtime.

Ultimately Larkin fed Raymond for a pass-and-shoot that was stifled by Ullmark, and sent out of play on the rebound with 2:30 left;

Compher, Rasmussen and Copp cycled with Seider and Edvinsson, and Edvinsson nearly fed Copp in tight…

Instead, time ticked down, and Ottawa regrouped, Stuetzle spun for Grieg, and the Sens put a shot out of play with 1:28 left…

Larkin, DeBrincat and Raymond worked together with Petry and Chiarot, and they worked vs. the Tkachuk line, which got a shot off that Husso denied;

But Norris flipped a puck through Seider’s stick and he just beat Husso cleanly with 42.6 left to give the Senators a 2-1 lead.

Norris scored from Batherson and Jensen at 19:18. 2-1 Ottawa.

Detroit called timeout.

Larkin, Rasmussen, Raymond, Seider and DeBrincat took to the ice, the Sens won the draw and chipped right to Raymond, he and Seider exchanged, Detroit battled deep but Norris battled, and Rasmussen could not hold the line, Ottawa negated the icing and that was the game.

Ottawa won 2-1.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

One thought on “Red Wings-Senators quick take: gut punch”

  1. To quote a former Lions coach… “What does a guy have to do to get fired around here?” This team is now only a point back from being dead last in the division. Not many would’ve predicted that two months into the season.

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