The Ottawa Senators' penalty kill is costing them games and points. It must be fixed, especially as their starting goalie takes a leave of absence.
The Ottawa Senators' first game after the Christmas break didn't go well, falling 7-5 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Despite the nearly successful comeback attempt, the Senators made it difficult to have any chance of winning when they allowed two power-play goals against in the first period.
William Nylander scored on Ottawa 40 seconds into the game, and Matthew Knies made it 2-0 about 14 minutes later. The Senators at least killed off their third penalty kill in the third period to go 1-for-3.
It would be one thing if the Sens' penalty-killing unit had a one-off bad night. But this is a years-long problem that's gotten much worse, and unless the Senators figure out how to stop it, it will continue to hurt them in the tight standings.
In 2023-24, the Sens had the NHL's fourth-worst penalty-kill rate at 75.1 percent. Last year, with new coach Travis Green, things improved slightly, but the Senators still ranked 19th with a 77.7 percent PK.
But this year, the wheels fell right off the penalty kill. At 70.6 percent, the Senators' penalty kill ranks last in the league.
They allowed the Maple Leafs, which entered Saturday's game with the NHL's worst power play after firing their assistant coach who handled the man advantage, to score twice and build momentum. That's unacceptable for the Senators, which are only one point out of a playoff position but have four teams between them and the Florida Panthers in the second wild-card spot.
They're just not getting the job done. Sure, some of that has to fall at the feet of the Senators' goaltending, which has a league-low .787 save percentage on the penalty kill and .873 SP overall, according to naturalstattick.com.
But there's more to it than that. This is an ongoing organizational problem, and the entire team has to own its role in it.
Ottawa will be without veteran netminder Linus Ullmark, who is taking a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. Although we all wish Ullmark well, the beat goes on for the Sens.
And in a league where special teams play often is the difference between winning and losing consistently, the Senators have to come up with a solution to an obvious problem without relying on backup goalie Leevi Merilainen and call-up Hunter Shepard to bail them out.
Senators' Linus Ullmark Will Take A Leave Of Absence For Personal Reasons
Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark will be taking a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons, the team announced on Sunday.
Some of that will have to do with being more disciplined and avoiding penalties altogether. In that department, the Senators already have considerable work cut out for them.
They're currently the ninth-most penalized team in the league this season. Last season, they were the league's 10th-most penalized team. Before that, they ranked sixth in 2023-24, first in 2022-23 and ninth in 2021-22.
Again, there's a pattern here, and not a positive one.
Because Ottawa also draws a ton of penalties, their net penalty count has been in the positives. But the penalty kill is hurting them so much, with 30 power-play goals against on 147 times shorthanded, that it's undoing the effects of their fourth-place power-play percentage of 25.8.
Ottawa still has a heck of a lineup, with Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk averaging at least a point per game, Jake Sanderson playing elite hockey on defense and a strong supporting cast. But the hard work in changing their penalty kill and discipline has to happen, lest harder-working teams vault past them in the standings.
The Sens have a clear issue when they're trying to fend off opponents' power plays. And until it changes, they're likely to have issues earning a Stanley Cup playoff berth.
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