Senators Pounded by Florida: "We Need to Figure it Out and Figure it Out Quick"
Senators lose their second game in a row Monday night, embarrassed and outclassed by the Florida Panthers.
Senators Pounded by Florida: "We Need to Figure it Out and Figure it Out Quick"The Ottawa Senators lost their second game in a row, falling 5-0 in a listless game against the Florida Panthers on Monday night. The Senators fell behind early and never put up much of a fight, falling below .500 to a record of (8-9-0) on the season.
Senator fans serenaded the referees with boos, and "Fire DJ" chants rained down throughout the game in arguably their worst loss of the 2023-24 campaign. It was also the first time they've been shut out all season.
It was all Panthers a minute into the game that led to a tripping call on Jacob Bernard-Docker. Sam Reinhart made it 1-0 Panthers on the subsequent power play.
Tim Stuzle drew a high sticking penalty shortly after, taking an errant Reinhart stick to the face. However, it was the Panthers who had the best chance on the four-minute Senators powerplay when Drake Batherson got his pocket picked by Eetu Luostarinen, who failed on a partial breakaway. The Panthers dominated the play in the first period, at one point outshooting the Senators 9-1.
The second period began with Joonas Korpisalo continuing to hold the fort. He made his best save of the season, diving to stop Aaron Ekblad's shot attempt into what was briefly a wide-open net.
Seconds later, on a Panthers powerplay, the Korpisalo magic quickly turned to mud when he fumbled a pass behind the net that allowed Reinhart an easy goal to make it 2-0 Panthers. The Senators challenged for what they believed was offside – what everyone thought was offside – but somehow, the officials determined that the play was onside and a good goal.
The Panthers promptly received a power play for the failed challenge and capitalized immediately, as Sam Bennett made it 3-0 Panthers, which sealed Ottawa's fate.
The third period began with more "Fire DJ" chants, but it was just the start of a chaotic final 20 minutes. It began with Zach MacEwen's match penalty after he jumped Matthew Tkachuk. MacEwen didn't like the hit Tkachuk had just given to Travis Hamonic.
The Panthers added insult to injury, making it 4-0 when Carter Verhaeghe was left alone in the slot. But the pain wasn't over.
On a play that summed up their completely discombobulated performance, Artem Zub made a total mess of an innocent pass behind Ottawa's net. With no one near him, Zub awkwardly deflected the puck out in front of Ottawa's net, then fell clumsily. Luostarinen potted the puck into an open net to make it 5-0, leaving a helpless Korpisalo not knowing what had just happened.
The funniest part of the night was when Brady Tkachuk went on a breakaway and then intentionally bumped into Sergei Bobrovsky, causing a scrum and fighting between the two teams, leading to the referees giving every player on the ice a ten-minute misconduct.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOhAkdr_QdQ[/embed]
The Senators and Panthers combined for 149 penalty minutes in the third period.
After the hot mess was over, Senators' head coach, DJ Smith, took full accountability for his team's play.
"We weren't ready to play, and that's on me," Smith said.
When asked if he believed the team lacked maturity in their game last night, Smith replied, "Yeah, that's fair."
However, his captain, Brady Tkachuk, disagreed and liked how the team played with emotion.
"I don't think it's bad to play with emotion." Tkachuk said. "I think when this group plays with emotion, we're a tough team to beat, and I think we rely on our emotion."
Claude Giroux was at a loss for words.
"I don't know, it's really tough to say right now," Giroux said. "We just came out flat, and it just can't happen," said Giroux. "So, we need to figure it out and figure it out quick."
The Senators return to action on Friday, December 1st, as they play the Columbus Blue Jackets – the only team in the East with a worse winning percentage. It will be Ottawa's first North American road game since beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on November 8th.
By the Numbers:
Matthew Tkachuk now owns the head-to-head record against Brady Tkachuk with a 10-8-2 record. The Senators are now below 500 for the third consecutive November.