The Ottawa Senators were outshot 20-0 in the third period, falling 4-1 in Nashville Tuesday night.
The Ottawa Senators are holding their breath, hoping the injury news on Josh Norris will be positive. Norris left the Senators' 4-1 loss in Nashville on Tuesday night appearing to be favouring his often-injured left shoulder.
In the second period on Tuesday, Norris went behind Ottawa's net to chase Nashville's Cole Smith, who had dipped his shoulder to protect the puck. Norris ended up bouncing off of him and going into the centre post on the back of the net.
It may have been the initial contact that caused the problem as Norris's left arm was extended and seemed to get jammed as Smith cut him off. But we don't know anything official at this point beyond this.
Norris was hurt last season in a game against Arizona (October 2022), but wanted to see if he could avoid going under the knife for the second time in his young career. So he rolled with three months of rehab and tried to return in mid-January 2023. The comeback lasted all of three games before he hurt the shoulder again.
So last February, surgery was the play, ending his 2022-23 season. Norris still wasn't ready for this season's training camp and the first three games of the regular season.
Norris had surgery on that same shoulder back in 2019 after being hurt at the World Junior Hockey Championships. That ended his season at the University of Michigan. In 2021-22, Norris missed 16 games with another shoulder issue, but still racked up a career-best 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games. He signed his big contract after that performance, then hurt the shoulder again last season while taking a faceoff.
Norris still has six more years left on his contract at almost $8 million a year. In all likelihood, the Senators won't have any official updates until later in this week.
Zero Shots???
Meanwhile, the Sens closed out an 0-2 road trip in such a disastrous, unimpressive fashion that it calmed all excitement about the club's recent run of success.
After getting thumped by Washington 6-3 on Monday, the Sens fell 4-1 in Nashville a night later. The game was historic for all the wrong reasons. Ottawa was outshot 20-0 in the third period, and according to TSN, it's the first time the Sens have ever failed to register a shot in a period.
Even the expansion Senators, who won 10 games all season in 92-93, never did that.
It was the fourth time in five games the Sens have fallen behind in a game 2-0.
Gustav Nyqvist led the way with a goal and an assist for Nashville, while Drake Batherson scored his 20th goal for Ottawa. Thomas Chabot also left the game in the third period.
The Senators are back at it on Friday, hosting the spiralling Arizona Coytoes, who have their own ongoing disaster, losing 13 games in a row. Should be interesting.