Senators' Hot Start Hits A Sour Note Against Blues

The Senators had plenty working against them on Tuesday night, and the St. Louis Blues took full advantage.

Mason McTavish, Jake Neighbours and Pius Suter each scored twice as the Blues (3-2-1) defeated the Senators 7-2 at Canadian Tire Centre, handing the Sens (5-2-0) their second loss of the young NHL season.

The Sens were playing their second game in as many nights after defeating the Devils 4-1 in New Jersey on Monday.

They were also without three regular defencemen, Jake Sanderson, Artem Zub and Nikolas Matinpalo, leaving the club with a makeshift blue line. In fact, three of their six defencemen (Carter Yakemchuk, Hoyt Stanley and Jorian Donovan) entered Tuesday's game with 10 or fewer games of NHL regular season experience.

With starting goaltender Linus Ullmark getting the night off, Samuel Ersson was given the assignment in goal. But the Senators' new backup struggled on the night, allowing seven goals on 26 shots and finishing with a .731 save percentage. By the end, a smattering of Sens fans gave him some sarcastic applause on a basic save.

Down 2-0 in the second period, the Senators got a nice goal from veteran Claude Giroux, who converted a feed from Tim Stützle with a well-placed wrist shot to cut the lead in half. But McTavish, the Carp native, restored the two-goal lead just 33 seconds later.

It was all Blues after that.

Giroux also added an assist on Fabian Zetterlund's first goal of the season in the final couple of minutes, long after the outcome had been settled.

Suter, who had two goals and an assist for St. Louis, has an interesting connection to the Senators' organization.

Back in 2017, four years before making his NHL debut, the Swiss forward attended Ottawa's rookie camp and performed well enough to earn an invitation to the team's main training camp, but he didn't make the club.

Nearly a decade later, and a couple of weeks before Halloween, Suter came back to haunt Ottawa and helped the Blues score a one-sided win. He was the one who got the offensive ball rolling, opening the scoring with a shorthanded goal in the first period.

The Sens entered the game riding the momentum of a 5-1 start, but this just in: nobody maintains an .833 points percentage forever. They were due for a night like this, especially with a tough schedule, injuries on defence and an off night in goal.

The Senators will now have a day to regroup before returning to action Thursday night when they host the New York Islanders at Canadian Tire Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa