Tim Stutzle is officially on a heater, and the Senators showed improvements and resilience in Florida.
The Senators put up a valiant effort against one of the best teams in the NHL on Monday night. On the second night of a back-to-back, they rallied in the third period but fell short, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Florida Panthers.
Here are my three takeaways from the game:
1. Resilient effort
After falling behind 2-0, considering it was the second night of a back-to-back, the Senators could have easily called it quits against the second-best team in the league.
However, the Senators did not give up. They continued to force the issue and capitalized off two beautiful individual efforts from Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle to tie the game. Meanwhile, they were able to keep the Panthers to the outside. In the end, they were unable to capitalize in overtime and their goalie couldn’t make a key stop. But the Senators demonstrated some rare resiliency as they've only won two games this season when trailing heading into the third period.
2. Stutzle’s swagger is back
Tim Stutzle entered Tuesday’s game with two goals and four points in his last two games. He showed off his skill on Monday with a beautiful goal and added another tonight. The Stutzle swagger was on full display when he tied the game midway through the third period. The 21-year-old split the Florida defense, blowing by three Panthers. Niko Mikkola finally poked the puck away from Stutzle, but right at the Florida net, where it beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky through the five-hole. Stutzle was dynamic all night.
3. An Improving Team
The huge discrepancy in the NHL standings between second-place Florida and 28th-place Ottawa wasn't shown on the ice. Despite the loss, the Sens and Panthers generated similar amounts of high-danger chances – 12 for Ottawa and 15 for Florida, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Even though it’s not about moral victories for the Senators, it seems unlikely that this Senators team two months ago would have been able to hang with one of the best teams in the NHL on the second night of a back to back. Under interim head coach Jacques Martin, almost everything looks better.
The old Senators probably would have collapsed tonight. This team just played two of the better teams in the NHL and came away with three of a possible four points.
Now the Senators just need to clean up how they play against the poorer teams.