The Senators four-game win streak ended with a thud on Thursday night.
The Ottawa Senators lost 5-1 to the 30th-ranked Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night in one of their most lifeless performances of the season.
Here are my three takeaways from the game.
1. Low energy game
The Senators started the game without any of the swagger and confidence that a team on a four-game winning streak would presumably have. Instead, they were listless throughout the entire game against the third-worst team in the NHL. The Senators struggled to put two passes together, and gained no real quality chances in the first two periods.
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It was another example of the Senators playing to the level of their competition, as they did against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday when they gave up 40 shots in a victory. Despite a late push in the third period, they simply did not play well enough or with the required intensity.
2. Stutzle struggles
Stutzle was unable to play at his usual level, with his speed, dynamism on the puck and hockey IQ. He was lacklustre all night, fighting the puck and extended his pointless streak to four games, matching his longest of the season.
Stutzle has not been able to fully replicate his play from last season that resulted in a 90-point campaign. The game against the Ducks was a microcosm of his struggles. That said, he's still on pace for 77 points, so an off-year for Stutzle is still pretty good. But at 21, and now the highest paid player on the team, the hope was for a step forward, not a step back.
3. Glaring Absences of Zub and Sanderson
Without Zub and Sanderson, it's been tough for Ottawa to keep the puck out of their net. The reason? Potentially because Zub and Sanderson are the Senators two best defensive defencemen.
Relying on Chabot, Chychrun and Hamonic to shut down Columbus and Anaheim didn't go very well this week. The Senators gave up eight goals in the two games against the third and fourth-worst teams in the NHL.
The Senators blueline is just not equipped to miss those two players, unlike the better teams around the NHL. For example, the Florida Panthers missed arguably their best two defencemen in Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour for an extended period of time to start the season, yet the Panthers did not skip a beat and were in a playoff spot when both returned.
The Senators just don't have the same blue line quality, depth and resiliency.