The Ottawa Senators peppered St. Louis Blues netminder Joel Hofer with 42 shots Saturday, tallying only one late goal. That one marker by Fabian Zetterlund came on the team’s seventh power play in a 2-1 loss.
The defeat was the Senators fourth in five games after was a successful 12-7-4 run to open the 2025-26 NHL campaign.
“I don’t think it’s complicated. We’ve liked our game. We’ve lost two close games. Find a way to score bear down around the net, and our power play has to be better. It’s not complicated,” said head coach Travis Green postgame Saturday on the Senators failure to score with the man-advantage on a regular basis.
Senators situational goal figures
Through October, the Senators ranked among the league’s top five scoring clubs, but that number was elevated due to back-to-back outings where Ottawa netted seven goals in each. Of those 14 goals scored, seven were of the power play variety. Eliminate the two games versus the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins, the Senators average only 2.76 goals per game, 26th overall. They currently sit 18th in goals scored, averaging exactly 3.0 per game.
The same can be said for the team’s PP. Take away the Senators seven goals on nine PP opportunities, the club would rank 23rd league-wide at 16%, strangely an identical success rate as the NHL’s top team, Colorado Avalanche. For what it’s worth, the Senators PP is a reasonable 11th overall (22.2%), though the unit has been subpar for greater than a month. Senators’ players have tallied only seven goals with the man-advantage in their past 53 PP atttempts (16%).
High Danger Chances per Money Puck
High danger chances are when a team has a scoring opportunity in an area on the ice of which there’s a high probability to score.
The Senators have dipped of late. Just recently Ottawa ranked as a high as fifth. Presently the squad, is 20th league-wide (62) in high danger shots at even strength. High danger shots on the PP are almost non-existent (17), ranking the team 27th among 32 NHL teams.
Green noted after the Senators loss to the Blues, “I thought the Montreal game was probably our one of our best offensive games that we’ve had maybe all year. it’s easy to say, you just don’t want to have three guys crashing the net, and it’s easier said than done to get pucks there. I thought our power play needed to be a little bit harder, a little bit more direct than it had been Thursday night. Our five-on-five game was pretty good, and their goalie played a hell of a game. We probably win that game 80-90% of the time. And the disappointing part was probably not getting another power play goal. I thought that would have been a big difference in the first period if we got one.”
The Senators accumulated four PP’s, did not score, registering a total of six shots on goal.
It’s easy to say, but not to do, but if Senators players adhere to the message sent by their head coach and assistant Daniel Alfredsson, the results will certainly pan out.
For example of the 14 games played this season whereby Ottawa didn’t notch a PP score. By virtue of one-goal losses, four of which came in overtime, the Senators have ultimately “pissed away” in the words of general manager Steve Staios, nine points – meaning four OT defeats become regulation victories, while one remaining game, should’ve resulted in at least one point earned. The Senators theoretically lost four possible points in total.
The Senators captain chimes in
“I think a lot of it just needs to be simplified a little bit, getting guys on the inside. And I think for us, we haven’t scored the last two games, five-on-five. So we need to get on the inside and get to the dirty areas. And myself included, I feel like I’ve been drifting to the outside a little bit too much. So get to the inside. Get on their goalie, and especially the last few games where their goalie has been playing really, really good,” Brady Tkachuk explained.
“You just got to make life tough on them as much as possible.”
The Senators will need to find ways to score goals minus the services of their leading score, Shane Pinto. Pinto who leads the club in goals (12) sustained an injury Thursday after being tangled up with former Senator, Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad. Per Green, Pinto will miss a minimum of two weeks.
Stützle slowed
Tim Stützle who was playing on a point per game pace has garnered only three assists the past seven games. Claude Giroux hasn’t scored in 10. Michael Amadio hasn’t produced one in 11 games after scoring in four straight.
A former NHLer himself, the Senators head coach is aware what Stützle is going through, “He’s going through a stretch where the puck hasn’t gone the way he’s wanted. The one thing I think he’s a skilled player that wants to do well and wants to win desperately, like Tim does, and understands that he is a big part of our offense and creating. And when we lose. I know he takes a lot on his shoulders, so sometimes less is more. Sometimes being direct is the way to get out of a rut. You know, can he shoot a little more? Can he get inside a little more? Can he be a little physical at certain times? You know, I think sometimes players want to skill their way out of things, and sometimes that backfires on you. So we got to make sure that we’re continuing to talk to Timmy, because he’s a very competitive person, and no one’s harder on on Timmy than himself. So we’ve got to work with him and keep him his spirits high, but also continue to teach and learn,” added Green.
Senators’ Zetterlund heating up
One player who’s on a roll is Fabian Zetterlund. The Senators versatile forward recorded just four points (one goal, three assists) in his first 20 games this season. The past eight has seen Zetterlund compile five goals, one assist.
On Zetterlund, Green said Sunday post-practice, “We continue to work on his details in his game to make sure that not only is he preventing scoring chances, but he’s creating scoring chances with the details in his game, and he’s going to the right areas. When you talk about going and getting inside, you know young players tend to drift, if they have a good shot, they tend to drift away from the net sometimes. And you know when he plays with a guy like Timmy (Stüzle), Timmy is going to be on the outside and a lot of nights with the puck, and he’s got his find his way to the net to score. And there are going to be occasional times where he’s going to be able to use the shot, and that’s when he has to. It’s learning when to get inside, when to open up and be outside.”
There’s little time to rest for the Senators. The team has their scheduled visit to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Monday and they’ll be back it at it Tuesday, facing the New Jersey Devils at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Home › Forums › Senators Scoring Woes Aren’t Complicated