The Ottawa Senators have lost some games this season they’ve deserved to win. But on Wednesday night (Thursday morning) in San Jose, they won a game they not only deserved to lose, but deserved to lose by a significant margin.
In their first game of a West Coast road trip, the Senators seemed to have zero energy but still managed to beat the Sharks, 4-3. Adam Gaudette led the way with two goals for the Sens, including the third period game winner.
Gaudette now has 11 goals on the season, tied for the team lead. Not bad for a guy who’s in Ottawa on a one year, two-way contract. Tim Stutzle set up both of his goals and finished with three assists. But Linus Ullmark was the guy who kept things close. He was the difference in the game as the Sens were brutally outshot by the Sharks 39-11. That snaps Ullmark’s personal four-game losing slide.
The shots were 12-4 in the first, 12-6 in the second, and by the third period, the Sens had absolutely nothing, outshot 15-1. The fact that Gaudette managed to get a shot on net for the Senators was almost as surprising as the goal itself. And the goal was a one-handed redirection of a centering pass from Stutzle that could just as easily have ended up in the stands.
Despite being brutally outshot, Ottawa still had a 3-1 lead after two periods on goals by Gaudette, Josh Norris, and Tyler Kleven with his first NHL goal. But after a goal by rookie Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith started making trouble in the neighborhood with the tying goal for San Jose to tie it at 3. But Gaudette’s second with under 5 minutes to play slowed the Shark momentum and the Sens were somehow able to close it out.
11 shots by the @Senators tonight tie their fewest EVER in a win in franchise history (also April 12, 2013 in a 2-0 win at NJ) #GoSensGo
— Jon Perlberg (@jonperlberg) November 28, 2024
The Sens now have a couple of days to get their body clocks right before facing Los Angeles on Saturday night.