The Ottawa Senators spent Thursday night chasing the kind of sharp, relentless edge that carried them a day earlier, but this time the finish wasn’t there.
After an emotional 5-1 win over former captain Brady Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers, Ottawa came out again looking fast and engaged against the San Jose Sharks. The chances were there, the pace was there, and the Senators spent long stretches of the game pushing San Jose back. But Yaroslav Askarov kept turning away almost everything in sight, and the Sharks skated off with a 6-2 win in front of 15,469.
Ottawa fired 41 shots and spent much of the final 30 minutes pressing for a way back in, but only Tim Stutzle and Jordan Spence managed to beat Askarov. Spence’s first goal of the year at 6:24 of the third cut the deficit to two and briefly gave the Senators some life as they kept coming.
The loss came one night after Ottawa’s seventh win in October, a mark the franchise has hit only seven times. For San Jose, it was the first regulation win of the season.
Stutzle got Ottawa moving early, scoring on an extra-attacker setup during a delayed penalty at 6:16 of the first. Drake Batherson set him up with a perfect feed into the left circle, and Stutzle buried it for the second straight game he’s opened the scoring for the Senators.
Ottawa had a chance to make that opening period even better. Carter Yakemchuk ripped a shot that looked for a moment like it had slipped past Askarov with 11:24 left in the first, and the Senators celebrated when the goal light came on. After review, though, the puck hadn’t crossed the line.
San Jose answered before the period was done. Nolan Allen tied it 1-1 at 11:04, finishing alone in front and beating Ersson high on the glove side on the eighth shot he faced. Ottawa finished the first outshot 11-8, but with the game tied after 20 minutes.
The Sharks then seized control in the second. Ottawa’s power play continued to struggle, and San Jose punished that with a shorthanded goal from Collin Graff at the 12-minute mark. Less than two minutes later, Tyler Toffoli put the Sharks ahead 2-1 at 9:13 of the second, snapping one from the top of the circle that appeared to deflect off defenceman Artem Zub and past Ersson.
From there, the game tilted hard. Ottawa was still generating chances, but Askarov kept slamming the door, including a glove save on Batherson that looked built for the highlight reels. By the time the Senators reached the dressing room, they were down 4-1 despite outshooting San Jose 18-11 through 40 minutes.
There were defensive breakdowns in front of Ersson, and at least one deflection he had no chance on. He took the loss, and it was his third straight, but this one was not on him alone.
Green left the lineup alone after the win over Florida, and the Senators did produce enough work to make that decision look reasonable in the moment. The problem was matching the same level of intensity from the night before. That was always going to be a tough ask, especially against a Sharks team that was waiting for them.
The Senators did keep pushing in the third, and Spence’s goal trimmed the margin to 4-2. But San Jose had already taken the air out of the building, and the Sharks finished the night with a statement win after Ottawa’s earlier surge had left them no margin for error.
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The atmosphere around the game felt bigger than one players homecoming, and thats the part worth watching now. Ottawa and Florida have already started to look like teams with some genuine bad blood, and Tkachuks first trip back only sharpened it. If this is the tone the building sets whenever the Panthers come through, the next meeting figures to carry a lot more than just two points. [Read more 🡒]