The Ottawa Senators had chances, but the night unraveled around a few costly breakdowns and a power play that never tilted the game back their way.
Ottawa put up a season-high 43 shots and still walked away with a 6-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, coming one night after an emotional win over the Florida Panthers. The result pushed the Senators to 0-3 on the second night of back-to-backs this season, with seven more sets of consecutive games still to come.
Special teams helped sink them. Ottawa gave up a short-handed goal, then surrendered another strike just seconds after a power play ended, leaving Travis Green unhappy with the way those situations were handled.
“Our power play’s got to be better,” Green said. “They can’t just give up goals. That’s for sure.”
The Senators also have a major goaltending issue to manage after Linus Ullmark was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a lower-body strain he suffered early in the third period Wednesday. The earliest he could return is next Thursday, though the expectation is that he’ll miss seven to 14 days.
Ullmark has been a huge reason for Ottawa’s strong start. Going into Thursday’s games, he led the league with seven wins and a .945 save percentage, and his 1.33 goals-against average ranked second.
With him out, Ottawa will lean on Samuel Ersson, who is still searching for his first win with the club. He has been in net for the second game of all three back-to-backs and lost each one.
“He was fine,” Green said. “He gave us a good enough game. I can’t pin this game on him, that’s for sure.”
Ersson was more blunt about where things stand for him. He knows the standard has to rise while Ullmark is sidelined.
“I mean it’s fun, you want to play, but I obviously (have) to play a whole lot better,” he said. “It (hasn’t) been good, not near good enough.”
For now, he says the key is simply to keep working and wait for the game to come around.
“It’s just about finding a way, that’s what it’s all about,” Ersson said.
When asked what needs to improve, he pointed to the bigger picture rather than one isolated flaw.
“Obviously, you talk about timely saves, that’s kind of the big thing,” he said. “You’ve got to find ways to come up with the big saves at the right time for the team. So when you boil it down, that’s what it’s all about.”
Ottawa may also need Jonas Johansson, who has 93 NHL starts and a 43-36-14 record. Johansson has been with the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville after Ottawa picked him up from the Tampa Bay Lightning last month for future considerations. The move followed Leevi Merilainen being claimed off waivers by the Vancouver Canucks, leaving the Senators thin in goal.
The schedule doesn’t give Ottawa much time to sort it out. The Senators host the New York Rangers on Saturday before heading west for a four-game trip that includes Vegas and stops against all three California teams.
Ersson doesn’t view the situation as adding extra weight.
“I’ve played hockey for a long time and I know how to do it,” he said. “So, it’s just about me finding a way to kind of come back to myself. Just settle down a little bit and play my game.”
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