Shane Pinto was certainly on the mind of the Ottawa Senators organization before the game as they were set to match up against his hometown New York Islanders in their first of two road games this week. The young center, who had been making headlines in recent months as the most prominent young player to still be unsigned, was hit with a 41-game suspension for violating the NHL’s gambling rules. This is the first suspension of its kind in the history of the NHL and is a huge hit for the Senators, who now won’t have him back until 2024.
While this would be a big development for the Senators on most given days, I would say it wasn’t for this one. In the middle of this eventful 3-2 loss for the Sens, Pinto’s name wasn’t the only one on the players’ minds.
A Scary Incident
This game was living proof that some things are bigger than the sport itself. Around the middle of the second period, an unfortunate event occurred which left both teams in shock. When Erik Brannstrom was entering the offensive zone at full speed, Cal Clutterbuck clipped him on the boards, resulting in him falling, hitting his head hard on the ice and barely moving once he was down.
It was a silent and emotional 10 minutes in the arena before Brannstrom was taken out on a stretcher. As tragic as it was, it set the scene for the rest of the game for the Senators, who completed a two-goal comeback at the end of the second period after trailing 2-0 at the end of the first.
A Goaltending Battle
I concluded my last takeaways article by talking about the challenge that was to come for the Senators as they were set to face an elite goalie in Ilya Sorokin. And rightfully so. The 28-year-old played an incredible game, stopping 45 of the 47 shots directed toward him and truly showing how valuable he is to an already defensively sound Islanders team. But the goalie on the other side of the ice also deserves some recognition.
Before the Brannstrom incident, Joonas Korpisalo was the only reason the Senators weren’t being blown out the same way they were at the beginning of their last game against the Buffalo Sabres. He made some great saves for the Senators throughout the game and stopped 35 of 38 shots directed towards him.
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This performance usually keeps teams in games, and it did. When Korpisalo signed his five-year, $20 million contract this offseason, it was expected that he would be the starting goalie, but still split the crease with Anton Forsberg. However, if he keeps playing like he did against the Islanders, we could see him starting more and more games for the Senators. For last night though, he’ll have to accept that sometimes in life, we just get outmatched. After all, Sorokin put up the third most saves in his career in a game.
Rallying Behind Brannstrom
For the first half of the game, the Senators weren’t playing up to the standards of a team that on paper should be elite. They had many giveaways in their defensive zone and kept losing puck battles as the Islanders pounced all over them early on. It really looked like the Senators had cement blocks tied to their ankles and they truly deserved to be losing at the time.
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But in the second half, the Senators played like they were rallying behind a cause. They played with a lot of energy for a team that was down a defenceman and came together to try and get that win for “Branny.”
They were generating chances in waves in the third period until Noah Dobson scored a deflating goal to make it 3-2 for the Islanders. Tim Stutzle’s reaction when he got back to the bench best described the situation for the Sens at that moment. From there, the Islanders did what they do best and played a stellar defensive game to finish with a win.
Note that even at the final buzzer, the Senators showed emotion. From Vladimir Tarasenko’s look to up to the ceiling to Jakob Chychrun’s expressionless face, most players on the away bench had reactions showing their disappointment towards the result of this emotional matchup. Even head coach DJ Smith, who was also seen rallying his troops on the bench throughout the third period, showed his frustration by throwing his water bottle to the ground as he made his way down from the bench to the tunnel.
Overall, you could see the Senators players and management truly care about winning. It’s a sign of a positive culture being built within a young team. We will see how much character they have by the way they present themselves next game in their attempt to get back over .500 in the standings.
Three in a Row
This was a difficult loss for the Senators, who even down a player almost clawed their way back against a physically demanding Islanders team. Losing Artem Zub to injury was tough on the Senators’ defence even before the game. Adding another name in Brannstrom to that list is a tough pill to swallow only seven games into the season.
The recent distractions and circumstances may be hard to look past as they try to win their first in four games. But, they will have to find a way to do just that as they visit Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
