Sometimes you sens ’em, and sometimes you get sens’d.
I think this game was probably how it felt to play the Sens during the 2021 bubble season. It should have been a blowout win where the Blues made them sweat a bit at the end. Instead, the Sens got unlucky and their special teams failed them, and, well, here we are.
The entire first period was all Ottawa. Timmy got things started early on with a great drive to the net where he had Tkachuk with him but just held on to the puck for too long. Not really sure what’s been going on in his head lately but it’s been frustrating to watch. Halliday almost scored a few minutes after that, too.
The Sens kept chipping away at it, spending most of their time in the St Louis zone and building up a healthy lead in shots. They looked nice and calm, in the best way.
I had forgotten, before the start of this game, that the Blues are bad now. Like, really bad. I remembered pretty quickly.
About eight minutes in, Brady Tkachuk got high-sticked right under his visor and had to go to the locker room for a bit. He returned with a nasty cut on his eye. Obviously, it was called as a high stick, and the Sens got a chance to do some more skating around the offensive zone with the extra attacker.
A few minutes later, Jake Neighbours blatantly tripped Ridly Greig, and the Sens got another powerplay, although they didn’t get a single shot that time around. Then Neighbours got out of the box and immediately tripped Jensen just as obviously. I’m not sure what his problem is, but I’m not complaining.
After another unsuccessful powerplay, it was starting to feel less like the Sens were playing a quietly excellent game that they were sure to win and more like they were about to get goalie’d and lose by one in regulation. You’ll never guess what ended up happening!
The first period ended with shots 15 to 2, but no goals on either side.
In the second period, Ottawa picked up right where they left off: the offensive zone. They kept piling on the shots, and then were awarded their fourth consecutive powerplay. At this point, it wasn’t even exciting; it just meant that the makeup calls were going to happen eventually, and they were going to hurt. Again, you’ll never guess what was about to happen in this game!
Predictably, the Blues woke up about halfway through the second period. They doubled their shots in one shift! By which I mean they got two shots. Of course, Giroux immediately skated down the ice and got a good scoring chance after that happened, but there was suddenly a lot more back-and-forth instead of the Sens just circling the zone. Ullmark looked a bit cold on a few Blues shots, but still turned them away.
Tyler Kleven got the best chance of the period, but hit the crossbar. Not long after that, we got our first makeup call. The Blues were all over the Sens for the whole two minutes of the powerplay, and right as it was about to expire, they got a lucky bounce right into the net. Of course. 1-0 St. Louis.
I cannot stress enough how absurd it was that the Sens were losing this game. Karma for all those times they sens’d much better teams during the rebuild, I guess.
Just 12 seconds into the third period, the Blues doubled their lead right off the opening faceoff. Who could have possibly seen that one coming? 2-0 St.Louis.
It was like they were playing a completely different team. Suddenly, the Blues knew how to get the puck to the net, and were creating more high-danger chances than the Sens had all game. The Sens still got plenty of puck possession, but they just weren’t getting to the net the way the Blues were, and the difference between the two teams was very obvious.
Ottawa got some of their best chances of the game in the second half of the third period, including a few on their sixth powerplay of the game, but sometimes you just know you’re not going to win the game. The team was clearly frustrated.
The seventh Sens powerplay of the game, with just over four minutes left, felt like their last chance. Thankfully, they finally broke through. Zetterlund tapped in an absolutely greasy one. 2-1 St. Louis.
Fabian Zetterlund scores his sixth of the season and puts us within 1! pic.twitter.com/x2Zzxy8coc
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 7, 2025
The last two minutes were pure chaos. The Sens almost scored, then they pulled Ullmark but he had to sprint back to the net when the play started going back the other way and made a ridiculous save. The Blues missed two empty nets, with the goaltender coming within inches of a goalie goal. The last minute of play took forever because of all the icing calls, and in the end the Sens just couldn’t get past the goaltender.
We ended things with a line brawl with seven seconds left on the clock. That’s an incredibly stupid decision for the Sens to make, but to be fair to them, I didn’t believe in their ability to score in the last seven seconds either. I guess sometimes the fight just cannot possibly wait seven seconds.
Stützle was thrown out of the game (yes, he did participate in the fight), as were Batherson, Tkachuk and Cozens, with St. Louis getting a powerplay, so that’s the game right there.
Gameflow
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Notable PerformancesWith all due respect to Mr. Alfredsson, something needs to change on that powerplay.Nick Jensen had a fantastic scoring chance in the third period, and overall looked better than he has in most games this season.Jake Sanderson deserves a lot of blame for that second goal against. I don’t know what he was doing.When Stützle is frustrated and in a slump, he starts holding on to the puck for way too long and passing instead of shooting, and it’s very noticeable. He was doing a lot of that tonight. Maybe he needs to shave his head again.