The timing couldn\u2019t have been worse for the Ottawa Senators to suffer the first loss in franchise history to the Utah Mammoth.<\/p>\n
The Senators dominated large parts of this game against the Mammoth, but the result was far too familiar as Ottawa\u2019s as the club dropped its second straight in a 3-1 loss at the Delta Center on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
While the Senators came into this game with a 3-0-0 lifetime record against Utah, their effort in Salt Lake City wasn\u2019t enough as goaltender Karel Vejmelka stole the show with 33 stops.<\/p>\n
Only Ridly Greig was able to beat Vejmelka, while Leevi Merilainen made 18 saves and likely deserved a better finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot to like again,\u201d coach Travis Green said. \u201cThe puck is just not going in. Their goalie played well.\u201d<\/p>\n
GOALTENDING DISPLAY<\/p>\n
There has been a lot of consternation about the Senators\u2019 goaltending since the club\u2019s 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.<\/p>\n
Through 40 minutes, fans of the Senators had it confirmed that a strong effort by the goalie can keep you in the game. Vejmelka stopped all 15 shots he faced in the second period, and without him, Utah isn\u2019t in this game.<\/p>\n
He was the only reason the Mammoth were ahead 2-1 going to the third.<\/p>\n
Merilainen was given a chance at redemption.<\/p>\n
Pulled after allowing four goals on nine shots against the Wings, Merilainen made his fifth straight start since top goalie Linus Ullmark took a leave of absence on Dec. 28.<\/p>\n
The goaltending is under the microscope after the loss to the Wings. In his 14 appearances heading into this one, Merilainen had posted a 6-7-0 record with a 3.49 goals-against average and a .869 save percentage.<\/p>\n
THE TURNING POINT<\/p>\n
The Senators were pushing the pace for much of this game and were trying to get back into it in the third when Daniil But gave Utah a two-goal lead.<\/p>\n
He was able to beat Merilainen during a scramble in front of the net. While the Senators immediately complained that But pushed Merilainen\u2019s pad across the line with the puck, it fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
Coach Travis Green took a timeout to have his assistants review the video in the video room with 14:19 left in the game. The National Hockey League\u2019s situation room in Toronto confirmed that it was a goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cVideo review confirmed no goaltender interference infractions occurred as Daniil But was making a play on the loose puck in the crease,\u201d the league said in its decision.<\/p>\n
On that play, the officials also missed a high stick on defenceman Thomas Chabot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should have been a double-minor,\u201d Green said. \u201cWe should have been on the powerplay rather than them scoring a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sealed Ottawa\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n
Green made a big shift to his top six.<\/p>\n
Second-line centre Dylan Cozens was moved to the right side of Tim Stutzle with winger Drake Batherson on the left. Pinto was in the middle of the second line with captain Brady Tkachuk and Fabian Zetterlund.<\/p>\n
Nothing was working on this night because the Senators couldn\u2019t score.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating,\u201d Cozens said. \u201cIt seems like a lot of these nights we\u2019re the better team, and we just can\u2019t find ways to win. We\u2019ve just got to try to keep our confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
DIGGING A HOLE<\/p>\n
Ottawa was down 2-1 after 20 minutes. It\u2019s only the 13th time in 342 games that the Senators have trailed after the first.<\/p>\n
Greig scored his fourth career goal against the Mammoth to get Ottawa on the board with 2:19 left in the period. He was able to spin in front to pick up a rebound off Vejmelka and chip it home on the stick side.<\/p>\n
The Senators didn\u2019t even get to the first television timeout, and they were already chasing the game. They were down 2-0 on four shots, and to make matters worse, Pinto actually made a save for the Mammoth.<\/p>\n
That came only moments after John Marino picked up a rebound off the boards and beat Merilainen on the glove side at 7:20.<\/p>\n
He was trying to get out of the net behind Vejmelka when Shane Pinto took a shot in the shoulder from Artem Zub. The officials took a look at it to make sure the puck didn\u2019t cross the line, but it wasn\u2019t close.<\/p>\n
Crouse opened the scoring only 3:59 into the game. Merilainen had no chance to get across the net as Crouse fired it home on the glove side.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the seventh straight game that the Senators have allowed the opponent to score first. Both of the goals by the Mammoth were the result of bad defensive coverage by Ottawa.<\/p>\n
bgarrioch@postmedia.com<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The timing couldn\u2019t have been worse for the Ottawa Senators to suffer the first loss in franchise history…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[1473,536,9605,1094,93,1744,2804,7010,5,1520,1521,8380,539,4,5619,72,25,5157,1188,73,1795,832,681,66,824,3154],"class_list":["post-397078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa-senators","tag-artem-zub","tag-brady-tkachuk","tag-daniil-but","tag-delta-center","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-drake-batherson","tag-dylan-cozens","tag-fabian-zetterlund","tag-hockey","tag-john-marino","tag-karel-vejmelka","tag-leevi-merilainen","tag-linus-ullmark","tag-nhl","tag-nick-schmaltz","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-ottawasenators","tag-ridly-greig","tag-senators","tag-shane-pinto","tag-thomas-chabot","tag-tim-stutzle","tag-toronto","tag-travis-green","tag-utah-mammoth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115858149491834807","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}