Yahoo Sports Ottawa Senators Give Up Four Unanswered Goals In 4-2 Road Loss To The Winnipeg Jets
The Ottawa Senators didn't play a bad hockey game on Saturday night, but against the top team in the NHL, there isn't much margin for error.
In their first game after the holiday break, the Senators had some glitchy moments, both defensively and in goal, in a 4-2 loss to the top-seeded Winnipeg Jets. Tim Stutzle and Ridly Greig staked the Sens to a 2-0 lead before the Jets slowly took the game over with four unanswered goals – two in the second and two more in the third.
With goalies Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg both out with injuries, the Senators brought up Mads Sogaard from AHL Belleville to start this game. In his second NHL appearance of the season, Sogaard made 19 of 23 saves and certainly didn't provide the kind of goaltending that Ulllmark has delivered in the month of December.
The Jets had their ace between the pipes, though, and that was the difference. Connor Hellebuyck has been every bit as good this month as Ullmark and continued his impressive run (8-0-1), making 33 saves on 35 shots.
The two clubs were tied after 40 minutes before the Jets went ahead for good in the third period on the power play. As Travis Hamonic was pointing directions at his forwards, he left a wide open passing seam right in front of Sogaard. Nikolaj Ehlers, historically a Sens killer, slid a pass behind Hamonic, giving Gabriel Vilardi and an easy tap-in on the back door.
That stood up as the game-winner, part of a three-point night for Ehlers.
PPG executed to PERFECTION 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/x0Wow69z4i
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) December 29, 2024
"Sometimes you're going to play well on the road against good teams," head coach Travis Green told TSN 1200's Gord Wilson after the game. "But I thought there were some moments in the game that we'd like to have back. I thought their top players kind of stepped up their game when they needed to. And that's a sign of a good team.
"We played a good game but it wasn't good enough."
The Sens will likely roll with Leevi Merilainen on Sunday night in Minnesota. The Wild stand fifth in the NHL's overall standings, but they've been pretty ordinary at home at 9-7-1. Instead, they've made hay as the NHL's best road team this year at 13-3-3 (.763).
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