“Same old Maple Leafs,… indeed. The Ottawa Senators took to the ice in their first game of the season tonight, taking advantage of a disorganized Toronto Maple Leafs team to capture a 5-3 victory. After going ten months without game action, the Senators delivered just about everything anyone could have reasonably hoped for from this mid-January tilt. Here are tonight’s thumbs:
Thumbs Up: The Team Play People aren’t expecting the Senators to go on some run to the top of the North Division, but people are expecting the Senators to be more competitive than they were last year. Against a Maple Leafs team that many view as the prohibitive favourite in Canada, Ottawa delivered on that promise. They outshot, outhit, out-blocked, and outscored the Maple Leafs on Friday night, in addition to ending up on the right side of the five-on-five shot attempt and expected goal shares per Natural Stat Trick. This was a solid team performance, with contributions coming from all corners of the roster.
Thumbs Up: Brady Tkachuk’s Dominance The best player on the ice tonight, for either team, was Brady Tkachuk. You can try to make your case for someone else, but I won’t buy it. It was a classic Tkachuk performance, and one that should give his agent lots of confidence about earning a solid commission on the next contract.
Beyond the fact that he scored a goal and added two assists, Tkachuk was a pest. He was all around the Toronto crease on almost every shift, bringing that physical and dominating presence for which he has become known. For many players around the league, playing physical hockey and delivering offensive contributions is an either/or equation; for Tkachuk, they are complementary skill sets that feed into each other with ease. He may not be the most prolific scorer or the most physical player in the league, but when he’s on his game he’s as effective as anyone out there. He was on his game tonight.
All that hard work resulted in him generating a five-on-five shot attempt share of 75% and a five-on-five expected goal share of 94.53% (!!!) when he was on the ice (Natural Stat Trick). The Maple Leafs had no answers.
Thumbs Up: Drake Batherson’s Confidence “If Drake Batherson can gain some confidence and put it all together, he’ll be an incredibly dangerous player for this team.… It’s a thought that many around the Senators have had for the last two years. If tonight is any indication, the Batherson we’ve been waiting for may have just arrived. He looked more confident tonight than he did in any of his performances with the Big Senators last year, and was rewarded handsomely for it. He opened the season with a two-assist performance.
His first assist, which came on Thomas Chabot’s game-tying goal in the first period, was a thing of beauty. Having the confidence to stay patient with the puck and identify that play as available is one thing, but having the skill needed to actually execute on it is another. Batherson made it look easy:
ðŸŽJosh Norris picks up his first career point, a secondary assist on the Sens' first goal of the season! #GoSensGopic.twitter.com/Y2V5MG1Drg
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) January 16, 2021
Thumbs Up: The Eye Test’s Review of Josh Norris As noted in the tweet above, Josh Norris notched his first (and second) career points in tonight’s game. After hearing such good things about his play through training camp, it’s really positive to see him rewarded with tangible success right out of the gate. In addition to the points, there were also a couple occasions when Norris struck me as being in the right place or making the smart defensive play. His sliding break-up of a two-on-one in the second period was particularly memorable.
So, with all that in mind, my eyes suggested to me that Norris had a nice night. Regrettably, the underlying numbers paint a very different picture. This is one of those times that we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Thumbs Down: The Third Goal Against Matt Murray was fine in his Senators debut. While he gave up three goals on only 23 shots against, it’s impossible to fault him for allowing a high tip and screened point shot on Toronto’s first two scores. The third goal against, though, was a bit of a letdown. With the Senators leading, it was a weak goal that had a chance to give the Maple Leafs life with plenty of time left on the clock. Thankfully Murray and the Senators were able to lock things down thereafter so that it didn’t become a problem.
Thumbs Up: Thomas Chabot He was an absolute horse for DJ Smith tonight, and quite clearly the best defender on the ice for either side. Much like Tkachuk, he’s as good as anyone else when he’s on his game. He was tonight.
Thumbs Down: The Defence as a Whole The Senators have a lot of big bodies on their blue line now, but they really lack speed. That was a problem on more than a few shifts this evening, as the Leafs were able to force the action and earn controlled zone time by skating circles around Ottawa’s defenders. As good as guys like Erik Gudbranson and Braydon Coburn might be at clearing opponents from around the crease, they struggle to complete a pass out of the zone when under pressure; it also doesn’t look like Nikita Zaitsev has improved in that department since last season ended. Simply put, giving up extended time in the defensive zone to a quick team like the Leafs just isn’t a sustainable strategy for this group, even if they got away with it tonight.
Thumbs Up: Tim Stützle’s Debut Considering all the offensive noise being created from almost everywhere in the lineup, Stützle was fairly quiet in his NHL debut. Nevertheless, the confidence and creativity that contributed to him being such a dominant force at the World Junior Championship made appearances on a number of his shifts. It’s obvious that he’s not afraid to try different things with and without the puck, which automatically makes him one of the more entertaining Senators to watch. The points will come.
Thumbs Down: The Penalty Magnet I’ll just leave this here…
Fans in Tampa are familiar with: The Cedric Paquette Experienceâ„¢ https://t.co/SFaVhhHCWO
— Michael Stuart (@hockeybuzzstu) January 16, 2021
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The Senators won’t have much time to rest on their laurels, as they will be right back in action tomorrow night against these same Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada. Regardless of what happens then, we’ll always have the memory of tonight.
As always, thanks for reading.