The Ottawa Senators received an important reminder in their last outing of how quickly fortunes can change in the NHL.
The Senators can prove they learned their lesson when hosting the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
The Senators return home after a humbling 7-3 road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, which snapped their three-game winning streak and offensive onslaught.
Against the young Blackhawks, Ottawa cut a 4-0 deficit to 4-3 but allowed three unanswered goals in the third period. The Senators had scored seven goals in each of their previous two outings.
“Unfortunately, a little bit of immaturity,” goaltender Linus Ullmark said. “It’s not easy winning in this league. You can’t go out there and put up seven two in a row and expect to do it a third time. … We just have to look at ourselves in the mirror and come to terms with what we did, learn from it and move on.”
Not that the Senators have fallen off a cliff. It was one game and they remain in the thick of the playoff chase at this early point of the season. Plus, they can look at a positive from that game: a three-goal outburst in less than four minutes that pulled them back into the clash in the second period.
But the Senators have big expectations for themselves, intending to build off reaching the playoffs last season.
“I didn’t think we had our skating legs,” coach Travis Green said. “I do like that we found our game, pushed back in the second period, had a great chance to tie it … but we got what we deserved.”
The Flames also are coming off a setback, but they are in a much more dire situation. Calgary, which suffered a 4-3 loss in Toronto on Tuesday to open a four-game road swing, has managed only two victories in 11 games to start the season.
For the first few weeks, Calgary’s issue was a horrid lack of offense. The Flames have managed to light the lamp more often lately, but their defensive play, among other issues, has been wanting.
“We’re putting the puck in the back of the net a little bit more, but it’s kind of down to wins and losses right now,” said forward Morgan Frost, whose first-period goal opened the scoring in Toronto. “We’ve got to get something going here.”
The Flames, who have scored first in seven games this season but lost six of those clashes, have been victimized by far too many turnovers and, even more glaring, taking far too many penalties. Both of those issues were front and center in Toronto.
“We’re scoring more right now, but at the end of the day, you have to keep them out of your net. That’s the most important thing,” coach Ryan Huska said. “I still feel like there’s issues in games where we’re hurting ourselves.”
They’re hurting themselves at the worst time. The loss to the Maple Leafs followed a familiar script. The Flames started well but could not build a big enough lead and fell behind. They pulled even in the third period but surrendered Max Domi’s game-winning goal with 2:04 left in regulation.
“It’s just kind of been the story of the whole year,” said forward Joel Farabee, who scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday. “We take too many penalties and they start to let their top players start to feel the puck (and) … it’s tough to stop.”
