From time to time, the schedule makers get a team into trouble, so to speak. That's been the case for the Senators in their last two games. Yes, they come up against two of the best teams in the league, the Hurricanes and Lightning. Fortunately, both of these teams got to travel to Ottawa to play their second game of a back-to-back situation.
To the Senators' credit, they played both games well. They competed against these strong teams in the beginning and then took advantage of these tired teams late on. They won 6-3 against the Hurricanes on Sunday, and won tonight against the Lightning by a score of 6-2. Let's get into the details, focusing on the three best Senators who were great tonight.
Read more: It's time to rally around Brady Tkachuk
Tim Stutzle
Stützle scored a big goal on the power play in the third period to put the Senators up 4-2. He also added two assistants. This was a game when he scored one of his best goals of the season against the Hurricanes on an incredible effort the length of the ice. With three points tonight, Stützle is guaranteed at least one point per game on the season, as he has 82 points after four games played.
jake sanderson
Sanderson scored two spectacular goals tonight, both using his skating ability to force the puck into the net. Keep in mind, Sanderson is a defenseman. This gave Sanderson a career high of 13 goals, surpassing his previous best of 11 goals set last season. He also had 51 points, making it the second consecutive season he has scored more than 50 points. This makes Sanderson the second defenseman in Senators history to score at least 50 points in multiple seasons. Eric Karlsson did this six times.
brady tkachuk
Tkachuk recorded a career-high four assists tonight. This gives Tkachuk six points from his last two matches. This takes Tkachuk to 58 points in 58 games. Tkachuk's season was ruined early on due to a hand injury, which caused him to miss 20 games. For him to be at a point per game now and reach 60 points despite all the missed time shows you how good he is, and how well he's been playing in recent weeks.
additional comments
Congratulations to Cam Crotty on his first NHL point. In his four games with the Senators, he has been solid, averaging over 14 minutes of ice-time per game. With two points tonight, Drake Batherson tied his career high of 68 points last season. Jordan Spence played over 22 minutes tonight and scored a nice goal. In my opinion, now is the time to re-sign him. Linus Ullmark had a strong performance tonight, saving 27 shots. To his credit, he has started each of the last five Senators games. Next up for the Sens is a Thursday night game against the Panthers.
