Can we explain how horrible the Dallas Stars jerseys are? How could anyone in their right mind approve of these horrible horrors?

Continuing, the Senators just suffered 3 straight losses and are hoping this road trip will change the waves. They entered the game with high energy and organized attacks. This is the kind of start you want to see from a young team on the road especially after a 3 day break.

It didn’t take long for the Sens to win. Less than 6 minutes into the game, the Senators secure their first power play and Josh Norris starts the game giving them a 1-0 lead.

If you’re worried about Brady Tkachuk returning to the squad, he would like you to know he’s doing great. How we all missed this frank chariot festival!

Alex Formenton had an empty net but got robbed by a crazy save. It turned out to be the start of a string of missed opportunities for Formenton.

In keeping with their excellent offensive play, the Senators also had an almost perfect period in forward check. They limited their turnovers and were able to take risks and move very well from their own zone to the attacking zone.

The Dallas Stars had a better start to the second period, however, and the Senators had to be sharp from the start. Jamie Benn tried to spin Zub around and we could all hear Beata’s gasps at this point, but Zub being the legend he continues like it never happened.

Filip Gustavsson made two incredible saves within 3 minutes of the period, followed by another incredible opportunity for Formenton.

After Holtby’s incredible save on Connor Brown, Gustavsson comes out against Robertson and shows that he too can impress us with his save laps.

Almost halfway through the game, the Stars seemed to be playing with a lot more energy and controlling most of the possession and the Senators were starting to look a little sloppy. Then Drake Batherson dazzled with a one-touch pass to Vanilla Ice Norris who made no mistake to bring the score to 3-0 for his second of the game. I’m sorry, you said we don’t have a # 1 center?

So far, we haven’t shouted against Nikita Zaitsev, but he then got the Senators’ first penalty and, of course, the Stars scored to make it 3-1. It looks like Joe Pavleski is a big fan of playing the Senators because it was his 10^e straight match with a point against the Sens.

The Sens started to scramble a bit after that goal and the Stars could be seen trying to profit from their mistakes. The game also got very physical after Tyler Ennis threw a huge blow at Comeau, which brought the level of entertainment of this game to definitively the level of a Friday night game.

Victor Mete was hit by a puck in the face and left the bench, which was concerning as he is one of the most reliable defensemen. I guess we could also play Chabot for 50 minutes per game. Spoiler alert, he was fine and came back in the third.

With the Stars already having an advantage, Nick Holden takes a detention penalty in front of his own net to give the Stars their second power play of the period. Uh-oh?

Even though Robertson came close to scoring, Gustavsson made his best save of the game to keep the 2-goal lead. This power play did not cause any further damage, mainly due to the disadvantages inflicted by Nick Paul and Connor Brown and the insane speed of Formenton going up and down the ice.

With 48 seconds to go, Thomas Chabot and Zub join forces to maneuver a bit of magic in the offensive zone. Even though they didn’t score, Chabot managed to shoot a penalty in hopes of bringing the ice back in favor of the Senators.

The horrific second period ended with the Senators still leading 3-1. Filip Gustavsson was having a night out and was the main reason the Sens were still leading the game.

1:14 minutes of PP time to start the third period and 20 minutes of hope that Tim Stützle will cost Spencer and me money.

Fortunately, Mete was back for the Senators, but Chris Tierney was hit by a Zub shot on the power play. He really looked like his wrist was broken, but he ended up doing fine.

The Senators had absolutely nothing to do with this power play and the Stars continued to display worrying levels of energy.

Not only did Mete return to the bench, but he capitalized on a brilliant play by Tim Stützle outside his own zone to pass it to Connor Brown who brought the score to 4-1! The Senses really needed this goal to settle in as the Stars grew more determined.

Still no goal for Stützle.

With 15 minutes to go, the Senators have another great opportunity to give Stützle his first goal and Chabot winked at him before that first game, so you know everyone’s thinking about that. Norris almost pulled off his hat trick too, but he’ll have to wait for this one. Sanford saved a shorthanded run for the Stars, then Gustavsson took care of the rest. No power play goals, but some good Senators chances and some great defensive play when they let the race go the other way.

With 8 minutes remaining, Formenton got a breakaway but again he was stolen by Holtby’s pad. Maybe he’ll get a hat trick in the next game to make up for any missed opportunities in this game.

The Stars were getting really desperate and came as close as the puck hit the corner of the net with Gustavsson coming up in the last minute. The whole team seemed to have collapsed in front of the net afterwards, it didn’t look pretty but it got the job done. The Senators defense was really starting to make major mistakes and Gustavsson needed to stay in top form to make sure none of those mistakes went into the net.

At 3:20 from the end, the Stars leave the net empty. An opportunity for a hat trick from Norris or maybe a first goal from Stützle? None of that happened, but the Sens had a demanding 4-1 victory, which is all that matters in the end.

Play Notes

• Neville Gallimore of the Dallas Cowboys was at the game tonight. The Ottawa native was seen wearing a Senators jersey until the game host handed him a Stars jersey. He wanted to take it off until he compromised by wearing half of it. He couldn’t take it any longer in third and returned to the 100% Sens jersey. It was fun to see his progress with the jerseys and also enjoyable as the Senators first win watching them.

• How does Anton Forsberg fit into the Senators’ future plans at this point? Matt Murray can continue to get injured, but even when he’s back, Gustavsson is clearly the better keeper. When do you start to prepare him for other NHL games?
• Nikita Zaitsev repeatedly proves that he cannot be associated with anyone. He just doesn’t work for the Senators. He looks lost on the ice and it’s very hard to see how Erik Brännström doesn’t at least deserve a look at this point.
• While the Senators didn’t have the best second and third periods, this game was a good test for the kids on how to stand out and score goals in a timely manner. It won’t always be easy, and they need to learn the value of fighting for a win as much as just floating in a perfectly flawless game.
• Tim Stützle is so good, the skills he combined with his confidence to perform difficult moves are just mind blowing. The “drought” goal is a bit frustrating, but it will happen soon and it has helped significantly even without the goals.

Game flow

Heat map