The Ottawa Senators measured up just fine in battle with Bolts

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A National Hockey League season is a rollercoaster ride and before the puck was dropped Saturday there was no shortage of angst among the good people who cheer for the Ottawa Senators.

If this was indeed a measuring stick game for the Ottawa Senators, then they measured up just fine in a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in front of 16,186 at the Canadian Tire Centre.

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The Senators weren’t without their faults, but nobody can play a perfect 60 minutes and their best players led the way as the club closed out its first five-game segment of the camp by moving its record to 3-2.

That’s a small step in the right direction.

“There was a little bit of good, a bit of bad, but overall we stuck with our game plan,” said veteran winger Claude Giroux, who had two helpers in this one. “We kept skating and playing fast. That’s a good team on the other side, so to get the win is huge.”

Poor starts to the season have been a big issue for the Senators.

We’ve seen the movie before in this market and nobody wants to witness it again.

Too often in the last five years, the Senators have taken themselves out of the playoff race in October and November with poor starts. The club won just 10 of its first 18 games in 2023-24 and that sealed Ottawa’s fate of missing the post-season for the seventh straight year.

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That’s why fans are antsy with what they’ve seen in the first five games.

Steve Staois, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, made several changes in the off-season and we need to see those paying dividends on a more consistent basis if this club is going to have the kind of success we expect under Green.

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Nothing is easy for the Senators.

The effort in the first period may have been the best 20 minutes of the season. They pulled out to a 2-0 lead thanks to Batherson’s first of the game and a beauty by Norris that gave the club a two-goal advantage at 13:21.

But as good as they were in the first, they were inconsistent to start the second. Nikita Kucherov scored his seventh of the season by firing a blast by Forsberg from the circle that probably should have stopped to pull the Bolts to within a goal at 1:59 of the second.

To make matters worse, former Ottawa forward Nick Paul tied it up 2-2 with his first of the season at 10:39 of the second. Alternate captain Thomas Chabot has got to be better defensively because Anthony Cirelli was able to move untouched to the front of the net to set up Paul.

Though Batherson’s second of the game restored a 3-2 lead, the struggles for Forsberg continued after Jake Guentzel tied it with a shot that the Ottawa backup had to have. Fortunately, Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play to restore the lead to heading to the third.

That 40 minutes was this season thus far in a nutshell: Some great play, some good, some bad and some that left you wondering where this team is headed.

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“We’re staying composed on the bench,” Batherson said. “Maybe in years past we would have gotten a little fired up. Now, we’re a few years older and our new coaching staff does a great job of making sure we just keep going at them and the bounces will come.

“The bounces went our way Saturday.”

It helped that Noah Gregor scored his first goal for the Senators with a shorthanded effort at 6::17 of the third turned out to be the winner.

There are many question marks, but it’s early and the Senators are still trying to find consistency in a lot of areas.

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The hope is that top goalie Linus Ullmark, signed a four-year, $33-million extension by Staios earlier this month, will return on Tuesday night against the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City. He missed his third straight with an undisclosed injury and this club needs him back badly.

Ullmark will accompany the Senators on the road when they leave on Sunday and injured winger Ridly Greig may also be along for the ride. Forsberg wasn’t at his best, but he shut the door as Tampa pressed to tie it up late in the third and that’s all the Senators can ask from their backup.

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Who would have guessed a visit by the Tampa Bay Lightning would be just what the doctor ordered for the Senators? The club came into this one with five wins over the Bolts in its last six games, but it helped that the Senators’ best players were at their best.

This will be another boost for confidence and should help the club find consistency.

“If you have confidence it’s going to help you,” Green said. “It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. (Confidence) makes you feel better about yourself and you’re going to do things with more authority. If you win you feel good about yourself.

“As a coach you preach certain things and when you get results that also helps as well.”

Take a step back, relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend because there’s lots of hockey left to play.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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