Senators’ Stats: Oct 20-26, 2024
Written by: Trent Raynard
The Senators went 1-1-0 this past week, scoring 4.00 goals per game (7th in the league) and allowing 3.00 goals against per game (14th in the league). The power play stayed hot (66.7%), and the penalty kill showed signs of improvement (75%). However, there has been a lot of uncertainty with regard to player injuries, with Ullmark, Zub, Pinto, and Perron all missing time.
Scoring Stats
Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux were the offensive engines for the team, each recording two goals and an assist this week. Nick Jensen led the defensemen in points with three assists, and call-up Cole Reinhardt recorded his first career point. Brady Tkachuk and Nick Cousins both had a lot of shots and chances, but they only managed one point between the two of them (a goal by Tkachuk against Utah).
Physical Stats
The Senators did not take many penalties this week, but the interference penalty taken by Nick Cousins at 14:55 of the third period against the Golden Knights was a memorable one. It arguably allowed Vegas to come back and beat Ottawa in a game the Senators should have won. Tkachuk and Norris continue to be a physical presence up front, while our defense blocks a lot of shots.
Advanced Stats (at 5-on-5)
Jacob Bernard-Docker was a bit of an “analytics darling” this week, leading the team in Shots For%, Expected Goals For%, and High-Danger Chances For%. Pinto also being one of the top performers in several categories shows what a loss it is for the team when he is not in the lineup.
The Senators’ best defensive pairing was Kleven – Bernard-Docker; it was not even close (50.00 CF%, 58.54 xGF%). Even though the Sanderson – Hamonic pair looked playable last week, they dropped back down to more expected numbers this week (45.00 CF%, 30.71 xGF%). All of Ottawa’s forward lines struggled at 5-on-5 this week, but the newly-formed Norris-Giroux-Batherson line fared the best (50.00 CF%, 40.80 xGF%, 33.33 SCF%).
Goalie Stats
Despite having a rocky start to the season, Anton Forsberg was perfect in his start against Utah, stopping all 31 shots he faced and recording a +3.52 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx). However, Linus Ullmark struggled when he returned from injury to face the Golden Knights, letting in four goals on 22 shots with a -2.21GSAx. It does not really need to be said, but if Ottawa is going to be successful this season, they will need Ullmark to show why the Senators gave him a $33 million extension.
Team Milestones
As usual, I am going to end this post with some team milestones that were reached this week.
Claude Giroux moved past Nick Foligno into 32nd on the Senators’ all-time points list (150 points).
Drake Batherson moved past Zack Smith into 19th on the Senators' all-time goals list (95 goals).
Drake Batherson moved past Chris Neil into 18th on the Senators' all-time assists list (139 assists).
Anton Forsberg moved past Dominik Hasek into 7th on the Senators’ all-time shutouts list (6 shutouts).
