Senators end strong homestand with a thud, but have checked many boxes for success

After starting the season 0-2, the Senators and their faithful would have gladly accepted taking four of their next five games on home ice. 

And yet when that one loss came in the final game, with a chance to lock down the best five-game homestand in franchise history, it left a bitter taste all around. 

The Minnesota Wild, looking like the Harlem Globetrotters in their prime for stretches of the second period, skated off with a 4-2 win in front of 13,870 at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Wild outshot the Sens 17-8 in the middle period to run up a 3-1 lead and hung on when Ottawa rallied in the third period with a power-play goal. 

On another man advantage late in the third, the Sens pulled their goalie once they had possession, for a 6-on-4 advantage, but a broken play between Thomas Chabot and Claude Giroux led to a Minnesota short-handed goal by Frederick Gaudreau at 17:39. Gaudreau blocked a pass attempt and skated up ice to tap it into an empty net. Chabot, who scored Ottawa’s third-period goal, declined to speak with media after the game. 

In the end, the Wild got a win they deserved. The Senators closed out a really strong homestand with some lessons to be learned about being consistent and smart with the puck. 

“We got eight points out of 10,” said head coach D.J. Smith, reflecting on the homestand. “I just think we let one slip a little bit here.” 

The 4-3-0 Sens will take their act on the road with games in Sunrise, Fla., Saturday and Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Two games against Atlantic Division rivals. 

The season is long, and there will be ups and downs. But if the coaching staff had set up a to-do list for this five-game homestand, which followed tight road losses to Buffalo and Toronto, they would have checked a lot of boxes by today. 

Score more goals, after struggling to score on the road? Check. 

Get consistent goaltending? Check. Anton Forsberg has been rock solid and backup Magnus Hellberg, filling in for injured Cam Talbot (now back practising) didn’t miss a beat in his one start. 

Be a consistent threat on the power play? Check. Clicking at 24 per cent, the Sens are currently ranked 13th in the category. And Alex DeBrincat is just getting started. DeBrincat scored at even strength Thursday and should have had a couple more goals off his seven shots, if not for Wild goaltender Marc-André Fleury. 

Be tougher to play on home ice?  Check. As Smith said on Thursday, the Senators have been playing fast and physical on home ice (tough on puck possession, not just bodychecks) through this homestand. 

There might also have been a category on health. Beyond the bad news on centre Josh Norris, out long term with a shoulder injury, the Senators have been relatively healthy through the first couple of weeks. 

Norris, though, is a big loss. And the impact was apparent under the relentless attack by the Wild. Without him, there is more pressure on Tim Stützle, who did not have a strong night Thursday and finished -3 along with his linemates, Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson. 

Derick Brassard played his second game in place of Norris and was steady, alongside DeBrincat and Claude Giroux. 

There are other things to work on, beyond sorting out the lines. Ottawa’s penalty-kill units miss the work of Nick Paul and Connor Brown, and must improve as the season progresses. 

The Senators rank 23rd on the PK with a kill rate of 76 per cent. 

Just one off night brings reminders of how difficult life is in the Atlantic. The Senators will again try to raise their game as they take it on the road. 

Kastelic rewarded with two-year deal

By the nature of their roles, fourth liners don’t crack headlines. They play fewer minutes, aren’t counted on for offence, and contribute as they can by grinding opponents and energizing teammates. 

And so it is that Ottawa’s fourth line of Mark Kastelic, Parker Kelly and Austin Watson can’t be considered the main reason the Sens have had this run of success at home. Yet, they can’t be dismissed, either. At times, this team turned to the fourth line when the other three units were flat, or off their game a little. 

Kastelic, in particular, has driven this grind line, winning 66 per cent of his draws (although just 2-for-5 against a Wild team that dominated the circle Thursday night) and using his strength to win battles. He has become a terrific early story on a personal level. 

Who doesn’t love seeing a late-round pick like Kastelic (fifth round, 125th overall, 2019) lift himself to a starting job in the NHL through sheer effort and will? At 23, Kastelic is that guy. 

Smith said that Kastelic quite simply “kicked the door down” in training camp and the pre-season, forcing the club to keep him here. 

And now the just dessert — general manager Pierre Dorion handed Kastelic a new two-year deal on Thursday, with an AAV of $835,000. It’s a great signing for the player and the organization, as Dorion noted when he called Kastelic “a very good example for the young players and prospects in the organization,” because of his tireless effort to make the grade. 

“He’s reliable, competitive, takes exceptional pride in his conditioning and routinely showcases a willingness to take on any challenge,” Dorion said. 

Kastelic, 6-3, 210, didn’t disagree with Dorion’s assessment. 

“I attribute a lot of my success to work ethic,” Kastelic says. “That’s gotten me to this point and I don’t see anything changing.”

Kastelic rooms with linemate Kelly, a player he refers to as his best friend “up here,” referring to the NHL level, an indication Kastelic is still getting used to the idea he is not in the AHL anymore. A Phoenix native, Kastelic had a nice junior career with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. 

He wasn’t the fastest skater, which is why he went so late in the draft, but skating is just one of many facets of his game Kastelic has upgraded with off-season work. This past summer he spent a lot of time with skating coach Shelley Kettles to fine-tune his form and pace. 

It’s not like conditioning ever held him back.

“He never gets tired,” Watson says of Kastelic. “He’s always working, he’s so fast. You can’t say enough about the fitness level.”

With a few more games of experience at this level — he's played just 23 — Kastelic is getting more confident with the puck as well. 

“I think he is learning he is a lot stronger than guys, and he can hold onto the puck and guys give him a little respect out there when he has it,” Watson says.