Senators usher in changing of the guard with win over Bruins

OTTAWA — When was the last time the Ottawa Senators’ next five years looked brighter than the Boston Bruins’ future?

The 2016-17 season, to be exact.

It was the last time the Senators made the playoffs, beating Boston in six games in the first round. On Thursday, Ottawa beat Boston 6-3 for its fifth consecutive win to edge itself into pole position to earn a playoff spot. The two teams are headed in opposite directions.

At the trade deadline, Senators general manager Steve Staios gave a vote of confidence in his team by acquiring Dylan Cozens and Fabian Zetterlund, while Boston’s general manager Don Sweeney sold, including trading away the ultimate Bruin, Brad Marchand.

In the past, Boston’s rat would dominate Ottawa; this time Ottawa’s rat took a chokehold of the battle between division rivals. That would be Ridly Greig, who has made a great case to succeed Marchand as the game’s ultimate pest. Just ask Toronto or Montreal fans.

In the first period, Greig outmuscled multiple Bruins, with linemate Michael Amadio helping out, to find Shane Pinto, who sniped home the opening goal of the game.

“I think he’s such an effective player,” Pinto told Sportsnet.ca about Greig’s play. “I don’t think it’s only scoring, but his overall game is super effective, the way he gets underneath a guy’s skin. He just gets it. And I love playing with him, and I just can’t wait to see what kind of player he’s going to be in the next five, six years, when he’s in his prime.”

Greig, Pinto and Amadio have been tasked with shutting down top units by Senators coach Travis Green, but they have also produced a ton of offence.  Since their recent inception as a line against San Jose on March 1, Ottawa has gone 6-0-1 with the trio, combining for 17 points.

Good teams beat you with their third lines.

“Play against top lines, they’re all smart players,” said Green about the line. “They all understand that side of the game, but they can also create as well, which is ultimately what you want on the match-up line: not only kind of stop the other team, but hopefully score a little bit as well.”

After Ottawa and Boston traded goals, the trio forced a Bruins turnover. Greig, with his caboose parked in front of the net, banged home a rebound off a Pinto one-timer, giving Ottawa a commanding 4-1 lead. It was a perfect culmination for the trio: All excellent puck retrievers who drive to the net and can shoot.

Their line helped chase goalie Jeremy Swayman, who was replaced by former Senator Joonas Korpisalo. But even before that, in the first period, Senators fans chanted “Ullmark’s better!” For the time being, Ottawa fans are right. Linus Ullmark has better numbers in terms of save percentage, goals-against average and goals saved above expected. However, let’s not get it twisted: Ottawa is also the better team.

One reason Ottawa has been better is because with Staios acquiring Cozens, the Senators have now started to score at five-on-five. Ottawa was dead last in five-on-five goals before Cozens arrived, a major reason being that second-line centre Josh Norris didn’t generate much offence at even strength. Norris, who was traded for Cozens, had 12 points at five-on-five while Cozens had 25 before the swap.  

Cozens displayed his effectiveness against Boston. He extended his point streak to the first four games as a Senator when he won a battle down low to deflect a Thomas Chabot slapshot that redirected off the boards to Drake Batherson, who scored his second of the game to assert an Ottawa 5-2 lead. It was Cozens’ third five-on-five point as a Senator. It’s a small sample size, but Ottawa now leads the league in goals at five-on-five since the trade.

Green believes the goals at five-on-five are a regression to the mean.

“Haven’t finished, we’ve created more than we’ve finished,” said Green about the lack of goals at five-on-five.

Ottawa has now scored more than four goals in six of its last seven games, thanks to Cozens’ jolt of offence, and the third line defending and producing. That’s what a winning formula looks like.

Ullmark told Sportsnet.ca earlier this month that “Winning is a luxury.”

It’s also a luxury to have an elite goaltender, which the Senators now have.

After Boston cut the lead to 5-3, Ullmark put on a show by making one of the best saves you will ever see off a cross-seam pass to Mason Lohrei that forced Ullmark to sprawl over with a diving baseball-type glove save. His teammates were in awe, with Batherson having a front-row seat, throwing his hands on his head in disbelief.

“He was smiling ear to ear when he got up with the puck,” said Batherson about Ullmark’s reaction.

“Oh, my God, he’s such a stud,” said Senators defenceman Tyler Kleven about the save.

Senators’ fans began to belt out “Ullmark, Ullmark!”

Ullmark called the fans’ reactions, “humbling.”

It’s sweeter for Ullmark when it comes against the team that traded him away. Late in the third, Ullmark tried a goalie goal, but missed an empty net.

“I thought to myself earlier, that it would be fun to get one against these guys,” said Ullmark.

The Bruins gave it their all, but Ottawa was too good. Outside of David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Swayman, there isn’t a plethora of exciting stud players in the pipeline for Boston. Ottawa has Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Cozens, Ullmark and others locked up for a while.

Ottawa is seven points up on Boston in the standings, but the Senators are worlds apart in terms of their futures. It might be time to get used to Ottawa as the favourite in the matchup for Senators fans.

• One major reason the Senators have vaulted into a playoff position is the rise of Sanderson’s offensive game in tandem with excellent defensive play. To begin the season, Sanderson struggled, playing alongside Travis Hamonic when Artem Zub was in and out of the lineup. In November, he told Sportsnet.ca he wasn’t happy with his game but it motivated Sanderson to improve his game mid-season.

“Felt like at the start of the year, I wasn’t moving my feet a lot, and felt a little slower, honestly,” Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca.

In his first 27 games, Sanderson had 14 points, and 11 were on the power play. Sanderson wasn’t happy. In December, he started working with skills coach Jonathan Sigalet.

“I felt like there was a time in November/December where I just wasn’t really feeling like myself,” Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca. “And, honestly, I wasn’t really having fun with the game. We were losing and that didn’t help at that time. But (Sigalet) really sparked a new love for the game.”

Since Dec. 11, Sanderson has 31 points in 37 games. What has he worked on with Sigalet?

“Creating more chances and being more of a shooter threat,” said Sanderson.

Specifically, since Jan. 22, Sanderson is behind only Cale Makar in points by a defenceman.

“I feel pretty good with my game right now,” he said. “I feel like I’m skating really good right now too, and I feel like just creating more chances for myself.”

Against Washington, Sanderson slithered through the defence to find Pinto for a goal that started a comeback. Against Detroit, he made an amazing read to outweigh Cam Talbot to find Cozens, who scored into a wide-open cage. These were plays Sanderson wasn’t making earlier in the season and his career.

Tim Stutzle is a believer.

“He’s going to be legit. Like a top-two defenceman in the world. If he’s not already,” said Stutzle.

Sanderson is on pace for the most points by a Senators defenceman since Erik Karlsson and he’s only 22 years old; 85 is morphing into 65.

• Tkachuk did not finish the game for the Senators. Green said he tweaked his hip but expected him to play Saturday. Something to watch.

Ottawa has not lost a game in regulation when its top nine forwards and top four defenceman were fully healthy since Jan. 9. Yes, that’s right. Either Norris, Pinto, Tkachuk, Sanderson or Chabot didn’t play a full game due to injury in any of the Senators’ seven regulation losses since Jan. 9.