Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith couldn鈥檛 hide his frustration following Thursday's 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights 聽because it was the third straight game the Sens gave up five goals.
Smith felt Vegas played a more mature, disciplined game than his team.
鈥淲e had an entire line change and leave two (defencemen) out there and it ends up in the back of the net,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to win in the National Hockey League if you can鈥檛 get on and off the ice.聽
"That鈥檚 a mature team that just played north, south, nothing fancy, and you can win games like that in this league.鈥�
The Golden Knights (5-5-0) won on and off the ice Thursday when the team acquired Jack Eichel in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres.
Jonathan Marchessault led Vegas with a pair of goals, including an empty-netter. William Carrier, Janmark, Brett Howden and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Knights.
Goalie Robin Lehner didn鈥檛 make things easy for his former club with 38 saves to improve his record to 9-0-3.
Brady Tkachuk scored the lone goal for the Senators (3-6-1). Ottawa starter Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots in the loss.
When Eichel will join the Knights is unclear as the 25-year-old will undergo artificial disk replacement surgery soon.
鈥淚 played with Jack and obviously I've been talking to him quite a bit the last few months here,鈥� Lehner said. 鈥淔irst and foremost, I'm just happy for him. He gets to go and take care of his body his way. I think that's a big step for all of us players in the league, that we respect his choice.聽
"I wish him the best in recovery and as for him as a player, he's a world class player. I've played with him for a few years and I've seen what he can do and he's up there when he's healthy and he's on his game. He's up there with anyone.鈥�
The Senators had a solid first period, but just couldn鈥檛 find a way to beat Lehner and then found themselves chasing the rest of the night.
鈥淭hat's when we needed him the most, in the first period, or that game could have gone sideways quickly,鈥� Knights coach Peter DeBoer said of Lehner鈥檚 play.聽
"鈥淚t's a different game if you're chasing all night. He was our best player in the first and that allowed us to kind of get our feet under us and I really liked our second period and our third period.鈥�
聽Smith had a different opinion about the last two periods, but agreed Lehner was the difference.
聽鈥淲e get all kinds of chances,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e playing a weaker goalie we probably score five, but you can鈥檛 give up five. The chances against are blatant mistakes.鈥�
Vegas opened the scoring when Carrier seemed to whiff a bit on his shot, which threw Gustavsson's timing off, and gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 4:31.
Vegas made it 2-0 at 11:21 on a tip-in by Howden for his first of the season.
Poor defensive play left Marchessault all alone at the side of the net to backhand the puck past Gustavsson at 12:25.
Defensive breakdowns continued to be an issue for the Senators, and Thursday's game was filled with errors.
鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 do the little things good enough," Tkachuk said. 鈥淭he little details on forecheck.聽
"The way we want to play is we鈥檙e a fast, physical team and we kind of slowed the game down and made life tough on ourselves so we鈥檙e going to take this opportunity to learn, but we just can鈥檛 make those mistakes again."
聽Tkachuk scored his second of the season as he tipped in Artem Zub鈥檚 point shot at 15:50.
聽Pietrangelo made it 4-1 late in the third and Marchessault capped the evening with an empty-net goal.
聽Ottawa winger Connor Brown admitted his team was likely guilty of allowing frustration to creep into their game.
聽鈥淭hat鈥檚 the immaturity,鈥� said Brown. 鈥淚 mean you鈥檝e got to just be patient. If you鈥檙e getting chances you鈥檙e doing the right thing so just keep with the recipe that gets you opportunities to score.聽
"Sometimes you鈥檙e going to score, sometimes you鈥檙e not going to. It鈥檚 just about what you鈥檙e doing to get those chances, create chances and if you force it against a highly skilled team they鈥檒l make you pay.鈥�
聽Impressive saves at both ends of the ice resulted in a goal-free first period.
Lehner made a nice save on Nick Paul early in the game and Gustavsson was tested a couple times by former Senator Evgeni Dadonov.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2021
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
