The Ottawa Senators have lost three of their last four games, but they saw progress Thursday night while falling to the New York Rangers 4-2.
They will try to translate their late push in that game into a victory Saturday night when they host the St. Louis Blues.
The Senators felt they deserved better against the Rangers, who got a 25-save effort from goaltender Igor Shesterkin.
“I thought we played a pretty good game against a pretty good team,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “It’s a pretty fine line between winning and losing in the NHL. I thought their goalie played well and we came up short.”
Ottawa trailed 3-1 entering the third period before staging a rally. Drake Batherson scored to pull the Senators within one goal, but they failed to score the tying goal 6-on-5 and allowed an empty-net goal.
“There were parts of our game that we liked and a few parts we didn’t like,” Batherson said. “We gave them a couple chances there early on, to a couple of their best players. I thought in the third period we made a good push back. Their goalie played pretty solid, give him credit. But not a bad game.”
Senators captain Brady Tkachuk has a goal and three assists in four games since coming off the injured list. Like Batherson, he liked how his team finished against the Rangers.
“I definitely think there was some lapses at some points they pushed,” Tkachuk said. “And in those parts of the game I think we can learn a lot from. But I think in the second half of the game we really got back to our game.”
The Senators came into Thursday missing two of their top defensemen, Thomas Chabot and Artem Zub. Then they lost forward Shane Pinto to a lower-body injury in the first period.
The Blues have dropped their last two games by a combined score of 9-3. Along the way they lost key forwards Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist surgery), Nathan Walker (upper-body injury) and Alexey Toropchenko (leg burns in a domestic mishap) to long-term injuries.
After earning points in six out of seven games, the Blues were beset by defensive breakdowns in their last two losses.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery cited “poor reloads, poor gaps” as the culprit in his team’s 5-2 loss Thursday at the Boston Bruins. “(It’s) an effort thing, it’s a simple thing to fix.”
Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington allowed seven goals on 32 shots in his last two starts.
“That’s two tough games,” Binnington said. “I think there were some good games before that. I think it’s just staying with it, just preparing each day, like approaching each game the same and doing your best. I know how that goes. So, just believing in yourself and finding that inner belief on a consistent basis, and I think I’ll be all right and we’ll be all right.”
Binnington and fellow Blues goaltender Joel Hofer will need better defensive support during their back-to-back weekend games in Ottawa and Montreal.
“We have a really good team in this locker room,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “We’re a great group. We know what we can bring when we’re a good team. That’s what it is. It’s going to come within this locker room for sure.”
