Sens Get Cheated as Golden Knights Prevail 2-1

The One Where the Golden Knights Cheat, Again

I would like to start this recap by saying that the Las Vegas Golden Knights are a fraud circus team that deserves nothing but bad karma and eternal jinxes.

Okay, maybe that was a bit strong. I still mostly stand by it, though!

As for tonight’s game, oh it was a good one. It could have been a GREAT one but as we’ve seen ever since this circus team entered this mess of a league, they destroy everything they come across.

The road trip from hell continued tonight. I won’t re-visit the struggles of the prior games, but it seemed that nothing was going well for the Ottawa Senators on this journey. They entered the game a bit cautious but not looking tired or overwhelmed. With Murray injured yet again, all eyes were on Forsberg and how well he needed to play tonight. The first period started off well for Forsberg as he stopped all 17 shots from the Golden Knights. While the Senators, on the second night of a back-to-back, weren’t overwhelmed, they would need more push than they got in the first to take home the two points.

The Sens seemed to have gained some confidence by not being scored on in the first period. They came firing at all cylinders in the second period and definitely showed promising signs as the period progressed. On the other end, Forsberg was holding his own and making sure the Sens had every opportunity to play well and they responded in kind.

Just as the Sens were settling in the second period and having a string of dominating shifts, one mistake from Erik Brännström led to a breakaway for Jonathan Marchessault. In true Sens fashion, a shift where Stützle was working magic turned into a perfect shot on the other end to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.

Still, there was tons of time left and the Sens were seemingly having a good period up to that point. Soon after, the Sens got an opportunity to tie things up on the power play but at a 14% success rate on the road, optimism wasn’t at a high level. Brady Tkachuk wanted to prove us pessimists wrong and a shot in front of the net ended up trickling past Lehner to tie up the game. Captain material!

While the usual defensive lapses were there, the Sens looked sharper and more focused than in their last couple of outings. They continued to trade chances with the Knights, catching up quite nicely in shots. With less than 2 minutes left, Artem Zub went to the box on a call he was very unhappy with.

Thankfully, the good period didn’t go to waste and the Sens killed the penalty to end the period tied at 1. A well-deserved finish after a strong frame.

In a delightfully positive twist, the Sens played so well in the third period that at one point, the Knights went 9 minutes without a shot on net while Ottawa was hammering them with shots. Ottawa was given a power play opportunity to try to go ahead but Robin Lehner was playing some fantastic hockey — especially in the third period.

On a related note: what can be done to help this second power play unit?

With less than 3 minutes left, both teams were at 39 shots and looking to top the total of 80 shots mark. The Sens were in a comfortable position to at least get a point out of this game.

However, as the case with NHL officials and seemingly often the case when the Golden Knights are involved, with 45 seconds left, Thomas Chabot was sent to the box on an extremely questionable tripping call. I guess when your entire teams’ existence is based on being a circus town show, then that’s the kind of stuff you’re able to get away with.

Okay, I swear I’m done now.

The Sens were looking like they may survive the last-minute injustice until Jack Eichel (another thing that luckily fell into the Knights laps with zero effort) sneaks one in past Forsberg with 5 seconds left in the game. Not even enough time for the Sens to try and win a faceoff and get a shot against. Of course, the Golden Knights celebrated the goal and win as if they had just won the Stanley Cup because it’s sweeter when you don’t even deserve it, right?

May the jinx of all the hockey jinxes fall upon this desert team and may they never see a light of success ever again (except Lehner, I hope you have a long and successful career that doesn’t involve taking the Golden Knights to the playoffs, ever).

Just to be very clear on how bad the officiating was tonight, this was the call on Chabot and this was Amadio’s third or fourth dive of the game. I guess persistence paid off.

This meanwhile was one of more blatant calls missed on the Stützle:

There are games where you take the loss because the Sens just needed to be better, this one wasn’t that. The Sens lose 2-1 in what was definitely their best game in this road trip. They’ve now lost 5 in a row with the road trip continuing in St. Louis on Tuesday.

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