Senators' Ersson allows multiple back-breaking goals in loss to Blues

That performance from Samuel Ersson simply won’t do.

The Senators’ backup netminder, who signed a two-year, $4.4 million contract with Ottawa on July 1, got lit up in a 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.

Claude Giroux and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Senators (5-2-0), who were playing the second half of a back-to-back and their seventh game in 11 days.

No time to waste. Let’s get to grading.

There is something different about the Sens’ top centre this season. The entire play leading up to Giroux’s goal tells you everything you need to know about Stützle’s progression. Speeding over the blue line nearing the end of a 52-second shift, he fights through contact with Brandon Carlo, getting a shot attempt off from his belly after being tripped up. Stützle and Carlo both crashed into the end boards, but the Ottawa forward was quicker to get to his feet, grabbing the puck, inching outside the goal line and finding Giroux with a backhand seam pass for the snipe.

Foegele’s game got off to a rough start when he hustled back to help defend a rush, only to then fumble the puck around the net and trip the man he gave it away to. Realizing they should’ve thrown an arm up, the referees doled out two minutes to Jordan Spence for holding moments later. Foegele read the Blues’ puck movement well, once tracking back high in the offensive zone to intercept an outlet pass and keep the pressure on in the second. It ultimately led to his own redirection in tight. Still clumsy with the puck at times, there were some plays that died on his stick. He drew a tripping penalty and played 11:12.

Batherson had three defensive-zone giveaways in one shift during the first (he was tripped on one of them with no call, to be fair). He was taken off the first trio midway through the game but found his way back in the third.

Slowly beginning to look more comfortable with his new team, Burakovsky’s puck touches were smarter, often opting for the easy pass back to the point or reversals in the cycle. The best play he’s made in a Sens uniform came early in the third, showing off his edge work by mohawking around the net and finding Chabot in the high slot. Burakovsky’s game is still lacking some hunger and determination. He has zero shots and one hit in three games.

Greig was threatening on the rush, using his speed to create numerous odd-man opportunities. On the first penalty kill of the game, he forced a turnover in the defensive zone, bolted to give Shane Pinto a passing option, and when the feed was a little behind him, Greig ensured he had body position on his man and nearly beat Joel Hofer with a deke on the forehand. Seconds later, he mashed Adam Jiricek by the Blues bench. Midway through the opening frame, Greig made a hard play along the left wall to secure a loose puck, got it to Dylan Cozens in the middle for the easy breakout, and then beat two Blues up the ice to crash the net, creating space for Cozens to get a shot off as the trailer. He also drew a high-stick in the period. For those eight shifts in the first, Greig was the Senators’ best forward.

Cozens played off Greig particularly well when moving up ice. With William Eklund out, it’s encouraging to see some chemistry developing with a new winger. Cozens twice beat Blues defenders wide to create chances at the goal mouth. In the second, he gloved down a stretch pass from Thomas Chabot, drove down the left side and narrowly missed high. Later in the frame, he chipped it around Colton Parayko on the other side and threw a centring feed into the crease. Sure, Cozens has zero goals in seven games, but coach Travis Green isn’t blowing smoke when he notes that the centre is doing the right things. It’ll come.

Amadio was impactful through 40 minutes, finding Giroux twice in front for Grade A chances. He stole several pucks on the penalty kill, once jumping on the neutral-zone drop pass that every single team in the league utilizes on power-play entries. Amadio couldn’t tie up Mason McTavish in the crease on the 3-1 goal, despite having defensive-side position on him and fully anticipating the centring feed. He finished minus-4, but two of the dashes came in the third when the Senators had sort of given up.

Pinto was clearly frustrated with his inability to finish. Four of his five shot attempts missed — all of them in and around the right slot — and he looked skyward on one in the first that slid a few feet wide.

Giroux brilliantly surveys the play from the high slot and sneaks in to offer shooting options. Amadio fed him once in the first and once in the second before Stützle’s setup resulted in Giroux’s first tally of the season, as the 38-year-old ripped it over Hofer’s blocker from the right hashmarks. He won 6-of-8 faceoffs in 16:59.

Halliday worked hard along the walls to free up pucks and win some battles before sifting passes to teammates in the slot. And that’s without mentioning his garbage-time assist on Zetterlund’s 7-2 goal. Halliday is suffering in the dot this season, going 2-for-7 on Tuesday to bring his win rate down to 34.2 percent.

Cousins’ best shift of the night came when he was thrown out with the second line, finding Cozens as the high man on a rush. He had two hits and two giveaways — one of them a dreadful pass up the middle on the breakout in the first — in 10:26 of ice time.

Zetterlund’s dogged forecheck and puck pressure did a lot for the Senators in the first 40. His steal on defenceman Justin Barron in the first initiated some ‘O’ zone time that ended with his one-timer from the top of the right circle ringing off the cross-bar. Elevated to the top line for a few shifts in the second, Zetterlund won a loose puck to hold the blue line and got it over to Stützle, who found Foegele driving the net. One of the closest Senators to Jake Neighbours ahead of the 2-0 goal, Zetterlund refused to engage, simply watching the forward rip it past Ersson.

Yakemchuk had taken a step in each of hist first six games to start the season. Tuesday was his first stumble. Yakemchuk was a team-worst minus-5. The lone player above the puck defending a shorthanded rush in the first, he was reckless in leaving the middle of the ice to attack Colton Parayko, who easily saucered a pass over to Pius Suter for the breakaway goal. His whiff on a puck at the St. Louis blue line in the third led to a Blues rush, and instead of tracking down Neighbours, the open man, on the right side, he slowed up and watched the cross-slot pass be rammed home to make it 5-1. He had four blocks in 22:25.

Kleven was fairly decent defensively, stepping up to intercept cross-ice passes and saving Batherson’s tail with a nice poke on Dylan Holloway after one of No. 19’s giveaways in the first. Kleven saved a sure goal in the second, reaching in to get his blade on Pavel Buchnevich’s stab in the crease. He had trouble navigating the breakout, passing and skating into pressure. He also couldn’t save Yakemchuk’s bacon when his young ‘D’ partner’s gaffs created total chaos.

How on earth did Chabot manage to finish plus-1 in a game like this? He made some soft plays defensively, allowing some centring passes and puck carriers to get to the front, but Chabot was once again a calming presence on the back end. He took some big hits in order to get the puck to safety and broke up scoring chances with an active stick. He played 27:49, four seconds less than his 27:53 the night before. Sheesh.

The top pairing was not the problem.

Stanley and Jorian Donovan were totally out of sync on the third pairing. It’s understandable: Stanley is in his first season of pro hockey and Donovan didn’t have many sessions with the team before making his season debut. The shift after Giroux cut it to 2-1, Stanley got pinned to the right wall on a pinch, but instead of retreating, he lunged at a puck carrier deep in the ‘O’ zone and the Blues went down the ice to make it 3-1. His backcheck on the play wasn’t good enough, either. There were solid offensive plays in the third period from the rookie, but the game was out of reach by then.

Donovan had a rough game, hesitating on both sides of the puck. He took too long to move it in his own end and struggled to make accurate first passes. Miscommunication between him and Stanley while retrieving dump-ins led to some sloppy turnovers. He won a pointless fight with Dylan Peterson near the end of the third.

Ersson robbed Jonatan Berggren at the edge of the crease in the first — the best save from either goalie on Tuesday — and it was all downhill from there. He had a decent view of Neighbours’ long-range wrister that went top right to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. But the 4-1 goal is plainly inexcusable. Ersson, hugging the left post, had Suter’s bad-angle shot somehow squeak under his right arm. He’s allowed at least one completely perplexing goal in each of his three games this season.