In Sanderson and Zub, stout Senators have found long-awaited shutdown duo

What’s a shutdown defensive pairing?

That’s the question Senators fans have been asking themselves ever since 2017 when Erik Karlsson, Marc Methot, Dion Phaneuf and Cody Ceci embodied the response.

Now, the Senators can finally claim a shutdown duo once again in Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub, who are halting scoring attempts by other teams’ best players on a nightly basis. The proclamation might have come earlier in the season, too, if it weren’t for Zub’s injuries.

The pair has also been helped out by Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen, who have brought life to the second pairing, providing some offence with smart plays and quick zone exits.

But the Senators’ best chance at controlling the play is generally when Sanderson and Zub are out there.

On Tuesday night, the Senators took advantage of a healthy Zub to win their third straight game, this time 2-0 against the New York Islanders.

The Senators out-Islandersed the Islanders, who are typically very stingy defensively. Leevi Merilainen earned his second shutout in his last three games. Remarkably, the Senators now lead the league with seven shutouts.

It shows the evolution of the Senators’ defensive process.

Tuesday’s game didn’t start well for the defence corps when Chabot took a puck to the face in the first period and did not return for precautionary reasons.

It meant Sanderson and Zub would rotate with the other remaining defencemen, leading Sanderson to play a career high 31 minutes 46 seconds.

Even with the elevated minutes, Sanderson and Zub were excellent against the Islanders. It was only their 18th game out of 43 together, but they were stifling. In the second period, Zub made a wonderful stick deflection to deny a great slot chance from Matthew Barzal. All night, as the Islanders dumped the puck into Zub’s corner, he’d make a quick play to find Sanderson who exited the zone with pace.

Sanderson and Zub have the best shot share and expected goal share on the team, and like the Jensen-Chabot pairing, they are above 50 per cent in both categories, which is greater than league average.

Travis Hamonic was paired with Sanderson in Zub’s absence, but the difference is stark.

Stats according to Natural Stat Trick at five-on-five

Senators coach Travis Green said last week that Zub is not yet in full form after returning on Jan. 2 from a broken foot which he suffered on Nov. 23.

“I don’t think he’s quite at the top of his game,” Green said. “Just because of the injuries. Started to see a glimpse of it before he got hurt last time, I thought the last game (vs. Detroit) was a big step.”

Zub and Sanderson have taken a step each game in sharpening their play together since Zub’s return. Sanderson acknowledged Zub’s impact.

“Huge, having (Zub) back, it’s a big part of our team, and just a steady, consistent presence on the back end,” Sanderson said.

At every turn, the Islanders tried to create in transition, but Sanderson and Zub shut them down, limiting New York to only four shots in 14:53 played together at five-on-five. By a rough count, Zub and Sanderson blocked six Islanders shots. Plays like those were part of the explanation as to why the Senators have moved up to 12th in goals against after the shutout against New York.

The analytics back up Zub and Sanderson’s play, too.

A top pairing that goes up against the opponents’ best every night helps insulate a team’s bottom pair. Tyler Kleven and Nikolas Mantipalo have been effective together in reduced minutes since Zub’s return. Kleven scored against Pittsburgh on Saturday and then set up Ottawa’s opening goal against the Islanders on a point shot that Adam Gaudette tipped home.

Meanwhile, Sanderson said he’s had to adjust from playing with Hamonic to Zub — but not in the way you’d think.

“One speaks really good English, and the other doesn’t,” Sanderson said.

One element the duo needs to work on is five-on-five offence, having been outscored 8-2 in 18 games together. The eight goals against is excellent; the two, not so much.

Sanderson’s offence was middling without Zub, only scoring 24 points in 43 games while earning time on the top power-play unit.

Because of Sanderson’s slower offensive season, Chabot and Jensen routinely played the most minutes with Zub out. Overall, they’ve outscored opponents 35-26 at five on five this season.

Jensen spoke to Sportsnet.ca last month about the chemistry the duo created from the jump during training camp.

At the end of the day, the job of defencemen is to limit goals against. The Senators have done that thanks to Zub and Sanderson’ scoring suppression abilities. And while it’s recently been translating into shutouts, the defence is also part of a larger trend.

The Senators haven’t allowed five goals in a month and a half — and in that game against the L.A Kings on Nov. 30, the last goal was an empty-netter. Nonetheless, the Senators’ shot share and expected goals share are both better since Zub returned to the lineup on Jan. 2 compared to when Zub was out from Nov. 23 to Jan. 1. 

It was a fitting end to the game when Zub was rewarded by launching a slap shot into an empty net for his first goal of the season to seal the 2-0 victory.

Leaning on Leevi

In two of their last three games, the Senators have shut out their opponents with Leevi Merilainen excelling as Linus Ullmark’s replacement.

In the first period, a puck found itself behind Merilainen; instead of recklessly spinning around, he calmly propped his glove behind his back to stop the puck from crossing the line.

“I think it is part of my game, trying to stay calm as possible,” said Merilainen post-game.

Late in the third period, Brock Nelson found himself all alone with Merilainen, who denied him with a great blocker save. The Senators were excellent in front of Merilainen, limiting the Islanders to two medium-danger saves and no high-danger shot attempts, according to moneypuck.com. The overall defensive play has allowed Merilainen to rack up a sparkling .925 save percentage, 1.99 goal-against average and 5-2-0 record.

Merilainen acknowledged the elite defensive performance in front of him.

“I think it was a bit of a chess match that we won, and it was kind of a slow game,” he said.

Merilainen has been exactly what the Senators have needed by providing calm, solid, reliable goaltending.

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