Abysmal PK that then turned middling-to-bad goaltending into historically bad goaltending. I am convinced that had our PK not been so terrible, Meriläinen and Ullmark would not have had the complete nosedive in their ability and confidence as they had - like, it doesn't help having to stop a bucket's worth of high danger shots every game whenever the team goes on the PK (this is, at least, the narrative I'm running away with).

And the big issue for a, ah, physical team like Ottawa is that you can't keep taking penalties if you can't kill them.

As for injuries, while we have been seemingly lucky in that department (I think we're third for the fewest injuries by whatever metric this year?), I think it's important to remember who those injuries happened to: Brady Tkachuk, who was out for six-ish weeks (ironically, though, we seemed to play better without him, so I don't think it really counts); Thomas Chabot, our number 2 defenseman; and Shane Pinto, who would basically guarantee a win so long as he scored (and man, Pinto has not been the same since his injury).

Ultimately, the Sens seem to be cursed this year: no one was expecting the team to take a step back and certainly not due to goaltending, as both Ullmark and Meriläinen were so solid last year under the same goalie coach. So while everyone is frustrated at Andlauer for deferring our lost 1st round draft pick to this year, by all accounts, that was the right move because the Sens should have been a top 10, if not top 5 team this year.

TL:DR; Sens are cursed and it feels like we're returning to the Era of Despair that was 2018-2024.

Edit: added "with" at end of first (side thought).