FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-That was a picture perfect road game. Score the first goal. Stay out of the penalty box. Get the odd big save when you need it. And pretty much suck the life out of the building for the entire sixty minutes. Guy Boucher and the Coaching staff will love that bounce back effort from the Senators after a less than stellar effort the other night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. While they didn’t generate a ton of high quality chances, the Sens were the better team from the moment the puck was dropped. It was as strong as they’ve looked defensively in…years? The Senators gave up just 22 shots, including 3 in the last twenty minutes.
-Speaking of bounce back performances, that was certainly Craig Anderson’s best game of the season. It’s not like he was peppered all night but he was solid when he had to be and did a much better job of holding his position and finding pucks through traffic. Rebound control has been a bit of an issue for Anderson at times so far this season but he was sharp in this one. Boucher pointed it out in his post-game comments but Anderson looked pretty good against Tampa Bay too and the wheels sort of fell off late. Nice to see him get rewarded against the Canucks. After missing a large portion of training camp, it’s not surprising that it might take Anderson some time to get his game in order.
-Ryan Dzingel is making it increasingly obvious that he’s here to stay. Not that there was really any doubt about that at this point but it seems like every game he makes a handful of plays that stand out. And he’s getting better with every game. Outside of Erik Karlsson, he’s the best skater on the team and his speed is the perfect compliment to that line with Derick Brassard and Bobby Ryan. Dzingel now leads the team with 4 goals and he has 6 points in 6 games this season.
-You know it was a good night for the defence when fans can’t really complain about the performance of any individual player. Cody Ceci and Dion Phaneuf have been the whipping boys early in this season but they were both solid last night. The bottom pair of Chris Wideman and Mark Borowiecki did a great job, especially considering they got caught out against the Sedins on a couple of occasions. And I thought Erik Karlsson and Marc Methot were really good. That was one of the best games Methot has had in awhile. He led all defenceman with 25:12 of ice time.
-A couple interesting non-game related notes from last night. Ottawa is apparently among five groups bidding to host the 2019 World Junior Tournament. Darren Dreger talked about their bid during the first intermission and mentioned that both Chris Phillips and Wade Redden were involved in the efforts to bring the tournament back to Ottawa. A decision is expected at the end of November or early December. In a little more pressing news, Elliotte Friedman mentioned that cost remains one of the main obstacles standing in the way of an outdoor game on Parliament Hill. The good news is everyone involved (including the Senators and the NHL) would love to make it happen.
–Boucher’s Post Game Comments
–Box Score
–Advanced Stats
–Upcoming Schedule
