FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Three power play goals against. A goal waved off that maybe should have counted. A Buffalo goal that counted that maybe deserved a second look. It was just one of those nights for the Ottawa Senators. They did a lot of things right in this game but a slow start and three power play goals proved to be too much to overcome. Playing their third game in four nights the team was set up for a bit of a letdown and that’s exactly what happened in the first. Bounced back in the second and third but the damage was done.
-The penalty kill has kept this team in a lot of games over the last month or so but it was probably their undoing last night. And while some of the calls were questionable (especially the Karlsson interference call in the third), the team just wasn’t good enough on the PK. Hard to know exactly what the issue was but their rotations seemed a little bit off and it was opening up clear passing and shooting lanes.
-It’s a shame it came in a losing effort but it’s nice to see a game like that from Mike Hoffman. Offence has been hard to come by for this team for most of the season and Hoffman is one of maybe four or five forwards that this team really counts on to produce scoring chances on a regular basis. He made the most of those chances last night, scoring three times (his first career hat trick) and adding an assist on Mark Stone’s goal. His spin-around shot at the buzzer nearly found a way past a leaky Anders Nillson too. That Hoffman-Brassard-Stone line has been Ottawa’s best for a few games now.
-One of the benefits of chasing the game all night like the Senators were in this one is it seemed like Erik Karlsson was turned loose a little bit. He was flying all over the ice and had what I thought was one of his best offensive games of the team. He finished with a couple assists and seven shots on goal. Boucher went to the Phaneuf-Karlsson pairing early in this one and I thought they looked damn good together. Might be worth a longer look if Methot is going to be out for any significant period of time.
-Bobby Ryan has clearly been playing through that finger injury the last couple games but things took a turn for the worse for him in the first period. While he’s been able to make it through games recently it’s pretty obvious that the right-hand injury was making it next to impossible for him to shoot the puck. Interested to see how the Sens handle this situation going forward. Seems like he could probably benefit from giving the injury some time to heal. He’s going to miss Thursday’s game for sure and they’ll go from there. Marc Methot left in the second period and is considered day to day.
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