FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Through 40 minutes, this game looked a lot like the one against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. The Senators were strong defensively, Anderson was sharp when he had to be, the home side had the bulk of the high-quality chances and it seemed like a game that Ottawa had under control. Then a fortunate deflection for Kyle Okposo and a bank play by Sam Reinhart and suddenly the Sabres had the lead. Ottawa pushed back a little bit but they completely wasted a four minute power play and then passed up a couple golden shooting opportunities in the final minute. Nothing is coming easy for this team offensively right now.
-Hard not to look back at the handful of Grade A scoring chances Ottawa had through the first two periods. In particular, a first period stick save on JG Pageau and a save on Mark Stone on a 2 on 1 kept the Sabres within striking distance. Robin Lehner was brilliant in the Buffalo goal and won this game for his team. He stopped 32 of 33 shots on the night and did some of his best work in the middle frame when I thought Ottawa had a chance to pull away a little bit. You can tell Lehner gets up for these games against his former team.
-When Mike Hoffman has time to shoot from a high-danger area, it’s pretty much unstoppable. That second period power play goal was just an incredible display of skill by Erik Karlsson, Bobby Ryan and finally Hoffman. It’s plays like that make you wonder why the Senators haven’t been able to figure out their power play in the early part of the season. There is just so much skill on the ice you’d assume they’d be at or near the top of the league. That four minute power play late in the game was dreadful.
-There are a few guys (most guys?) on this team that are snake-bitten right now but you can go ahead and add Jean Gabriel Pageau to that list. He had an incredible chance in the first, hit the post in the second period and was robbed again by Robin Lehner in the third period. He has just one goal on the season (into an empty net) and is clearly gripping the stick a little bit right now. Pageau had 19 goals and 43 points last season. He now has just 2 points through 11 games this year.
-The Senators may have found something in the Stone-Brassard-Ryan combination. They were Ottawa’s best forward line on the night and they seemed to have good chemistry from the first period on. It unfortunately means one of the top six right wings playing on their off-side and it leaves Mike Hoffman and Kyle Turris in a bit of a bind but I would think Stone-Brassard-Ryan did enough to earn another look. The Sens desperately need those three to produce offence and that was as good as they’ve looked all year. Stone in particular seemed to have a little extra jump in his step.
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