FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-There’s nothing quite like a win against the Montreal Canadiens, at the Bell Centre, to make everything feel okay again. The Ottawa offence broke out on Tuesday night and just in the nick of time. It looked like the Sens might be in trouble after the Habs took the lead on their 58th power play of the night in the third period but Mark Stone and Erik Karlsson scored 2:24 apart to silence the crowd (Bell Centre silence is the best kind of silence) and give the Senators one of their biggest wins of the season.
-Boy, did the Ottawa offence ever need a game like that. After a day full of questions about “Carey Price being in their head” the Senators did what they’ve always done against Price in the regular season- lit the poor guy up like a Christmas tree. There’s no doubt that Price is one of the best goalies in the league but I’ve just never been concerned when Ottawa faces him. The Senators finished with four goals on 23 shots with the timely contributions coming from their top players- Hoffman, Brassard, Stone and Karlsson. The players deserve some of the credit but safe to say it was the game day post GOALs that got this thing turned around.
-Well it was a hell of a run for the penalty kill. 35 straight kills ended with a rocket of a shot by Shea Weber early in the second period. This team has had their issues early in the season but the turnaround of the team’s PK has been incredible to watch. They gave up a couple last night which was more than they had given up in the last month. No thanks to the standard garbage Bell Centre officiating that we’ve learned all about over the years.
-We’ve talked about it a few times here this season but Ryan Dzingel’s speed is approaching elite levels. Like outside of Connor McDavid in Edmonton, it’s hard to think of a player anywhere in the league that has looked faster this year than Dzingel. That’s probably going to sound like an exaggeration but I honestly can’t think of someone. His acceleration and top end speed are both jaw-dropping and he continues to catch defenceman off guard. Like the rest of the team, his finish could use a little work but give him credit for creating something out of nothing on a few occasions.
-Guy Boucher has juggled the hell out of the lines in the early going but he may finally have found something that’s going to work. The Hoffman-Brassard-Stone combination was deadly for the Senators last night and should be left together for a few games. When Bobby Ryan comes back, presumably on Thursday against the Bruins, he can join the line with Dzingel and Turris. That then leaves a third line of Smith-Pageau-Lazar and a four with Pyatt-Kelly-Neil. Put those four lines together and leave them for a little bit.
-BONUS THOUGHT- With his second period assist, Erik Karlsson hit the 400 point mark for his career. He’d add another point in the third period too. That pulls him two points ahead of Radek Bonk for 5th on the franchise’s all-time leading points list. He’s now just ten points back of Wade Redden for the Ottawa Senators record for points by a defenceman. It took Wade Redden 838 games to get there. Erik Karlsson has played 498 games. Not bad. Not bad at all.
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