Senators Blanked on Home Ice

SensChirp October 18, 2017 935

FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS

-Guess that’s why they call it a trap game, huh? The first game back after a long road trip always seems to be an issue for NHL teams and it bit the Senators last night. While they carried the play for long stretches, especially in a dominant first period, Vancouver Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson was strong and the Sens had a hard time generating second and third chances. For the most part, they seemed sort of flat in the second and third. Didn’t give up much of anything but just couldn’t generate enough on offence. Used up all the goals in Alberta, it seems.

-It didn’t take long for Erik Karlsson to deliver his first wow moment of the NHL season. He wasn’t able to finish the play but that end to end rush on a first period power play was a fun little reminder of what makes Karlsson such a special player. While there were times in the game where his stride looked a little bit laboured, that was reassurance that he still has that explosive skating ability. May take some time for the conditioning to catch up though. He finished the game with 22:25 of ice time and was a -2.

-Ottawa’s run of perfect penalty killing had to come to an end at some point.  The Sens had killed off 15 straight power plays leading up to that first period goal by the Canucks last night.  One of the big reasons for the team’s early success has been a combination of a strong penalty kill and maybe just as importantly, finding a way to stay out of the box.  They have only been shorthanded 17 times early in the season compared to 31 power plays.  They only took two minor penalties in last night’s game.

-Mysterious challenges continue to be a hallmark of Guy Boucher and his coaching staff.  The Senators asked for a video review of the Canucks first goal of the game, suggesting that there may have been goalie interference on the play.  I didn’t see anything at first glance and even after the second and third replay, it was clear that there just wasn’t really anything to review.  The Canucks forward may have slightly brushed Anderson but the contact appeared to be initiated by a combination of Anderson kicking his leg out and Cody Ceci pushing his man into the crease area.  The decision to challenge has to be made pretty quickly which puts a little bit of pressure on the Coach but it seems like Ottawa has more than their fair share of bizarre challenges.

-Mark Borowiecki left the game with an injury following a fight with Canucks forward Derek Dorsett.  Guy Boucher did not have an update on his status after the game and nobody seemed to know exactly where the injury occurred.  Borowiecki attempted and missed a big open ice hit on Alex Burmistrov and then seemed to hold his own in the fight afterwards. He did seem to be looking at his hand a little bit in the aftermath of the fight.  Ottawa dressed seven defenceman last night so depending on the severity of the injury, a call-up might not be necessary.

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Rest in Peace, Gord

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