FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Five straight losses and no end in sight. The Ottawa Senators were awful in the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets and while they were again able to push back at moments in the second and third, it wasn’t nearly enough. Columbus was the better team in this one and the Senators deserved another loss. They had life, and a chance to snap this dreadful losing streak, thanks to a second period goal by Mike Hoffman but a Matt Duchene turnover and an ill-advised pinch by Erik Karlsson sealed this one.
-Now, well the Senators deserved to lose this game, a team in a slide like this is going to need a break or two to snap out of it. And they certainly didn’t get those breaks last night. That second goals by the Blue Jackets looked like text-book goalie interference. The Columbus forward went into the crease on his own and made contact with Anderson’s glove (where the shot eventually went). That’s goalie interference (I think?) and has been called in other situations this year. Sergei Bobrovsky also threw his stick at Ryan Dzingel in the third period, which should be a penalty shot, and there was no call. The Senators are more than capable of screwing themselves these days, they don’t need help from the officials.
-Considering the team had dropped four straight coming into this one, you might expect them to come out with a little bit of life. To put together a strong start. But that could not be further from the truth. If not for Craig Anderson’s play in that first period, the game could have been 3 or 4-0. It felt like every player on the ice was just standing still. Nobody could complete a pass and there was just zero puck-support anywhere on the ice. One of a Coach’s key responsibilities is having his team ready to play to start a game and they absolutely were not ready in Columbus.
-Not sure line combination matter all that much when nobody is moving their feet but there was more line juggling from the Coach last night. Eventually he landed on some new potential duos, with Brassard-Stone/Duchene-Hoffman/Pageau-Ryan. It might be something that is worth a longer look. The line of Dzingel-Duchene-Hoffman clicked almost instantly although it was that same trio that got stuck on the ice for the go-ahead goal by the Blue Jackets. Seemed to be some potential there though.
-Chemistry in sports is a funny thing. It’s really not something you can control and it has to come naturally. Last year’s team is a great example of that. The combination of internal and external factors brought that team together and it had an obvious impact on the way they played on the ice. Perhaps it was foolish to believe that the bond that team shared last year would automatically carry over into a new season. Marc Methot, Clarke MacArthur, Kyle Turris, Viktor Stalberg, Tommy Wingels, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil are all gone and the team just hasn’t been able to get that feeling back. Not yet, anyway. There is no doubt that the addition of Matt Duchene has rocked the boat a little bit but there were signs this team was off even when Kyle Turris was still here. Poor team chemistry isn’t why the Senators are losing right now but it definitely helped them win some games last year.
-Bonus Thought- Oh dear god, they play again tonight.
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