FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Sure it was the first win of the season for the Ottawa Senators but they’ve also picked up points in three straight, they haven’t lost in regulation and now they’re undefeated on the road. It’s all about how you look at it. For a third straight game, the Sens found themselves in a shootout and for the first time this season, they ended up on the right end of the post-excitement skills competition thanks to some timely save by Craig Anderson and clutch goals from Kyle Turris and Mark Stone. The Senators deserved that extra point as they carried the play most of the way (42-28 edge in shots) and especially leading up to the tying goal by Ryan Dzingel. Aside from that one period against the Capitals, Ottawa has looked well-organized and you can tell everyone in the line up is on the same page. Now, if we could ever figure out that damn power play.
-Erik Karlsson will be back soon. And that moment cannot come soon enough. But as much as this team misses its top player, their play without him (and to a lesser extent Johnny Oduya) has been really impressive. The rest of the team has stepped up and filled some ridiculously big shoes. Last night, the trio of Freddy Claesson, Cody Ceci and Mark Borowiecki in particular, all had their best games of the season. For Borowiecki, it may have actually been one of his best games as a Senator. A team and career high six shots, a somewhat stunning 70% possession rate and a potential game-saving play to break up a Sedin pass late in the second period.
-There are ways to help a rookie ease into his first game of the regular season but playing him with four different partners and on both sides of the ice probably isn’t the way to help a player get comfortable. Thomas Chabot took his first shift of the game playing the left side with Cody Ceci and moments later was on the right side with Freddy Claesson. He’d also take a turn with Phaneuf and Wideman before the period was out. Oh and some time on the power play too. It may have been a scattered start to the game but Chabot finished the game with 13:41 including some key shifts in the third period and a couple in overtime. You could see his confidence rising later in the game too. Next time he gets the puck in the slot in overtime though, he’ll probably take the shot.
-Christian Jaros meanwhile didn’t see much ice time in the first period but it seemed like Guy Boucher gained confidence in him as the night moved along. And by the time the third period rolled around, he and Chabot seemed to be splitting the shifts that were going to Chris Wideman earlier in the game. Jaros finished the game with 6:22 of ice time but like Chabot, it seemed like he got more comfortable later in the game. We’ve heard a lot of Jaros and his physical play and we got our first look at that last night, as he caught Canucks forward Markus Granlund with a big and cleanish hit in the neutral zone.
-When the Senators acquired Alex Burrows last year, we heard a lot about how much the City of Vancouver loved the guy and that affection was on full display during the first TV timeout. It was an emotional tribute to a player that had spent his entire NHL career in the Canucks organization prior to the trade to Ottawa. Burrows had a heck of a chance to make it a perfect homecoming on a glorious first period scoring chance but Jakob Markstrom made the save of the night. Burrows had a ton of jump in the first period and finished the game with four shots on goal in 15:45.
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