FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Teams are never quite as bad as they seem during a slump and never as good as they look during a winning streak. That’s probably something to keep in mind after watching the Ottawa Senators drop their fourth straight game at the hands of the Washington Capitals. Again they got off to a decent start but when Alex Ovechkin scored at the end of the first period, you really got the sense that the game was over right there. A slide like this one can make a team pretty fragile and it seemed like that late-goal completely sucked the life out of them. It’s not that the Capitals were dominating this game but again, it really felt like Ottawa’s offence made life pretty easy for the opposition. Sustained offensive pressure and second/third opportunities have been non-existent for the Senators during this slide. It won’t get any easier against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night either. And after that- John Tavares on a back to back. This four game losing streak will become a six-gamer if the Senators don’t put in a much better effort this weekend.
-I’m not as down on Cody Ceci as the rest of you. He’s obviously not as good as the organization thinks he is but I think the biggest issue with him as a player is that he has been completely miscast in his role. They see him as a top four shutdown guy when in reality, his ideal spot is probably on a third pairing, as a defenceman that can occasionally generate offence from the back end. It’s not that he’s great offensively (4 points in 20 games proves that) but his skating is probably is best attribute and in the role he’s currently playing, he doesn’t get to use it often enough. Now with that said, it would be a monumental mistake for the organization to sign him to a long-term extension when his current deal expires this summer. I’m talking like unforgivable. Even SensChirp couldn’t find a positive in that move. With so many key players coming up to the end of their deals (Stone, Duchene, Karlsson) and young defenceman pushing for spots (Chabot, Harpur, Jaros) there is no way they can afford to lock up Ceci to a multi-year contract. Because he’s an RFA there are only two options here- arbitration and a one year deal or a trade. Pierre Dorion has to get this one right.
-Thomas Chabot looks like an NHL player to me. Guy Boucher may not agree but watching him last night, I feel like it was clear that he was getting better as the night rolled along and that his confidence with the puck improved the more he played. In his post-game comments Boucher highlighted a couple of in-zone mistakes and turnovers and to be honest, I saw those too. But watching Chabot, it’s obvious that his skill and hockey sense are there, he just needs to get used to the pace of the NHL game. And the best place to do that is here in Ottawa. Just not sure the organization sees it the same way. Chabot finished the game with a career high 15:54 of ice time, picked up an assist on the Ryan Dzingel goal and was even on the night. He now has 3 points in 4 games, trailing Cody Ceci by a single point.
-This won’t be the first time one of these five thoughts is dedicated to a dreadful Ottawa power play and it likely won’t be the last. But that 5 on 3 at the end of the second period was inexcusably awful. Like, the worst I have ever seen. Guy Boucher takes a lot of heat for the team’s struggles with the man advantage but I refuse to believe he told them to be that stationary and that slow with their puck movement. At one time during the 5 on 3, there were three Ottawa players so close together they could have all reached out and held hands. Meanwhile Karlsson and Stone were passing it back and forth on the same side of the ice, with no clear purpose in mind. In fact, the whole thing seemed to be trying to set up Bobby Ryan for a one-timer, which he has openly admitted he is incapable of taking right now. Not sure I can remember ever being that frustrated with the Ottawa power play. At least not since the last game, anyway.
-Believe it or not, the Senators have now allowed 30 or fewer shots in 9 of their last 10 games. They gave up just 25 last night. They now sit 4th overall in that category with only San Jose, Dallas and Carolina allowing fewer shots against per game. What this shows is that it’s not that the Senators are a complete tire-fire in their own end of the rink but what it does suggest is that either the quality of the chances they are giving up is way too high or goaltending is letting them down. It’s probably a bit of both and it was a bit of both last night too. Craig Anderson’s save percentage has now dipped to .895 on the year which is ranked 55th in the National Hockey League. There are a few issues with Ottawa’s game right now but even if they sort those out, they aren’t going to win games with sub .900 goaltending. Both Anderson and Condon need to be better.
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