FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-It’s honestly hard to remember a moment quite like that in the history of the Ottawa Senators. For Craig Anderson, showing up to the rink on Sunday had to be hard enough. With all that must be going through his head right now, it was inspiring just to see him on the ice. As the night rolled along, it was clear that Anderson was in a zone. And as the clock ticked closer and closer to zero, you could tell how bad he wanted it. How bad his teammates wanted it for him. This weekend, we were reminded that there are far more important things in life than sports. But on Sunday night, we saw exactly what makes sports so special.
-And honestly, it’s not like this was a walk-in-the-park shutout either. Anderson made a number of massive saves through forty minutes and then in the third period, he stood on his head. 37 saves in all including 18 in the third period. And all this was in a one goal game. The mental focus is takes to put on a performance like that, under those circumstances, is just nothing short of remarkable. As far as individual performances go, it’s one of the best in Sens history. Oh, also…that was his second consecutive shutout.
-Craig Anderson deserves all the credit in the world for that performance. But also, hats off to the 18 skaters in front of him. The Oilers came into this game as the league’s best offensive team and the Sens managed to hold them off the scoreboard. As time ticked down in the third, the Senators seemed to find another gear too. Blocking shots. Fighting for loose pucks. Everyone that hit the ice in that third period wanted to win this one for their teammate and it showed.
-Mike Hoffman can personally thank the TSN broadcast crew for helping him finally get his first goal of the year. You knew once they spent a minute or two talking about his scoring slump that it was only a matter of time. Hoffman has been putting a ton of pucks on net during the first part of the season but they just weren’t going in. What was nice about his first goal of the season was he was finally able to get a quality chance in tight. That ridiculous no-look feed by Tom Pyatt helped too. That goal turned out to be the difference.
-It’s important to remember that the reason we were watching Craig Anderson turn in one of the most amazing performances of his career, is because of the strength and courage of Nicholle Anderson. It was Nicholle that told Craig to rejoin his team this weekend, pushing her husband to pick up the phone and offer to come back. When you consider what she’s going through, that’s just such an incredible gesture by a clearly remarkable woman. All the best to Nicholle, Craig and the entire Anderson Family.
–Boucher’s Post-Game Comments
–Boxscore
–Advanced Stats
–Upcoming Schedule
This clip… wonderful. pic.twitter.com/q0IK9iISUG
— Alheli Picazo (@a_picazo) October 31, 2016
