FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-From the moment the Buffalo Sabres announced Craig Anderson would get the start in the season opener, it was pretty easy to imagine a result like this one. The Ottawa Senators weren’t great by any stretch but they were definitely um fine. Unfortunately fine isn’t good enough when Craig Anderson is great. Andy was solid all night and at times spectacular, turning back the clock at the ripe ol’ age of 41. He was the difference on Thursday night. The Senators did a lot of good things in the first game of their season but really didn’t have an answer for a red hot goalie.
-Over the course of a long season, the success of a team is ultimately determined by its ability to generate scoring chances in the offensive end and prevent them in its own end of the rink. The frequency that the puck enters the net will ultimately determine wins and losses but if you’re generating more quality looks than you’re giving up, the theory is that eventually the percentages will swing in your favour. This is basic stuff but it’s sort of worth repeating after this opening season loss and it’s clearly where DJ Smith’s head was at after the game too. On many nights, that kind of performance would be good enough. Tim Stützle had two clear breakaways and a third where he was mostly in alone. Tyler Motte had a breakaway that actually turned into a 2 on 0. There were multiple 2 on 1’s. On many nights, those plays will break the other way for the Senators.
-Chemistry is a word that gets thrown around a lot in pro sports and especially in hockey. Yet in the early going of this season, you get the sense that it’s going to be critically important for this year’s edition of the Ottawa Senators. And it’s not something that can be forced either. There is a ton of talent in that forward group and it’s going to take some time to get that talent on the same page. Doing that in practice is one thing and preseason helps too but you really can’t recreate the chemistry that’s built through real in-game experience. It’s going to be a challenge for DJ Smith to strike that balance between patience and pushing the right buttons at the right time. The pieces are there. It may take some time to figure out how they fit together. On night one, Tkachuk-Stutzle-Batherson seemed to click. Not so much for DeBrincat-Norris-Giroux.
-There was an interesting moment late in the second period where on a face-off outside the Buffalo zone and you could see Claude Giroux standing up on the bench, barking out instructions at the players on the ice. In this case it was Tim Stützle he was talking to but there were multiple instances of Giroux directing traffic around the face-off dot. A lot has been made about the impact Giroux is going to have on the team’s young players and it’s pretty clear that this is one area in particular that he’s planning to focus on. Of course, in addition to teaching others some of the tricks of the trade, he needs to keep winning his own draws too. Giroux finished the game 64% on the draw. The Senators went 55% on the night.
-In all the excitement around the team in general, it was pretty easy to forget that this was an NHL debut for another top prospect in Jake Sanderson. It was also pretty easy to forget that this was his first NHL game over the course of the sixty minutes because he had the look of a ten-year veteran. A slight exaggeration perhaps but it’s pretty clear that Sanderson’s game is far more developed than most defenceman his age. You can sort of tell he just sees the game at a different level. It’s not always flashy necessarily but it is always smooth. Sanderson played 22:01 in his NHL debut.
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