FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Much better effort from the Senators but a worse result. They were right in this game heading into the third period but a strong Tampa Bay team took over the game in the last twenty minutes. There was a much better structure to Ottawa’s game compared to the debacle against the Panthers but they still turned pucks over at key times and in important parts of the rink. MacLean will be happier with the effort level but the execution still wasn’t nearly good enough
-A quick glance at the schedule facing the Senators shows that a short slump can become a season-ruining losing streak in an awful hurry. They’ll play the Islanders in a home and home before games against the Penguins, Canucks, Kings and Bruins. Six games against strong teams that will bury a Senators team that isn’t at its best. The good news is we’ve seen the Senators play up to their opponents level in the past.
-As bad as this Florida road trip has been, it’s probably going to get even worse when the team gets an update on Bobby Ryan. They are still waiting for the swelling to go down but it sounds like the initial assessment was finger fracture. Players with similar injuries have missed 6-8 weeks. The Senators do not have enough talent on the roster to survive losing their best player.
-Erik Karlsson is dying out there and a lot of it has to do with who he has skating beside him. There’s a tentativeness and cautiousness to his game that I’m just not used to seeing from Karlsson and I believe a lot of that has to do with lack of confidence in his partner. Phillips gave the Senators some good minutes at the start of the year but he just isn’t a top pairing defenceman right now. Which brings me to my final thought…
-I don’t have all the details so I’ve really tried to avoid making comment on the Marc Methot situation but seriously- what the hell is going on with Marc Methot? Comments from Bryan Murray the other day suggest that Methot may have some “lingering pain” but at this point, the team is hoping he’d be able to play through that pain. I’m not a Doctor but Methot has now had the same “injury” or some variation of it for like 7 months. The whole thing is obviously pretty strange when you consider the ugly turn in contract negotiations this summer. Hopefully Methot declares himself ready sometime soon.
