Sunday night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning was ugly for a few reasons.
Not only were the Senators thoroughly outplayed for half the game but they also managed to let two leads slip away. First, it was an early two-goal lead and then a one goal lead late in the game. It’s not that they deserved to win the game but rather that it was there for the taking. Against the top team in the Eastern Conference too.
They’ll look to bounce back tonight against Taylor Hall and the New Jersey Devils.
Okay fine…because some idiot recorded and then posted a private conversation, a few words on last night’s controversy. Although that’s probably too strong a word.
It’s embarrassing and it’s an unfortunate look for the players and for the coaching staff. But in reality, nothing said in that five minute video is any different than what you’d hear from another team. In fact, it’s sort of encouraging that a group of key players on this team actually care enough to discuss these sort of things in their free time. Talking strategy, discussing practice habits, critiquing coaching tactics and looking up stats on their phones. On a night out!
There are so many other worse topics they could have been discussing. Maybe not for Martin Raymond but for the organization, anyway.
At the same time, it’s a unique eye opener for the Coaching staff. The kind of honest performance review you don’t usually get.
It’s unfiltered and it should actually be pretty useful. Guy Boucher, Martin Raymond and the rest of the staff are all proud guys so this will certainly make for an awkward game day skate. But after they do their push ups or laps or bench a couple guys or whatever unnecessary discipline they choose (hopefully they do nothing), the coaches should reflect on what is in that video and consider if they can improve.
To summarize- Uber is a joke. The driver is a loser. Post Media should probably explain how they got a hold of the video. The players need to be more careful. Matt Duchene should never say “boomeranged my twiggy” ever again. Pierre Dorion should consider what was said in the video when evaluating his coaching staff but beyond that, should probably just ignore it. And while I feel bad for the coaches to have this out there in the public eye, I think this is something they can turn into a positive. Lastly, the Owner should seriously consider whether he wants to be associated with this franchise any longer.
Worth a shot.
Anyway, onward and upward, you poor cursed organization.
Guy Boucher met with the media following the game day skate. They’ll go with 12 forwards and 7 defenceman tonight. Mark Borowiecki is out with an upper body injury. Erik Burgdoerfer is a healthy scratch. Jack Rodewald is in.
Here’s how they lined up at the morning skate.
Dzingel-Duchene-Stone
Boedker-Tierney-Ryan
Paajarvi-White-Pyatt
McCormick-Paul-Rodewald
Chabot-DeMelo
Lajoie-Ceci
Wideman-Jaros
Craig Anderson gets the start in goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
The game is available on TSN5, on the radio on TSN1200 and probably streamed live from some loser’s hidden camera.
Go Sens Go.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 6-5-1 (13 pts) | 5-6-3 (13 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.25 (11th) | 3.21 (12th) |
| Goals Against | 3.00 (18th) | 4.21 (31st) |
| Power Play | 27.5% (6th) | 27.3% (7th) |
| Penalty Kill | 81.3% (T-11th) |  |
| Shots For | 31.5 (15th) | 28.0 (T-27th) |
| Shots Against | 31.3 (15th) | 39.1 (31st) |
| Leading Scorers | Palmieri- 15 pts Hall- 14 pts Hischier- 10 pts |
Chabot- 17 pts Stone- 13 pts Duchene- 12 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Cory Schneider 0-1-0 3.24 GAA, .889 sv% |
Craig Anderson 5-4-3 3.58 GAA, .909 sv% |
