FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Good teams find ways to win. And the Ottawa Senators are a good team. Say it. THE OTTAWA SENATORS ARE A GOOD TEAM. Not that we needed another reminder of that fact but Monday night’s win was a whole different kind of victory. On many nights, this team has been carried by their young forwards. But in this one, with Thomas Chabot out of the game with an injury, it was the remaining five defenceman that did the heavy lifting. Artem Zub, Nikita Zaitsev, Erik Brannstrom, Victor Mete and Josh Brown were all forced to play huge minutes against the Jets and they all came up big. Obviously goaltending was a huge part of the story too but that was just an incredibly gutsy effort by the five Ottawa defenceman. Only fitting that Nikita Zaitsev would play the role of hero with a slap shot he’s been hiding for the last 108 games.
-In a season where so many young players have had breakout years, it’s the the unexpected emergence of Filip Gustavsson that has to be considered the most pleasant surprise. It’s not that expectations weren’t there for Gustavsson but the last time we saw him, it looked like he was still getting used to the North American game. And with a few goalies ahead of him on the depth chart coming in, it seemed unlikely he’d get any NHL action this year. But good on Gustavsson for making the most of his opportunity. The now 22-year old Gustavsson is an RFA this summer and should have an opportunity to be an everyday starter in Belleville next season, depending on what happens in the Expansion Draft of course. Goalies are unpredictable and the sample size is small but the end of this season certainly suggests that Gustavsson has the ability to play at the NHL level. Gustavsson has now gone 3-1-2 with a 1.87 GAA and a .944 sv%.
-Defence. Goaltending. And the penalty kill. When you have all three of those things going, the wins are going to pile up. Ottawa’s penalty kill has been incredible lately and it was a factor again against the Jets. Winnipeg finished the game 0/6 on the power play and gave up a shorthanded goal to Connor Brown along the way. He could have had a few shorthanded goals in this one actually. That duo of Brown and Nick Paul has taken their game to another level recently and it’s almost at the point where you expect them to generate a scoring chance every time they’re out there down a man. Just two incredibly intelligent hockey players that read the play so well. Ottawa’s penalty kill, which now sits 20th in the NHL, has been a big part of the team’s success in the second half of the season.
-It’s not that the Logan Stanley hit on Thomas Chabot was dirty because it wasn’t. Chabot had just let go of the puck so the timing was fine. But that doesn’t mean it’s a clean play. There is no doubt that Stanley knew who he was targeting in that situation and it’s one of those hits that serves no real purpose other than to hurt. Part of the game, of course, but still an annoying way to lose your best defenceman. As nice as it would have been to see someone punch Stanley in his big dumb face, that’s a situation where the best response is spending the rest of the night unnecessarily (but cleanly of course), finishing hits on Winnipeg’s best players.
-You would be hard pressed to find better value for money than the Ottawa Senators are getting on Connor Brown’s contract this year. Cost-per-point is UP THE ROOF. Brown is in year one of his three year contract (earning just $2.8 mil) and he is often the best player on the ice for Ottawa. The team-leading 18 goals is obviously amazing but what’s most impressive about Brown is how he generates those scoring chances. Watch him closely on a nightly basis and you’ll see a player that is just always in the right position defensively and just always reading the play correctly. He’s a Head Coach’s dream and exactly the kind of player you need some playoff time.
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