FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-With six goals in his last five games, Mike Hoffman has officially burst into flames. Just in time for Saturday’s game in Calgary too (I’m sorry, I’ll show myself out). Everything he’s shooting is going in right now and he’s playing with a ton of confidence. MacLean is relying on him more and more and the 24 year old continues to deliver. He played 13:55 last night, including 3:57 on the power play and a crucial overtime shift with Curtis Lazar. The Senators are gonna wanna start talks on his new contract for Mr. Hoffman in the very near future.
-It’s not because this happened but I’d say it’s time for Mark Borowiecki to watch a game from the pressbox. Wiercioch needs to get back into the line up and right now Borowiecki has to be the lead candidate to come out. Love what he bring physically but like Cowen, I feel like he could benefit from watching a couple games from up top. His third period penalty was one of a few instances where the game seemed to be moving a little too quick for him.
-Like everyone, they seemed to tail off a bit after the first period, but I really liked what I saw from the line of Milan Michalek, Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan. There hasn’t been a whole lot of chemistry from this trio the last few games but they finally seemed to be clicking last night. A lot of that had to do with Zibanejad, who seemed to be a little more assertive than what we’ve seen from him so far this season. Ray Ferraro talked about it during the first intermission but Zibanejad is at is best when he’s driving that centre lane and opening up space for the wingers. That’s exactly what he did on Milan Michalek’s goal and on a couple other occasions throughout the night. Ottawa needs more games like that from Mika.
-While the Senators were allowing an early three goal lead to slip away, I noticed a lot of people saying things like, how could this happen against the Oilers? As though Ottawa is some sort of powerhouse that should easily control a game against Edmonton ten times outta ten. I think this strong start to the season has fooled all of us into thinking that for some reason, wins against lower ranked teams should come easy. Not gonna happen. The Senators are going to have to scratch and claw for every point they get this year. Blowing that lead is certainly disappointing but happy they were able to come away with two points last night.
-It was a wild game on the ice but everyone was left talking about the incredibly devastating segment on Senators’ General Manager Bryan Murray. In it, Murray revealed that there is no cure for his Stage 4 cancer and that with a simple colonoscopy, he could have avoided it altogether. I don’t really know Bryan personally but watching that segment last night felt like I was watching a member of my own family. Incredibly emotional stuff watching Murray open up about his situation. At the same time, I was blown away by Bryan’s strength, using his own situation to raise awareness and help others. Bryan is a pretty private guy so allowing that kind of access with the hopes of helping others was truly inspirational. We’re all rootin’ for ya, Bryan.
