FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-A regulation win? Outshooting the opponent? Erik Karlsson leading the way? Craig Anderson shutting the door? What the heck are Senators fans supposed to complain about for the next couple days?! This was a solid sixty minute performance and a much needed two points in the fourth game of five on this home stand. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means but the Senators finally got some good bounces and made the best of them. Granted it was against the last place team in the Conference but the Jackets have been playing some pretty good hockey of late so the Senators have to be happy with this performance.
-And yet despite the solid effort, there’s mostly concern after this win. Both Patrick Wiercioch and Bobby Ryan left the game with injuries with Ryan’s injury looking especially concerning. Dave Cameron didn’t have an update on either player after the game which certainly won’t do anything to ease the concern of fans. Bobby Ryan has been playing some of his best hockey in an Ottawa uniform the last little while so to lose him for any stretch of time would be devastating. Wiercioch’s injury was definitely in the head area but Ryan’s was a little tougher to diagnose. Thought maybe shoulder at first but the way he was carried off certainly didn’t look like shoulder. Here’s hoping neither injury is serious.
-After being sort of called out for his part in the Senators’ inconsistent start, Erik Karlsson has carried this hockey team. He’s now moved into 6th in league scoring with 5 goals and 16 assists through 19 games. That includes nine points over his last five games. Pretty impressive. And while it’s nice to see the points start adding up, it’s the return of Karlsson’s “shoot from everywhere” approach is an especially good sign. When Karlsson is at his most confident, he’s shooting the puck often. He had a season high seven shots last night.
-A shout out to the fourth line for their role in this win. Chris Neil, Curtis Lazar and Zack Smith each played under 12 minutes last night but there’s no disputing their impact on this hockey game. The Sens were kind of sleepy through the first twenty minutes and it was the fourth line that gave the team some life. It started with a first period fight featuring a surprisingly grumpy Curtis Lazar and the physical play carried over into the second. That line was a handful for the Blue Jackets and helped give Ottawa some much needed momentum.
-It’s unfortunate that I’m using up a thought on Jared Cowen in a game where he was a healthy scratch but I thought there was a sort of noteworthy moment during the first intermission. Bruce Garrioch, who obviously has a pretty direct link to Sens Management, spoke about Cowen during his Question Period segment and kinda tore a strip off of Cowen. The timing was especially interesting when you consider that for the most part, the Ottawa media has been fairly kind to Cowen to this point. I mean, most media acknowledge he hasn’t been good enough but this was the first time I’ve seen someone from the media openly question what’s going on between the ears with this guy. And my theory is Garrioch got the green light from management on this one. The segment is worth a listen. Oh an kudos to Garrioch for shaking off that heckler!
