FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-That was probably the first time this season we’ve heard people use the whole “biggest game of the season” line and the Senators turned in a frustratingly soft performance. Third and fourth liners and second and third defence pairings have had a lot of fingers pointed their way this season but last night’s loss hangs on the team’s best players. Nowhere near good enough. This team is in a deep hole right now and if they expect to make a playoff push, they really can’t afford many more efforts like that one.
-The power play. My God, the power play! It’s been an issue for a while now but last night it was on another level. There just seemed to be zero strategy. Nobody knew what they were trying to do. Everybody was standing still. Somehow everyone seemed to be on the wrong hand all the time. There were endless low percentage, high-risk passes. It was just awful. This team needs a complete reset with the man advantage because whatever that was last night…I don’t think I can stomach it again.
-And as terrible as the Senators were last night, this was a game they were in most of the way thanks to some early stops by Craig Anderson. Actually, if that Zack Smith shot goes in instead of hitting the post like 15 seconds into the game, this could have been a completely different result. Oh and how the hell did Mark Stone miss that open net? The Red Wings were good, Petr Mrazek was sharp, but the Senators had a chance to win this game. They just weren’t able to capitalize on their chances and passed up on way too many opportunities to shoot the puck.
-Obviously that early tumble makes great material for the people wanting to see Dion Phaneuf struggle but I thought he was actually pretty solid last night. And if not for a perfect shot by Zetterberg, I think the conversation about Phaneuf this morning is about a pretty impressive debut. The biggest thing I noticed in his 20 some minutes last night is he has an ability to separate guys from the puck with the body. Not exactly a strong suit for the Sens blueline so his presence will be appreciated back there.
-These Jonathan Drouin rumours are not going away any time soon. With a few weeks to go until the trade deadline, the Senators are still very much in the mix for the talented Tampa Bay forward. On Tuesday afternoon, I heard that the Sens were pushing hard for Drouin and since then a couple other outlets have confirmed as much. It’s going to be interesting to see what it takes to get a deal done here. Originally it was believed that the Lightning may be looking for some immediate help in this deal but it sounds like that may have shifted a little bit.
