-I said this after the Colorado loss but I’ll say it again- the first two periods of this hockey game was as good as the Ottawa Senators have looked all season. If the Canadiens were getting “good” goaltending through the first 40 minutes- the score would have been 8-3. If he was average, the game Sens could have easily had 10 goals after 40 minutes. Instead, Carey Price was spectacular.
-It’s a shame the Sens took their foot off the gas in the third because I really believe we were seeing one of the greatest single game goaltending performances of all time over the course of the first 40 minutes. If Carey Price can bring that game to Sochi, Team Canada should be just fine.
-Lots of people talking about the unfortunate game tying goal off the skate of Jared Cowen. The deflection of his skate was just bad luck but the bad decision that led to the turnover was completely avoidable. People have been hard on Cowen this season and with good reason. He has struggled to find his game through the first 49 games but from what I’ve seen, has shown signs of improvement. Problem now seems to be because he’s playing with Karlsson, Coach MacLean is playing him far too much. Might be time to reunite Methot and Karlsson.
-Mentioned this on Twitter the other day but the hugely inflated minutes of Cowen could be a bit of a showcasing on the part of the Ottawa Senators. Moving Cowen would obviously be a tough decision to make because you know that as a young defenceman, he’s going to get better. But if the return included an impact forward, would you consider it?
-The MacArthur-Turris-Ryan line is the best. They should be playing more. You could make a pretty strong case that they should be playing the entire 60 minutes right now but I guess they need to rest sometimes.
-There are a lot of other great candidates this year but Erik Karlsson has again found his Norris Trophy form. Guys like Keith, Pietrangelo, Weber, Suter, Subban and Bouwmeester are all having great seasons but in my opinion, Erik Karlsson is right there with him. It took awhile for him to get there but there’s no doubt, Karlsson is back to 100%
-I made a comment on Subban’s celebration of the overtime winner last night that seemed to spark a ton of debate. I really don’t have a problem with players celebrating goals but I think it’s entirely acceptable that I would be slightly annoyed watching him celebrate so excessively. The Senators had dominated that game and deserved a better fate. He has every right to celebrate whatever way he chooses and as a fan of the team he had just scored against, I have every right to think he looked silly doing so.
