FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-This certainly isn’t something I expected to say five games into the season and it’s probably not a good sign for the Senators but- Jared Cowen has outplayed Patrick Wiercioch. I’m having a hard time figuring out exactly what has gone wrong for Wiercioch through the first five games but it seems to mostly just be poor, slow decision making. He was never going to dominate physically but he usually makes up for that by moving the puck quickly. He just hasn’t done that through the first five games of the season.
-I’m going to try not to harp too much on him because after a game like the one he had last night, he’s a bit of an easy target. And, he was coming off a three point game the night before. But the reality is if the Senators are going to be competitive this season, they need Mika Zibanejad to be at his best. And actually, probably needed him to take a step forward from last year. I realize he has five points through five games but he can definitely be better than he was last night. A little help on that second line couldn’t hurt though.
-It’s early in the season so I really try not to harp too much on line combinations. As a Head Coach, it’s important to stay patient early on and give guys a chance to develop some chemistry. I find it a little difficult to keep that mind set though when the original lines seem flawed. Granted the Senators are missing a top six LW right now but I still get the sense that with a couple changes, Cameron could get a little more out of this line up. With MacArthur out, I’d put Michalek with Turris and Stone, Hoffman with Zibanejad and Ryan and then Prince with Pageau and Lazar. Then lean heavily on those three lines.
-If you’re looking for positives in last night’s game, look no further than the man between the pipes. It hasn’t exactly been a dream start to the season for Anderson but he certainly had his best game of the year last night. The Penguins dominated Ottawa early on and if not for Andy, this game gets out of hand. The stats usually indicate that a goalie will struggle in back to back starts but Anderson actually looked sharper in the second game.
-Which brings me to the schedule. Every team has to deal with back to backs during the year but it sort of feels like the Senators got a couple tough ones to start the year, including playing three games in four nights twice already. Schedule becomes a bit lighter for the Sens now though as they’ll play just four games in the next two weeks. A little time to rest and more importantly, to practice, should be good for this team. Nashville up next tomorrow night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
