FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-As far as road wins go, that was pretty textbook. Sure it got heartstoppingly crazy in the final thirty seconds of the game but those first 59 minutes were delightfully uneventful. Just the way it should be on the road. The Senators gave them close to nothing and in those rare instances where the Devils pushed back, Linus Ullmark stood tall. After that ugly loss to the Avalanche on home ice, the Senators needed to bounce back and to a man, they seemed to recognize the magnitude of the moment. They got back to playing their game, locked it down when they had to and walked away with a massive two points. Also, and I can’t stress this enough….Zub.
-The win serves two purposes – first of all, it allows fans to exhale, if only for a moment. Those two losses were a good reminder that there’s still a ton of work left to do here down the stretch. The win also gave Ottawa two much- needed points with most of the teams in the rearview mirror also coming away with at least a single point. The Canadiens and Islanders both lost in overtime while the Rangers won on home ice. Ottawa sits four up on Montreal, who is still clinging to that second Wild Card spot and five up on New York, although the Senators have a couple games in hand. Thirteen games to go.
-Fabian Zetterlund finally got an extended look in the team’s top six and actually looked decent up there. Zetterlund skated on the left wing with Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk and while you can tell it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment for all three of those guys, it has potential. Zetterlund finished the game with a couple shots on goal in just over 14 minutes of ice time, including a glorious chance to open the scoring in the first period. From a style standpoint, both Tkachuk and Stützle will need to get used to playing with Zetterlund. He does everything fast and straight ahead, whereas Giroux preferred to slow the play down a little bit and find open spaces.
-Nick Jensen travelled with the team this weekend, was on the ice in the morning and up until an hour before the game, it really did seem like he was gonna make his return. At the last minute, the Senators decided to give him another couple days of rest. The team really hasn’t said much about Jensen’s injury but whatever it is, it seems like it’s gonna be a day-to-day kind of thing for the rest of the season. There’s just no doubt that this blueline looks significantly stronger with him back there though. They’re definitely gonna need him down the stretch.
-Speaking of playing hurt, the situation with Brady Tkachuk is gonna be something to keep a close eye over the next few weeks. In the Captain’s case, the Coach did mention last week that he was dealing with some sort of hip injury and watching him last night, it’s clear that’s it’s still an issue for him. Brady deserves a ton of credit for playing through it and still finding ways to contribute. Rest is gonna be hard to find over the next month or so but here’s hoping they can find a way to get Tkachuk back to 100%.
Post-game interviews
Advanced Stats
Boxscore
Loading …
