FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-If you are on board the tank three games into the season, this one was probably exactly as you drew it up. A spirited effort against one of the best teams in the National Hockey League. Lots of energy, lots of entertainment and no points in the standings. The Ottawa Senators gave the defending Champs everything they could handle on Thursday night but the Blues were able to pull away in the end. The Senators looked like a more organized team coming out of that four day break and there should be lots for DJ Smith to build on heading into their next entertaining loss.
-9,204. And that’s the number they were willing to announce publicly. Can only imagine how many of those are actually paying customers. The second home game of the season, against the defending Champions on a nice night in Ottawa and we are already into single digits. Sub-5k feels entirely possible the way this thing is headed. Ottawa is a small market, with a limited TV audience, sandwiched between two of the league’s biggest markets, with a biggest employer that can’t buy tickets (that are already the cheapest in Canada), a Canadian dollar, an old rink, a seemingly impossible path downtown and now cratering attendance including a collapsed season-ticket base and almost zero corporate support. Surely buyers are lining up for a piece of this action.
-During the early days of Training Camp, DJ Smith made a comment about Vitaly Abramov. “He scores every time he is on the ice”. Pretty good way for a bubble forward to get noticed. An injury derailed his preseason audition before it really got started but Abramov is getting another chance to show those early days of Camp were no fluke. That first period goal was the first of Abramov’s career but based on Smith’s early reviews, there are plenty more where that came from. Abramov looked damn good in his season debut.
-We thought we would spend a good portion of this season talking about rushing players but the spotlight last night belonged to Russian players. Not even sure what that means, actually. There are just 33 Russian players in the NHL this season and four of them were in Ottawa’s line up last night. And all four of them registered at least a point. There was a time not long ago when rumours swirled about an organizational ban on Russians but now it seems like they can’t get enough. Artem Anisimov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Viraly Abramov and Nikita Zaitsev all had a point last night.
-Bruce Garrioch was on TSN for the first time this year and offered up a his thoughts a range of topics. Namestnikov is going to get a good opportunity in Ottawa, the young kids will get called up eventually and the Senators aren’t for sale. Nice to have all that cleared up. Seriously though, on the team being for sale front, it’s not at all surprising that Garrioch would be hearing (directly from Eugene) that the team isn’t for sale. When it comes to a pro sports team, it’s really never for sale….until it’s sold. It would be awfully interesting to hear Chris Johnston and Bruce Garrioch discuss this particular topic because those are two professional reporters saying the exact opposite thing.
Smith’s Post-Game Comments
Player Interviews
Advanced Stats
Boxscore
Loading …