FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-It’s been more than ten months since the Ottawa Senators last played a hockey game. And from the moment the league announced plans for an all-Canadian division, everyone had this Ottawa team pegged for a last place finish. After tonight though, it’s pretty clear that this particular group of players and coaches have something different in mind. Okay, okay…it was one game. And fine, it wasn’t always pretty. But it took all of maybe 30 minutes for the Senators to establish their identity. Hard-working and physical from start to finish. That scene of Brady Tkachuk and Austin Watson yapping at the Leaf bench late in the game captured it perfectly. The Toronto Maple Leafs have a team loaded with talent, or a couple lines of talent anyway, but they came nowhere close to Ottawa’s level of intensity and work ethic. Brady Tkachuk led the way but he certainly wasn’t alone. This was a full team effort and a great way to start the season.
-Maybe not the story-book debut Tim Stützle imagined but overall, a successful first game in the NHL. You could tell for the most part, he was trying to keep it pretty simple out there. Keep the shifts short, make the safe play and just try not to do anything stupid. There were moments when you could see flashes of that skill he displayed at the World Juniors. And he seemed get more comfortable as the night rolled along. It was a pretty quiet debut (One shot, one hit and just over 12 minutes of ice time) but you get the sense as he settles in a little bit and gains a bit of confidence, he’s gonna be just fine.
-One of the interesting things about this year’s team is it’s sort of difficult to nail down exactly how the season might go. And one of the big reasons for that is they are really counting on a handful of young players to take huge strides in their game. And if game one is any indication, Drake Batherson is ready to take those strides. Batherson’s transition to the NHL has been anything but straightforward but against the Leafs, it really looked like the game was finally starting to slow down for him a little bit. He was seeing the play like he does in the AHL. It doesn’t happen right away for some guys but you can tell with Batherson, that he finally has the patience and poise required to let his skill take over. Feels like he ready to breakout.
-In all the talk about exciting young prospects and wily old veterans, it’s pretty easy to forget about a guy like Nick Paul. Now 25 years old and with a little over a hundred NHL games under his belt, Paul doesn’t exactly fit neatly into either one of those categories. But with a two-year, one-way contract in hand, Paul quickly reminded everyone that he is absolutely an everyday NHLer. The Nick Paul case-study is going to be one to keep in mind as we watch the progression of some of the other young players on this roster. Development is rarely a straightforward process and sometimes it takes a little bit longer to click. Ottawa’s patience with Nick Paul is really starting to pay off.
-It was a little bit like one of those dreams where you can control what’s happening. Almost like you’re awake but still dreaming, That’s the best way I can describe it. Sitting down to watch the Ottawa Senators play an actual hockey game again really did feel a little bit surreal. There was a part of me that wondered, after ten long months, if it might not feel quite the same. If the excitement and anticipation of the moment might not live up to the hype. Oh but it did. Not even sure I exhaled in the first two or three minutes of the game. The sound I made after the first goal, which I think genuinely terrified my family, was something usually reserved for playoff time. It just felt so damn good to celebrate a Sens goal again. And for it all to end with a convincing opening night win over the Toronto Maple Leafs? Ya know, maybe it was just a dream. Let’s do it again on Saturday night, shall we?
Smith’s Post-Game Comments
Player Interviews
Advanced Stats
Boxscore
Loading …