-Just as my eyes were beginning to glance down in the standings rather than up, the Ottawa Senators turned in one of their most impressive wins of the season. Figures. For those that had turned their focus to a high draft pick at the end of the season, a regulation win against Arizona obviously wasn’t the ideal scenario. But for a team with rapidly fading playoff hopes, this was a game they had to win.
-With the win, Ottawa is still eight points back of that final playoff spot. They do still have a couple games in hand on the Boston Bruins but it’s still a massive amount of ground to make up at this point in the season. A win here and there isn’t going to cut it in this situation. It’s going to take a 5 or 6 game winning streak before we can seriously start to consider this team in the playoff hunt. Next up is a game in Dallas on Tuesday night.
-The power play is alive! After an 0 for a million stretch, the puck finally started to bounce Ottawa’s way a little bit with the man advantage. Milan Michalek and Cody Ceci both scored on the power play, as the Sens went 2 for 5 on the night. A lack of power play production has absolutely killed the Senators lately. If they can get that part of their game turned around, they’ll win a lot more hockey games.
-Haven’t heard any specifics but it’s safe to assume the Senators are talking to Mike Hoffman’s agent about a contract extension. Think a short term bridge type contract is an option here but they’ll talk long term too. There was a time when the Senators were damn close to placing this guy on waivers and now he’s suddenly become one of the best players on this hockey team. His give and go goal with Mika Zibanejad was pretty to watch. Hoffman will get a chance to put that speed and skill on display at this year’s All Star Game.
-Speaking of which, congratulations to Sens forward Bobby Ryan who was named to this year’s All Star team. Ryan has taken his game to another level the last few weeks and has certainly been one of this team’s best players. Courtesy of SensTV, here’s Ryan’s thoughts on being named to this year’s All Star game.
