FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Teams as good as the Pittsburgh Penguins don’t lose very often. And according to last night’s broadcast, losing back to back games in regulation is something the Penguins haven’t done in 90 games! This was a tough match up against the defending Stanley Cup Champions in a situation where they almost never lose, and the Ottawa Senators were ready for them. Guy Boucher’s team had three days between games and they looked like the more prepared and the more rested team from the moment the puck dropped. The Penguins definitely pushed back at times, as you would expect, but the Senators stuck to their game plan and earned an impressive home ice win. A whole lot to like about this one.
-For all the grief we’ve given the pairing of Dion Phaneuf and Cody Ceci during the first half of the season, they deserve a ton of credit for a strong game last night. Heading into the game there was talk about how Ottawa would match up against the two-headed monster that is Malkin and Crosby. Boucher’s plan being that Methot/Karlsson would mostly go head to head with Malkin’s line while Phaneuf/Ceci would get Crosby. Listening to TSN’s Jamie McLennan talk about the match-up plan prior to puck drop, I’ll admit I was a tad nervous. But full credit to both Phaneuf and Ceci because they did a great job against one of the league’s most dangerous players. Forwards deserve kudos too, including the Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt line. I barely noticed Crosby at all last night.
-For a team that has had their issues with special teams lately, that first period was probably better than anything they could have imagined. Not only did they score twice on the power play, one goal for each unit, but they also had one of their best penalty kills efforts of the season, taking it to the Penguins while shorthanded and generating three decent chances. Coaches talk a lot about consistency and Guy Boucher is no different but seeing a first period like that it’s easy to see why. This team has the personnel to be good on the special teams but consistently executing has been their biggest issue. Special teams in that first period was as good as it gets and it allowed Ottawa to take control of the game.
-We don’t talk a lot about Tom Pyatt and when we do, it seems to mostly be about his less than impressive possession numbers or his presence on a line he probably shouldn’t be on. But considering how much he gets paid and that the Senators brought him here out of relative obscurity, the Senators are actually getting pretty good value out of him this season. With the goal last night, he now has four in his last nine and he’s scored in back to back games. Boucher has certainly been guilty of using him a little bit too much this year (he’s definitely not a top six forward) but he’s the perfect fourth line guy. Unfortunately the lack of depth up front often means he’s playing a little higher in the line up than he should be.
-Think we could all get used to that version of Bobby Ryan. He just seemed to have a little more jump in his step last night and it was noticeable right from the beginning of the game. The play he made on his first period goal was a little bit of vintage Bobby Ryan. Using his size down low to win the puck a couple times and then using his reach to shield off the defender. Then from the moment he passed off to Wideman, you could tell his focus was to get himself in a good shooting position. Not sure I can recall the last time Ryan has one-timed a puck from that position. The ongoing finger and hand issues have obviously seriously limited what he can do with the puck but when he’s still a dangerous player.
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