FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Just as the Senators start to clean things up in their own end of the rink, the offence has started to fail them. For a second straight game, the Sens were much better defensively but just couldn’t generate much in the way of offence. If that’s the trade-off for defensively sound hockey well then I think I preferred relying on our goalie to steal games. It’s now been more than 130 minutes since the Senators last scored a goal. I’m starting to forget what a goal actually looks like.
-And as disappointing as it is to get blanked two games in a row, this game could have been pretty different with a couple bounces going Ottawa’s way. Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad both hit the post and Max McCormick missed on a golden opportunity from in close. That’s sort of the way hockey goes though. Earlier in the year the puck was bouncing Ottawa’s way. Right now, it isn’t.
-Dave Cameron was pretty unhappy in his post-game press conference and pointed the finger squarely at the team’s second line. The Coach said he needs to get more from that Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan trio and he’s not wrong to say so. But from the Coach’s perspective, the answer might be shuffling up the lines a little bit and breaking those three up. Or ya know, letting the offensively gifted Shane Prince play more than 5 minutes a game.
-Thought this was another solid performance from Frederik Claesson in just his second NHL game. He’s looked extremely comfortable playing with Erik Karlsson and certainly seems worthy of a longer look. It’s going to be interesting to see what the Senators do when Cody Ceci is ready to return. Ceci plays the right side and at this point, Mark Borowiecki is playing out of position on the right side on that third pairing and would be an obvious candidate to sit. Claesson-Karlsson, Methot-Ceci, Wiercioch-Wideman.
-Despite all the talk it’s getting the last little while, I’m not overly concerned about the increased work-load for Erik Karlsson. In a situation like this, the Coach has to rely on the player to let him know if it’s too much and nothing we have seen from Karlsson to this point suggests that he’s incapable of playing the extra minutes. In the meantime, I’m just thankful I get to watch Karlsson for a half hour every night. He’s now played more than 30 minutes in three straight games and five of the last six.
