FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Well that was one big ol’ steaming pile of garbage. Those of you that come here on a regular basis know that I have a tendency to sugar-coat things from time to time but it’s tough after a game like that. And yea, I know they were a post away from tying (a post they hit twice in the final minute) but that’s because the only thing as awful as the Senators on this particular evening was Marc-Andre Fleury. He gave the Sens a chance in a game they had no business being in. I know they’ve been rough most of the year but this was on another level.
-From the moment the puck was dropped last night you could just tell the Senators didn’t have it. Which is especially frustrating after a few days off and when you consider the fact that this was a game they really needed to win. There were shifts in that first period where all five guys in the Ottawa zone were standings still. Every single one of them. Their defensive zone coverage was as terrible as it has been all year and that’s saying something. If the Penguins were to run a 5 on 0 drill in the offensive zone, it would look exactly like that first period. They were doing whatever they wanted out there.
-And yet after all that, this was a game the Senators could have won or at the very least come away with a point. Mark Stone had a glorious chance to tie the game with the goalie pulled and then Mike Hoffman twice hit the cross bar in the game’s final minute. It’s sort of the way things have gone for the Sens all season. Get outplayed yet find a way to hang around in the hockey game. Obviously not a sustainable approach over the course of the season but just enough that it might trick them into thinking they are something other than a really bad hockey team most of the time.
-Craig Anderson faced a ton of shots again last night but he certainly didn’t have his best game either. Yes, there were defensive breakdowns around him all game but a few of those goals just sorta leaked through him. Which isn’t usually something you see from Craig Anderson. It should come as no surprise that during this recent Sens’ free-fall, Anderson has played some of his worst hockey of the year. Anderson has now given up three goals or more in six of his last seven starts. He has a save percentage below .900 over that stretch. Anderson has done an great job giving this team a chance most of the season but they need him to stand on his head to have a chance. He hasn’t done that recently.
-Certainly don’t want to understate the impact injuries are having on this line up. They are currently playing without three top six forwards and a top pairing defenceman. Take that out of any lineup and the team is going to struggle. The Senators are especially vulnerable because their depth isn’t great to begin with and because they insist on replacing those skilled guys with grinders like Max McCormick and Dave Dziruzynski. And then compounding things is that Dave Cameron seems to favour those grinding type players over skill guys when things aren’t going well. Oh and also those grinding type players keep taking stupid penalties and the Senators can’t kill a penalty to save their lives right now. And the defence can’t make a clean breakout pass. Hmm. Okay. Maybe there’s a few things wrong beyond the injury issue but it certainly doesn’t help their cause.
