FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-The fist pump behind the bench said it all. Paul MacLean wanted this win badly. He needed it. In more than 200 games behind the bench, I can’t ever recall seeing that kind of emotion from the head coach. That five game losing streak was starting to wear on guys a little bit and you could sort of sense the tension around the team. That win will certainly ease the pressure on everyone, head coach included.
-Mika Zibanejad is heating up. With four points last night and goals in his last three games, Zibanejad has finally found another gear to his game. Having talented wingers like Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan certainty helps but he has been a far more deliberate player since spending a couple games in the pressbox. If that line can keep it going, the team’s forward depth starts to look pretty good.
-Marc Methot was a last minute scratch in this one with a bit of lingering discomfort in the same injury that has caused him to miss most of the first quarter of the season. The team didn’t seem too concerned about it afterwards but it’s certainly going to be something to keep an eye on. The Senators don’t play again until Thursday night so Methot has a few days to rest before his next game action. Jared Cowen played extremely well in place of Methot and at this point, has to be ahead of Chris Phillips and Mark Borowiecki on the left defenceman depth chart.
-Derek Dorsett was pretty cranky after the game. He didn’t like getting punched in the face (who does?) and he also didn’t like Chris Neil celebrating the punching of his face. The complaining from Dorsett was a little embarrassing but to be fair, he was embarrassed in that fight. Chris Neil doesn’t fight just for the love of it. He does it with the hopes of getting the crowd into the game and maybe waking up the players on his own bench. Dorsett called that little arm wave a “junior hockey thing” but in my mind, the only junior hockey thing was the temper tantrum Dorsett threw trying to chase Chris Neil down after the fight.
-There was a lot of talk about what looked like a heated bench conversation between Paul MacLean and Erik Karlsson during the first period. Both parties downplayed the discussion after the game but whatever was said during that conversation- it worked. Erik Karlsson looked as good as he has all season and in that third period, completely took the game over. He finished the game with 8 shots on goal and according to some of the advanced stats folks, may have set an all-time record for individual shot attempts and team shot attempts while he was on the ice.
