FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Can’t win ’em all, as they say. And you especially can’t win ’em all when you are massively outworked by your opposition. The Tampa Bay Lightning were the more desperate team and it showed, especially in the third period when they took the game over. Playing a back to back and their third game in four nights, you would expect the Lightning to run out of gas a little bit as the game moved along. That wasn’t the case at all. They looked like they had way more energy than Ottawa over the final 20+ minutes and they deserved to win that game. Ottawa was lucky to even come away with a point. An important point though as they now sit just one point back of Montreal for top spot in the division.
-Guy Boucher was clearly frustrated in post-game remarks. The entire interview lasted 2:36 and featured a couple uncharacteristically brief answers. The Coach has talked a lot about rest and re-cooperation over the last month or so, dialing back the intensity of the team’s practice schedule during a more condensed portion of the season. It’s the right thing to do this time of year. But you could tell he was visibly frustrated with the way his team responded in that third period, especially after being given an extra day off following the road trip. Will be interesting to see what kind of practice they have today at noon.
-While most of his teammates would probably like a mulligan on this one, full credit to Mike Condon for showing up in a tough situation. Condon hasn’t played as much lately so it would have been understandable if there was a bit of rust to shake off last night. Instead, Condon was solid all night and downright spectacular in the third period, preserving an important point for his hockey team. That sequence of kick saves was one of the best I’ve seen from any goalie all season. It also may have been the loudest in-game cheer from the crowd at the CTC this year. Anderson isn’t expected to be out long but Condon looks more than capable of giving Ottawa some solid starts until Andy can return.
-Bobby Ryan played his first game in a little less than a month and was fairly effective in limited ice time (12:52). He made a couple nice plays in the offensive zone and had some good shifts with Alex Burrows and Derick Brassard although he finished the game on a line with Turris and Hoffman. It’s worth noting that only Tommy Wingels played less among the forwards. It’s going to be interesting to see how Boucher uses him down the stretch.
-Mark Stone was awarded the Molson Canadian Cup as the team’s player of the month and if you were watching closely when he came out to accept his award, you’ll notice he was walking with a pretty serious limp. His official status is “week to week” and it’s a safe bet he’ll miss at least two weeks. He’s expected to travel with the team to Montreal on the weekend but it would be pretty shocking to see him actually play in that Sunday night game.
Boucher’s Post-Game Comments
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