FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-As the final horn sounded to signal the end of the first twenty minutes, I called it the worst period of the season. It turns out that maybe I was being a little too kind. That may have actually been the worst period in the history of the franchise. 27 shots against is a fairly reasonable total for an entire game and the Sens managed to give that up in a single period. That’s the most given up in the history of the franchise. There’s just no excuse for that. A lot of the comment section seemed to want to point the finger at Dave Cameron and he certainly deserves some of the blame. But that kind of terrible start can be shared equally between Cameron and every single one of the players that put a uniform on last night, with the exception of Craig Anderson.
-But like I said, Dave Cameron certainly deserves some of the blame. In the last week of so, he’s guilty of massively over-thinking his line up decisions and in the process, he’s done pretty significant damage to the team’s line up. There’s a fourth line centre playing left wing on the second line. That same fourth line centre is on the top power play unit. One of the team’s worst defenceman is taking a regular shift at forward. A fourth line Binghamton Senator is skating on the third line at times. Injuries are a factor here but there’s just no reasonable explanation for some of the recent decisions. Not that I can see with the information I have anyway.
-Craig Anderson was as visibly frustrated as I’ve seen him during his time here in Ottawa. No goalie has faced more shots than he has this season but clearly even Anderson has his breaking point. He smashed his stick on the post several times after the late goal by Max Pacioretty and left the ice at record speed at the end of the first. Anderson has every right to be frustrated after a game like that though and to a man, every player in that room would acknowledge as much. Anderson has been over-worked recently but has kept this team competitive. He can and should expect more from his teammates.
-As bad as the Senators were in that first period, and they were terrible, they actually pushed back pretty well in the second and third. And with a couple bounces, they probably could have come all the way back in this one. Would have been nice to get a couple more power plays before the final couple minutes but that’s usually too much to ask in Montreal on a Saturday night. The Canadiens were definitely guilty of sitting back after the first but they only had 15 shots over the final forty minutes. The Senators were the better team after that debacle of a first period.
-Things aren’t going to get any easier for the Senators after that difficult four game road trip. They’ll play five games before the holiday break including home to Los Angeles, in Washington, home to San Jose, and then another trip to Florida for rematches with the Lightning and Panthers. The 1-3-0 road trip has seen Ottawa fall to fourth in the Atlantic, which is good enough for the first wild card spot. The teams behind them are closing in though. The Senators need to get things back on track in a hurry and a great place to start would be playing the best line up possible. Prince back in. Smith back to the fourth line. Only one of Cowen or Borowiecki in the line up (as a defenceman, Dave). And ideally someone other than Dziurzynski as the call up.
