FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-If the Ottawa Senators are going to crawl their way back into the playoff picture, these are the games they absolutely need to win. When a bad hockey team rolls into your rink, you need to take care of business. And that’s exactly what the Senators did on Monday night. They were the better team from the moment the puck dropped and picked up the two points they both deserved and needed. Points in five of six and nine of a possible 12 points over that stretch. Eight points back of the second Wild Card spot with a game in hand and the Montreal Toilet Seats in town on Wednesday night. Meaningful games in December, anyway.
-At the morning skate, both Cam Talbot and Alex DeBrincat were considered question marks. They both ended up playing and they were the two most important players in the hockey game. Alex DeBrincat scored twice on the night, confirming the theory that he was bound to start scoring in bunches. No lucky bounces needed this time either. Talbot was also an unknown in the morning but he was a big reason the Senators came away with two points. The Sens were actually pretty sharp defensively and the Anaheim Ducks mostly suck but Talbot made the saves he had to along the way. The lesson here is the morning skate is big ol’ liar.
-Obviously the injury to Tim Stutzle is the biggest storyline coming out of this one. As fans, we’ve become painfully familiar with the sight of an important player sprinting down the hall to the locker room and this time, it was Tim’s turn. The team called it an upper body injury and based on the unpleasant slow motion replays they showed on the broadcast, it seems like it could be anything from elbow to shoulder. If you’re looking for positives, it didn’t seem like DJ Smith was horrified by the update he got on the bench right after and he seemed unsure of his status when he stopped in for an interview between periods. Maybe a good sign? Look, I’m trying here. This sucks. Stutzle was wearing some sort of sling in the locker room post-game.
-With the first period injury to Stutzle, it was Claude Giroux that stepped into action on that first power play unit and it took him about 10 seconds to figure it out up there. Giroux has done a hell of a job running that second unit but that was a pretty good window into just how dangerous he could be with that first group. His patience with the man-advantage is on a different level and with guys like Alex DeBrincat out there, he’s going to find them. Might be worth switching him and Drake Batherson when everybody is healthy. If everybody is healthy ever again, that is.
-This was obviously a big game for the Senators but it was hard not to get lost in the various trips down memory lane that accompanied Wade Redden’s big night. Seeing all those Sens legends come together to honour one of the best defenceman in Ottawa’s history was a good reminder of the crucial steps this organization has taken away from the rink this season. As a franchise, they drifted a little bit over the last four to five years and it led to a fractured relationship with fans and just as importantly, with the team’s past. As someone who sits squarely in that generation of fans that grew up with this team, it’s just so awesome to see those familiar faces come back to Ottawa to recognize former teammates. Also, I am old.
Loading …
