FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-That was probably the most entertaining game I’ve watched at the Canadian Tire Centre all season. Granted a good portion of the entertainment was watching in awe as the Chicago Blackhawks controlled the play for prolonged stretched but it’s tough not to admire the skill of that Chicago team. Give the Senators credit though. Their best players were able to go punch for punch with the defending Stanley Cup Champions and were rewarded with an important two points. It’s obviously still early in the season but that Chicago team looks close to impossible to beat in a seven game series.
-Ottawa’s decision to not call up another forward only got stranger last night as Cameron elected to primarily use three lines for the majority of the game. Neil finished with just 7:11 of ice time and Colin Greening played a ridiculously low four minutes. That’s it. The Senators spent a ton of time in their own end and probably could have used a little extra rest over the course of the evening but just didn’t have that luxury with only three lines available. Ryan, Turris, Stone and Hoffman all played more than twenty minutes.
–The overtime winner was the most jaw-dropping play I’ve ever seen live. And I have been to a whole lot of hockey games. I was sitting at the top of the one hundred level and had just the perfect view of the incredible acceleration by Erik Karlsson to set up that Hoffman goal. If you watch the stride of Patrick Kane, you can see him sort of progress through various stages of denial as Karlsson continues to accelerate past him. First Kane takes the wrong angle, under-estimating Karlsson’s first few strides. Then Kane expected to be able to sort of turn it on to keep pace. No dice. By the time Karlsson hits the Hawks blueline, he’s gained like four or five strides on Kane. Just incredible.
-And perhaps what’s most impressive about that goal is the only guy who really could keep up with the play was another Ottawa Senator. Hoffman made a great read to see Karlsson was taking off and just did his best to keep up. Karlsson knew all he had to do was get the puck over and Hoffman would catch up. The finish by Hoffman was something else too. Crawford was deep in his net obviously but Hoffman got that puck up in an awful hurry. Seriously, I could (and probably will) watch that goal all damn day.
-Not a bad little run Mike Hoffman is on right now, by the way. Seriously every time he shoots the puck, I expect it to go in. His release is that good. I mentioned it following his last second near-miss last night but I’m convinced that Hoffman shoots the puck as well as anybody in hockey. Hoffman has five goals in his last three games, seven goals in his last five games and nine goals and 15 points in his last ten games. Yes, he’s going to get paid next season. But in the meantime he’s the best damn bargain in the league.
