-The Ottawa Senators were painfully bad in the first 40 minutes. It was a game that Head Coach Paul MacLean labelled the most important of the season and the response from the home side was pretty dreadful. The first game back from a long road trip is usually a tough one but the Sens took it to another level last night. They made the Nashville Predators look like an elite hockey team. Through the first 40 anyway…
-And in complete contrast to that last paragraph, that last 14 minutes or so was some of the best hockey the Senators have played all season. Should not come as a huge surprise that the tide seemed to turn when Paul MacLean shortened his bench. All year we’ve heard about how good the Sens have been with Matt Kassian in the line up. With all due respect to the Sens tough guy, that really has nothing to do with Kassian’s presence but rather the fact that MacLean seems more willing to shorten his bench when Kassian is on L4.
-The duo of Spezza and Hemsky have just clicked. Having a skilled guy on his line, that thinks and sees the game the same way, seems to have lit a spark under the Senators captain. It has only been three games but you can see the chemistry is there already. They were finding each other all over the ice last night and it was treat to watch. It’s a damn shame a combination of an inflated asking price and the team’s internal budget prevented the Senators from making this deal earlier in the season. If I’m Bryan Murray, I put a call in to Hemsky’s agent first thing this morning about a possible extension.That may be a little extreme but I can guarantee the Sens will be looking to sign Hemsky to a new deal before he hits free agency.
-Obviously that was a pretty ugly mistake by Phillips on the overtime winner. A lot of fans took healthy runs at Big Rig on Twitter and in the comment section but Phillips actually played a pretty solid game before that game ending turnover. To be honest, as open as Phillips was on that play, I was sitting there thinking to myself, just don’t give it to Phillips. Any kind of bobble there and you could see it was coming back the other way. The real question for MacLean is- should Chris Phillips be playing in a four on four situation?
-Picking up a single point isn’t good enough considering the situation the Senators find themselves in right now but coming away with no points would have pretty much done them in. Instead, they’ll have to sit back and hope for some favours over the next four days. Ottawa doesn’t play again until Saturday night.
