FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-While they have come up short in the first two games of the season, the Ottawa Senators have actually done an admirable job without Erik Karlsson. They gave the defending President’s Trophy winners everything they could handle in the opener and took the play to the Detroit Red Wings for most of last night’s game. If not for the performance of Jimmy Howard and his posts, the Senators win that game handily.
-So about that Ottawa power play. No goals on five attempts in the season opener and then 0 for 7 last night. Plenty of good looks but just not able to bury one. The team’s play with the man advantage was an issue all of last season and now it’s already cost them a couple points in the standings this year. There’s no easy solution here but if it were up to me, I’d like to see a little more improvisation and less focus on running a particular play. Everything just feels a little too rigid.
-Didn’t think it was possible but Ryan Dzingel actually looks a step faster this season. He was all over the ice last night and had a few glorious scoring chances. The next step for Dzingel is finding a way to capitalize on those chances, especially the breakaways. This was sort of a recurring theme from last year and you can tell it’s in his head a little bit at this point. Scoring on one of them would certainly help him relax a little bit.
-If there was any doubt that Alex Formenton was eventually going to be returned to Junior, last night should make it pretty clear. Formenton was quiet in his NHL debut but the fact that Guy Boucher only used him for 4:54 shows that he’s not entirely comfortable with the 18 year old forward. And if he’s not comfortable using Formenton, Pierre Dorion is going to have to make a move for another in the very near future.
-Ben Harpur left the game with an upper-body injury and based on Guy Boucher’s comments following the game, it sounds like he could be out for a little while. Will be interesting to see what the Senators do with another defenceman out. Both Erik Karlsson and Johnny Oduya are considered day to day so it’s possible they won’t need to call someone up. Another injury puts the organization in a tricky spot as once again, Thomas Chabot is clearly the best option in Belleville but two games isn’t much time to work on the ol’ “professional reads”.
#Sens Head Coach Guy Boucher speaks to media following tonight’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. pic.twitter.com/m27NxkIYcM
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 8, 2017
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