FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Stop me if you’ve heard this one before- a late third period lapse costs the Ottawa Senators. The Sens had been pretty solid through 55 minutes of this one but with less than five minutes to go in the game, a momentary defensive lapse cost them a chance at their first home ice win of the season. A good effort is one thing but these are games Ottawa has to find a way to win if they want to be in the mix for a playoff spot this spring. As much as we talked about not taking the Coyotes lightly, this is two points the Senators should have had.
-It was interesting to watch the different reactions from fans after this one. One portion of the fan base was quick to point to the shot clock as an indication that this was a solid game by the Senators while other seemed to be less than impressed with the Sens’ effort. Dave Cameron would fit into that second category as well. Outshooting an opponent 36-26 is one thing but there was definitely was a shortage of high quality chances. Anders Lindback was good at times but far too often the shots the Senators had were relatively harmless and from the outside. Ottawa was probably the better team in this one but they certainly didn’t dominate.
-He looked pretty good in the game against New Jersey but I thought this was the best game Bobby Ryan has played all season and actually, may have been better than any game he played in the second half of last season too. With both Hoffman and MacArthur out of the line up, Ryan moved up to that top line with Kyle Turris and Mark Stone and the trio actually looked pretty good together. Ryan finished the game with 8 shots on goal including a couple of high quality scoring chances. Would have been nice if one of those shots went in though because you can tell that Ryan is gripping the stick pretty hard right now.
-There was a ton of frustration directed towards Jared Cowen following the third goal by Arizona and it was justified. He had been pretty good up until that point but in a close game, the ol’ blind backhand to the middle of the rink probably wasn’t the best decision. You sort of appreciate Cowen trying to make a play rather than just putting it off the glass and out but there is a time and place for everything and clearly wasn’t a play either of the forwards in the middle of the rink were expecting. Cowen finished the game a -2 in 19:09 of ice time.
-I think we all expected the Senators to a relatively competitive team this season but the reality is their line up just isn’t deep enough to withstand the injuries they have right now and it shows. The blueline is clearly missing Marc Methot and having two top six forwards out of the line up in Hoffman and MacArthur really hurts. The Methot absence in particular is an issue. Mark Borowiecki, who maybe shouldn’t even be in the line up at this point, is instead playing on the top pairing with Erik Karlsson. He’s done an admirable job in that role but it’s pretty obvious Karlsson’s not the same player without Methot. Methot had planned to play in last night’s game but had a set back in the late afternoon and was held out of the line up. Hopefully he and Hoffman are ready to go on Wednesday.
