FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-The mark of a good team is how they respond when things go poorly. No team has their best every night and what really matters is the effort you put forward the next time out. Saturday was a stinker for the Ottawa Senators. Monday may have been one of their best sixty minute efforts of the season. They got off to a bit of a sluggish start but from the first period on, they took it to the Calgary Flames. A good ol’ fashion butt kicking and against a desperate team that could not afford to lose to the lowly Senators. Oh and about that- perhaps it’s time we stop talking about them as the lowly Ottawa Senators. Not only have they proven that their best is as good as anyone in the Division but now they’ve started to string together quality efforts over a stretch of a few weeks. With they get decent goaltending, this team is tough to beat. Three points back of the 6th place Canucks, five points back of the 5th place Flames and six points back of a playoff spot.
-That’s the Matt Murray Ottawa traded for and that’s the Matt Murray they were comfortable locking up to a four-year deal. That was without a doubt his best game as a Senator. In a first period where the Senators looked completely out of it, Murray made two or three huge stops and kept the game scoreless. And then in the third period, he stood on his head. Plain and simple. Three or four highlight reel stops to close the door in the final frame. When Murray is at his best, everything looks so smooth, so calm and so efficient. That’s exactly what we saw from him on Monday night. Amazing response after a rough outing on Saturday afternoon.
-Drake Batherson’s progression as a player has been one of the most amazing stories in the first half of this season. And it’s another good reminder that player development is rarely a linear process. Something we should keep in mind as we watch the Senators take a more patient approach with their young players. Batherson looked good in his first season but then seemed completely over-matched to start the 2019/2020 year. You’ll recall he ended up back in Belleville about a week into the year. To his credit, Batherson just kept working. In the American Hockey League, eventually back in the NHL and throughout the off-season. And look at him now. Goals in his six straight games (tying a franchise record, sort of), nine on the season and basically a star in the making.
-It’s hard to believe the same team played the first and second periods. Whatever DJ Smith said to his team at the first intermission, it worked. In the first 20 minutes, the Senators could not break out of their own end at all. They were turning pucks over all over the ice and couldn’t get anything going in the offensive zone. And then the second period may have been the best period Ottawa has played all season. Hockey is funny like that sometimes. Momentum doesn’t always carry over from game to game or period to period but when things are going the wrong way within a period, it can be tough to get the ice tilted back in the right direction. DJ Smith and his team obviously made some good adjustments between the first and second period though because they looked like a completely different team.
-Tim Stützle continues to get zero respect from NHL officials so it’s nice to see the Senators finally take matters into their own hands. Love the response from Erik Gudbranson after what really was a dirty hit by Rasmus Andersson on Stützle. When DJ Smith put Micheal Haley in the lineup the other night, it sort felt like a message to the entire team about sticking up for each other. And it looks like the message got through. There was zero hesitation from Gudbranson this time and it was great to see. That’s at least part of the reason why Gudbranson was brought it and why he wears an A on his sweater. Gudbranson has become a target for criticism at times this season but he brings an edge that the Senators desperately need on the back end.
Smith’s Post-Game Comments
Player Interviews
Advanced Stats
Boxscore
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