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Calling last night's win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre 'big' is probably an understatement. Not only did Ottawa pick up two points through the division, but it snapped a five-game losing streak in the middle of a lengthy road trip. The coaching staff is hopeful that last night's win - filled with highs and lows - can give the team some momentum moving forward.
Toronto missed a big opportunity to put away a weary road team early. Ottawa did pretty much nothing in the first twenty minutes, but when you let a team hang around in today's NHL, you're going to get burned. So, kudos to the Ottawa skaters for sticking with it and finding a nice second wind to beat Toronto.
---No matter how optimistic you are about this team, the most glaring issue facing Paul MacLean right now is the horrifying even strength play. Sure, Ottawa's specialty units give this team a fighting chance, but their 5-5 F/A is dead last in the league at 0.59, and it's not even close. Now, teams can stay competitive by excelling at other elements of the game, and Ottawa's done that with their clockwork power play (25.0%). And, even though their penalty kill is statistically poor, it's steadily improved since the first couple weeks of the season. At 8-9-1, Ottawa's used some serious smoke and mirrors to hang with superior clubs. The question - can it last?
---In case you're curious, Ottawa - again - leads the league in penalty minutes with 271. Should the trend continue, this would be the third straight year that Ottawa finished inside of the top-ten re: most penalized teams. Ottawa's notorious for putting themselves in bad spots and picking up untimely penalties, but I have a hard time believing this is the dirtiest team in hockey.
---Bobby Butler continues to struggle, and you have to wonder now if the coaching staff is considering a change inside of the top-six. Butler's managed to score just two points (0G/2A) in nine games this season, and hasn't done a whole lot of creating in the offensive zone. Sure, alternatives are limited, but how long can the coaching staff continue to ignore the very real potential in one Nikita Filatov? I'm not sure Filatov's going to produce, but at this point, there's no reason to suggest that Bobby Butler's more worthy of the TOI.
---Craig Anderson had a big bounce-back game last night after getting yanked in Buffalo on Friday. Anderson gave up two early goals at First Niagara on horrific rebounds, prompting the early switch to back-up Alex Auld. Perhaps that's why most scouts peg Craig Anderson as a mercurial talent of sorts. On some nights, he looks every bit the guy who can come in and flat-out steal a game. On other nights - well, it's ugly. Of course, he's not getting a ton of help from his defense, a unit that has an extremely ugly tendency to give the puck away in premium scoring areas.
---Erik Karlsson's fiften assists are good for second - alongside Nicklas Backstrom - in the National Hockey League, only behind Daniel Sedin(16). Milan Michalek's in a four-way tie for second in goal-scoring with eleven, just one short of league-leading Phil Kessel(12).
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