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Game Day: Senators @ Coyotes - Getting the job done on the road |
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The Senators stayed perfect in the month of March, adding their first road win to the trio of home ice victories they managed to open the month with.
While the shot totals were skewed in Dallas' favor, Craig Anderson stood tall and Ottawa got more than its share of bounces en route to a 5-2 win.
Ottawa got 6 points from defensemen, and not one of them came from Erik Karlsson. Cody Ceci and Freddie Claesson each had a goal and an assist (Claesson's first career goal), while Chris Wideman also scored and Dion Phaneuf had an assist on a deflection by Viktor Stalberg. Stalberg also added an assist and continues to take turns with Alex Burrows in contributing offensively as the trade deadlines acquisitions flourish.
Anderson tied Patrick Lalime for tops in the franchise wins by a goalie, making 35 saves for the win. His former teammate, Jason Spezza, did the most damage for the Stars, banking a goal off defenseman Mark Borowiecki for a goal and setting up Tyler Seguin for the other Stars' marker.
The Bruins kept pace with the Senators on the strength of a 6-1 win over the Red Wings, as the trio at the top of the Atlantic Division jockey for position. Ottawa is smack dab in the middle of that race, four points back of the Habs and four up on the Bruins, holding two games in hand on each. All 3 have identical 7-3 records in their last 10 games as well.
The Senators will play one of those game in hand on Boston tonight, when they move a little further west to face the Coyotes. Arizona has made some off-ice news this week with the threat of a move if state government doesn't ante up a boatload of cash to help the franchise build a new arena in a (hopefully) more fan friendly part of the region.
The Coyotes are coming off a rare inter-conference home and home set with the Hurricanes, winning in Carolina 4-2 but dropping the return engagement 2-1 on home ice. Arizona has been a gong-show this season, and are second worst in the NHL, ahead of only Colorado (who will be Ottawa's next opponent).
The Coyotes are a team in transition, from the old guard to the younger generation, and they are waiting for those young players like Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, Lawson Crouse, Jakob Chychrun and Dylan Strome to really assert themselves. They have an elite, in his prime defenseman in Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but not much else at the moment. They dealt their leading goal-scorer at the deadline for a bounty of futures, and they are getting average at best goaltending.
Shane Doan is probably playing his last season, so this will most likely be the last time the Senators will play against one of the more underrated heart and soul players to play the game in a relatively anonymous market where he chose to remain despite all the turmoil he has gone through with that franchise dating back to the Jets days.
Ottawa last played Arizona way back in October, when they were still learning "the System" and it also happened to be on the second half of a back to back situation. They got goals from seven different players en route to a 7-4 win in that one, which is hopefully a precursor to what will go down tonight.
The Senators will be without Kyle Turris once again as he is the latest victim of a rash of hand injuries, joining Bobby Ryan and Chris Neil who are already suffering from finger injuries sustained in far different fashions. The Senators are in a far better position in terms of depth than they were even two weeks ago, and given the lull in opponent strength this week it makes sense to let Turris recover as much as possible before things get a whole lot tougher next week.
I would anticipate Mike Condon getting the start in goal as there is no reason to burn out Anderson against a team that the Senators should be able to handle, and to keep Anderson fresh for what is shaping up to be a difficult back half of the month.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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