In another game that no team really looked like it wanted to win, the Senators got a late goal from Zack Smith to walk away from the ACC with a win over the Leafs in Dion Phaneuf's homecoming game.
There was a lot to talk about off the ice, with the love-in CBC had with the Leafs and their future while largely ignoring the Senators after Phaneuf's tribue was over and done. That perceived slight picked up a lot of notice on social media.
I wonder how much vitriol would have been fired at Dave Cameron had the Senators lost this one. Cameron benched the club's leading goal-scorer Mike Hoffman for the third period, while the Senators were attempting a third period comeback. Despite the fact that the strategy worked and his team won, the groundswell of #firecameron was never greater than during the third period and after the game.
Quite frankly, I don't blame him. I tweeted out after one of the many times that the CBC broadcast was gushing over the shot of Nikita Soshnikov:
That was about a minute before this was noticed on a broader scale:
and indeed Hoffman didn't see the ice in the third period. Not that he did anything in the first two. I sort of understand the backlash because he is the club's top goal-scorer and he could break out at any time. But, he didn't show anything in the first two periods and was pretty invisible. He played more than only Chris Neil and Chris Driedger on the night, less than 11 minutes.
and in this case, I am not sure Cameron was wrong. It worked out for the Senators, whether it was Cameron's doing or not, but Marc Methot scored early in the frame to tie it up (his second straight game with a goal) and Mark Stone made a great pass to Smith to score the winner within the last 3 minutes of the game.
Hoffman has just 1 goal in his last 10 games, and unlike Mark Stone who can change games in other way when he is slumping, Hoffman needs to be contributing offensively to make a difference. You could argue that he can't score from the bench, but he hasn't been doing much scoring on the ice lately either. He certainly didn't look happy on the bench and hopefully the message was sent and he can bear down starting tonight against Dallas.
Former Sens captain Jason Spezza brings the Stars to CTC for a late afternoon game, a quick turnaround for the Senators. It will be Spezza's second game back in Ottawa following the trade that sent him out of town two summers ago. The Stars beat New Jersey on Friday night in Dallas and traveled to Ottawa yesterday afternoon.
Dallas is tied for first in the Western Conference and the Central division, in a dogfight with the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues lurking just 2 points back. They have one of the most prolific offenses in the league led by Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. They will be without a couple of key pieces as John Klingberg, one of the leading defensemen in scoring in the league and veteran Patrick Sharp and Jordie Benn are all out with injuries.
Ottawa won the only other meeting of the season, in a high-scoring 7-4 game. These are two of the highest action teams in the league in terms of shot attempts for and against, so expect another run and gun game. With Hoffman and Bobby Ryan in slumps and Kyle Turris on the sidelines, I am not sure that works into the Senators' favor because they can't match the Stars' top guns in terms of talent. Ryan got a nice goal off a faceoff scramble to get the Sens on the board Saturday for his first goal in 4 games (2nd in 9) so hopefully that will jump-start a hot streak for him.
Andrew Hammond was the star of the game on Saturday, facing 41 shots and making every save he could make, and will get the call again. With Craig Anderson set to possibly be ready on Tuesday, Hammond could make for a tough decision with another win as the Senators still cling to the faintest of playoff hopes.
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