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Game Day: Ottawa at Edmonton - looking for a repeat performance of Calgary

October 14, 2017, 10:23 AM ET [16 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Erik who?

Playing without their best player and captain for the start of the season was a daunting task indeed, but through 4 games the result has been better than you could have expected. It hasn't always been pretty, but that is essentially the hallmark of a Senators team that for the last couple of years has always seemed to put forth just enough.

Well, for the first time this season the Senators put in a dominant performance that was more than enough as they put the boots to the Calgary Flames to the tune of 6-0.

Oh yeah, and the power play also made an appearance. Officially counting as 2-for-7 to break a 20 advantage drought to start the season, Derick Brassard's second period goal to make it 2-0 might as well have been a power play goal as the penalty to Dougie Hamilton may have technically expired, but the door hadn't even opened to release the defenseman from hockey jail before Brassard's shot beat Mike Smith.

Ryan Dzingel is going to want to take a stick to the face every game from now on. Drawing a double minor for the second straight game due to an opponent's errant stick, Dzingel also went on to score for the second consecutive outing, as did defenseman Cody Ceci, who matched last season's output with his second of the season in just the fourth game.

Mike Hoffman scored his first of the season and the Senators' first power play goal of the year to open a four goal third period and Chris Wideman capped off a near-perfect night with his second of the year also on the power play.

Thomas Chabot set up the Dzingel goal for his first NHL point, the 5-0 goal that chased Mike Smith with 13+ minutes left in the game. Mark Stone also had a goal and an assist and Kyle Turris added 3 assists as 13 different skaters had at least a point, including fourth liners Nate Thompson and Tom Pyatt and bruising defenseman Mark Borowiecki.

Craig Anderson made 25 saves for the shutout, but had a relatively easy night with only a couple of real tough saves on the night. Hopefully Guy Boucher doesn't stray from the plan because of the relatively easy workload and go back to Anderson for tonight's back to back, because Mike Condon needs to get a start to stay sharp, and at 36 Anderson doesn't need to be playing back to backs.

The Senators head north to Edmonton to face Connor McDavid and the Oilers. This could be a tough outing as the Oilers are rested, having last played Monday night when they were embarrassed by the Winnipeg Jets, who out-runned and out-gunned the Oilers, essentially beating them at their own game in a 5-2 Jets win. It was their second loss in a row, and they have had 5 days off to stew about that result. You can bet they will come out flying tonight, even without Leon Draisaitl, who is expected to miss the contest with an eye injury.

Johnny Oduya is expected to return to the lineup, so whether or not that creates a ripple effect and the Senators go back to 6 defensemen and 12 forwards or if they continue with the 7-11 format that has seen them win two straight has yet to be confirmed.

It is notable that Chabot was fourth in ice time on the blue line and played over 15 minutes, while Borowiecki and Wideman were just over 11 and 14 minutes respectively, and fellow rookie Christian Jaros was under 10. Freddie Claesson actually led all Senators D-men with just under 20 minutes of ice time, which is a pretty good balance for a group that really shouldn't have any 20+ minute players other than Karlsson, so if it were me I would continue to go with 7 D. Either way, the Senators reassigned Jaros to Belleville this morning, opening up Oduya's spot.

This road trip is already a success, but if they can come home 3-for-3 after a win in Edmonton in a tough back to back situation, they will open up a lot of eyes and even the naysayers will have to take note. Even moreso that they will have done it without the best blueliner in the game, who could return as early as Tuesday to start the 5 game homestand.
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