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Game Day: Senators @ Lightning - Looking for Sunshine State Sweep

February 27, 2017, 11:29 AM ET [92 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Ottawa Senators got a great surprise last night as not only did they get Mark Stone back, but also Mike Hoffman was well enough to play in the proverbial 4 point game against the Panthers.

And while the Senators didn't have their "A" game, Craig Anderson did, as did Erik Karlsson and that was enough to down James Reimer and the Panthers 2-1 in a chippy game.

Florida dominated early on, and for most of the opening frame and it was deja vu from Friday night's loss to the Hurricanes in that regard. All of the scoring in the opening frame was done while Ottawa was a man down, but fortunately Ottawa opened the scoring when Zack Smith put home a rebound from Karlsson's shot into a yawning cage. Jonathan Marchessault capped off a brilliant exhibition of passing on the power play just over ten minutes later to knot the score heading into the first intermission.

Kyle Turris scored what would turn out to be the game winner at the midpoint of the second, firing a well-placed wrsiter over Reimer's shoulder, following a great stretch pass from Karlsson to Hoffman who then dished it down low to Turris.

From there on it was a goaltending clinic as both teams had opportunities to either tie it up or extend the lead, but nether netminder would budge. It looked like Stone had an insurance marker but a quick whistle negated the goal. This came after Anderson spent a lot of time complaining about the lack of whistles on at least two occasions, but replays showed that those instances when he thought he had the puck, it was indeed loose and the right call was made.

Jaromir Jagr was flying like 25 year old Jagr, not showing his 45 years of age like he should be. That top line of himself, Aleksandr Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau was dangerous all night and the Senators taht were out to shut them down were successful but not without some breath-holding on the bench.

As the saying goes, a win is a win, and it moved Ottawa within 2 points of Montreal, kept them 2 up on Boston and moved them 6 up on the Panthers.

The Senators have also apparently reached out to Switzerland and signed Chris DiDomenico to a contract for the rest of this season as well as next season. He will add some depth to the bottom 6, and played for part of a season with Guy Boucher in Drummondville (along with Hoffman) and Boucher also saw him up close as he has spent the past 4 years in Switzherland. He was a Maple Leafs draft pick, played for Team Canada and won a gold medal at the 2009 World Juniors in Ottawa, and has also won 2 gold medals at the Spengler Cup in 2015 and 16, and also played in 2014. He has never played an NHL game, but will likely join the team when they return home after....


Tonight's game in Tampa isn't quite as important as the one last night against the Panthers, with the Lightning sitting seve points out of a playoff spot and ten points back of the Senators, but is important for both teams nonetheless.

Tampa dealt former Senators goalie Ben Bishop to the LA Kings yesterday, giving the Kings some insurance for Jonathan Quick who just came back from an opening night injury.

That leaves Andrej Vasilevskiy as the new undisputed #1 goalie in Tampa, with Peter Budaj coming back in the trade to serve as his backup. Ottawa hasn't confirmed a starter, but with Anderson playing last night and facing an abundance of shots it wouldn't be a big drop-off to give Mike Condon a start.

This will be the third meeting of the season, with both teams winning in each other's barn so far this season. Ottawa beat Tampa 5-2 on February 2nd. Hopefully it is groundhog day for the Senators, as that was a strong game led by Stone's pair of goals and Karlsson's tree assist effort, on a night where the power play went 2 for 5.

An Ottawa win would make it a very successful road trip, with 6 of 8 possible points considering how it started with the status of Stone and Hoffman in doubt and Bobby Ryan's injury.
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