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Hoffman's Pair Leads Sens To OT Win in Montreal

September 30, 2016, 2:33 PM ET [10 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
On a night where Team Canada won the World Cup of Hockey with a late surge to take a game they probably didn't really deserve, the Senators pretty much did the same against the Habs.

Three times the Senators took the lead, and 3 times they allowed the Canadiens to answer, until Mike Hoffman stepped off the bench 19 seconds into overtime, picked off an errant pass and rifled a shot past Mike Condon to end the game.

It was Hoffman's second of the night, capping off a game that was typical of early pre-season sloppiness and momentum changes. There were lots of players on both sides fighting for roster spots, and some made a good case for themselves.

For Ottawa, Phil Varone once again made his presence felt with solid play, and Thomas Chabot (following one particular sequence where he looked like a deer in headlights) settled in and showed that, at least with the puck, he is close to being ready. Matt Puempel finally scored, picking up a loose puck and putting a backhander past Condon to open the scoring, but I don't know if that was enough to cement him a roster spot over the likes of Varone, Dzingel and Tom Pyatt.

The Ottawa defense had a tough time in a lot of situations, most notably Mark Borowiecki, who all things being equal, would not make a team given that performance in a vacuum. He may have the inside track to a bottom pair spot, but that hold would be tenuous at best in my eyes. The problem is, the other hopefuls, such as Freddie Claesson, Matt Bartkowski didn't exactly insipre overwhelming confidence against Montreal either.

The club will send a Binghamton Senators squad downtown to take on the Ottawa U GeeGees tonight, before they should begin bringing in more of the big boys (ie: Karlsson, Methot, Phaneuf) when the Sens host the Habs tomorrow afternoon.
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