As with every game “recap,… I loathe going through the entire game step-by-step, mainly because most people know what happened in the game. Instead, here are some thoughts from tonight’s 4-1 loss:
---The Senators came into the game on a three-game winning streak, but the Bruins reminded them that Boston is an incredibly talented team. Through two games against the Bruins, they have been outscored 10-4.
---Everybody knows that the three star forwards of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak drive the Bruins every single game. Guy Boucher said that Tom Pyatt, Magnus Paajarvi, and Zack Smith would be tasked with containing them, and that went predictably terrible. Marchand had one assist, Bergeron had one goal and two assists, and Pastrnak had two goals and two assists. The trio are simply in a league of their own, and Marchand and Pastrnak scored one of the best goals of the young season:
Marchand making jockstraps RIP pic.twitter.com/hKNMEsIzbg
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 24, 2018
---It was pretty ridiculous how Brandon Carlo was a second goalie tonight. The Senators should have easily scored three goals in the game, but Carlo was there to save the day...twice.
.@1996_Carlo to the rescue. pic.twitter.com/RzS4vFifMn
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) October 23, 2018
.@1996_Carlo with yet another save! pic.twitter.com/Ed7zga0brS
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) October 24, 2018
The Senators led the league in SH% coming into tonight, so it’s hard to complain too much about bad puck luck. Still though, it’s excruciating watching multiple plays like that in one game.
---At the end of the night, the Senators only had one fewer 5v5 shot attempt than the Bruins, as it was 53-52. Most of that can probably be attributed to score effects though, as the Senators out-chanced the Bruins in the second and third periods after they were losing. Ottawa did have nine high-danger scoring chances to Boston’s five though, which has been common in many of their games so far.
---The powerplay was able to get 16 shots on goal (and one goal) on five powerplays, but they ended up losing the special teams battle as Boston went 2-for-2 on the powerplay. The first goal on the 5-on-3 blew all the momentum that Ottawa had up until that point:
Craig Anderson out here looking like he had a few too many at happy hour pic.twitter.com/Bq2aOYb1Aq
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 24, 2018
---Mark Borowiecki will most likely get some supplementary discipline on this play after Urho Vaakanainen was concussed:
Borowiecki elbow to Vaakanainen’s head #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/kS2sSL1OhN
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) October 23, 2018
---Thomas Chabot is a real weapon on the back-end. His one-timer tonight already gives him ten points in eight games this season. I could watch goals like this all day long:
Chabot UNLOADS from the point for his 3rd goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/nzCpEeXKxI
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 24, 2018
Hotsam Batcho is here to stay, and the league is just beginning to realize how good the 21-year-old is.
---Alex Formenton is constantly showing how fast he is, and it always blows me away. However, he’s still lacking that finishing ability, and I think with each passing game it’s less and less likely that he stays past nine games in Ottawa.
---I absolutely cannot wait for some to say that Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur need to get back in the lineup after this loss. Boucher is probably one of those people...
Overall it wasn’t the worst game for the Senators, and it’s hard to be mad about a loss to one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. With where the team is right now competitively, all you can ask for is that they keep it close and interesting, and that’s what they did for most of the game.