The spotlight was on Chris Neil and his milestone 1,000th game, but it was another rugged Senators role player who stile some of that spotlight and put his team in a big hole early on.
Mark Borowiecki is the NHL hits leader, but there was no excuse for the one he put on Tyler Toffoli, directly from behind into the numbers, that earned him a major penalty for boarding and the Kings an early five minute power play.
Coming in, the Kings were brutal with the man advantage, but give a club five full minutes and chances are they will be able to bulge the twine at least once. The Kings got a couple of bounces and before Borowiecki got back on the ice to answer for his actions, it was 2-0 LA. Jeff Carter was the beneficiary of a bouncing puck that Dion Phaneuf intercepted but lost control of and got in alone on Mike Condon, making no mistake with a shot over the Ottawa goalie's shoulder. That was followed by Alec Martinez' shot from the slot that Condon stopped but the puck went high in the air and while everyone was looking for it, landed on the back of Condon's shoulder and rolled down his back and in.
So while the Kings got an early lead, the Senators were undaunted and actually dominated the play and zone time for the next period and a half. The problem was that the Kings allow the fewest shots in the league and did a good job of blocking shots and not allowing many pucks through on Peter Budaj. They got one back early in the second after a turnover just inside the Kings' blue line resulted in Tom Pyatt throwing a pass to the front of the net that was steered home by Zack Smith.
That is all they could get, and just when it looked like the Senators were going to head into the third with some solid momentum, another bad bounce for the Senators resulted in Trevor Lewis sitting alone at the edge of the crease to knock home a loose puck. The goal came with less than two seconds remaining, and that turned out to be the backbreaker for the Senators. They didn't have the same jump coming out in the third, and managed just 3 shots in the frame. They were still in it, but the final nail in the coffin was Marian Gaborik's laser shot over Condon's shoulder for the Kings' third power play goal of the game that made it a three goal deficit.
Borowiecki was lucky to still be in the game after the hit on Toffoli, as it was certainly a cheap shot that deserved the rest of the game, and it could still result in supplementary discipline. (UPDADE: After a hearing this morning with NHL player safety, Borowiecki was suspended for 2 games) Working in his favor, however, was the fact that after leaving for a few minutes, Toffoli did return later in the first and finished the game. For his part, after the game Borowiecki said that he doesn't go out to hurt anyone, and that he has to play hard. That may be true, but this was a selfish, dirty play by a team player and it cost them the game, plain and simple.
They have to shake that game off because it is a quick turnaround as the Senators head over to Anaheim to face the Ducks.
The Ducks are in a tight race in the Pacific division, where the top four teams are separated by just a point.
It will be a homecoming for Bobby Ryan, who faces his old team that now features all three components that went the other way in the trade. Jakob Silfverberg is fourth on the Ducks in points with 19, while Nick Ritchie, who they took with the first round pick obtained in the deal has 10 points in his first full season. The third piece of the puzzle, Stefan Noeson, was recalled earlier this week and scored his first NHL goal on Wednesday night against Carolina. For his part, Ryan has struggled mightily this season with yet another finger injury and has just 1 shot on goal in his last 8 games and has been almost invisible, and has just two points in 12.
It is a chance for the Senators to come home with a .500 record on this four game road trip, which would have to be considered a success given the level of competition, even if they won the game they probably didn't deserve and lost one they probably did. That seems to be modus operandi for this club, and it has been for some time, which is very frustrating.