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On a night when the Vegas Golden Knights had 7 players out of the line-up, they found a way to grab a win over Ottawa 5-1. Once again it was Robin Lehner, dominating his former team stopping 38 of 39 shots and he now owns a 9-0-3 record with a .941 SAV % when playing the Senators.
The Sens players really need to own this one, as Vegas took advantage of Ottawa not playing as a 5 man unit. The defense was hung out to try by the forwards on three of the Knight's goals due to bad line changes, therefore leaving the defense with no help in the defensive zone. It's pretty hard to stop a team when they are constantly given 4 on 2 opportunities.
Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 of 39 shots and kept his team in the game, this guy battles so hard game in and out. Add to the fact that the Sens defense blocked 14 shots, while Vegas had another 14 missed shots on goal, you have 67 shots directed at the goal, as a team, Ottawa clearly needs to clean up their act as a 5 man unit on the ice. I know it's easy to put the blame on the defense but tonight the Sens forwards lacked commitment. Add to the fact that Vegas had numerous key members out of the line-up, this loss hurts even more.
In a year where there are no expectations, DJ Smith needs to break up the top pair on defense and see if other combinations might work. It's very clear that sitting a Nick Holden last game or Nikita Zaitsev tonight isn't fixing the problems on the blueline. At this point, why not call up Erik Brannstrom and have a puck-moving defenseman on each pair to see if it will limit the opposition's scoring chances/sustained offensive zone pressure. Something has to give because the coaching staff needs to come up with a solution from within as Sens GM Pierre Dorion isn't going to overpay for a top 4 defensemen, nor are teams wanting to move a top 4 defensemen at this point in the season. Giving Brannstrom a 10 game stretch where he doesn't need to worry about making mistakes while still receiving the same ice time, like all the other defensemen that have been afforded the same luxury by this coaching staff, would finally allow the coaching staff/management to evaluate where is development is at.
Ottawa was much better in the faceoff circle tonight winning 60%, while outhitting Vegas 44-22. But the 18 giveaways by Ottawa continue to plague this team as puck management has been atrocious by this entire team and it shows in their 3-6-1 record.
It doesn't get any easier as Tampa Bay visits Ottawa on Saturday for a 2 pm tilt. I will have an in-depth blog up tomorrow looking at the Senators defense. I know it will generate a ton of discussion with the work I have put into it.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin