First off, for the latest Sens updates, please follow me on Twitter at Follow @KevinFr65525204 Give me a Twitter follow, I will give you a follow too!
The Ottawa Senators won 2 games in a row for the first time this season and are undefeated in the month of December, with a huge win over the Avs 6-5 in OT! This game had it all, momentum swings on both sides but give the Sens credit, they stuck with it when things looked like they were falling apart as Colorado seemed to be skating downhill in the 3rd period and to start OT. Brady Tkachuk scored the OT winner on a beauty breakaway to go with his first-period goal. Tim Stutzle added a pair of goals, his 2nd goal of the game was a beauty as he rang up it top shelf.
This game had Sens fans on eggshells as Ottawa blew a 5-2 lead in the 3rd period. It was nice to see Ottawa have a strong 2nd period as the Sens blew the game open scoring three unanswered goals to break the 2-2 tie. The only problem is, the Sens decided to make the 3rd period their worst of the game as they played not to lose. DJ Smith did challenge the original tying goal by Colorado and won his 2nd straight challenge, but the Avs kept coming and eventually tied it up. Colorado played this game without Kardi and Makar, while chasing Johanssen from the goal as Kuemper didn't dress tonight.
Ottawa played a sound game through the first two periods as I found their gap control on the blueline was much better and their neutral zone play was much improved. The problem is, all those great habits were out in the window in the third period. It was nice to see the Sens respond so fast tonight after Colorado scored on their shot of the game to go up 1-0. But Ottawa scored 2 quick goals to grab that momentum back.
One big takeaway from the game tonight is that when DJ rolls four lines effectively, the Sens tend to have much better results. It also helps when you are on home ice to get the matchups you want. It also showed in the faceoff circle as Ottawa won 61% of the draws. Grambrell was much better tonight going 71%(10-4) and Tkachuk was outstanding in the dot going 80-%(12-3). Ottawa wasn't chasing the puck as much with their strong play in the faceoff circle and they truly needed that against a highly skilled team in Colorado.
The defense pairing of Thomson/Heatherington struggled at times, but as the old saying goes, bend but don't break and they rebounded to have a better 3rd period after a subpar 2nd period. Plus Heatherington was an upgrade on Mete.
Well, enjoy this one Sens fans! I was going to add a piece on the Dorion presser from this morning, but I will wait to do that tomorrow and keep it positive. The energy in the building tonight was terrific and back to back wins over two of the league's better teams in Carolina and Colorado is something to build on. Next up for Ottawa is a make-up game in New Jersey on Monday night, before returning back to Ottawa to take on the NYI.
Thanks for reading. Kevin