The Ottawa Senators took to the ice against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, losing 2-1 in overtime to their provincial rivals. While the Battle of Ontario didn’t have nearly the same level of spirit or entertainment value as the Battle of Alberta on this night, it did provide fans of both teams with the ultimately desired result.
Here are tonight’s thumbs:
Thumbs Up: Craig Anderson’s Audition? In late December and early January, Craig Anderson looked just about done. However, his last performance against Buffalo and this one against the Maple Leafs suggest that he still has at least a little bit left in the tank. He stopped 34 of 36 shots fired in his direction, including a number of Grade-A chances from dynamic offensive players.
There’s been some talk that Toronto might be looking to upgrade its backup goaltending position in advance of the deadline (though, Hutchinson was fine tonight), with Anderson’s name having been thrown around as a suggestion by a number of people. Performances like this one from him, right in Toronto’s backyard, won’t do anything to quiet that speculation. Thumbs Up: Mark Borowiecki’s Historic Run Continues This is Mark Borowiecki’s ninth season with at least a single NHL game played. In those nine seasons, he has managed to score 15 career goals, with a whopping seven (!) of them having been scored in 2019-20. He’s on an absurd run, shooting at more than double his career average shooting percentage.
Tonight, it was Michael Hutchinson’s turn to be victimized by the surefire Norris candidate. With his 3-iron in hand, Borowiecki golfed the puck past the screened goaltender from the point to give his team an early 1-0 lead.
As one of many Senators in need of a new contract after this season, Borowiecki’s offensive outburst could not have come at a better time. Whether it’s in Ottawa or elsewhere, he’s almost certainly earned himself a healthy raise with his performance this season… even if it’s not sustainable. But, if there’s anyone deserving of some crazy (read: lucky) success that leads to a shiny new contract, it’s Borowiecki. Thumbs Up: Sheldon Keefe’s Coaching That’s a fun team over there in Toronto. Sheldon Keefe has his players playing to their strengths, which is the right way to go about things in professional sports.
Thumbs Down: Anthony Duclair’s Negotiating Power Saturday night marks 14 games without a goal for Anthony Duclair. After seeing him light the league on fire in November and December, this run of offensive silence stands out as being almost beyond belief. His ceiling as a goal-scoring threat is still too high to completely ignore on a team that lacks high-end talent, but Duclair’s negotiating power in contract discussions continues to drop with every game played. That’s good new for the Senators, but bad news for a player who was likely hoping to sign a very signifiant, long-term contract as of just a few weeks ago.
Thumbs Up: Drake Batherson’s Comfort Level With each passing game, Drake Batherson looks more like a player who won’t be returning to Belleville any time soon. It’s not just that he was credited with the second assist on Borowiecki’s goal. On top of that, he was one of the team’s leaders in terms of both five-on-five goal share and shot attempts share as per Natural Stat Trick. It was a really complete game from the 21-year-old.
Thumbs Down: The Pageau Plan TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported in advance of tonight’s game that the Senators would ideally like to re-sign J-G Pageau rather than trade him at the deadline. But, why? His value will never be higher on the trade market than it is right now, and he’s probably not going to be nearly the same player when this Senators group is ready to compete for the Stanley Cup. Make a deal. Thumbs Down: Scott Sabourin’s Role He was a nice story coming out of training camp, but I’ll offer a fictional prize to the first person that can present a compelling case for Scott Sabourin's inclusion in the Senators lineup these days. He contributed nothing in virtually no ice time on Saturday.
Thumbs Up: The Out-of-Town Scoreboard The Lightning blanked the San Jose Sharks. The Anaheim Ducks won. The New Jersey Devils picked up a point. It was very nearly a perfect night for the Senators in their race to obtain the best draft lottery odds possible.
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Those same Anaheim Ducks are next up on Ottawa’s schedule, with the game set for Tuesday night.
As always, thanks for reading.