If starting Matt O'Connor in the home opener was essentially a fireable offense for Dave Cameron (and I know that isn't the only reason Cameron is now standing behind the Flames bench) , then what is the punishment for sending Chris Neil over the boards in the fourth round of a shootout?
I realize it was Chris Neil night and it would have been a great story had the 1000 gamer scored and eventually won the game, but with the likes of Mark Stone, Derick Brassard and Ryan Dzingel (among others) sitting on the bench, Guy Boucher sending Neil over the boards so early in the process was a terrible decision.
Especially one night after Boucher's tearing a strip off his team for lack of focus and doing their job. Boucher's job is to put his players in a position to succeed and while it may or may not have cost the Senators a point (who knows what would have happened had it been different) the fact is that Boucher failed to do his job in favor of sentimentality.
For his part, Neil made a valiant effort, but when Garry Galley said that the Sharks had smiles on their faces when he skated by, no kidding. If I were the Sharks I would have been glad that in such an evenly played game that probably the 10th or 11th most likely option available to Boucher ended up taking the shot, and Ottawa wouldn't get another.
Boucher and Marc "don't put Wayne Gretzky in the Olympic semi-final shootout" Crawford made probably the biggest blunder, but it was the last of a number of bad decisions on the night, from players, officials and coaches.
First, the official who gave Kyle Turris 2, 5 and 10 for going after Marc-Edourd Vlasic late in the second period after Vlasic had gotten tangled up with Erik Karlsson. There wasn't a real punch thrown and the penalty was excessive. I have seen roughing penalties given for a lot worse. To call that a fight is a disservice to a long line of tough players. The proper decision would have been to give Turris a double minor for roughing and Vlasic two minutes for roughing. San Jose would have gotten the same power play, which was warranted, but Ottawa wouldn't have lost their top centre and leading goal scorer for a majority of the third period.
Second, Mike Hoffman and his selfish play to go after Logan Couture with a blatant cross-check to the head in retaliation. The five minute major and game misconduct (not to mention the suspension that will likely follow) in a tie game was a decision that I am sure he would like to take back. Already without Turris for almost 15 minutes of the third, losing Hoffman for the last 13 minutes of the game, not to mention the overtime and the ensuing shootout, was detrimental to the Senators' chances.
And finally, putting aside a too many men penalty in overtime (who can't count to 3?), the decision to put Neil in the shootout, although a popular one with the fans at the time and he got a rousing ovation, might have cost the Senators a point. And with the team holding a tenuous grip on a playoff spot, you can ill afford to just hand away points like they did on Wednesday night. Getting one was fine, but when the bonus point is there for the taking, you have to do your best to take it, and the Senators didn't do that last night.