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The Ottawa Senators blew a 2-0 first-period lead tonight on home ice, falling to the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3. After Connor Murphy got knocked out of the game by a questionable hit from Parker Kelly just a few minutes into the game, Connor Brown scored a shorthanded goal to shift the momentum back after a Murphy was taken off the ice on a stretcher. Thomas Chabot scored a beauty to put Ottawa up 2-0 with all the momentum in the world, then in the second period and it looked like Ottawa stopped skating.
Chicago went on to score three unanswered after Captain Serious Jonathan Toews dropped the gloves with Zach Sanford. When a team sees their captain take matters into his hands, it ignites a team and Toews did just that! Even though Ottawa tied it up at three, it was short-lived as Chicago replied with a goal of their own only 8 seconds later and Chicago never looked back.
Where do we start when it comes to what Ottawa lacked tonight? Well, if anyone follows me on Twitter or follows the blog and reads what I post in the comment section, they would've seen how I thought Anton Forsberg looked very tired in the third period of the Seattle game. This is where the head coach needs to get a read on his players. I thought Filip Gustavsson should've started in goal tonight due to the recent workload on the road by Forsberg. Once again tonight, Forsberg's angles and not being square to the shooter/getting lost in his net a bit showed and the Hawks exploited it, going high on him for 4 for their goals. The book is out on Forsberg now as the opposing team's scouting reports pick up on tendencies. The same occurred in the Seattle game, go high on Forsberg.
When it comes to the blueline, Nikita Zaitsev is now making Nick Holden look bad, like he did with Thomas Chabot. Holden is stuck playing with a player who creates chaos in the defensive zone. If DJ Smith would just pair Brannstrom with Holden and eliminate how bad the other 2 defensive pairings look, it would mean only one bad defensive pairing out on the ice, but he refuses to make the necessary changes to put this team into a position to win. The way Josh Brown and Zaitsev play, it has a trickle-down effect throughout the roster and this coach is in over his head making no changes when it's abundantly clear that there is a lack of quality NHL defensemen on this team. Sure Sens fans are hoping for a top-five pick by having some of these supposedly placeholders getting minutes over the youth down in Belleville, but the issues on the blueline are becoming more and more glaring.
Why is Adam Gaudette or Dylan Gambrell dressing? Gaudette constantly lets the opposition skate right through the neutral zone, just slide on past him, untouched. Ottawa fans are seeing why Chicago thought he wasn't NHL worthy, soft/never goes to the dirty areas as a winger, teams take away his space and time and he folds up! If either of these players is in the lineup past the trade deadline then this team has serious coaching and management issues.
After the 2nd period tonight, Chicago had won over 65% of the draws in the faceoff circle and they had Ottawa chasing the puck all night. The Hawks skated through the neutral zone untouched all game long and gained the offensive zone with speed, creating a ton of scoring chances. The Sens top line was owned by the Hawk's checking line but DJ did nothing to get them away from this match-up, nor did he change up the forward lines to get better matchups. It blows me away that an NHL head coach having last line change gets outcoached on a consistent basis. Even in the Seattle game, DJ continued to have the Sens 4th line out there with the 3rd defense pairing which led to the Kraken taking advantage of the matchups and tying it up. Marty St. Louis had 6 games under his belt and come in here with the Habs,completely outcoaching DJ. It happens too often with this coach, I keep saying it but he is in over his head folks!
What did we learn from Sens GM Pierre Dorion's presser yesterday? We learned that Pierre McGuire still doesn't talk to the media even though Dorion told us all back in July when he was hired that he would be doing more of that so Dorion didn't need to do it as much. We last heard from McGuire when the Sens had their intrasquad game in training camp. Dorion feels threatened by McGuire and it's plain to see as there have been numerous rumblings in the organization about how Dorion really doesn't like having McGuire as Eugene Melnyk's sounding board. But nervous Dorion during these pressers is a bad look for the Sens as he never looks comfortable in front of the media. McGuire would be such a great person to get the proper message out to Sens fans without sounding tongue-tied the way Dorion does.
When Bryan Murray was GM he let Dorion do radio and tv interviews as director of player development yet we only hear once a year from Trent Mann in the same role but when we do hear from him he comes off very well to the fanbase. It would be nice to hear more from him a little more as we do with Troy Mann in Belleville. But it was nice to know that Trent still does exist as Dorion mentioned his name for the first time all season at a presser! Dorion said he anticipates Murray and Forsberg to end the season as the Sens goalies, meaning don't expect Forsberg to be moved prior to the deadline as there is so much uncertainty with Matt Murray. He went on to say, it's quiet for trade talks, but what team would want any of the Sens expiring contracts in Brown, Sanford, or Chris Tierney?!
Thoughts Sens fans on Pierre Dorion, DJ Smith, or how the game went tonight?! Thanks for reading.
Kevin