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The Ottawa Senators put up another great effort tonight but it resulted in a tough 3-2 loss on home ice to Nashville. The Sens were shorthanded losing Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson for this one but Sens GM Pierre Dorion decided to call up two 4th line players rather than get some skill injected into the lineup, losing 2 of their top 6 forwards. It truly makes you wonder what management thinks of Egor Sokolov at this point in the season. Sokolov should've been the first player called up to fill in for Drake Batherson by creating some balance on the top 3 lines. Instead, DJ puts AHL call up Parker Kelly from two games ago on the 2nd line while inserting Alex Formenton with Tierney and Gaudette, go figure?!
Then to make matters worse, DJ once again gets outcoached having the last line change on home ice. This time he sadly puts Cole Reinhardt out against the Filip Forsberg line, with Reinhardt being outmatched, Forsberg draws a penalty from the kid making his NHL debut. The Preds immediately score on the PP as Josh Norris looked awful on the defensive zone draw while going ahead to stay in this one. The look of dejection by Cole on the bench for the rest of the period was tough to watch. It was Tkachuk and Watson patting him on the back and not once did DJ Smith say a word to the rookie, when it was DJ who put this player in a position to fail. The coach's job is to put his players in a position to succeed but not with this coach. The more troubling thing was seeing the players on this team showing more leadership on the bench than their head coach. Sens fans, that is a MAJOR problem and another reason why this coach is in over his head being an NHL head coach. No wonder this team hasn't had a 4 game win streak once under Smith in 3 years behind the bench, which is pretty telling! There's no way Ottawa can start next season with DJ Smith as head coach of this team if they think they are going to contend for a playoff spot. It's one thing to win 3 straight games against the two worst defensive teams in the league in Montreal and New Jersey but another when you play, playoff bound teams.
On a couple of positive notes, Mathieu Joseph continues to impress scoring another goal tonight, on a breakaway, off a great feed from Erik Brannstrom. He now has eleven points in 8 games since being acquired for Nick Paul. Tkachuk and Josh Norris had huge games up front, Norris notched another goal but was held without a PP goal as Nashville took away his one-timer with the Sens going 0 for 4 on the PP. The Preds were cheating at times knowing that Ottawa wasn't going to make any adjustments on the PP as their gap control was superb. It would've been great to see the Sens use the bumper pass or a few seam passes rather than constantly trying to tee it up for a Norris one-timer. Predictability is easy to defend and a few simple adjustments on the PP could've been the difference between winning and losing tonight.
Anton Forsberg had another great game in goal but I truly thought Mads Sogaard would get the start in goal tonight. Sogaard has been up with the big club for 12 days now and has only had one start. The coaching staff is saying he will most likely start on Sunday against Winnipeg, but I find it hard to believe he would be starting if it wasn't the Sens 4th game in 6 nights come Sunday when the Jets come to town. Just like when Filip Gustavsson was up here, this head coach refuses to play the young kids in goal when there are no expectations for this team so why not get them valuable experience now to set them up for better success next year? I've had a few NHL personnel and scouts say Ottawa can't be riding Forsberg this much next year or you will wear him down, similar to what's happened in Winnipeg this year and Conor Hellebuyck as Dave Lowry has been reluctant to start Mike Comrie at times.
After two great home crowds with over 16k against Detroit and over 17k against Florida, only 12,103 showed up tonight to see the return of former Sen Mark Borowiecki who received a fantastic standing ovation during his tribute video. I couldn't help but think to myself how Sens GM Pierre Dorion let Boro walk as a UFA only to trade for Josh Brown. Then Sens fans had Brown for two years instead of Boro, enough said! I truly hope Sens fans pack the barn for the final 5 home games, starting with the Jets on Sunday night.
Comments/thoughts from tonight's game. I'm curious to hear if Sens fans are ready to watch great efforts get wasted by poor lineup decisions, no PP adjustments, or bad line matching next year? The same mistakes continue with this coaching staff! Thanks for reading.
Kevin