A very tired Senators squad ran out of gas during the second period and Nikita Kucherov made them pay with three carbon-copy goals on the power play, and the Senators didn't have an answer.
It capped off a road trip where they come home with a 2-2 record, which isn't the end of the world given the injury situation and the short bench that Guy Boucher had to work with.
Kucherov's hat trick broke open a 1-1 tie, scoring on the same play - one timer from the faceoff circle - on three consecutive power plays and the Senators couldn't recover. It was what it was, and there is not much use of going into detail except to say that if the Jonathan Drouin for Cody Ceci deal was indeed on the table for the Senators last season during Drouin's holdout and they didn't take it....Damn.
So now it is time to come home and reset, with some new faces in the mix. Between now and Wednesday at 3pm Eastern we will know just how many new faces.
In addition to the Chris DiDomenico depth signing I talked about yesterday, the Senators made a move to trade prospect Jonathan Dahlen to the Canucks for veteran Alex Burrows.
It is a curious move, and one that I am not too sure about, and think there were better options out there than the 35 year old winger who is on the downside of his career. To add insult to that injury, they signed him to a 2 year contract extension (which was probably an incentive for him to waive his no-trade clause to come to Ottawa).
Burrows is little more than a third liner at this point, but with the injury to Chris Neil I guess there is a spot for a disturbing presence in the lineup but that could have been found from within.
The bottom line is, does Burrows make the Senators a better team today? Well he certainly isn't the key piece that moves them from playoff team to legitimate contender, because for that to happen they would need to bring in an elite top-line player (which would cost a heck of a lot more). And if the Senators think they are a player or two away from reaching that status, then maybe offering some of the future to make that jump would make sense, and this deal does neither.
With or without Burrows, the Senators should make the playoffs, if they can find a way to win the games that they should have no business losing and get back on track. Burrows used to be the player that could help you in the playoffs and provide the type of grit that is needed, and he is a jerk to play against. The problem with him is, as his effectiveness decreases his truculence might increase to the point where it costs them in terms of stupid penalties (which the Senators already take enough of).
The end result will determine if this was a good move or not, but if this is all the Senators do before Wednesday afternoon, I think it was a waste of not only cap space for the next two years but also the expense of a prospect who might not have been an A-level prospect but certainly someone who might have had a shot at playing in the league in the next couple of years. This was a short term gain for long term sacrifice, and I am not sure the gain will be worth it. Then again, I have been wrong before.