The Ottawa Senators got away with one last night, beating the Calgary Flames by a score of 4-3 in a shootout. Despite not playing particularly well, and having to fight the officials all game long, Ottawa eked out a win. Here are last night’s thumbs:
Thumbs Down: The Officiating Frequent readers know that I’m not one to call out officiating in the NHL with any degree of regularity; referees at hockey’s highest level have a tough job, with every call or non-call in real time subsequently analyzed with the benefit of slow-motion replay and multiple camera angles. Last night warrants an exception to my rule of silence, though. The officiating was atrocious, and screamed bias in Calgary’s direction. Ottawa is tremendously lucky that the penalty killing unit was able to kill seven of eight Flames opportunities.
Thumbs Up: Matt Murray’s Goaltending You’re welcome. Immediately after I write a blog articulating Ottawa’s Matt Murray problem, Murray stops 31 of 34 shots fired his way and earns the shootout victory. Outside of rebound control on Johnny Gaudreau’s third period goal, there was little to complain about in Murray’s game last night.
Thumbs Up: Colin White is Earning His Money Since returning to the lineup after a string of early season scratches, Colin White has been among the most valuable players to this Senators organization. He does so much right, and is demonstrating a level of assertiveness in the offensive zone, on the forecheck, and around the crease that few other than Brady Tkachuk can deliver on this roster. Last night was yet another perfect example of him, and his linemates Nick Paul and Evgenii Dadonov, turning in an excellent performance at both ends of the ice. White was rewarded with his seventh goal of the season, which puts him on a 25-goal pace over a normal 82-game season. He’s earning his money.
Thumbs Up: The Ryan Dzingel Trade When we ran the “Pierre Dorion’s Best Trade… bracket a number of months ago, the Ryan Dzingel trade that saw Pierre Dorion recoup two second-round picks and Anthony Duclair was a favorite in the tournament. If we were to run that bracket again today, I imagine that the move to re-acquire Dzingel would also be a favorite. The impact that he’s made since re-joining the lineup has been so much more valuable than what Alex Galchenyuk and (especially) Cedric Paquette were bringing on a nightly basis. His second goal in as many games with Ottawa didn’t look like something we could expect from either one of the departed bodies.
Thumbs Up: Connor Brown Scores Like That Connor Brown generates grade-A chance after grade-A chance without converting on so many nights, and then manages to beat an all-star goalie with a weak shot from distance (albeit with a slight deflection) for his sixth of the season? We live in a crazy world.
Thumbs Up: Zub’s TOI With enough of a sample size to look at now, it’s definitely fair to say that Artem Zub has been one of the Senators’ most competent defenders this season. He has brought with him a calm collectedness that has benefited Ottawa’s transition game, penalty kill, and general structure; quite simply, it’s not a stretch to call him one of Dorion’s best acquisitions to date in his tenure as GM.
One of the strange things about Zub’s deployment, though, is that DJ Smith has been seemingly reluctant to play him as a big-minute defender despite him clearly being one of the best options this team has on the blue line. That might be changing, as Zub played more than 20 minutes last night. It’s a step in the right direction.
Thumbs Down: Brannstrom’s TOI Of course, some of Zub’s higher usage yesterday was likely due to the fact that Erik Brannstrom barely saw the ice. Smith indicated that the team decided to go down to five defensemen in the third period because it was difficult to find rhythm with all the penalties being called (??????????????????????).
It was, quite frankly, an absurd strategy that almost backfired. The Flames turned up the heat in a major way in the final frame, generating opportunity after opportunity in the offensive zone. This very well could have been a regulation win had it not been for such a questionable decision. Penalty woes or not, there was no reason to tire out the rest of the defence the way Ottawa’s coaching staff did.
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The decision to wear out the blue line last night is even more confusing given that the Senators are playing the Edmonton Oilers tonight.
As always, thanks for reading.