The Ottawa Senators are still looking for their first win on home ice as the Arizona Coyotes used 3 goals from Mikkel Boedker to down the home squad 4-1.
The Senators faced their 4th backup goalie in 8 games, and Anders Lindback joined the list that includes Carter Hutton and Michael Condon as understudies that have beaten the Senators in this early season.
Ottawa has sputs of being brilliant, but overall their game is totally inconsistent and they certainly weren't ready for the first period of this one. After falling behind 1-0 late in the first after Boedker walked around , they were lucky to be out of the period with only that much damage done. They dominated the second period, but Lindback held firm and kept the Senators off the board until Cody Ceci snapped home a pass from Bobby Ryan to knot the score.
The third was pretty even and looked like both teams were playing for overtime until Brad Richardson found a juicy rebound and whacked it in despite being tied up by Zack Smith. They Yotes doubled the lead. Then just over a minute later Jared Cowen made a dreadful pass from the corner that went off Mark Stone's skate right onto the stick of Boedker who made no mistake in alone on Craig Anderson. With the goalie pulled for an extra attacker Bodeker iced it with his hat trick goal to make the final 4-1.
There were some positives from this one, most notably the fact that Bobby Ryan had 8 shots on goal and 11 attempts. He is still snakebit and had a great look on a second period power play and missed a pretty wide open net, but the fact he is shooting (he had 14 shots in the first 7 games) is a good sign. The only way he is going to break out of his slump and get the massive gorilla off his back. And that gorilla has an elephant on its back, by the way, but this was probably his best game of the season, and it is probably no coincidence that he played most of it with Kyle Turris and Mark Stone.
The Senators as a club seemed to be gripping their sticks and although Lindback played well the Senators also made him look good at times.
As you would expect, there is more bad news than good after a 4-1 loss. Marc Methot, who earlier in the day proclaimed himself healthy and ready to return, was a surprise scratch half an hour before puck drop. And he should have held out for even more money because his value to the team goes up with every game he misses. Erik Karlsson isn't the same player without Methot by his side, and the captain had probably his worst game of the season. He was almost invisible offensively and was not good defensively either as he looked very pylonesque on the first goal of the game.
As if the Senators needed more bad news on the health front, Curtis Lazar left the game shortly after being checked face-first into the boards by Zbynek Michalek late in the first period. Lazar started the game on the top line, but that was short-lived and allowed Ryan to step into that hole when he didn't come out for the second period. Lazar joins Clarke MacArthur, Mike Hoffman and Marc Methot on the sidelines. No word on how long Lazar will be out, but that group is expanding, although Hoffman (and Methot?) could be back Wednesday.
So now the Sens have to sit around and dwell on a very inconsistent and unsuccessful week and have one game left to salvage a win on this homestand when the Flames come to town on Wednesday. They have a couple of days to figure something out, because Friday and Saturday is an important early season home and home with the Red Wings.