The Senators have acquired G Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 5th round draft pick. With the uncertainty around the near future availability of Craig Anderson and Andrew Hammond, this is an insurance move that keeps some depth in the system, since Chris Driedger and Matt O'Connor don't appear to be ready for consistent NHL action.
I am sure a lot of Senators fans got that sinking feeling in their stomach when Jaccob Slavin scored on the first shot of the game, following a turnover and a couple of defensive fly-bys from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Dion Phaneuf. A well-placed backhand shot over the glove of Craig Anderson and it was 1-0 before many of the announced 13, 049 in attendance had settled into their seats.
Much like the Edmonton game that capped off a pretty successful road trip (and a theme that has haunted the club for some time), it took a while for the Senators to get their legs under them. at one point the shots on goal favored Carolina by a 14-1 margin, although among those shots there weren't a ton of real scoring chances (contrary to what Jamie McLennan went on to say when assessing the play in the first period. Ottawa got going midway through the opening frame and started to gain some traction.
Dion Phaneuf tied the game while the clubs were playing 4-on-4, and a chippy first period ended with the shots favoring the Canes 16-5.
Ottawa played a much better final 40 minutes, limiting the Hurricanes to just 30 shots in regulation, pretty solid considering the start. They fired 15 shots of their own on Cam Ward in the second, but couldn't solve him, nor could either team find the back of the net in the third, so overtime was in the cards.
Kyle Turris joined Anderson in the hero circle, as his laser beam of a shot through the screen of Slavin beat Ward over the shoulder to send the faithful home happy, and to give Anderson the win with his wife in attendance.
Anderson has now allowed just one goal in his last three games as the incredible story continues. Unfortunately, Mark Stone left the game in the second period following an awkward fall into the boards behind the Carolina net. He continued for a couple more shifts but left for good with about 5 minutes left in the second period. It was listed as an "upper body injury" and hopefully one that is short-term because the Senators can ill afford to be without him for any length of time.
And if he is out for any length of time, could someone please wake Bobby Ryan up? I had about as much impact on that game as he did. It was probably about halfway through the game where I even noticed that he was playing at all. Looking at the ice time among the forwards, Ryan didn't even get 15 minutes, 7th among forwards, and that is with Stone only playing just over half the game. His track record in Ottawa has been to start out relatively quick and then appear to slow down as the season goes on.
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Guy Boucher said yesterday that a decision on Thomas Chabot will be made this week, but I would say the decision has already been made and every day they wait to send him back to junior is a day of development wasted. I have been saying for a couple of weeks now, if you aren't going to play him, then send him back so he can play games. That is the important think for him right now, as you can only gain so much by just practicing with the NHL players. He has now gone on his first road trip with the team, he has experienced some of the league, but playing in just one game over his first four weeks in the NHL is slowing his development, if not stunting it altogether. (EDIT: Chabot has been sent to Saint John of the QMJHL this morning)
Ottawa next plays Vancouver on Thursday night, a team that they shut out last week out west. Vancouver will be playing the second half of a back to back, as they are playing in Montreal tonight.