Craig Anderson probably wishes he could face the Florida Panthers every night. Already sporting an incredible record against his former team, he added a 30 save shutout to his Panthers resume.
Clarke MacArthur scored the lone goal of the game, bursting through the Panthers defense like a hot knife through butter and taking a nice feed from Kyle Turris. MacArthur made a nice move to open Roberto Luongo's legs and slid it home.
The Senators now return home with 4 out of a possible 6 points in the bank, not too bad considering the way the trip started and the uncertainty that surrounded the loss in Nashville.
Here are my random thoughts on the game *The Panthers must have run a Holloween costume contest and a lot of people had the same cosutume - an empty seat. The franchise record low attendance was embarrassing for an NHL team, although the suits in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Chicago have to have a slightly skewed view of the attendance troubles. Lower attendance means less revenue in that market which means that the Salary Cap doesn't rise as much, resulting in higher profits for the big market teams. The revenue sharing program is just enough to keep owners around but not enough to allow them to compete with the big spenders.
* The Panthers really shelled out over $27M for Dave Bolland? Enough said.
* Nice to see MacArthur get one after waiting so long for his first goal last season (12th game) and having a multitude of chances in the first couple of games but being unable to finish.
*Now if only Bobby Ryan could have any type of impact in the offensive end. The biggest thing he has done so far this season is a great back-check against the Panthers to take away a sure goal.
*If I was running the team, Curtis Lazar would have played last night. If you want the guy to gain some confidence and perhaps get into a groove, why not play him against one of the worst blue lines in the league?
* Colin Greening and Erik Condra got into the lineup but were non-factors for the most part. Condra showed some speed in a couple of races and drew a penalty, but every time I noticed Greening it was because he was getting hit into the boards.
* Patrick Wierciock looked tentative early on in his first game, but settled in nicely and ended up playing over 18 minutes. 3rd most among defensemen. He didn't really stand out, but in either direction which is an improvement on the guy he replaced. *Until Marc Methot returns to the lineup from injury, I might consider dressing 7 defensemen and using them more situationally.
* I really like what Mark Borowiecki has been bringing to the team. He is better with the puck than I ever gave him credit for or expected him to be, and the fact that he picks his spots to do it and doesn't try to do too much is a good sign.
* The fact that the Senators were still outshot by that roster is a little disconcerting. That Panthers team will be in the running for dead last (although it will be tough to beat the Sabres for that honor). The Panthers might have a tough time beating a top AHL team in a 7 game series.
* Seriously though...the Panthers signed Dave Bolland to a 5 year, $27.5M contract. That really happened. No wonder the salary structure in the league is so out of whack. That is almost as bad as what Brooks Orpik got in Washington. I know the Panthers had to spend money to get to the floor, but that contract is ridiculous and will go down as one of the worst of the summer.
*Anderson made 30 saves for the shutout and all is well. But he did look very "scrambly" on more than a couple of occasions and a better team could exploit that. Anderson is at his best when he is positionally sound and although he blanked the Panthers, I would like to see him less reactive.
*Erik Karlsson might be the one of the best players in the league with the puck, but coming back the other way he still needs improvement. For the third game in a row he was undressed 1 on 1 and he is lucky the players in question didn't score because it would be SportCentre fodder for months. In his Norris winning season he wasn't that bad defensively.
I will leave you with the thought that if the playoffs were to start today, the Senators would have the 3rd seed in the Atlantic and face the Lightning in the first round. It's not too early to watch the standings, is it?