The Ottawa Senators didn't get themselves into this situation overnight, and they weren't going to get out of it overnight either.
While there was probably too much optimism over the dominant play in the first period against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, some old habits creeped in over the final 40 minutes and the 5-3 Kings win spoiled the head coaching debut of the Senators Dave Cameron.
HERE ARE SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
*You can't dominate a period like the Sens did in the first without having something more than a moral victory to show for it. Outshooting the Kings 14-5 was good, but Jonathan Quick was better and stole one off the stick of Alex Chiasson that proved to be the most important save of the period. Against a team like LA, you can't let them hang around and that is what Ottawa did.
* And of course, it did come back to haunt them as the Kings opened up a 2-0 lead. The first one came with some Kings' "puck luck" as Andy Greene's point shot was going nowhere near the net before it bounced off traffic in front of Craig Anderson and past the bewildered goaltender.
* The second one came after a brutal series of events that saw Jared Cowen not only get a phantom "checking to the head" penalty but also get slashed and goaded into a fight that was unnecessary, and somehow Cowen ended up with the extra 2 minutes and was in the box serving the last part of his sentence when Justin Williams made it 2-0. Cowen was the Senators best defenseman on the night, and for him to be off for 7 minutes was damaging to the flow the Sentors had. The Willams goal was not on the power play, but the extra minor coming so shortly after the opening goal created more momentum for the Kings.
* Bobby Ryan scored probably the nicest Senators' goal of the year, as he carried the puck into the Kings' zone, treated Brayden McNabb like a practice pylon before deking Jonathan Quick out of his jockstrap. Ryan is continuing to heat up despite a broken finger and played a season high 21:36 in this game. He now has 5 points in his last 3 games.
* The strong forecheck that Cameron wants to use paid off a couple of times, as Mark Stone created a turnover and then picked up a rebound off David Legwand's shot early in the third to tie the game shorthanded. However, they gave it right back on the same Kings power play as all 4 Senators were guilty of being mesmorized by the puck and nobody noticed Anze Kopitar slip in behind everyone. Drew Doughty made a great pass diagonally through the zone to send Kopitar 1 on 1 with Anderson, but how about a "shoulder check"? It was Cody Ceci who was the closest to Kopitar on the play and should have probably noticed him in open ice.
* While Cowen had one of his stronger games in recent memory for the Senators (Gordie Howe hat trick and +2 rating), Chris Phillips struggled badly. He was on the ice with Ceci for that Kopitar goal, and he also fell trying to check Tyler Toffoli on the ensuing goal from Trevor Lewis. Phillips' stumble led to a short 3 on 1 where a backchecking Kyle Turris really didn't take any options away either. That one turned out to be the game winner.
* Some lineup shuffling for the Senators up front as Clarke MacArthur missed the game with the flu and Chris Neil left early with what looked like a knee injury and didn't return.
*Also, the fact that Marc Methot still was unable to go is concerning, and also Patrick Wiercioch not being available yet meant that Cameron had to once again continue the revolving door of Karlsson partners. Before practice yesterday I expected that both would be available, but neither were ready, which is curious because Wiercioch was taken off IR on Wendesday.
*Karlsson played 28 minutes (nearly 25 at even strength) and played with every other defenseman at times on the night, because there isn't a player between Phillips, Gryba and Borowiecki who can consistently play with him for that length of time. Methot (at least a healthy one) can eat up most of those minutes and allow consistency in the third pairing, and the Senators miss him more by the day.
* Mika Zibanejad led the team with 7 shots on goal, and 9 attempts on the net. He played over 20 minutes and was a factor even though he ended up being a -2 (being on the ice for the empty netter). His 4 game point streak was snapped, but he was still made a positive impact on the ice.
* Jonathan Quick was stellar in the Kings' net, keeping them in the game in the first period while his team was finding their legs. Most notably, the sprawling glove save off the stick of Alex Chiasson kept the game scoreless through 20 minutes and was a game changer.
So in the end, there were quite a few positives to take from Dave Cameron's coaching debut, but also some glaring issues to work on that are going to take a little longer to fix. The Senators will try to get him his first win behind the bench on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Boston to face the Bruins. It will be a pivotal game, since the Bruins occupy the final wild card playoff spot. With the Senators trailing the B's by 4 points with a game in hand, this could be a make or break game for Ottawa's playoff chances. If it gets to 2 points with a game in hand things are looking up, but if it gets to 6 points it becomes a mountain with at least 3 teams to pass.