In any transition between coaches there are going to be some growing pains. And with an extremely young roster that is even more inexperienced without veterans Chris Neil and Chris Phillips in the lineup, that youth will sometimes get exposed.
That is essentially what happened to the Ottawa Senators in a 5 minute span in the second period where the Buffalo Sabres counted 3 times to erase a 1-0 deficit. However, give the Senators credit for battling back and re-taking the lead before another letdown allowed the Sabres to tie it up and force the skills competition where Buffalo took the extra point by winning the game 5-4.
HERE ARE SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
*Clarke MacArthur and Kyle Turris were really struggling coming in, and MacArthur was absolutely stoned by Jonas Enroth for the game's first real scoring chance. Fortunately for Ottawa, the Mika Zibanejad line is on fire and on the next shift, Bobby Ryan scored to give the Senators the lead
* It was yet another case of having to fight after a clean hit, as Mark Borowiecki was taken to task by Tyson Strachan for a totally clean and uneventful hit on the weasely Patrick Kaleta. Kaleta was an annoyance all night, as he usually is, but Borowiecki's hit was face to face, not dirty at all, and truth be told it wasn't even one where you go "ooohhh". Borowiecki shouldn't have had to answer the bell and the right call was made in giving the Sabres the extra minor.
* That let do one of the first power play opportunities of the game, and an area that really let the Senators down. The Sens went 0 for 5 with the man advantage and although they had a lot of pressure, they seemed to miss the net a ton.
* Buffalo got on the board on a power play, with the goal coming moments after the puck hit the mesh above the glass and play should have been stopped. Sure, the officials all blew the call on that play, but last time I checked the "C" on Erik Karlsson's jersey doesn't entitle him to be an official. Karlsson raised his hand and essentially stopped playing for a few moments. You have to play to the whistle and not take anything for granted, especially when you are already down a man. Even then, the play went on long enough that the missed call shouldn't have been a factor. Just an excuse.
* I don't know if it is passion, wishy-washy-ness or fair weathered fans, but the jumping on and off of the bandwagon from game to game or even minute to minute, especially on twitter is comical. The sky is not falling and while the three goals in 3:22 is certainly not a good thing, it created adversity that the Senators fought through. But on social media the outrage after the third Buffalo goal was ranging from "trade everyone" to "Paul MacLean must be laughing on his couch". A little patience please.
* It was great that Curtis Lazar finally got his first NHL goal, getting a big monkey off his back. It still doesn't change my opinion that he should be sent to the Team Canada camp on Friday. The Senators should tell him that his job is secure when he returns and that he had better bring back a gold medal and the experience and ability to handle the pressure that goes along with playing that tournament on home ice.
* For those who have been clamouring for Jean-Gabriel Pageau to play, you were probably disappointed that he didn't play last night. I also think that expectations on Pageau are inevitably going to be too high and he will have nothing but disappointment. Most fans need to temper their expectations on what he will bring, which is some energy, speed and checking. He isn't going to set the team on fire offensively and that hat trick in the playoffs is probably going to be the highlight of his career and something that will never be matched. This is a guy who had just 2 goals in 28 games last season. He is an NHLer, but don't expect a 20 goal scorer.
* With Marc Methot going back on the IR (and not timetable for his return), I am going to re-iterate my desire for the Senators to dress 7 defensemen and go with just 11 forwards. There isn't a player who can play 25 minutes of even strength hockey with Erik Karlsson, so it is time to give him two partners. You can take a guy like Colin Greening out of the lineup and spread his 11 minutes over the other forwards without disrupting too much flow, and add the blueliner to spread out the minutes. Chris Phillips could still be decent playing 10-12 minutes in a situational role, he just can't play 20 against top end competition. Karlsson played 34 minutes (8 on the power play) last night. This is especially a factor if your two most likely fighters are also defensemen.
* Jared Cowen took a lot of heat for his play in the second period, but the reverse he made that led to the Matt Moulson goal should have been chipped out by Condra. It wasn't and then the play came back to Cowen's side and the blueliner was vicitmized by a pick from Zemgus Girgensons that knocked him out of position and he couldn't recover. Cowen made up for earlier blunders by blocking Flynn's shot on an open net and then manhandling Marcus Foligno on the same shift in the crease area with the Sens still up by 1.
* Lehner huge in dying moments to save a point. He was pretty good, but the rotation of Anderson to Lehner made for the best performances and that game by game platoon should be reinstated now that both are healthy again.
* The teams each had 33 shots on goal, but Ottawa had 12 blocked and missed the net another 16 times, many at inopportune times. They have to do a better job of hitting the net, especially on the power play. Karlsson missed the net 6 times on 11 attempts.
It was a loss, but the Senators did a lot of good things and their fight-back is among the biggest positives to take from this one. I am still not sure if this is a team that can play consistently enough to make the playoffs, but the games under Dave Cameron have been interesting and exciting, as well as frustrating at times.
The Senators head to Newark to play another winnable game against the New Jersey Devils.