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Anders Nilsson Steals a Win After Senators Build Early Lead

November 10, 2019, 12:18 AM ET [13 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The 2019-20 Ottawa Senators are too good for their own good. Whether it’s because they’re better than expected, or because other teams are much worse than expected, there’s far too much competition in the Alexis Lafreniere sweepstakes these days.

After a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, the Senators now find themselves in 26th place in the league standings. The Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks (!!!), New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, and Detroit Red Wings all sit in the rearview mirror. While there’s no guarantee that this situation holds through the rest of the season, it does tell us that the Senators are far more competitive that most publicly available prediction models anticipated.

Speaking of that 4-1 win? It was another demonstration of this Senators team being a lot of fun. The came out of the gate swinging, building up an early first period lead on the back of some very solid play. By the time the Hurricanes woke up and started peppering Anders Nilsson, it was too late and the Senators had secured the victory. Here are the ‘thumbs’ from that contest:

Thumbs Up: Quick Strikes
Two goals. Four seconds. Blink and you missed it.


The NHL record for fastest consecutive goals by a single team is two seconds, but the second one in that instance was into an empty net off the faceoff circle. This was two clean goals in four seconds against a goaltender. Watch every remaining game for every team this year, and it’s still unlikely that you’ll see anything quite like this.

Thumbs Up: Anders Nilsson Steals a Win

The Senators’ number-one goaltender (yes, it’s probably fair to call him that now) is turning into quite a story this year. Rocking a save percentage north of .920, Nilsson is winning hockey games for a team that wasn’t supposed to win many hockey games. On Saturday night, he stopped 38 of 39 shots faced, including all 32 the Hurricanes fired his way at even strength. He stole a win on a night that the Hurricanes were the better team after the first period.

To illustrate just how good he’s been for this Senators team, consider that Natural Stat Trick has him ranked 5th in the league in Goals Saved Above Average. For a guy whose foothold in the league wasn’t particularly strong heading into the season, the 2019-20 campaign has been a dream thus far. The feeling is likely mutual for the team, as the Senators have extracted more than enough value out of the $2.6M they’re paying him this year.

Thumbs Up: Dylan DeMelo
Is there a better bottom-pairing defender in the league than Dylan DeMelo right now? You’d struggle to find one. Once again, he plowed right through the opposing team like it was nothing. While the Senators struggled to carry the play against the juggernaut Hurricanes, DeMelo quietly went about his business and helped his team control nearly 60% of the five-on-five shot attempts and generate more than 82% of the five-on-five expected goals when he was on the ice. Those numbers, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, are indicative of the story more often than not with DeMelo.

Some smart team should offer the Senators a mid-round pick to add this player at the deadline, because he’s exactly what good squads should be looking for on the road to the Stanley Cup. If that doesn’t happen, the Senators should be more than happy to keep him around.

Thumbs Up: JG Pageau Keeps Producing
Another night, another goal for JG Pageau. Now up to eight goals in 16 games on the season, Pageau is nearly half way to his career high of 19 tallies. Is any of this production sustainable? Probably not, considering he’s converting at more than double the rate of his career average shooting percentage. That doesn’t make it any less fun.

For Ottawa, it creates an interesting conundrum. Do they cash in with Pageau’s value at its peak, dealing him to a contending team for picks and prospects? Or, do they lock him up to an extension that keeps him in Senators red for at least the next few years? There’s a lot to consider, and it’s a topic that we’ll have an opportunity to discuss more in this space moving forward.

Thumbs Up: Filip Chlapik Gets His Goal
The career numbers for Filip Chlapik are kind of funny to look at. He made his NHL debut in 2017-18, scoring one goal in 20 games that year. He went on to play five games in 2018-19, and scored one goal in those games as well. On Saturday, in what was his sixth game of 2019-20, Chlapik got his goal for the year:


As noted in the quoted tweet, Jonathan Davidsson created the Chlapik goal with the initial shot and was credited with an assist as a result. It was Davidsson’s first career point in only his second career game. One thing that DJ Smith’s constant roster rotation has shown fans this year is that there’s plenty to be excited about on the horizon. It was Chlapik and Davidsson who proved that on this occasion.

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The Senators are off tomorrow, but will be back on the ice Monday against these same Carolina Hurricanes.

As always, thanks for reading.
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