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The Senators were unable to capitalize on some momentum after a big win against the Maple Leafs on Saturday, as they lost 6-3 to the Boston Bruins on a Thanksgiving matchup. Here are some thoughts about the game:
---Bobby Ryan looks like a player that is on the verge of being non-playable. He still has good hands, but he looks incredibly slow, and for a team that is wanting to get faster, he isn’t going to fit in moving forward. It’s sad that he’s reached this stage at just 31 years old, but I can’t see him being more than a 35 point player for the rest of his career. Plus it’d be amazing if he didn’t get at least one injury per season.
---Ryan Dzingel has started the season where he left off, as he almost ended up with a hat-trick today. In three games, he has two goals and two assists. Since he is a pending UFA, Pierre Dorion better be trying to get a deal done sooner rather than later, because his price might continue to climb if he improves on last season. He’s making only $1.8M, and you can be sure that he’ll want over $4M on his next deal.
---Brady Tkachuk made his NHL debut today, and of course, he had to go through the rookie tradition:
Tkachuk ended up with 14:33 of ice-time, two shots, three hits, and was on for one goal against. I didn’t notice him too much on the ice, although he did finish with a 60 CF% against one of the top possession teams in the league. He didn’t make much of an impact in his debut, but I expect him to have a big game soon.
---It’s hard to overstate how much of an impact Cody Ceci makes on the defense...in a bad way. Of the thirteen goals the Senators have allowed this season, Ceci has been on the ice for eight of them. It seems like every single time he is out there, the opposition is getting a quality scoring opportunity. Yes, he has been playing against top competition, but the fact that he has such horrendous results against that competition should be a reason why his role should be cut back. On the right side, Dylan DeMelo and Chris Wideman have done more to prove that they deserve the opportunity, and if Ottawa wants to not have the highest goals allowed in the league, then Ceci can’t be getting top minutes. Goals like this don’t exactly help his case, either:
---Mike Condon began the season in the worst way possible by allowing five goals. Not every goal was his fault, although this deflected shot sticks out as particularly bad:
The puck was deflected so Condon had to readjust, but all he had to do was catch the bouncing puck with his glove before it trickled in. The other goals didn’t inspire much confidence either, and today is a sad reminder that he has not one, but two years remaining on his contract.
---Dylan DeMelo isn’t going to be a top-notch defenseman for Ottawa, but he’s always been underrated. His debut with the team has been very solid too, which is a nice surprise for some fans who had no idea who he was. In these three games, he has one goal and two assists, along with a 54 CF% and has been on the ice for seven goals for and
zero against. Obviously that is a tiny sample and there is a lot of noise involved with the goal differential, but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. He might not be the answer for a top pairing defenseman, but he’s at least a solid depth player.
---For the third straight game to begin the year, the Senators unsurprisingly lost the possession battle. However, it was a lot closer than I thought, as the shot attempts at even strength were 45-43 for Boston, plus Ottawa actually had 31 shots on net to Boston’s 30. Some of that result is due to the Senators being down the entire game, but I’m surprised those numbers weren’t worse. I don’t think they will be winning the possession battle in many games this year, and I wonder how long into the season it will take for them to do that. It sure would be nice to see some more positive underlying results.
---The Senators are now averaging 4.33 goals against per game, which is obviously atrocious. Despite that, I’ll at least say that this team has been entertaining and should continue to be. There will be a lot of chances at both ends of the ice, so it’s not like they are going to be a bad
and boring team. It’s at least one reason to tune into every game.
The next game for Ottawa is Wednesday at home vs. the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30.
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