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Character Win in Tampa Bay

November 10, 2018, 11:09 PM ET [9 Comments]
Trevor Shackles
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS

The Senators got out to a fast start tonight as they were up 2-0 just 7:21 into the game on their first three shots. Considering this was against one of the best teams in the league while playing on the road, it was quite the shock. Reality began to quickly set in though, as just 39 seconds into the second period, Victor Hedman had tied up the game at two. Then two more goals (and four unanswered) would give the Lightning the 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.

But Ottawa did not give up there, and they had the most impressive win of their young season.

With four unanswered goals of their own in the third period, they somehow walked away from tonight's game with a 6-4 victory. It wasn't necessarily perfect as they lost the possession battle plus had some defensive lapses (which have been occurring too often), but in a season like this, I'll take this sort of effort all the time.

There was a lot to like from tonight's game, and it is all in relation to the forwards. For starters, the most important news of the night...




Big round of applause for Pyatt, and now I can move on with my life. I'm happy that he finally got to participate in the after-goal train, but sad that I can't keep this running gag going.

Other than that though, there were some big offensive performances. Mark Stone continues to be one of the most underrated players in the league as he now has 20 points in 17 games and is two back of Thomas Chabot for the team lead.




As Callum notes here, Duchene, Tkachuk, and Dzingel played incredibly well tonight too. Duchene is now over a point per game at 18 points in 17 games, and Dzingel is showing his previous season was no fluke. With 9 goals in 16 games, he looks like he's going to easily pot 20 goals once again. If he keeps shooting the puck with this sort of accuracy, he's going to get handsomely paid in the off-season:




It was almost strange to not see Tkachuk on the scoresheet on Thursday's game, but he made up for that by getting a goal and an assist tonight. There isn't a single shift I see of Tkachuk where he is in the wrong spot, and both of his points are examples of that. It looked like Tkachuk was going to have two goals on the night, but his second one ended up getting changed to Colin White.

And speaking of White, he continues to look better and better each game. He is now up to 11 points in 17 games. He was playing on a line with Duchene and Tkachuk, and unsurprisingly when he has been put with better players, he has risen to the occasion. If he plays on the third line but at least has skilled linemates such as Mikkel Boedker or Filip Chlapik, then it's not a big deal, but he needs to be getting more of an important role with this team. He's showing that he's ready to be an offensive contributor.

Even a non-exciting veteran like Bobby Ryan had a good night and has been better than I thought. With three points, he is now up to 12 in 17 games, and perhaps he can provide enough contributions here and there so that keeping him in the top-six isn't so bad. Furthermore, in Belleville, Drake Batherson continued his incredible rookie season in the AHL as he recorded seven points in two games over the past two days and now sits second in the entire league in scoring (and was tied after last night). He isn't someone from the Ottawa roster, but I think we can expect to see him part of the top-six or at least top-nine group in the near future.

The fact that the Senators were able to come back from two goals down in the third period against one of the best teams in the league while on the road speaks to the resiliency of the team. They clearly don't have the best talent, but there is at least a bit of a different feeling about this team than last year. No, that is not because Karlsson is gone, but it's probably more due to younger players actually getting a chance to shine.

Overall, it's hard not to be very happy with the outcome of that game, especially when the state of the Senators offense is looking a lot better these days. The defense and goaltending is another story, but baby steps here...

And oh, this is just too good to not share. Thanks, Gainsy:


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