You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS
Bath Time is here, folks. Drake Batherson picked up where he left off in the AHL and began his NHL career with a powerplay goal and an overall memorable night. The result of the game was secondary in importance, as I was just excited to see how Batherson would fare in his first game. He passed with flying colours, and if he keeps putting up games like that, he might never have to go back to Belleville. The cherry on top for tonight is that the Senators were able to win 2-1 against the Detroit Red Wings too.
The Red Wings obviously are not a good team, but it was important for the Senators to take two points from this game after being embarrassed in Florida on Sunday.
With the win, Ottawa moves to 12th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 8-8-3. They sit two points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the last playoff spot, but their 19 games played is also tied for the most in the conference. 8-8-3 is certainly not catastrophic, but they still have a ways to go if they want to be in playoff contention.
Although the game was only 2-1, there are plenty of intriguing things to talk about. First of all, like I mentioned in the beginning, this game was going to be all about Batherson no matter what. He was given a fantastic opportunity to play in the top-six, and even got to play on the powerplay. He did not disappoint, as he scored this fantastic goal right off of a faceoff:
He had played for just over six minutes in the NHL before he scored his first goal, and suffice it to say, Ottawa fans were pretty excited.
Just search #BathTime on Twitter. Not only did he score that goal, it ended up being the game winner. Surprisingly he only ended up playing a team-low 10:46 tonight, but I'm glad he scored because Boucher can't say that he wasn't effective enough. I see no reason why he shouldn't be given every opportunity to succeed in the NHL right now, because he has tackled every hurdle so far since being drafted.
Brady Tkachuk also had a noticeable impact tonight as he had his first career NHL fight. Not only did he decisively win that fight, he was constantly getting chances and wreaking havoc in front of Jimmy Howard:
This is what we've come to expect from Tkachuk, and I don't see any reason why he is going to slow down. He recorded seven shot attempts in all situations, which is becoming the norm for him. He did not record a point tonight and it's fair to expect a drop-off from his current eight points in eight games pace, but he is going to consistently be a dominant force for Ottawa.
Along with Batherson and Tkachuk, the other star of the game (and official third star of the night) has to be Craig Anderson. He stopped 34/35 of the shots that came his way, and brought his season SV% up from .905% to .909%. The only goal he allowed was a difficult deflection by Michael Rasmussen, so he was very close to being perfect tonight. Furthermore, he did something that I don't think I've ever seen before: stopping two penalty shots in the same period.
The best part about these penalty shots isn't even that Anderson stopped both of them though...It's Guy Boucher's fantastic reaction to the first one, which was an incredibly soft call. You might not have to be a master lip reader to understand what he was saying here:
Thankfully we did not have to witness Boucher spontaneously combust after allowing a goal on that penalty shot. As I was saying though, Anderson was phenomenal tonight, and it was a reminder of what he can do when he's at his best. It's just a shame that these games for him are becoming more rare.
Lost in all of this is the fact that Ottawa had
yet another coach's challenge not go their way. Dylan DeMelo thought he scored in the first period, but Jeff Blashill challenged the call and it was overturned. I think they got it right, but it was just another frustrating chapter for the Senators who have been getting incredibly poor luck with their challenges and challenges against them. It didn't matter anyway, and I even forgot about it until I began writing this article, but in a close 2-1 game, it could have easily had a massive impact.
Ottawa ended up outshooting Detroit 36-35 although they were out-attempted 74-59. However, a good portion of that margin happened after Ottawa took the 1-0 lead, so those numbers aren't too bad considering score effects and their season-long stats. At the end of the day, Bath Time is hopefully here to stay, and the Senators and their fans went home happy after a 2-1 win.
Their next game is Saturday at 7:00 EST vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»