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The Senators won their final game of their west coast road trip in exciting fashion thanks to a Brady Tkachuk overtime winner. The 4-3 win put another dagger into the heart of the Oilers ever-so-slim playoff hopes. Here are some quick thoughts from this afternoon’s game:
---Boy, the Edmonton Oilers look truly dreadful when Connor McDavid is not on the ice. You can include Leon Draisaitl in there as well, so without either of them playing, Ottawa looked like an actual competent team, which says a lot. It’s mystifying as to how a team with two elite centres can miss the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, but here we are. Edmonton ended up getting six more shot attempts in regulation, but it was even or slightly in Ottawa’s favour for most of the game, which is sad considering the state of their roster. The goal that Draisaitl and McDavid connected on was incredibly pretty to watch though:
---Thomas Chabot recorded his 50th point of the season tonight in his first game back from injury. He had been struggling since the “big three” forwards left, although his overall output this season (50 points in 63 games) is still incredibly impressive. His raw point total won’t look as sexy with some games missed due to injury, but getting somewhere between 50-55 still puts him in the top 15 amongst offensive defensemen. I love that he was able to get to the 50 point marker before the season ends, just because it would have been so unaesthetic to see “49” while he had been sitting on that total for a while.
---The hero today was Brady Tkachuk, as he scored two goals, including the OT winner:
He now has 19 goals and 20 assists on the season, which puts him right below two milestones (20 goals and 40 points). He has only played in 64 games this season, so you have to be pretty happy with that production from a 19-year-old. Furthermore, seeing his excitement after scoring the goal was pretty cool. At this stage of the season, I cheer for good individual performances, and I was very happy with Tkachuk’s game today because that is something to get excited about for the future. If he never missed any time with injury, he probably could have reached 50 points this season, which is certainly above our expectations.
---In just 13:52 of ice time, Oscar Lindberg led the team with eight individual shot attempts and had four scoring chances. He’s been better than I thought, as he has also chipped in offensively with five goals in 13 games. Ottawa has definitely had worse fourth line centres than him in the past.
---One thought I had after Brian Gibbons scored the third goal for the Senators is that he is so similar to Ryan Shannon circa 2008-09. Shannon was only 25 that season (whereas Gibbons is 32), but they are both incredibly small for NHL players at 5’9” and 5’8”, respectively. Neither of them were seen as integral pieces of the team moving forward, as Shannon spent half the season in the AHL with a dominant 35 points in 36 games, and Gibbons is essentially in the NHL so that their prospects can help in Belleville.
Furthermore, in both of their short stints, they have played much better than expected. Shannon put up 20 points in 35 games, which earned him a spot on the team for the next two seasons with limited success. With Gibbons fourth goal today, he now has eight points in 14 games after having just five in 44 games with the Ducks earlier in the year. As a similarly short hockey player, I love seeing players like Gibbons getting a chance to succeed.
---Max Veronneau is looking more comfortable out there every game, and I think there’s a chance he could actually be a contributor in the NHL. It might be more of a third line player, but they got him as an undrafted free agent, so that would be a massive win.
---Is Mikkel Boedker even on this team anymore? I hardly ever notice him, and at the Canucks game on Wednesday, I completely forgot about him until I saw him with the puck in the third period. He played a team-low 8:52, which doesn’t bother me one bit considering he has been pretty invisible.
---Craig Anderson
finally got a win today after losing his previous 13 contests:
He hasn’t exactly deserved to win many games, but losing 13 games in a row is still incredibly unlucky. The Senators have nothing to play for right now, but I’m sure this winless streak was weighing on Anderson’s mind, so I’m glad that it is finally over.
The Senators now have just seven games left in the regular season, with their next contest coming on Tuesday against the struggling Buffalo Sabres at home at 7:30.
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