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The Ottawa Senators visit the Washington Capitals tonight after falling to Pittsburgh 6-4 on Thursday night. Matt Murray gets the start in goal and DJ Smith is going with the same lineup as Thursday night. I know many fans were quick to say the Sens got no help from their goalies in Pittsburgh but one needs to think back with what has happened with Filip Gustavsson. Gus had not played an NHL since December 7th when he got put into the goal in Pittsburgh the other night. I had a blog a few weeks back about how he needs game time and lots of it for his development. In fact, he has played 2 games in the last 6 weeks, both in Belleville. So before Sens fans go off on Gus, who I feel is the future in goal for this team, your anger should be directed to DJ and management for not playing him in an NHL game for 6 weeks!

In taking a quick look back at a couple of aspects of the game, it would be nice for once if DJ Smith would berate the referees when the opposition takes liberties on his young players. Case in point, in two instances during the third period Tim Stutzle was slashed so bad his stick broke and his glove flew off his hand from the impact of the hack by a Pens player. In the last minute of the game with Ottawa pressing to tie the game, Josh Norris gets bloodied up in the nose area from yet again, another Pens player laying the lumber on his face. Many players will tell you in any team sport, you adopt the personality of your coach. For me, DJ is far too passive on the bench and doesn't go to bat for his players when they clearly have been injured on a play that didn't fall within the NHL rules. He has to stop being so quiet on the bench for fear of upsetting the referees. Coaches will tell you, they work the refs early in the game to get a few calls to go their way later in the game. This concept clearly doesn't apply in DJ's world and he's quickly becoming the quietest bench boss in Sens history, which would be hard to do when Jacques Martin was criticized for years for having his hands in pockets with no care in the world in wanting to fight for his players in getting a few calls to go their way. I hope you're LISTENING DJ!

Ottawa outshot Pittsburgh 56-45 but the more telling stat for me was how they outhit the Pens 56-45! Austen Watson, Dylan Gambrell each had 5 hits, while Zach Sanford had 6 hits for the Sens energy line. Plus Watson dropped the gloves due to a questionable hit on JBD, having him do those types of things really helps the youth on this team in knowing they can play their game and not worry about teams taking cheap shots on them. Tim Stutzle led the team with 8 hits to go with 1G and 3 SOG, Brady Tkachuk had 5 hits, to go with 2A and 9 SOG! But his faceoff numbers were impressive going 7-1. The Sens actually won the faceoff battle on the night winning 54%. When looking at the boxscore, one stat that really favoured the Pens and stood out to me was their 20 block SOG! You see those kinds of numbers in a playoff game.

When looking at the Sens blueline, Erik Brannstrom continued his strong play and actually had the most shifts of anyone on defense with 30, more than Thomas Chabot. Brannstrom has the 2nd most TOI with 23:28 but it was interesting to see how DJ used him more in the 3rd period(7:47/7:19/9:09). JBD had the 3rd most TOI ahead of Holden and Zub, getting 17:37 TOI which was nice to see 2 of the Sens prospects get solid playing time. Josh Brown had the least amount of TOI by 5 minutes and one has to wonder if he will come out of the lineup when Nikita Zaitsev returns from injury. Or will management send JBD back down to Belleville? For that matter, I am surprised Victor Mete isn't getting in the lineup in place of Brown as he continues to make costly mistakes that lead to goals. Thankfully Dylan Heatherington cleared waivers and wasn't picked up by another team, but I still can't make sense of Pierre Dorion sending him back down when he could be with Ottawa getting NHL practice time as the Belleville Senators don't play again until Friday, Jan. 28th! Which makes you wonder if Dorion made the move with Heatherington as fans were screaming for him to start in place of Brown?!

I can't help but look ahead to next season when it comes to what the Sens lineup could look like. Naturally, there is a lot that can happen at the trade deadline and during free agency this summer, or if a player gets bought out(yes please do so with Nikita Zaitsev) but without knowing who might get traded or signed in the summer, here is what this team could look like coming out of training camp.

Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Formenton-Stutzle-White
Paul-Pinto-Brown
Kelly-Kastelic-Watson
**extra forward Tyler Ennis?

It will be interesting to see if Sokolov can make the jump next year full-time. Colin White would fill the top 6 void as he has played RW before. Unless Dorion signs a top 6 RW. I think Ridly Greig will need a year in Belleville. But that can change this summer with his off-season training and a strong pre-season in the fall.

Chabot-JBD
Sanderson-Zub
Brannstrom-​Thomson
**Holden extra defenseman if resigned? ​

Sens fans, thoughts on the goalie situation and the potential future lineup here in Ottawa?!

Thanks for reading.
Kevin

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