Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: Tkachuk Leads the Way as Senators Drop Canadiens

February 23, 2021, 11:07 PM ET [45 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The virtually unstoppable Ottawa Senators took care of business against the Montreal Canadiens once again, this time with a 5-4 shootout victory on Tuesday night. Here are tonight’s thumbs:

Thumbs Up: Brady Tkachuk’s Monster Night
There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language to describe Brady Tkachuk’s performance tonight. He was everywhere and did everything for the Senators. Two goals. Seven hits. A massive fight against Ben Chiarot. Tkachuk was the emotional and on-ice leader in this game.

Thumbs Down: Playing Micheal Haley
The argument for playing Micheal Haley is that he’s needed to deter opposing players from taking liberties against the team’s young players, as we saw in the last game when Tim Stützle took a spear to the neck. What became clear tonight is that the Senators don’t need to fill space with players like Haley when Brady Tkachuk can do all the tough-guy stuff AND contribute on offence. Toughness that can play meaningful minutes has value. Toughness for the sake of toughness doesn’t.

Thumbs Up: Erik Brannstrom’s First Career Goal
Erik Brannstrom turned in another performance that absolutely proves he belongs in the NHL. His skating ability was on full display tonight, generating numerous blue line to blue line rushes that helped to facilitate zone entries for the Senators. Those visible strengths were reflected by very strong relative underlying numbers.

As a reward for all that great work, Brannstrom notched his first career goal. Beating Carey Price with a seeing-eye shot from the point? Not a bad way to get the scoring party started in your young career. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we’re celebrating a Brannstrom marker.

Thumbs Down: No Goals for Tim Stützle
How Tim Stützle didn’t score in this game will confuse me for a long time. He was buzzing all game long, generating quality looks for himself with regularity. The floodgates looked really close to opening for the German forward.

Thumbs Up: Drake Batherson’s Confidence
All the talk about him being a different player this year coming out of camp was true. This was another very strong night for Batherson, which saw him score his fifth of the season and add an assist on Brady Tkachuk’s first of two goals. The assist on Tkachuk’s goal, in particular, was a thing of beauty. It was the kind of soft-touch pass that – at least for that split second - reminded me of the kind of magic Daniel and Henrik Sedin used to create in Vancouver.

Thumbs Down: Matt Murray's Goaltending

The Senators probably should have been in a position to win this game by a more comfortable margin. A win is a win, but more consistency from Murray would be nice.

Thumbs Up: A Little Bit of Luck with Goalie Interference
The definition of what constitutes goalie interference in the NHL these days remains woefully unclear. This time around, the ambiguity benefitted Ottawa with only seconds remaining in the game. Montreal looked to have scored a game-winning goal, but the score was called back for goaltender inference:

There’s no doubt that Brendan Gallagher made contact and spun Matt Murray around, but it’s also fairly clear that Murray had time and room to get set again after the bump. I struggle to see how Gallagher physically interfered with Murray’s ability to make the save in question, though there is an argument to be made that Murray never had a chance to locate and track the puck after being spun out of position. If they want to call this goalie interference, that’s perfectly fine --- but there are far more egregious examples that the war room has let go over the years. Some clarity would be nice.

Thumbs Down: The Montreal Canadiens Hype Train
I’m beginning to get the sense that the Montreal Canadiens aren’t the behemoth many were making them out to be after a hot start to the season…

--

The Senators will now turn their attention to the Calgary Flames, who they will take to the ice against on Thursday.

As always, thanks for reading.
Join the Discussion: » 45 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Michael Stuart
» Brown, Paul Combine for Canada's Golden Goal at World Championship
» Senators to Select 10th Overall; What Should They Do with the Pick?
» Finding the Right Centerpiece
» Senators Team Awards Ballot
» Melnyk Speaks