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Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: Welcome to the Gus Show |
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The Calgary Flames threw just about everything they possibly had at the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. It wasn’t enough. Thanks to a spectacular goaltending performance from Filip Gustavsson in his first career NHL start, the Senators hung on for a 2-1 victory. Here are tonight’s thumbs:
Thumbs Up: Filip Gustavsson’s Goaltending Performance
There aren’t enough superlatives in the English dictionary to describe the goaltending that Filip Gustavsson delivered for the team in front of him tonight. Especially in the second period, when the Senators barely left the defensive zone, he was an absolute brick wall. Quite literally the only reason that this game wasn’t a blowout in Calgary’s favor was his goaltending.
After coming in and delivering competent relief minutes in his last appearance, and starting so well tonight, Gustavsson has almost certainly earned himself another look. From a bigger picture perspective, it’s hard to wonder what caused the organization to look at Matt Murray and his $25-million price tag as a must-have acquisition this season. If someone were to state that Daccord and Gustavsson have given the team more than the goalie combination that started the year with the Senators, I would have a hard time offering any sort of disagreement.
While the sample sizes are incredibly small, Gustavsson’s performance since arriving is a reminder that there’s a lot of talented depth in this organization, ready to contribute at a moment’s notice. As @BringBackLee suggested on Twitter, the Senators would have probably been better off this year just promoting everyone from Belleville as opposed to the sign-a-bunch-of-veterans approach they ended up taking.
Thumbs Up: Ryan Dzingel’s Trade Value
Now with five goals in nine games with Ottawa this year, Ryan Dzingel continues to increase his value on the trade market. It’s quite clear that the Senators are going to be sellers at the upcoming trade deadline, which makes this run of success from a player like Dzingel so great. Pierre Dorion is going to turn Cedric Paquette and Alex Galchenyuk into (hopefully) a lot more than that. The trade that sent Dzingel out of town the first time was a homerun; let’s see if history repeats itself.
Thumbs Up: Managing Ice Time
We touched on this in the mailbag blog on Sunday, but it’s worth mentioning again now that we have another example: The management of TOI for the defence is a mess right now. With the Senators getting caved in on almost every shift, DJ Smith and his coaching staff still felt that playing Thomas Chabot for more than 30 minutes was a prudent thing to do. Meanwhile, Christian Wolanin barely played and was stapled to the bench for significant chunks of the game. If things were going well and Smith was looking to shorten the bench up, maybe it makes sense. Things weren’t going well. The Senators were being run over by a steamroller. Thus, it made no sense.
Thumbs Up: Nick Paul Wears the “A”
On so many nights this year, Nick Paul has represented the very best of what this Senators team is – or, perhaps, should be – about. He’s not the most talented guy on the roster, but he is never going to be outworked. He consistently does smart things to move the puck up ice, and creates more offence that a lot of players in his role might. So, he was more than deserving of wearing the “A” tonight in Erik Gudbranson’s absence. No team goes wrong with more players like Nick Paul.
Thumbs Up: Artem Zub Looked Good
Even though the Senators weren’t very good at all tonight, Artem Zub caught my eye as making the right play under pressure on at least two occasions. He just always seems to find a way to make smart decisions, quietly and competently. The underlying numbers back up what my eyes were telling me, as he was one of the team leaders in all the important categories per Natural Stat Trick.
Thumbs Down: Calgary’s Sportsmanship
Yuck.
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The Senators will see the Calgary Flames again on Wednesday night.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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