Juggernaut!
The acquired depth of the Senators was bound to pay off sooner or later, and it paid off large last night. The Sens were like a steam roller let loose on the ice at The Bank and it's actually easier to name the players who didn't get on the scoresheet than the ones who did. The Sens got off to a tentative start, but after Alfie captured a turnover and fed Kovalev for Ottawa's first goal at 4:25 of the 1st period, it was all Senators all the time for the rest of the game.
Kudos
Where to begin? Points is a good way to start. Check out the chart below to see who got what. All four lines contributed to the scoring.
Volchenkov was once again a monster, making beautiful defensive plays against Malone and Stamkos, and adding another victim to the Train Wreck Tally Sheet when he demonstated to Victor Hedman what a real hip check looks like. The Sens better sign him to a new contract soon.
Spezza was huge once again, and is turning out to be a real leader on this team. He skated hard, won more puck battles than he lost, made the passes and plays to give his line a huge amount of shots on goal, and he checked. Hard. Nice to see Spezz take responsibility. The points tally may not look good so far, but this kind of work ethic will pay off sooner or later.
Chris Kelly was another player who came up big last night with no less than five shots on goal, most of which were scoring chances. It's too bad he couldn't convert, but he did chip in two assists for his efforts. Kelly was also amazing on the PK and helped the Sens keep the potent Lightning power play bottled up.
AK27 took advantage of the presence of rookie Victor Hedman on the ice to gain a lot of room for himself. The "Player-I'll-always-refer-to-as-the-Tsar" was a key player last night and some of his stick handling along the board was vintage Kovalev. He played hard, and checked hard, and I can't wait to see him against Montréal tomorrow.
Alfredsson has gained much by the effectiveness of the players surrounding him, and has less attention paid to him by the opposing defense. Alfredsson was quiet-sneaky last night and, without much fanfare, racked up 3 assists on the night.
Finally Matt Carkner is gunning for Chris Neil's throne as he had no issues taking on any Bolt who was willing to drop the gloves. He also plastered Tampa Bay's Veilleux late in the 3rd period. The theme from "Rocky" blared from The Bank's speakers, and I think that moniker should stick. Matt "Rocky" Carkner... I like it.
Still room to improve...
While slightly improved, the power play remains the Sens' least effective special team. The power play to open the 3rd period didn't even get a single shot on goal. While they finally did put one in the net midway through the 3rd period, the power play now has only 2 goals on 21 attemps. Only Nashville is worse in the league.
Karlsson continues to have growing pains, and got neatly sidestepped by Stamkos to generate the rush that resulted in Tampa Bay's only goal of the game. Clouston had a quiet work on the bench with the 19-year-old Swede following the goal, but that wasn't the only aspect of Karlsson's game that wasn't up to snuff. I'd say send him for development to the AHL once Kuba returns, but I doubt Murray will want to send his first-round draft pick down without giving him as many chances as possible.
Kudos
Where to begin? Points is a good way to start. Check out the chart below to see who got what. All four lines contributed to the scoring.
| Player | G | A | Pts |
| Milan Michalek | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Jarkko Ruutu | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Daniel Alfredsson | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Chris Kelly | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Anton Volchenkov | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Alex Kovalev | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Alexandre Picard | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Nick Foligno | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Philips | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jason Spezza | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Erik Karlsson | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Volchenkov was once again a monster, making beautiful defensive plays against Malone and Stamkos, and adding another victim to the Train Wreck Tally Sheet when he demonstated to Victor Hedman what a real hip check looks like. The Sens better sign him to a new contract soon.
Spezza was huge once again, and is turning out to be a real leader on this team. He skated hard, won more puck battles than he lost, made the passes and plays to give his line a huge amount of shots on goal, and he checked. Hard. Nice to see Spezz take responsibility. The points tally may not look good so far, but this kind of work ethic will pay off sooner or later.
Chris Kelly was another player who came up big last night with no less than five shots on goal, most of which were scoring chances. It's too bad he couldn't convert, but he did chip in two assists for his efforts. Kelly was also amazing on the PK and helped the Sens keep the potent Lightning power play bottled up.
AK27 took advantage of the presence of rookie Victor Hedman on the ice to gain a lot of room for himself. The "Player-I'll-always-refer-to-as-the-Tsar" was a key player last night and some of his stick handling along the board was vintage Kovalev. He played hard, and checked hard, and I can't wait to see him against Montréal tomorrow.
Alfredsson has gained much by the effectiveness of the players surrounding him, and has less attention paid to him by the opposing defense. Alfredsson was quiet-sneaky last night and, without much fanfare, racked up 3 assists on the night.
Finally Matt Carkner is gunning for Chris Neil's throne as he had no issues taking on any Bolt who was willing to drop the gloves. He also plastered Tampa Bay's Veilleux late in the 3rd period. The theme from "Rocky" blared from The Bank's speakers, and I think that moniker should stick. Matt "Rocky" Carkner... I like it.
Still room to improve...
While slightly improved, the power play remains the Sens' least effective special team. The power play to open the 3rd period didn't even get a single shot on goal. While they finally did put one in the net midway through the 3rd period, the power play now has only 2 goals on 21 attemps. Only Nashville is worse in the league.
Karlsson continues to have growing pains, and got neatly sidestepped by Stamkos to generate the rush that resulted in Tampa Bay's only goal of the game. Clouston had a quiet work on the bench with the 19-year-old Swede following the goal, but that wasn't the only aspect of Karlsson's game that wasn't up to snuff. I'd say send him for development to the AHL once Kuba returns, but I doubt Murray will want to send his first-round draft pick down without giving him as many chances as possible.
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