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Senators Off On The Right Foot With Win Over The Sabres |
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It was a solid effort for the season opener by the Ottawa Senators, but it was about an inch from being a totally different game with potentially altered outcome.
Holding on to a 2-1 lead and moments after the Sabres had scored to draw within one, Evander Kane appeared to have tied the game on a wraparound that beat Craig Anderson. But, in their first ever coach's challenge, the play proved to have entered the zone offside by mere inches, resulting in a reversal the goal and allowing the Senators to hang onto the lead. It was a lengthy review that took almost 7 minutes, but it worked out in Ottawa's favor and the right call was made.
Until that point, the Senators had played a pretty good road game, with the top line of Kyle Turris, Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman leading the way. Turris opened the scoring 30 seconds into the game, on the Senators' first shot of the season beating Robin Lehner. He doubled the lead just past the midway point of the second (both assisted by Stone and Hoffman), this time beating Chad Johnson who had replaced Lehner minutes earlier after the former Sen left with a leg injury.
Curtis Lazar didn't have to wait twenty-five games to get his first goal of the season this time around, as some dogged determination gave him an empty net goal to ice the game and give the Senators a 3-1 win.
The Senators didn't have a power play in the game, and were shorthanded 3 times. One of those shorthanded opportunities resulted in Jack Eichel's first NHL goal after he had slipped behind the net and went unseen away from the play and tapped home a pass from Marcus Foligno before the Senators penalty killers could get over.
In addition to the successful challenge, a wrist shot from Rasmus Ristolainen made it through but went right off the post and back under Anderson. The Senators had a post of their own, as Turris narrowly missed his chance at a first career hat trick in the third period, coming seconds after Erik Karlsson slid the puck just wide of a gaping net from about 4 feet away, either of which would have given the Sens a 3 goal lead and made the last 6 or 7 minutes far less exciting and white-knuckled than it was.
If there was to be any criticism of the club, it would be that once again they seemed to sit back on the lead in the third period rather than taking it to the Sabres, the strategy that had worked through the first 40 minutes. The Sabres outshot Ottawa 14-4 in the final frame.
Anderson, as he does at times, struggled somewhat on plays from behind the net. Early in the game a wraparound attempt went off the bottom of his skate and just past the post, there was the Kane wraparound that did beat him but was called back, and then another play with a couple of minutes left where the puck bounced off the backboards and almost handcuffed Anderson on the rebound and nearly went in off the goalie.
One of the guys who had a lot of eyes on him was Jared Cowen, who had a much better season debut than he did last season, when he took a brunt of the criticism in the opening loss to the Predators. He was solid in just under 18 minutes of play, playing pretty mistake-free hockey and making solid reads. A good start for a guy under the gun and people looking for any mistake to jump on.
Ottawa managed just 22 shots, but with no power play opportunities that isn't really cause for concern, and they managed to hold the Sabres to 27 (24 even strength). While not a perfect game by any means, not allowing a goal at even strength and winning 58% of the faceoffs is a decent start.
The Senators are practicing earlier than usual this morning in Toronto, as the time was changed so that the team could attend this afternoon's Blue Jays playoff game. The Sens continue to ease their way into the season as they play against the Leafs on Saturday night, before they play their home opener on Sunday against the Habs.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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