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Sens sweep Oilers season series/DJ Smith vs. Lassi Thomson! |
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The Ottawa Senators made it two straight wins during the month of January over the Edmonton Oilers with a 3-2 OT win in front of a sellout crowd of 500 at the Canadian Tire Center! The Sens stars, performed like stars tonight as it was Tim Stutzle, Matt Murray, Brady Tkachuk, and Thomas Chabot elevating their play to lead their team to victory in what many hockey fans thought there was no way Ottawa could compete tonight with so many key players out due to injury. To think Ottawa lost all 9 games last year against the Oilers but won both games this year, the future is bright in Ottawa!
Enter Murray, who played incredible yet again stopping 37 of 39 shots. Enter Stutzle, 1 goal, 5 SOG, and his first NHL fight! His 8th goal of the season was his first career OT winner and you noticed him on the ice every shift tonight. Enter Chabot, 1G//1A, +1, and 3 hits, while leading the way with 26:41 TOI. Enter Tkachuk, 2A, +2, 5 SOG, 3 hits for the captain. These 4 players led by example all game long and showed the Sens fan base what to expect for years to come once this team is healthy.
Erik Brannstrom stepped back into the lineup and had a very strong game, he was dynamite on the Sens 2nd goal as his patience in the slot led to a big rebound for Nick Paul to backhand into the net. Paul and Alex Formenton had strong games too and they were both rewarded with extra TOI as they started the OT session with Artem Zub on defense. Paul led all forwards with 23:32 TOI, to go with his beauty goal and 5 hits. The Sens need to re-sign Nick now!
Egor Sokolov played his best game as a Sen, he was very hard on forecheck and was credited for 5 hits too. Adam Gaudette was very noticeable tonight as well, he had almost 15 minutes of ice time, 5 hits, 3 SOG, and was 4 for 6 in the faceoff circle. Mark Kastelic was another bright spot in limited action, for only his 2nd NHL game, he also had 4 hits and took a few important draws. It was nice to see everyone contributing in small and big ways as some of these young prospects get valuable NHL game experience.
On a bit of a negative note, any Sens fan watching this game had to wonder how Lassi Thomson went from 3 straight games of over 20 minutes of TOI while getting the second most minutes on the blueline to getting the least amount of TOI tonight. He had 7 shifts and 5:28 in the first period, then 3 shifts in the 2nd period for 2:17, then 4 shifts in the 3rd period for 3:05 for a total of 10:50 TOI. If anyone can explain how Josh Brown got 14:48 TOI, four minutes more than the young prospect, I would like to know?! Thomson was even on the night, while Brown was -1, both players had 3 hits yet Thomson ended up in the doghouse of DJ Smith. Brannstrom had more than double the amount of ice time with 23:22.
Sadly, I was told earlier today by an NHL scout to watch how DJ distributes his ice time with blueline tonight. This scout flat out told me DJ will do everything possible to justify taking Thomson out of the lineup so when Nikita Zaitsev is ready to return, which could happen Tuesday night in Long Island when the Sens visit the Islanders, he's able to justify the lineup changes on the blueline. After hearing this and seeing what a drastic drop in ice time Thomson had, this NHL scout was 100% correct in telling me what would happen tonight. Sadly this coach needs to be taken to task by Sens GM Pierre Dorion in regards to how Thomson is being handled, as this fanbase has been told by both the coaching staff and management that you will see a youth movement. Enough is enough, let the kids play and stop playing Brown who is a fringe NHL defenseman at best.
Thoughts on the Thomson situation, comments on tonight's game. Let's hear it Sens fans!
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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