The third game of the Senators exhibition season is in the books, losing 4-3 to Montreal in a shootout. The game wasn’t particularly intense nor was it physical, but featured some interesting player performances. I won’t repost the box score (link), but I’ll take a look at the best and worst players for the Sens–keeping in mind that this is the exhibition season and, as such, doesn’t mean much. The Rogers broadcast was terrible, but it is the pre-season.
Positive Performances
Zack Smith was terrific; he’s improved his footspeed and showed a lot of confidence offensively
Jason Spezza played well and provided his linemates (particularly Butler) with plenty of scoring opportunities
Daniel Alfredsson showed a little rust, but demonstrated his great hands and creativity
Milan Michalek was strong on the puck and used his speed and net drive
Erik Karlsson played very well (other than a couple of occasions where he overhandled the puck)
Stephane Da Costa was strong throughout the game, although he’d occasionally get his wires crossed with his linemates
Derek Grant was good in all three zones
Mike Hoffman continued to show great hands and vision
Andre Petersson didn’t play much, but played hard, showing no fear going into the corners
Struggling
Filip Kuba had a couple of terrible giveaways early in the game
Patrick Wiercioch continues to turn the puck over and played far less than any other blueliner
Bobby Butler had (by my count) six scoring chances tonight, but is still looking for his first pre-season goal
Other
Nikita Filatov started to wear down as the game went on which lead to some mental mistakes
Chris Phillips did not start well, but limited his mistakes as the game continued; it would be nice to see him make a crisp outlet pass once in awhile
For other views of the game, here’s The Silver Seven‘s Mark Parisi (link) and SenShot‘s Derrick Brose (link).
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