Senators News: March 18th; Ottawa 4, Winnipeg 1

-Ottawa ran over the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 yesterday afternoon; Robin Lehner made 25 saves for the win, while Jakob Silfverberg (2), Guillaume Latendresse, and Kyle Turris provided the scoring.  It was a good effort all around for the Sens (who had 42 shots on goal) and a well-deserved win.  Here’s the boxscoreAdana offers his own description of the game and the most interesting thing he pointed out was that Ottawa has the Eastern Conference’s best home record (10-1-3).  I think that’s a tip of the hat to Paul MacLean, as home ice is the place where a coach is most to affect the game.

Robin Lehner talked about being run into by Dustin Byfuglien:

I don’t know (what happened). I saw the replay a little bit later and he was trying to cut in (to the net). It’s hard to say (if he was out). It was a little blurry for me. It was more when (athletic therapist) Gerry Townend came to talk to me (he wasn’t sure what happened) and then I felt good. (Byfuglien) hit my head, I was leaning forward and my neck took a beating. That just took me out for a second or two. It’s nothing concussion-wise. That’s fine.

-If the evidence hasn’t been clear enough I thought last night was yet another nail in the coffin for Ben Bishop, whom Lehner has outplayed at the NHL (and AHL) level.  If the Hammond signing (see below) is accurate it could be an indication that the Sens are preparing the groundwork to lose one of their current goaltenders.  Paul MacLean talked about Lehner‘s performance yesterday:

We’ve seen a lot good things from Robin, but maybe Lehner is Irish. He was outstanding. Outstanding. He made some really good saves (in the third) and he held the fort in the second when they came out hard.

Mark Parisi offers his ups and downs for the week that was, with only Colin Greening getting a negative marker (I’m ignoring Mark Stone‘s selection as it’s not his fault Bryan Murray made a dumb trade), which I’m not sure I agree with.  Mark doesn’t like the fact that Greening isn’t producing, but he’s never going to be consistent in his production.  Matt Kassian deserves a negative–two games, no fights, and no discernibly positive impact.

Ian Mendes goes through the ins and outs of who might be coach of the year, pointing out an interesting fact:

In fact, on that list of eight teams that have completed the similar turnaround to what the Canadiens are trying to do this season [last place to a playoff position], only Pat Burns with the 1998 Boston Bruins ended up winning the Jack Adams. So for some reason, the voters — who are broadcasters from around the National Hockey League — are not impressed with the going from worst-to-a-playoff spot storyline.

He also throws Sportsnet Nick Kypreos under the bus who told viewers that the Sens weren’t a playoff team.  As one would expect Ian concludes that Paul MacLean should be coach of the year (should things continue as they are) and I think it’s hard to argue with that conclusion.

Reports have free agent collegian Andrew Hammond signing with the Sens.  The 6’3, 25-year old Bowling Green State grad had a record of 10-15-3 2.47 .917 this season.  Given his age his ELC would be for just one season (assuming this is not an ATO like Nick Craven).

Scott Burnside offers his power rankings and has Ottawa 9th.

-As expected Kyle Bushee was released from his PTO by Binghamton.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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3 Comments

  1. I wonder if the Sens can keep this up. So far they do not seem to miss the injured players too much.

  2. […] Senators News: March 18th; Ottawa 4, Winnipeg 1 […]

  3. […] Senators News: March 18th; Ottawa 4, Winnipeg 1 […]


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