The Ottawa Senators have a lot of positives to build on from their 3-2 win over the New York Rangers to open the preseason on Saturday night. But at the same time, their are some things that need to be addressed, namely the play of the young defence corps.
Brian Lee had an up and down game. While he did carry and pass the puck well, he too often struggled to get his shot through from the point. Alexandre Picard looked out of position on a few occassions and he struggled with the puck at times, including a fumble that led to a short handed goal. And if Filip Kuba is Ottawa's answer for a powerplay quarterback, he has to show more of an offensive presence than he did. The Senators were 0 for 11 on the powerplay, with just four shots!
Jason Smith and Chris Phillips were solid. I found Smith to be the Senators best defenceman on the ice, as he stayed cool and calm through some fierce forechecking by the Rangers, while even showing he can help jumpstart an offensive rush with a few outlet passes that got the forwards going.
Brendan Bell gets his chance tonight, as he will play with Anton Volchenkov. Luke Richardson will dress for tonight's game and will be paired up with Phillips, while Christoph Schubert and Lee round out the third pairing. This is another chance for Schubert to try to show Craig Hartsburg that he deserves a spot as a full-time defenceman, as he has made no secret of his distaste for the swing man role he has been given in the past.
I always find it baffling that Schubert himself prefers to be lined up as a defenceman. I think he's much better as a forward with his speed and hard shot. If he wants to play defence so badly, wouldn't one think he would improve that part of his game? He was, in my opinion, the absolute worst player on the ice on Saturday night. He was caught flat footed on three different occasions, one of which led to a goal, and he took stupid penalties.
And that brings us to the other facet of the game that needs to be improved. The Senators took way too many penalties. While a lot of it can be attributed to the officials and their usual preseason training of the players to keep their sticks off opposing players, the Senators were guilty of poor discipline for a good part of Saturday night. Hartsburg has clearly pointed to this as something that has to be cleaned up for the team to be successful.
“There are penalties we can’t take. There are always going to be calls you’re going to question, but there are way too many stick penalties. We have to eliminate those reaching, little slashes because they don’t do anything," said Hartsburg afterwards.
The constant parade to the penalty box made it difficult for the forwards to get any kind of chemistry going. The only real chemistry we saw on Saturday night was the same great chemistry between Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. The extra powerplay time afforded to them didn't hurt either.
Speaking of special teams, Spezza breaking in alone to score a shorty was a sight to behold. Spezza and Heatley have asked to be more involved with penalty killing situations this season.
Later today I will have an update on Daniel Alfredsson's groin injury. I am hearing that this is concerning the team, despite the talk that it's not a big deal. I will delve into this further, but I can't promise too much since the team is very tight lipped about injuries, especially when they involve key players like Alfredsson.
