The Hamburglar Is Magic Once Again In Long Island

Andrew “Hamburglar” Hammond was once again fantastic for the Ottawa Senators, and he picked up his ninth career win in ten games, and he has yet to lose in regulation. The final score was 2-1 over the New York Islanders, and it was Ottawa’s second straight win.

GAME RECAP

The first period of this game was very uneventful, and it wasn’t something you expected with two teams who have good offensive players. Nevertheless, it was 0-0 after one and Ottawa played quite well. They outshot New York 9-6, and the attempts were 21-16.

In the second, it was the Islanders that had most of the chances, but the Senators who would ultimately finish. 6:32 into the period, Matt Puempel was wide open in the high slot and he wired home a wobbling puck past Jaroslav Halak for his second career goal. He was visibly extremely happy to get that one, and it was a big goal. Despite the total shots for that period being 22-9, Ottawa would actually get one more goal before the period ended.

While the Islanders attempted to break out of the zone, Erik Karlsson was able to keep the puck in thanks to a perfectly timed pinch. After a few passes he got the puck back at the point, and he shot it towards the net hoping for the best. Luckily for him Kyle Turris was in front and he was able to slightly tip it and get the goal to put them up 2-0.

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It was certainly awful timing for the Islanders, as the goal came with just 1:07 left in the second period. Instead of going into the break down by one goal, now the Islanders had to rest up and try to come back from two down. Besides New York dominating the period (the shots were 22-9 for them), one other semi-frightening thing happened.

The Hamburglar took an absolute bullet off his head from Johnny Boychuk midway through the period, and it looked like he might be injured. Luckily he was fine and able to stay in the game however.

In the third period, it was a bit more even hockey, and the Senators knew that a 2-0 lead against the Islanders would still be very hard to keep. With 8:01 left in the game, Tyler Kennedy tipped home a Lubomir Visnovsky shot, and just like that they were within one. It was certainly tense the rest of the way, but at the end of the day Hammond was able to keep his composure, and Ottawa came away with a 2-1 win.

NOTES & OBSERVATIONS

• Can’t say enough about Hammond. He still hasn’t lost in regulation in his first ten games, and there’s also this amazing stat:

• Erik Karlsson with another assist tonight. He’s the lone point leader for defenseman, which I said would happen not too long ago.
• This is quite the impressive win. The second game in two nights on the road against one of the top teams in the East, and they only allowed one goal. A lot of that is due to Hammond, but I’ll take it.
• Who starts against Philadelphia then? I myself don’t even know yet. After these two great back to back games, I would probably put Hammond in, but with a very short leash. If he loses one game, definitely go back to the proven starter in Anderson. Basically ride Hammond until the magic is gone.
• Alex Chiasson played a measly 5:58 tonight. He’s clearly in Dave Cameron‘s dog house, and for good reason. The more I see what Cameron has done to this team, the more I like it.
• Great to see Puempel score again, even if he only did have 6:24 in ice time.
• With this win, Ottawa’s now five points back of Boston with the same amount of games played. If they are within five at the time they play the Bruins on Tuesday, the playoffs are still doable. But no matter what the Senators have to beat them, and I can’t see any scenario where they get in if they lose that game.

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UP NEXT

The Senators head back home after a brief two game road trip, and they will face off against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

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