Your Ottawa Senators battled the San Jose Sharks Thursday night in Ottawa. This game marked the return of Dany Heatley to Ottawa since he demanded a trade back in the summer of 2009. With all the hype leading up to this game, with every media outlet in the building, and with a fan base looking for blood, the Senators continued their disinterested play of late and laid an egg against the Sharks as they were shutout 4-0. Now having lost eight out of their last ten games, and being outscored 37-17 in that span, the Sens are in a tail spin that fans can’t see them getting out of any time soon.
This game started off strong, as both teams played with the intensity of a playoff game. The crowd played a huge factor in the beginning as the booed and taunted Heatley and the Sharks for the first 20 minutes of the game. The Sens even out shot San Jose 13-11 in the first period. Going down 1-0 into the second, the Sens could not keep up with the Sharks as they picked up their play. By the third, Ottawa was just trying not to get embarrassed as the Sharks toyed with them. It seemed like the Sharks were on the powerplay the last half of the game as they controlled the play and had Ottawa chasing the puck and looking foolish.
And the crowd that was so loud in the first, faded in the second and was gone by the third as they left early to beat the traffic home. Ottawa fans had their moments with many creative signs and chants. And a number of Sens fans also took the time to give Heatley some souvenirs from his time in Ottawa.
There was only one positive from the game and that was the play of goalie Pascal Leclaire. With 29 saves on 33 shots, Leclaire was the only reason this game wasn’t a complete blowout. With no defensive support, Leclaire needed to be super human to be able to win this game. With Leclaire playing so well, its a shame that he gets no support defensively and offensively.
The defensive corps needs to take a huge part of the blame for the loss. No support for Leclaire, not being able to get the puck out of their zone, and for not making any Shark player earn their space on the ice. I do not know what Coach Clouston has planned for the defensive pairings going forward, but obviously the current pairings are not working.
The offence has completely dried up. In their last five games, Ottawa has scored six goals with three of them coming against the Maple Leafs. With most forwards sporting pointless streaks, and with the lines being mixed and match these past few weeks, Clouston has to wonder if Ottawa has the guns to score.
Special teams continue to be a major issue for the Sens. Ottawa gave San Jose two powerplays that the Sharks capitalized on. And on the other hand, Ottawa had three powerplays that they did absolutely nothing on. Whether it be personnel or systems, Clouston needs to fix his special teams for Ottawa to have any success.
Here are the game highlights courtesy of NHL.com (if you want to see the horror)
***Three Stars***
First Star: Logan Couture – earns it with two goals and a strong game.
Second Star: Pascal Leclaire – earns it for actually showing up to play.
Third Star: Dany Heatley – earns it for shutting out the hostile crowd and just playing hockey.
The Senators face the Buffalo Sabres next on Saturday night. With Ottawa trending downwards, Buffalo is trending upwards as they are moving up the Eastern Conference standings after their poor start to the season. Now tied with Ottawa, Buffalo has a chance to pass their Northeast rivals Saturday night. Ottawa has always played well against Buffalo, so this game is up for grabs. Ottawa needs this win badly as it seems the team is falling apart on and off the ice. With the Sharks game not even selling out (the game was short by 500 fans or so), Ottawa needs to put W’s on the board to get their fan base back. ‘Til next time, GO SENS GO!!!!!
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