Your Ottawa Senators played the Nashville Predators last night in their final game before the holiday break. With a 2-1 victory, the Sens go into the break on a positive note. However, Ottawa has only won four of their last ten games and currently sit 10th in the East, six points behind 8th place Bruins. But not all is doom and gloom. There were many positives Ottawa can take away from this game.
Erik Karlsson played a game high 27:19 minutes of ice time, had three shots on goal and was a plus-1 on the night. Clouston now leans on Karlsson as the teams best defenceman and plays him in all situations, including on the penalty kill.
Brian Elliott had a hell of a game. Having lost six straight games, and nine of his last ten, Elliott stopped 25 of 26 shots for the win. With the Sens offence unpredictable, Elliott needed to be great and he was. Hopefully this sparks his turnaround.
Nick Foligno seems to have finally found his game. Playing with Fisher and Alfie, Foligno had a goal tonight and played a solid two-way game. Having gone goal-less in his first 24 games (with only 5 points), he has seven points (4g, 3a) in his last 12 games.
Brian Lee drew back into the line-up and played a steady game in his limited ice time. Clouston seems to be able to trust Lee a little more so it’ll be interesting to see if this leads to more games with other defencemen struggling.
Alex Kovlev had a goal tonight with his limited ice time on the fourth line. Maybe Clouston has found some chemistry for Kovalev as Regin and Winchester do all the grinding and Kovalev pots the goals. We’ll see if this works.
On the negative side, Filip Kuba played the least of all the defencemen and was relegated to the third pairing with Brian Lee. Since coming back from injury, Kuba has yet to have a breakout game and begin to produce consistently. Hopefully he can find his game in a less demanding pairing with less minutes.
Here are the game highlights courtesy of NHL.com.
***Three Stars***
First Star: Brian Elliott – earns it with 25 saves and a great performance.
Second Star: Nick Foligno – for getting his fourth of the season and the game winner.
Third Star: Erik Karlsson– for being the best defenceman on the ice for either side.
The Sens played a full 60 minute game last night and it got them the win. The game wasn’t perfect, but the Sens had many positives to build off of. After the Christmas break, Ottawa takes on the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins and the best player in the NHL, Sidney Crosby. ‘Til next time, GO SENS GO!!!!!
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