Anderson’s Efforts Not Enough As Ottawa Senators Lose In Overtime

By Trevor Shackles | Nov 12, 2014

The Ottawa Senators began their West Coast road trip with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Once again, Craig Anderson was solid, and he was one of the main reasons Ottawa got even a single point.

Game Recap

The first period was quite uneventful, and it looked like the game was going to be a low scoring affair. Vancouver outshot Ottawa 12-6, and carried most of the play. While most of the period was quite boring, there was one controversy. With 58 seconds left it looked as if Ottawa had taken the lead courtesy of David Legwand. However, Chris Neil received an extremely questionable hooking call on Dan Hamhuis and the goal was waved off.

Neil hardly touched Hamhuis, and he got slightly tugged back. However, the play didn’t affect what was going on, and Hamhuis wasn’t near the puck. I question how little one can do to get a hooking penalty these days.

The second period was much faster paced, and there were plenty of chances from each side. The Canucks still outshot the Senators 12-8 in the period, but there were two goals scored each. Shawn Matthias would score for Vancouver but Mike Hoffman was able to answer with his own goal just four minutes later. That goal can be credited to Curtis Lazar’s great shot placement. He had the puck along the wall, and shot low far pad and the rebound went right to Hoffman. As a kid you are taught to shoot there in order to produce a rebound, and I think that’s what Lazar was trying to do.

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Ottawa had tied the game, but Vancouver was bound to retake the lead. With four minutes left in the period, Alex Burrows scored on an unfortunate play from Ottawa’s point of view. Nick Bonino tried to dump the puck in, but it hit the linesman. He then took the puck, got around Erik Karlsson, and found a streaking Burrows on the other side. Chris Phillips was totally oblivious on the play, and his coverage was extremely sub par.

Kyle Turris quickly tied the game once again not even two minutes later, and the game was tied 2-2 after two periods. 5:36 into the third period, the Canucks took the lead again thanks to a blast from Kevin Bieksa from the point. The puck looked to have taken a slight deflection, and there was nothing Anderson could do on the play. At that point, it looked to be over. There was still plenty of time left, but I did not sense a third Ottawa comeback.

That’s exactly what happened when Mark Stone scored his fifth goal on a shot that barely trickled over Ryan Miller near the side of the net. It wasn’t a pretty goal, but those are the kind of goals that Stone will score a lot of. The rest of the game was a bit tense at times for Ottawa, but Anderson was able to stand tall and keep them in the game.

In overtime, Ottawa did not even get a single shot, and only one blocked shot attempt. You could sense that Vancouver was going to score, and they eventually did with 55 seconds left on a Daniel Sedin goal from almost the corner. Nobody was covering him, and it was almost impossible for Anderson to get over in time. It was very poor coverage from the players on the ice, but you could tell they were losing lots of energy.

The loss pushes the Senators to a record of 7-4-4, and they’re technically below .500. They need to pick it up for these next few games, as Edmonton and Calgary are very beatable.

Game Notes/Observations

Although he gave up four goals, Anderson looked like Ottawa’s best player. There’s not much he could do on some of the goals.
Erik Karlsson is the only defenseman who can breakout. He’s superb at it, but the other defenseman need some real work.
Nice to see Turris score again after being in a drought for a while.
Hoffman and Stone both scored their 5th goals of the season, and they’re tied for second on the team in goals. They are clearly the teams 3rd and 4th best wingers after MacArthur and Ryan.
Ottawa’s woes in Vancouver continue. Since the lockout, they have a record of 1-3-3. Not surprising considering they always struggle on the West Coast.
I really don’t like Alex Burrows. He was in the crease all night long, and how he didn’t end up with a goalie interference penalty is beyond me. I don’t blame Anderson for slashing him hard in the legs.
There were only three penalties total in the game, which is very odd especially for Ottawa

Up Next

Ottawa continues their road trip as they head to Edmonton to face the Oilers on Thursday. Puck drop is 9:30 Eastern. The trip then concludes with a game in Calgary on Saturday.

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