Anderson makes 36 saves as Senators beat Sharks 4-1
Getting off on the wrong foot is starting to become quite the habit for the Senators, who turned in a pitiful effort during the first period. The Senators were completely outshot (16-7), outskated and outplayed by a San Jose Sharks team that looked like it belonged in a different league.The Sharks needed just more than three minutes before Brad Winchester gave his team a 1-0 lead.
Ottawa somehow managed to escape the first period with a 1-1 tie thanks to the heroics of Craig Anderson (how many times have we said that in the last few weeks?) and a goal from Kyle Turris. Kyle Turris struck again early in the third when he led a 3 on 2 rush up ice and snuck a nice pass back to Erik Karlsson who buried it. The Sens, despite being the far worse team up to this point, had a 2-1 lead. Funny how that works.
There was a bit of a scary moment late in the second period when the Sharks' Jamie McGinn delivered a knee-on-knee to Jason Spezza, but Spezza was fortunate enough to walk away unscathed. The Senators did better than leave unscathed -- on the ensuing powerplay, Colin Greening found enough space to fire a goal short-side and making it a 3-1 game. Greening struck again in the third period with a surprisingly easy goal that went in from a long-range wrist shot with no traffic in front, giving the Senators a very comfortable 4-1 lead. That would remain the final score, and the final shot count was 37-21 in favour of the Sharks. And with a shot count like that, it can only mean one thing...
Sens Hero: Craig Anderson
Naming Craig Anderson a hero every game is getting tiring, but the guy is on fire as of late. He turned aside 36 of the 37 shots he faced, and helped the Senators survive a first period onslaught so that they could get their legs under them and get back in the game. Anderson has been the key behind Ottawa's success in the last few weeks, and was once again absolutely stellar.
Sens Hero: Colin Greening
Greening was buzzing all night, showing off two of his best assets: his speed and his shot. He had 5 shots on net, two of which were goals.
Sens Hero: Kyle Turris
Turris had a goal, an assist, and finished +2 on the night, giving him 13 points in 15 games a +13 -- the highest of any Senators forward. Turris showed great patience and intelligence in his game tonight, and was excellent at both ends of the rink.
Injury Alert: Kaspars Daugavins and Zack Smith
While Jason Spezza managed to escape his collision without injury, the same couldn't be said of Kaspars Daugavins and Zack Smith. Daugavins blocked a shot that forced him to hobble while he finished off his shift (the Senators were trapped in their own zone on the PK) and didn't return. Z. Smith had an inadvertent collision with Brad Winchester in the neutral zone that took Z. Smith out of the game. We'll hopefully have updates on the extent of both injuries in tomorrow's Nuggets, but it's looking like a very wise decision to have Andre Petersson with the team on the road trip.
Borocop: The Review
Mark Borowiecki's NHL debut went about as well as one could have hoped. He showed good skill, made crisp, simple passes and had a few bone crushing hits. He played just 13:01 (the lowest of any Senators defenseman), but he didn't look out of place doing it. Solid debut.
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