Five Thoughts for a Friday: A Taxonomy of Sens Games

The other day while reading some CD liner notes (way to age yourself, Owen) I got a little smirk from the author's theory that Johnny Marr had six riffs that he implemented across the Smiths’ catalogue (okay way to really age yourself, Owen). And it made me realize I haven't done a taxonomy in a little while and now I can't shake the thought until I get it written down.

Recency bias in full effect, I'll start with the losing because this team hasn't done much winning in the past four weeks. Granted, five games in about 25 days will really mess with a fan’s head (especially when your team loses all five). A long rebuild, lots of injuries, and the imminent trade deadline make it really difficult to recall how it felt as a fan of these team back in January when playoff hockey felt like a guarantee. Anyway, I want to remind myself and everyone that the winning subset still exists in this silly little exercise and we should rediscover those specimens again eventually.

Abject Misery Some nights your Ottawa Senators score little to no goals on fifteen or fewer shots while their opponents score something like four goals on 40 shots. Probably for good measure someone gets injured too. Nothing redeems these games. You can't point to a good powerplay or a good goaltending performance or puck luck. Some nights the opposition just does everything right while the Sens can't get out of their own way.

Perfect example: February 8th @ FLA

Moral Victory On other nights, the powerplay gets a lot of good looks, the Sens stay out of the penalty box, they handily outshoot their opponents, and the PDO gods hand out a one-goal regulation loss just to mess with our collective consciousness. You can't blame the good players for not showing up, you can't fault the goalie got giving up one or two goals in 60 minutes, and you know that in a rematch Ottawa would probably prevail. It all matters the same in the standings though.

Perfect example: November 1st @ NYR

Frame it and put it up in Dad's office Dad has no time for moral victories or other such loser talk. You win or you walk home. I’ve heard that some teams do this on a regular basis, at least the Sens have a couple of these this year: The unanimous decision. Ottawa casually outshoots the opponent, draws penalties at will, get the shutout, and somehow never even concede to score effects as they pile it on the other team. Watch these highlights on repeat until the next game because you never know when you’ll see another one.

Perfect example: February 1st versus MIN

Burn the Tape Early in the season, these cause as much anguish as losses because you know the hockey gods will eventually balance out the scales. You take the points to the bank despite the opponent badly outshooting an undisciplined, disorganized Ottawa team that can hardly get out of its own end. You know that the Sens have benefited from a fortuitous goalie matchup and you spend a good portion of the game on the edge of your seat waiting for the roof to collapse. Don't get me wrong, I would gladly take another one of these against the Sharks if it ends Ottawa's skid and gets them back in the winning column. It still feels tentative at best though.

Perfect example: November 27th @ SJS

Barn Burner

Sometimes despite the best defensive designs of the teams involved and the intentions of the starting goaltenders, the hockey gods demand payment in the form of excess goal-scoring. We, the viewers, bear the rewards of these aberrations. Whether or not Ottawa wins, you get your money's worth and maybe the solace of a loser point but–just kidding, winning is everything. You concede that Ottawa's starting goalie doesn't have their best stuff and that the penalty kill hasn't clicked all night and just bask in Ottawa's best players racking up the counting stats.

Perfect example: October 14th versus LAK

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this team right if for no other reason than to buffer myself philosophically regardless of whether the Ottawa Senators right the proverbial ship or go down without a fight. I really want to believe that these Senators have distanced themselves from the Melnyk/Dorion teams of yore but I hear the proof is in the pudding. I can appreciate that to people within the organization with paydays on the line, this losing streak bears more weight than it does for the fans–we can raise our voices though and then can't (god bless PR training). Obviously for us at the site, winning makes our lives easier and we can appreciate that it creates or more positive environment for you, the readers. For our collective sakes, Go Sens Go.