Senators Three Stars of the Week: Week 2
The sweep of Western Canada made for a great week
What a week it was. The Ottawa Senators had never swept the Western Canadian road trip in franchise history. Never, that is, until October 2017 when they pulled off the feat. Most pundits before the season had the Oilers as a legitimate Cup pick, the Flames as a sneaky Cup pick, and the Sens failing to reach the playoffs. The Sens beat the Alberta teams by a combined score of 12-1. The only issue is that it’s hard to pick three stars after such a dominant series of performances.
Three Stars
- Kyle Turris. Seven points in three games. Seven points! Turricane was on fire, showing that even though Derick Brassard had a great week, Turris is still this team’s number-one centre. Having two scoring centres isn’t a bad thing by any means.
- Mark Stone. His week was just incredible, showing all the things that made us love him so long ago. Great takeaways, incredible hustle, beautiful passing, and four points.
- Mike Hoffman. Hoff finally got the puck to go in for him with an absolute laser against the Flames, and then got two more against the Oilers, both of the impressive variety. We knew the puck would start going in for him sometime.
Trending Up
- Derick Brassard had three more points on the week
- The goalies were both stellar, with Craig Anderson playing solid against the Canucks and then lights-out against the Flames. Mike Condon followed suit by shutting down Connor McDavid and the Oilers and even putting up an assist.
- Thomas Chabot had assists in back-to-back games, including his first NHL point, but that still wasn’t enough to keep him with the big club
- Fredrik Claesson played a team-high 26:51 against Vancouver/
Trending Down
Do you really think I’m going to do a Trending Down section after a week like that? Sure Thompson took a penalty 10 seconds into the game against Calgary; he also got an assist in that game. Even I know there’s a limit to pessimism after a week like that.
Who to watch this week
Guy Boucher has said Erik Karlsson should be back Tuesday. That should tell you all you need to know.