Three Stars of Week 19: Tkachuk, Brown, Anderson

There haven’t been many weeks this season where we’ve been able to say that the Ottawa Senators won half their games. Evidently, this is one of those weeks, with the Sens logging 3-2 and 4-3 wins over the Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars, respectively.

We won’t talk about the other two, so here are your Three Stars for Week 19:

First Star: Brady Tkachuk (4GP, 2G, 3A)

With five points in four games, it’s no surprise that Brady is our first star for the second week in a row. He was far and away Ottawa’s best player, and it’s finally beginning to show on the scoresheet.

Heck of a feed from Duke and Brady's got his 18th of the season.

GOAL: Tkachuk (18)
ASSISTS: Duclair (14), Pageau (14) pic.twitter.com/lQsyslftRq

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) February 16, 2020

Plays like this are all Brady from start to finish, and it’s great to see them paying off. Put the ‘C’ on him, already.

Second Star: Connor Brown (4GP, 1G, 1A)

He may not have lit the scoreboard on fire, but Connor Brown was all over the ice this week. He plays a relentless, tight-checking game, that always has opposing defenders on their heels, and often hemmed in to their own ends of the ice. Brown is a vital guy to have in the bottom six.

Plus, every now and then it gets rewarded with some scoring:

Some lovely puck movement and the #Sens cut the Leafs' lead to 3-1.

GOAL: Brown (11)
ASSISTS: Namestnikov (12), Tierney (20) pic.twitter.com/N8R9hq83sF

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) February 16, 2020

Brown should definitely be a guy in consideration for a long-term contract. He’d be one the Sens are thankful to have when they’re back in the postseason.

Third Star: Craig Anderson (GP: 2, GS: 1, GAA: 3, SV%: 0.962)

Though Andy may have only started the one game, he was lights out in both appearances, only giving up three goals on 53 shots. He gave Ottawa a chance to get back in the game against the Leafs, with saves like this humble little number:

With the trade deadline nearing, maybe Andy is pleading his case to be shipped to a contender. Or maybe, he just has more left in the tank than we thought.

Trending Up: Marcus Hogberg

He’s still fine, don’t worry. There’s a reason Hoggy has the best numbers on the team, he should continue to be regarded as the starter until he falls off of a cliff. ,There’s no reason to do anything but keep starting him.

Trending Down: Nikita Zaitsev

I’m not nearly as hard on Zaitsev as everyone else, but yikes. He has a combined -3 over the past two games, and looked out of his depth against Toronto’s big guns If Ottawa’s committed to keeping him here until the end of his contract, hopefully he’s protected with safer assignments.

Infirmary:

• No change on Mark Borowiecki’s status, still likely a week to week thing
• Again, no word on Anders Nilsson. For his sake, I hope this is resolved quickly and effectively. Concussions are scary.
• Christian Wolanin returned to Belleville on Friday/