The “New Look” Ottawa Senators ?

Uncle (GM) Pierre has been in the workshop going on 4 years now cleverly re-stocking the shelves with young blue chippers named Stuetzle, Sanderson, Norris, Pinto and Batherson. Then he peppered the roster with proven vets like Giroux, Hamonic, Talbot and DeBrinket.  What will all this mean in the Battle of Ontario in the years to come ?  Great Hockey !

We got a pretty good look at it tonight at the Scotiabank Arena as the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Ottawa Senators for the second of 4 their straight home games.

Roster changes effected the Leafs new goalie tandem as Mattt Murray will sit out with a groin injury for the minimum 10 day LTIR.  For the Senators, Cal Talbot will be out 5 to 7 weeks and Anton Forsberg got his second straight shot in the net.

Perhaps the biggest pregame news came from the Senators front office upon announcement of an agreement with the National Capital Commission to include a new hockey rink to become the home of the Senators as part of a huge re-development plan for downtown Ottawa.  Finally, no more mind numbing drives out to the middle of nowhere to catch a professional hockey game !

The Leafs came out hard to start the game and tried to push their younger opponents around.  The Senators capitalized on their power play opportunity, patiently moving the puck around the box until Claude Giroux set up a wide open Shane Pinto to open the scoring.  The Toronto squad seemed to sit back after that, being outplayed throughout the second half of the period.  As an example, they were hemmed in their own zone for the final 1:40 of the stanza.

The Leafs were pretty much outplayed by their young, energetic upstarts again to begin period two.  The Sens had 25 hits by the middle of that period.  Toronto finally got their first PP and it was hard to distinguish between the crickets and boos !  After Brady T and Willy Ny exchanged goal post opportunities, David Kampf final tied it up after a nice feed from Muzzin.

The third started with a nice Samsonov save off a breaking Josh Norris.  It wasn’t until a Leafs PPG from Nylander set up by Mathews and Tavares finally put the Leafs ahead 2-1.  These Sens were not here to roll over.  Claude Giroux slammed in a rebound off a Debrinket feed to tie it right back up.  At 1:15, Justin Holl forced his big body in front of the Ottawa net to bang in a Bunting set up to win the game. 3 goals in the last 6 minutes.  Who knew ?

HOPPER NOTES:  How do you like those new electronic boards at SBA ?  On TV, they can be completely blank and then the next second full Corporate type ads…I could sell those – any takers ? …I would prefer Nick Robertson on that 2^nd line…especially now that the Leafs have $3.4 to work with in the Murray LTIR…Wayne Simmonds could also probably get on the taxi squad and add his jam to the room…great HNIC opening (despite Ron’s theatrics) …love that BET MGM TV spot with McDavid and Gretzky (just don’t over play it !)…I’m just learning to understand the Leafs 3 new wingers in the bottom 6, so tonight I focussed on Aube Kubal, # 96, former Colorado Cup champ, right shot, some good hits, good skater and penalty killer…new feature on hooperonhockey.ca :  YOU CAN’T TELL ME that Travis Hamonic (waived by Vancouver) this week wouldn’t be a suitable replacement for Justin Holl (despite tonight’s goal) on the right side of the Leafs D…second new feature:  IS IT JUST ME or is Coach Keefe’s fuse getting shorter with every waking moment ?…who on the TML will ever out hit Brady Tkachuk?  Liked Samsanov’s positioning tonight…Pierre Engvall ?….comments please and look for our Hopper on Hockey broadcasts on You Tube….BTW, I could really use a nerd or nerdette to help an old feller steer thru this INTRANET Shit….Cheers