SMITH TAKES OPPONENTS’ JABS IN STRIDE
Veteran forward embracing his role after ‘tough’ physical, verbal battles this week
The mentally and physically gruelling week for Zack Smith ultimately ended with an overtime loss, but the Ottawa Senators centre walked out of Canadian Tire Centre with some sense of satisfaction late Sunday night.
Ending the weekend with three out of a possible four points following Sunday’s 2-1 overtime defeat to the Boston Bruins is a positive, especially given the club’s depleted lineup.
It took different players in different roles to get there.
For Smith, the challenge for four of the last six nights was as difficult as they come: going head to head against the best and brightest lines on the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.
“To know I have a role, especially when I was placed on waivers only a few months ago, I enjoy it,” Smith said. “I’ve played the shutdown, matchup role for a lot of years now and I’m enjoying it right now. The guys in the dressing room appreciate it, the coaches appreciate it. Maybe it’s not the most glamorous role, but it’s what you need to do.”
Smith appreciates the extra minutes — he played 18:39 Sunday against Boston, 22 hours after playing 18:07 against Pittsburgh — but they are hard minutes.
Smith and current linemates Magnus Paajarvi and Ryan Dzingel were in the middle of nasty battles with uber pest Brad Marchand from start to finish Sunday.
When his Sunday night ended, Smith was credited with three shots on goal, five hits, and four take-aways to go along with only one giveaway, while also delivering a 9-5 record in faceoffs.
Against Crosby and company Saturday, he had six hits and also came out with a 6-5 record on faceoffs.
“It was tough,” Smith said. “I think we did a pretty good job for the most part. But good players like that are just going to find their way on the scoresheet. You think you kind of have them at bay and then, at the end of the game, you look up and Marchand has got one (goal) and one (assist). That’s a little frustrating.”
Marchand’s goal came on the power play. His assist came on Torey Krug’s overtime goal, spoiling Mike McKenna’s brilliant performance in the Senators net.
Give Krug credit. He took his share of licks from Smith and company and kept on ticking, delivering the winning blow.
Considering everything that happened over the weekend and given the need for the Senators to tighten up without offensive threats Matt Duchene and Bobby Ryan in the lineup, Senators coach Guy Boucher was full of praise for the hard work of the shutdown crew.
“We needed our guys to step up,” Boucher said. “On the defensive side, we needed to tighten it up because we weren’t going to win a wide-open game against (either) of those teams.”
Boucher also singled out Dzingel for his work in a new defensive capacity against the Penguins and Bruins. Dzingel and Marchand had a running battle from start to finish Sunday.
What’s also intriguing about the week that was that the Senators in general were able to settle themselves down to close out the week after losing their disciplined edge in the consecutive 5-2 losses to Montreal Tuesday and Thursday.
Jonathan Drouin and Max Domi did the job offensively and verbally.
Domi muttered the word “waivers” to Smith during the opener of the home-and-home series. It was nasty. Hockey players have long memories and Domi will pay for it at some point as the rivalry between the Canadiens and Senators has become increasingly feisty. But for this week, at least, the Canadiens got the better of the Senators.
“There are so many things that happen and stuff that you hear, stuff that you guys don’t want to hear,” Boucher said Saturday, when asked about the chippiness of the Saturday game between the Senators and Penguins.
“It’s a very competitive environment, an emotional environment and the testosterone is building. In the end, you want to win the game and keep your focus. We talked about it. Against Montreal, we lost our cool at moments. They got to us a little bit. We kind of fell into that a little bit.”
Smith acknowledged that he at times crossed the fine line that exists between what’s fair and foul. His stick strayed into some tender areas of the Canadiens players’ anatomy.
“Personally with me and a couple of other guys, sometimes the emotions get the best of you and I think we were guilty of that in the Montreal series,” he said.
“A lot of us didn’t like the way we handled it or reacted to some of the negativity or to things not going our way. We learned from it.”
The Senators have not quietly slipped away after losing the pair of games to Montreal. They remain outsiders looking in at a playoff spot, but they remain in the pack lurking only a few points back.
Along the way, they appear to have made some strides defensively. Smith also appears to have established his identity.
“Other teams might describe me as an agitator type, so it’s fun to play against other players like that,” he said.
“It’s about being the better agitator, I guess, not letting guys get under your skin. I enjoy that part of the game. Personally, it helps me get involved.”