YOUNG PLAYERS BREATHE SOME LIFE INTO SENS
Hope for better future in Ottawa showing itself in terrible season’s final few days
The Zamboni driver was waiting to pilot his machine onto the ice following Ottawa Senators practice at the Bell Sensplex on Friday afternoon.
The surface was mostly free of players, but 21-year-olds Colin White and Thomas Chabot were locked in a showdown at one end.
Chabot, normally a defenceman, was playing the role of goaltender, sprawling left and right in his attempts to stop White’s deke attempts.
Boys will be boys, right? “We’re just being kids a little bit,” Chabot said before joining Senators teammates on the charter flight to Detroit for Saturday’s matinee game against the Red Wings. “The practice is over. We’ve done our job. We’re just having a little bit of fun.”
The mood of the Senators was certainly lighter following Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Florida Panthers, which ended the latest misery of a six-game losing streak.
In the desperate search for silver linings in the black cloud of the 2017-18 NHL season, the breath of fresh air provided by young players is certainly welcome.
Chabot had a strong game against the Panthers, only a great James Reimer save away from scoring a spectacular game-winning goal.
Senators head coach Guy Boucher also raved about the play of White in his first game since the young forward’s latest recall from Belleville of the American Hockey League.
If anything can be gained from playing out the string in the final five games of the regular season, it’s that maybe — just maybe — the next wave of Senators will get a head start on 2018-19. Every win is cherished.
“You see it in the mood in practice. It’s totally different,” Chabot said of going through a post-victory workout. “Everyone just enjoys it more. It brings a smile to the guys’ faces. Every game, the goal is to win and some games we’ve come close, but it’s just one or two mistakes that cost us the game. When (Jean- Gabriel) Pageau scored on the (overtime penalty shot), it brings back the fun.”
Chabot’s confidence is growing game by game, especially offensively. He dazzled in overtime, looking like a player who had played more than 58 NHL games.
Boucher believes White is also a more confident player since his latest stint in Belleville. The idea behind sending White down after the Feb. 26 trade deadline was to give him more opportunities in offensive situations, including power-play time, and push the 20-minute mark for ice time in every game.
Perhaps Boucher was overselling the impact of Belleville a bit
You see it in the mood in practice. It’s totally different (when we win.)
since White looked comfortable on a line with Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel before the demotion, but he did look at home with Zack Smith and Magnus Paajarvi against the Panthers.
“He’s less hesitant, more confident, he didn’t make a single mistake (Thursday), and that was the goal: to have him down there until he gets that assertiveness, that speed of execution at the NHL level, ”Boucher said. “If he hadn’t done it (in the AHL), he wouldn’t be here.”
Not everything has developed perfectly, of course. Defenceman Ben Harpur, who has a guaranteed NHL contract for next season, will sit out his third consecutive game as a healthy scratch Saturday. The Senators are sending a loud message that they need Harpur to use his 6-6, 222-pound frame to better effect.
“He’s going to have to be better than somebody else, and right now none of the guys (on defence) deserve to be taken out. That’s number one,” Boucher said. “And, number two, he’s going to have to play with more assertiveness.”
Harpur’s loss has been Christian Wolanin’s gain. Wolanin has played five consecutive games since signing with the Senators following his career at University of North Dakota and has looked comfortable.
“My goodness, can that guy hang on to the puck and have poise and vision. That’s definitely NHL (level),” Boucher said. “If he keeps growing his defensive game, this will be a really good player. That’s a great (draft pick).”
Thursday’s win was impressive in that the Panthers had everything to fight for in their battle for an Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot.
Come Saturday, though, the Senators will be facing a mirror image: a Red Wings squad also playing out a difficult season, hoping young prospects gain from the experience.
“They’ve got forwards that are pretty fast,” Chabot said. “They’ve got that guy, I’m going to say his name wrong, but Anthanas. … We’ve got be aware of that when he’s out there.”
Chabot was speaking of Andreas Athanasiou, who had about six breakaways the last time the Senators and Red Wings met on Jan. 3 and also scored the winning goal six seconds into overtime.