The Standard (St. Catharines)

Senators focus on ‘moving forward’

- BRUCE GARRIOCH OTTAWA SUN bgarrioch@postmedia.com

BOSTON — It was a sticky situation in the first place.

So the Ottawa Senators weren’t about to do anything to get the fanbase of the Boston Bruins any more upset than they already were before facing off in Game 4 of this firstround series Wednesday night at the TD Garden

The Senators were tight-lipped about the incident involving the fan trying to grab defenceman Chris Wideman’s stick after Game 3 Monday.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wideman said after Wednesday’s morning skate.

As the Senators were leaving the ice after a 4-3 OT win, they were being pelted with garbage and a fan tried to wrestle the stick out of Wideman’s hands until captain Erik Karlsson came along and took care of matters. Asked about it a second time, Wideman didn’t care to shed any light on the incident.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wideman repeated.

Why don’t you know what I’m talking about, Wideman was asked.

“We’re focused on the game tonight and the series moving forward,” Wideman said.

The Senators did address the issue with the people in the rink. Part of the problem with the cover to the runway to the visiting dressing room is it’s a permanent structure and doesn’t cover the whole exit from the bench.

The expectatio­n was there would be extra security in place in that area to ensure there wasn’t a repeat of what happened in Game 3.

A stepping stone

There is no question captain Erik Karlsson is the club’s best player and on many nights winger Mark Stone is the Ottawa Senators best forward, but heading into Game 4 it had been exactly two months since he had scored his last goal.

For anybody counting, Stone was on an 18-game goalless streak before the Senators faced the Bruins Wednesday. He hadn’t scored since Feb. 19th against the Winnipeg Jets and in an attempt to get some offence he’s now being used on a line with Mike Hoffman and Zack Smith.

Make no mistake, Stone had made his impact felt in this series, he set up blueliner Dion Phaneuf for the OT winner in Game 2 Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre and as Stone prepared to face the Bruins in Game 4 he was trying not to put too much pressure on himself to light the lamp.

“I’m not thinking too much about it,” said Stone Wednesday morning. “I want to see our team win and part of that is scoring goals. I want to break out of it but at the same time the way we’re playing is getting wins. We need to stick the defensive style that leads to offence as far as forcing turnovers and generating those little chances.”

Coach Guy Boucher said it will come around for Stone.

“We haven’t focused on any slumps,” Boucher said. “It’s just like with Bobby. We never saw him as not playing well, we just saw him as playing well and he needs to continue playing well.

“I think (Stone) is playing very well. He’s getting the scoring chances and everything he needs to, it’s just a matter of time to be honest with you. I’m kind of happy that he’s not the one who has to come up with two or three points a game. It has happened this year. There was a span where he was looking so good.

“Now, I put pressure on other guys to do the job, and thats why we’re a better team. We’re not going to look at Stoner as somebody who is struggling, I don’t think he’s struggling at all. I think we look at someone making high-end plays and we just want him to continue doing what he was doing.”

The last words

The Senators opted not to jump on their team charter right after the game to head home. Instead, they stayed at their Boston hotel, will meet with the media Thursday morning and then head home to prepare for Friday’s Game 5 at the Canadian Tire Centre. Boucher said he believes it’s important to get rest at this time of year which is why they didn’t leave immediatel­y after the game. “I’ve been saying since Day 1 rest is weapon and and we’ve really managed our rest all year long,” Boucher said. “When do things, we do them hard and when it’s time to rest, it’s total rest. I like to be 100% guy so it’s 100% work or 100% rest and there’s nothing in between. Our players have bought into it and it has served us all year.” ... The Chicago Bulls, who pulled off two straight victories at the Garden in their firstround NBA playoff series against the Celtics, were staying in the same hotel as the Senators during their stay. “They’ve been playing every other day like we have,” said winger Clarke MacArthur before the game. “They won their second game didn’t they? It’d be nice to follow suit.”

 ?? TONY CALDWELL/POSTMEDIA ?? Ottawa’s Chris Wideman, right, celebrates a goal with teammate Mark Stone during Game 2 in Boston.
TONY CALDWELL/POSTMEDIA Ottawa’s Chris Wideman, right, celebrates a goal with teammate Mark Stone during Game 2 in Boston.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada