Back to business for Anderson and the Sens
Perhaps more than any other member of the Ottawa Senators, goaltender Craig Anderson needed the time away from the rink during the club’s bye week.
Anderson’s up, but mostly down first half of the season — 12-13-5 record, 3.22 goals against average and .899 save percentage — goes a long way in explaining why the Senators are sitting 15th in the Eastern Conference, seven teams and 11 points out of a playoff spot before Tuesday’s games.
“We have to use the break to recharge and just make sure we’re focussed on what our goals are,” Anderson said as the Senators went into the break following a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 10.
Thanks to Twitter, we know that Anderson wasn’t just spinning his wheels in his down time. He spent at least part of his time teaching his son, Jake, how to ride a bike at the family’s home in Florida. The Nicholle Anderson video, with Craig Anderson jogging behind their son, was accompanied by the words “bye week was a success. Jake learned to ride a bike and Craig had a couple of cardio workouts.”
Clearly, the time away was welcome, a respite to appreciate one of the precious moments in a parent’s life.
Come Wednesday night, it’s back to business for Anderson and company. As the Senators return to practice in preparation for Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues at Canadian Tire Centre, the challenge is to put blinders on to the big picture.
“We’ve got to set realistic, small goals and try to reach those,” Anderson said following the win over Toronto. “If we reach enough small goals, then the big goal is what you are trying to achieve. You try to keep that mountain, those steps, as small as possible, so that you get some positive reinforcement.”
Since the Senators have been gone, the gap to a wild card, postseason berth has grown to 11 points from eight points. Climbing the ladder to the post-season requires passing (take a deep breath here) Montreal, Florida, Detroit, Carolina, Philadelphia and both of the NHL’s New York franchises.
The additional difficulty is that the Senators only have a combined 10 games remaining against those seven teams, with a limited opportunity to steal points away from the clubs they are chasing.
There is one alternative, longer than ridiculous longshot way into the playoffs: If Toronto collapses, opening the door for the Senators to earn the third seed in the Atlantic Division.
Toronto went into Tuesday’s game against St. Louis with a 14-point lead over the Senators. The Senators have two games remaining against the Maple Leafs, including Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre. After Tuesday’s game, the Senators also have four games in hand on the Maple Leafs.
In order to reach third in the Atlantic, the Senators would also need to overtake Montreal, Florida and Detroit, who, like the Senators, are currently living in Longshot Land.
Easy, right? This is why we’ll no doubt hear a lot from coach Guy Boucher in the next few days about staying in the moment, about not getting lost in the standings or in the distractions that will come from the trade chatter.
If and when those deals do happen, the focus will shift towards giving the club’s prospects more time, allowing them a head start towards the 2018-19 season.
For the dreamers out there, the Senators have shown some spark in the New Year, picking up three wins in five games and seven of a possible 10 points. They also went into their hiatus having won three of their previous four games.
In those four games, they’ve scored 18 goals. Matt Duchene has found his offensive touch, with three goals and three assists in that span — the same numbers he posted in his first 24 games since being traded from the Colorado Avalanche.
Defensively, though, the Senators have not made life easy for Anderson and Mike Condon. They’ve yielded 209 shots against in the past five games, an average of 42 per game.
It’s expected that defenceman Mark Borowiecki will make his long-awaited return from a concussion against St. Louis, adding a much-needed physical edge to the lineup.
Duchene agrees with Anderson that the hope has to come from looking only so far ahead – and so far back.
“If we keep up the pace (we’ve been on since Christmas, we’ll be a team that’s going to be right there at the end of the day,” he said after the club left for the break. “That’s our goal.”