Line matchup troubles dog Senators on the road
Not that we’re suddenly thinking they can develop into playoff contenders, but the Ottawa Senators need to take advantage of the five-game homestand that starts Wednesday — and as many dates at Canadian Tire Centre as they can — if they’re going to remain part of the conversation into the new year. Because the way it looks now, they’re going to be an awful road team.
Forget about Saturday night, when they snuck up on a Maple Leafs team that overlooked them and capitalized on shaky goaltending by Frederik Andersen to sneak out of Toronto with the upset. They were throttled in Boston on Monday because they had no answer for the best line in hockey, as Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand combined for 11 points, and without last change on the road they are going to be at the mercy of other National Hockey League teams’ best lines.
In the matchup game away from CTC, they’re prime to be plucked. It’s just the fact of the matter with a largely inexperienced or out-of-their-comfortzone defence and Frank Selke candidate Jean- Gabriel Pageau injured.
“We need time for those players to be able to play on a nightly basis, against the top players,” Senators head coach Guy Boucher said. “It’s normal. Right now, we’re experiencing what is natural with the group we got. We know that.”
The Senators fully admit they don’t have a shutdown D -pairing.
Cody Ceci has been groomed for that role and the organization still believes he can do the job, “but you need a shutdown pair,” Boucher said.
“We don’t, and we’re not trying to make one right now,” he continued. “We feel that the minute we try with (Mark Borowiecki) and him, and it’s OK for a few shifts, a period or whatever, but it really diminishes other pairs in the way they can defend. “Most top teams have more than one line, so, the minute you’ve got two lines, if you put all your eggs in the same basket, you’re still going to be stuck with the same problem the minute you enter their second line. Spread the anchors around. I think Boro and Ceci, and now (Dylan) DeMelo, too, those are three anchors with guys that have a bit more offence or are young. That’s what we’re trying to spread around right now.” Ceci leads the Senators in ice time and shifts, many of which are tough minutes.
He’s minus-four through three games, but he has also been the victim of some bum luck, such as the Bergeron pass/shot that went in off Ceci’s stick. Ceci, however, isn’t making any excuses. “They’re recognized as one of the top lines in the league, and they showed that last game,” he said. “Some of their goals were just unfortunate bounces, but, at the same time, when they’re that deadly off the rush, those bounces are bound to go in at some point. They’re just great players and they just keep coming all game long.”
Ceci did concede it hadn’t been the jump from the gate he envisioned — “You work all summer and you want to start off the way you want,” he said, “but sometimes that’s not the case” — while also admitting he thought he might get put into a more offensive role this season with Erik Karlsson gone. “But the majority of our D -men are more on the offensive side, and someone has to take care of a more defensive role,” he said. Not that he’s complaining. “Whatever they give me, I’ll take,” Ceci said. “Obviously you sometimes want to be in those offensive roles, to get touches and all the glory, but, at the same time, defensive roles are just as important.”