Michalek pays price for lack of productivity
At the best of times, Milan Michalek is quiet. But you didn’t need to hear him say it to recognize his disappointment at his slow start and at being a healthy scratch Tuesday versus St. Louis.
“It sucks,” he said, barely above a whisper, following practice at the BB&T Center Thursday. “Obviously, everyone wants to play and I’m the same. It’s frustrating.”
Michalek will be back in the lineup Friday against the Florida Panthers, with Colin Greening coming out.
Michalek, who signed a threeyear, $12-million extension in the summer, has only two goals and five assists in 20 games. Just the same, he was shocked when he was scratched.
“We need production,” coach Paul MacLean said.
“We need results, we need it now.”
While MacLean says it was a difficult decision, he also says he needs to reward players who are delivering. Erik Condra, who jumped into the lineup Tuesday after being a healthy scratch for the previous six games, was one of the best Senators against St. Louis.
“When you get the chance to play, you want to prove that I was wrong (for making you a scratch),” MacLean said. “We know they are all good players, but we need everybody’s best game. The best players are going to play and you better be sure you’re playing your ‘A’ game.”
Michalek insists he feels fine physically.
BEWARE OVERCONFIDENCE
Never too high, never too low. Chris Phillips says the Ottawa Senators are only looking ahead at Friday’s game, having put behind them Tuesday’s 3-2 shootout vic- tory over the St. Louis Blues.
“We did a lot of good things (against St. Louis) that we need to continue to do, but at the same time, we can’t get too excited about it,” said Phillips, who is expected to return after missing three games with an injury. “It’s one game. When things aren’t going well, we talk about not getting down. And in this situation, we can’t get too high.”
The impressive rally from a 2-0 deficit Tuesday came after Monday’s ugly 4-3 loss to Detroit. In that game, the Red Wings taught the Senators another lesson about the dangers of the defencemen being too passive.
“We’ve talked about it a lot, but sometimes, when you can feel you’re on your toes, you have that tendency to back off and play a little safe where you don’t want to get beat,” Phillips said. “In doing that, you end up giving them time to make plays. If we’re more aggressive, it’s easy to say play with confidence, to be confident in your skills and ability to close a guy off and (to trust) that we have a teammate that’s close and able to pick up the puck.”
HOME SWEET HOME FOR ANDERSON
The BB&T Arena is only a long slapshot away from Craig Anderson’s off-season home. Perhaps that helps explain why the Ottawa Senators goaltender sees everything coming when he plays here.
Anderson, who spent parts of three seasons with Florida at the start of his NHL career, goes into Friday’s game with a record of 11-2-1 career record against the Panthers, along with a 1.93 goals against average, .938 save percentage and three shutouts.
“This building has always been good to me, whether I was playing (for the Panthers) or visiting. It’s just something about the water here or the air, the thick air. It just makes the pads a little softer, with all the moisture. I just feel good in this building.”
Anderson and Brian Elliott of the St. Louis Blues have a .932 save percentage so far this season, tied for the top spot in the NHL.
LAZAR’S CHRISTMAS WISH IS TO STAY HERE
As much as Curtis Lazar would be proud to play for Canada again at the world junior tournament, he’s in no rush to leave the Senators.
“If I go play there, I’m going to take full advantage of it, but I’ve worked my butt off to get to this point in the NHL, so I really don’t want to leave here, either.”
On Wednesday, Senators general manager Bryan Murray said there will, at some point, be a discussion with Lazar about the best decision for his long-term development.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” Lazar said. “My focus is right here with the Ottawa Senators and our next game. It’s a discussion I need to have with Bryan. I know there’s a lot of stuff I will have to go through. The thing is, I know I’m going to get a say in it and Bryan (Murray) is pretty open-minded.”