OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
Ryan putting up big numbers
Sshhh. Being superstitious, Bobby Ryan would prefer all of us to stay mum about his career-high eightgame point scoring streak and the suddenly potent Ottawa Senators power play.
“I don’t want to talk about it too much,” says Ryan, who had two assists in Saturday’s 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. “I want it continue and hopefully we don’t have to talk (about slumps) like we did in February and March of last year. Keep it quiet.”
Ryan, a huge football fan, might get his wish in that Ottawa sports fans are somewhat preoccupied with the Redblacks.
But, it’s hard to overlook. Ryan, who has seven goals and 12 assists, is on pace to break his career-high of 71 points, set in 2010-11 with Anaheim. His production played a pivotal part in the 3-0-2 homestand that was.
The suddenly potent power play has also played a vital role in the team’s resurgence.
The Senators have scored at least once with the man advantage in seven games (nine-for-23). They’re now tied for fifth in the league, with a 22.2 per cent success rate. Before the current run, the Senators had gone six games without a power play goal.
“We spend entirely too much time worrying about it,” says Ryan, insisting that players trusted that goals would eventually come. “It’s not us in the room. It’s you guys (in the media).” ABOUT SHUTOUTS A SHOUT OUT TO TEAMMATES: After stopping a combined 61 shots en route to consecutive shutouts, Craig Anderson is on a roll as the team heads out on the road.
He says he sees a different team in front of him.
“We’re keeping pucks from getting to our net. The guys have been paying the price to block shots, whether defencemen or forwards. The second thing is when we have puck in neutral zone, we’re making sure we get it deep and force other team to go 200 feet?”
Sounds good, but the Senators still allowed 36 shots Saturday and an average of 30.5 in the past two games.
“That’s below our overage, so that’s good,” said Anderson.
Indeed. The Senators have still averaged 34.3 shots per game, most in the NHL. DEFENSIVE MEASURES: Anderson says history shows that the teams who clean up their own end quickest tend to have the most success.
“The first 15-20 games are a crapshoot, it’s one of those things where you’re trying to feel each other out, trying to get systems down, trying to get the legs back,” he said. “The teams that come together and play defensive style hockey earlier in the year, usually have a better success rate. For us, we’re finding that groove right now, playing hard nosed defensive hockey and not being scored on.” PUEMPEL SENT TO BINGHAMTON: Saturday morning, Matt Puempel couldn’t help but think about what might have been. If not for a post here, a bad bounce there and a disallowed goal, his offensive numbers would look considerably different. As it is, he has one goal in 11 games, playing primarily on a second line. On Sunday, he received the news that he had been re-assigned to Binghamton of the AHL, where he began the season by scoring three goals and two assists in six games. The Senators currently have 12 healthy forwards.