Karlsson urges team to keep on playing hard
Imagine that. The Ottawa Senators had to come to the hustle and bustle of New York to get away from it all — or at least for the calm after Tuesday’s Eugene Melnyk storm.
While the Senators are merely playing out the string in a disappointing season and with coach Dave Cameron forced to finish out the year wondering if and when the axe is going to fall, the mood could be worse in the dressing room.
At least captain Erik Karlsson is trying to maintain a positive mindset and isn’t pointing fingers, as is the case with Vancouver Canucks assistant captain Daniel Sedin on the West Coast. Sure, Karlsson is painting over some of the cracks that Melnyk exposed, but at least there’s pride in play for the final two weeks of the season. While the owner appeared to throw the coach under the bus and then backed over him by talking about the “stupidity” of starting rookie goaltender Matt O’Connor in the home opener, Karlsson isn’t doing the same.
“We’ve got to show we want to be here, be good teammates and play hard for each other and the fans and win the remaining games,” he said following Tuesday’s loss to Washington. Karlsson did elaborate on Melnyk’s passion, saying “he knows he needs to do something different and step it up, too.”
At the risk of putting words in Karlsson’s mouth, it would be much easier for whoever is sitting in the GM’s chair or standing behind the bench next season if the owner could somehow find a way to bring a first-line centre to Ottawa, bumping the other pivots to their proper places in the lineup.
Again, it could be uglier. It could be Vancouver, where Sedin used the dreaded “E” word to describe the mess. “I think from some guys right now, the effort is not there,” Sedin told the Vancouver Sun.
ISLAND OF DESPERATION?
The Islanders, who have encountered a series of fan criticisms after moving to the Barclays Center from their old Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, have an average attendance of 13,509 — 28th of 30 teams in the NHL. The basketball-centric arena has hundreds of obstructed view seats for NHL games, but according to Barclays Center chief executive officer Brett Yormark, there will be no changes to the seating arrangements next season.
NEW SCOREBOARD WATCHING
There was insult to injury (or is it injury to insult?) as the Senators were going down 4-2 to Washington on Wednesday. Around the NHL, former Senators were doing big damage. In Tampa, Erik Condra scored twice and was named first star, while Vezina Trophy candidate Ben Bishop registered his 31st win. Meanwhile, St. Louis goaltender Brian Elliott posted yet another shutout. Elliott is 8-0-1, with a 1.61 goals against average and .948 save percentage in his past 10 games.
THE NEW KID LINE IN TOWN
One of the benefits of the lost Senators season is seeing relative youngsters Matt Puempel, Curtis Lazar and Nick Paul play together for an extended period. With Chris Neil missing a second consecutive game Wednesday due to the flu, Cameron kept the kids intact against the Islanders.