Sens surge began with Hoffman suspension

A funny thing happened after Ottawa Senators leading scorer Mike Hoffman was suspended for two games in the middle of December. The Senators’ offence came alive. In the 15 games since Hoffman was punished for cross-checking San Jose’s Logan Couture in the head, the Senators have scored 49 goals. That’s an average of 3.27 per game.

Before the Hoffman suspension, the Senators scored only 73 goals in 30 games — an output of 2.43 per night.

Given the improved offence, it shouldn’t be a surprise the Senators have gone 9-4-2 in their past 15 games. It’s not a coincidence. Forced to reshuffle his lines with Hoffman out of the lineup for the two games, Senators coach Guy Boucher moved Zack Smith up to play with Derick Brassard and Mark Smith. That unit has been so successful — a combined 18 goals and 21 assists in the 15 games — that Boucher isn’t messing with success by breaking it up.

When Hoffman returned, he was placed with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Tom Pyatt, and now Hoffman has caught fire with his new linemates. With Pageau and Pyatt again doing the dirty work along the boards in Sunday’s 7-6 overtime loss to Columbus, Hoffman scored twice. He now has seven goals in his past seven games, back on pace to challenge the 30-goal mark for the season.

“I just try to get open for them,” Hoffman said. “(Pageau) and Pyatt work well down low, they cycle the puck, they twist and turn, they’re pretty shifty. I just try to get open in the slot for them to find me.”

While Boucher says it took him some time to discover the best chemistry among his lines, he’s satisfied that the success of the Senators’

top three lines now presents matchup problems for opponents.

He also says it took some time for the club’s forwards to adapt to his defensive-oriented structure.

“They were focused on knowing how to defend individually and collectively and that takes energy, it takes time,” Boucher said. “With everybody right now, they’ve figured out how we need to play. There’s less thinking and more acting. It was a process we needed to go through.”

SENATORS OFFENCE

First 30 games: 73 goals. Record:

16-11-3 Last 15 games: 49 goals. Record:

9-4-2