Dzingel snaps goal drought, drops gloves in Sens victory
Ryan Dzingel wore the face of a fighter. The Ottawa Senators winger had a couple of stitches on his forehead, a purplish bruise under his left eye and two or three welts here and there for good measure. He also wore a smile. “It looked worse, I guess,” Dzingel said of answering Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog ’s request to fight in the waning moments of Saturday ’s 4-2 win. “It bled a lot, but there were only two little stitches. I got 54 or 45 stitches in my ear when I took a shot, so this is nothing. I got everything this year, so hopefully (the facial scars) will slow down a bit.”
Dzingel was actually breathing a sigh of relief, considering that his third-period goal ended his 10game goal-scoring drought.
“I feel like I wasn’t exactly myself and it’s good to get a lucky one,” he said. “I don’t even think I saw it. The puck just hit my stick, but that’s how it works sometimes.”
Dzingel, who had an outstanding first half of the season, has held long talks with Senators assistant coach Martin Raymond, defenceman Dion Phaneuf and centre Derick Brassard, who doubles as Dzingel’s roommate.
“I don’t think it’s a confidence issue,” Dzingel said. “You just go through those times in a season, and it’s one of those times where things aren’t going as easy as I would like them to go.”
With the arrivals of Alex Burrows and Viktor Stalberg, Dzingel recognized that his role could change. If the Senators ever get a full complement of healthy forwards — Kyle Turris, Mark Stone and Bobby Ryan are all out with injuries — Dzingel’s ice time could shrink considerably.
“There are some solidified NHL guys with a lot of experience, so you’ve got to accept it,” he said.
Dzingel did feel sheepish about one thing. With an uncle and young cousins in the Denver arena, he wasn’t sure dropping the gloves set the best example.
“I haven’t seen the kids in a long time and it was great to see them,” he said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have fought, trying to teach the young kids the right way, but I couldn’t back down there.”
NET GAINS: For Senators coach Guy Boucher, Dzingel’s goal was the perfect illustration of what he has preached over and over. Whenever the Senators do practice, which is a rarity these days, Boucher is barking at players to drive hard to the front of the net.
“All the top goal scorers get those goals,” Boucher said. “Over 75 per cent of goals are ugly goals. For us, we’ve slowly developed something we didn’t have at beginning: hard offence inside those (faceoff ) dots.”
HOPE FROM THE TRAINER’S ROOM: The Senators are keeping their fingers crossed centre Kyle Turris will be back from his bruised finger for Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Turris didn’t play on the road trip. If he’s able to go, Phil Varone will go back to Binghamton. Varone played only 5:17 against Colorado.
PUCK PURSUIT: Senators goaltender Craig Anderson posed with the game puck after his 147th win in an Ottawa uniform, bypassing Patrick Lalime as the all-time Senators victory leader.