Anderson stressing positives amid return
As much as it has been a funky, stop-and-start season for Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson due to a pair of lower-body injuries, he’s doing his best to remain a mentor.
The last thing the 38-year-old wants to do is bring a negative vibe into the dressing room.
“I’m just kind of going with the moment,” said Anderson, who could be back in the net Monday against the Buffalo Sabres, for his first start since suffering an apparent knee injury only seven minutes into a Dec. 7 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“My mentality is don’t stress over anything. Play loose. Be loose. Don’t take anything home with you, in terms of good play or bad play.
“We’re fortunate enough to play the game and I’m fortunate to have played as long as I have. You’ve definitely got to enjoy the moment and not be the old Grinch.”
Sticking with the Christmas theme, Anderson is hoping to get another game under his belt before heading home to wife Nicholle and sons Jake and Levi in Florida on Tuesday.
This season, Anderson has sported a 5-8 record, with a 3.01 goalsagainst average and .901 save percentage. Before the injuries — he has played only twice since Nov. 25 — he was splitting the net with Anders Nilsson.
With Nilsson now sidelined due to a concussion, Marcus Hogberg has started the past three games, registering a 1-0-2 mark, including Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
“I’m working hard towards getting back in there,” Anderson said following Sunday’s brief workout at Canadian Tire Centre. “I definitely want to get back in there and give my team a chance to win the game and feel like I’m part of it again.”
After Sunday’s practice, coach
D.J. Smith wasn’t quite ready to guarantee Anderson would get the start against Buffalo. He says he wanted to talk with goaltending coach Pierre Groulx before committing to a starter.
While Anderson remains a competitor on the ice, he has become more philosophical when he’s not stopping pucks.
Much of that, of course, stems from watching his wife battle, and ultimately prevail, in her fight with a rare throat cancer during the 2016-17 season.
Playing in the last year of his contract, Anderson will almost assuredly be on the move before the trade deadline if general manager Pierre Dorion can find a team looking for an experienced netminder who can serve as a backup for a playoff run.
At this point in what is most likely his last season, Anderson has fully accepted what the rebuild under coach D.J. Smith is all about.
“It’s easier this year maybe (from) the last couple of years to not stress as much,” he said. “When you go through life changing moments, that changes your perspective about things. You have to enjoy the moment. There are bigger things in life. Playing hockey is just a short period in your life and you have to make the most of it.”
Anderson says he has seen growth, especially when it comes to how hard the Senators compete.
But with the club trying to find Band-aids to cover all the wounds on defence — Nikita Zaitsev, Dylan Demelo and Ron Hainsey will remain out against the Sabres — Anderson believes he can do his part in helping the relatively inexperienced replacements in front of him.
“You try to slow it down, get whistles, talk to them and communicate,” he said. “The more you talk, the more it eases them.”