In the immortal words of All Elite Wrestling notable Maxwell Jacob Friedman: “I’m better than you, and you know it!”
In the mortal words of the Ottawa Senators up until the month of December (well, Dec. 5th to put a nail in it): “You’re better than me, and we all know it!”
That was then and this is now.
The Senators’ fragile confidence level was on a quick plummet up until that December date when the turnaround came – or at least, started – in a tight 2-1 win over rival Detroit. And instead of figuring out this was yet another lost season, Ottawa’s players and staff came into believing they were better than what they had shown, and it was time to prove it on the ice.
That belief has grown and now the team sits pretty – and in a playoff spot no less – following late Saturday night’s 5-4 road win, an overtime ripper against the hometown Vancouver Canucks.
Make it six straight wins.
Of course, there was that not-unexpected blip Sunday night. After a long flight back eastward, Ottawa lost to the Edmonton Oilers in Alberta. The team’s long success streak came to an end against Connor McDavid and crew but there’s no getting around this: The Senators are quite easily now the league’s hottest team.
This was supposed to be the beginning of the end. Ottawa, not known for its effectiveness on the road, was staring at a nine-game road swing through all parts of the NHL. So far, so good.
It opened with a 3-0 victory in Seattle.
Then the team that generally falls to pieces in locales like Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton took two-of-three to mark the roughly halfway part of this monumental road swing as being highly profitable.
Still, there’s a lengthy road to travel ahead after the Christmas break and the team faces tough and challenging stops in Winnipeg (the league’s top team), Minnesota (on a back-to-back), then its off to Dallas (considered a Stanley Cup contender), St. Louis (welcome home Brady Tkachuk on yet another back-to-back test) and finally wrapping up the travel in Detroit (the Wings are in trouble) on Jan. 7th.
The next home date is Jan. 9th against the hapless Buffalo Sabres, ironically a team along with those troubled Red Wings that was considered pre-season to be Ottawa’s equal in the chase for one of the final post-season spots.
So, Merry Christmas Senator fan. It’s been a long time coming.
Enjoy the holidays.
THOUGHT, SEEN AND HEARD:
Loving the inclusion of former Winnipeg (and Ottawa, remember?) bench boss Rick Bowness on the HNIC panel. No one digs deeper on strategy and relays what’s in the mind of coaches than Rick . . . In a perfect world – well, mine at least – the HNIC panel would be comprised of Bowness, Luke Gazdic and Kevin Bieksa . . . Of course, keep Elliotte Friedman on board for the latest league chatter too . . . Ottawa’s Adam Gaudette who was off to that sizzling start, was dropped to the fourth line during the trip. Never understood why you slot a goal scorer onto Line No. 4 . . . Gaudette’s struggling no doubt with zero goals in his past six games . . . No chance Linus Ullmark wouldn’t be named Team Sweden’s starter for the 4 Nations Face-Off if it started today . . . The other two candidates are Jacob Markstrom (New Jersey) and former Senator Filip Gustavsson (Minnesota) . . . The tournament is scheduled for Feb. 12-20 at the Bell Centre (Montreal) and TD Garden in Boston, so we’ll need to wait and see . . . No definitive word on what ‘upper-body’ injury Ullmark suffered during the Edmonton game. Wait and see I suppose . . . Patrik Laine’s enjoying his stint in Montreal. He’s bagged eight goals in the nine games since returning from a knee injury . . . Must be the ribs at the Bar-B Barn (which unfortunately closed, so maybe he’s heading to Le Boucan?) . . . I was one of the many who was chirping the past 2-3 seasons that the Leafs should trade out either Mitch Marner or William Nylander. I’m not eating ribs, just crow . . . Nice to see a return of Matt Murray to the NHL after 21 months. Murray went through two hips surgeries . . . “Mentally to clock in every single day for that long, it’s unbelievable,” Toronto’s Max Domi said to reporters. “That’s stuff that you guys as media members and the fans don’t see, but we as players do. And I mean, it’s inspirational for us. We all look up to him, and we’re super happy for him.”
OTTAWA SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:
Saturday, Dec. 28: Ottawa at Winnipeg (7 pm)
Sunday, Dec. 29: Ottawa at Minnesota (8 pm)
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Photo: CourtesyUSAToday
