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The Ottawa Senators won their third straight game at the Oshawa rookie tournament, this time a 4-3 overtime decision against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I was at the game, so here is my recap along with my evaluations of some players, as well as me interviewing Robin Lehner, Mark Stone (okay not really Stone) and Kurt Kleinendorst, which was pretty great. Note, this is a long, long post, so get some caffeine if you plan to read the whole thing, I mean it!
The Senators were quick out of the gate and while there was no shot clock, Ottawa dominated the play in the first period. Corey Cowick was especially noticeable, laying out a big hit early on, and then later springing Stefan Noesen on a partial breakaway. The line of Cowick, Noesen and Derek Grant created plenty of chances in the first, though they quietened a little bit afterwards. The scoring was opened by Stephane Da Costa, scoring his fourth goal in less than three periods, when he wired a shot into the net off a broken play that was started after a fancy David Rundblad spin. Robin Lehner wasn't tested a lot in the first period, but he did make a spectacular save late in the first period to preserve the lead.
The second period started with the Senators shorthanded after Shane Prince took a penalty late in the first. Prince wasn't done and soon took another penalty, but the best chance went to the Senators when Andre Petersson had a breakaway and was thwarted. This came moments after Petersson was absolutely clobbered at the red line while attempting a deke. Thankfully, Petersson got up straight away and didn't look any worse for wear. The Senators were getting plenty of chances with the Da Costa, Mark Stone and Matt Puempel line looking particularly dangerous. It was Jakub Culek who doubled the Ottawa lead though, when he was left all alone in front and he put it in off a one-timer. The Leafs started to come on, and finally scored on Robin Lehner, with Matt Frattin scoring on a 5-on-3 with just 12 seconds left in the period.
The Leafs started the third on the power play and tied it early on a shot that Lehner might have been screened on. Mika Zibanejad soon restored the Ottawa lead with a beautiful goal, roofing a backhand into the top corner following a nice pass by Shane Prince. The rest of the third period was just ticking away, with the only notable thing being back-to-back brilliant saves by Lehner midway through the period. With a minute left, Stefan Noesen had a chance to win a foot race and finish the game with an empty netter. However, he couldn't quite get there and the puck went the other way, where after some lovely passing by the Leafs, Greg McKegg tapped it into the open net with 48 seconds remaining. The game went to overtime and Mark Stone made sure it had a happy ending, when he scored a gorgeous goal on a solo effort, side stepping one defender and skating to the net and snapping it past the Toronto goaltender.
Check after the jump for my thoughts on some of the players as well as some quotes.
Players who impressed
- Stephane Da Costa - He had a wonderful tournament. He followed up his hat trick effort with another strong performance, scoring a goal and having many more chances. He also played the point on the power play with David Rundblad, which I found interesting. Lastly, while he isn't the biggest guy, I distinctly recall him throwing his weight around at times. Though, then Kleinendorst later adds that Da Costa doesn't get hit, so maybe I was wrong about that.
- Corey Cowick - He played another good all round game and had some chemistry with Noesen and Grant. He should be an important player for Binghamton this year.
- Mika Zibanejad - He got stronger as the night went on, and was the best player for the Senators in the third period. He was very happy when he scored his goal, and I just love those reactions. It is going to be interesting to see how both Zibanejad and Da Costa do against older players in the preseason.
- Andre Petersson - He was again full of sick moves and stickhandling. Had many, many chances but couldn't finish one. He was used with Zibanejad on the penalty kill as well. Also was very aggressive on the penalty kill, attacking the defencemen at the point. He did get hit pretty badly in the second period, so he'll have to learn to keep his head up, as they say.
- Jared Cowen - He was burned pretty badly a couple of times when he went for a big hit and completely missed, allowing his man to cruise by him. His stickhandling was pretty awkward at times too, including once where he bobbled the puck at the blue line and caused a breakaway going the other way. He did crash the net and get a couple of hacks at a puck though. Still, his decision making and stickhandling need improvement.
- David Rundblad - Like Cowen, Rundblad was burned as well. In his case, it was due to aggressive pinching leading to odd-man rushes a couple of times. He did have a fancy spin in the lead up to the first goal, but overall, he didn't create too many chances.