First year head coach Paul MacLean’s Ottawa Senators started behind the eight-ball this year with a revamped roster full of youth and inexperience. The season started out rocky as they lost their first two games of the year, first to the mighty Detroit Red Wings and second to the Toronto Maple Leafs as they gave up 4-0 leads before a failed attempt in each game to come back. If the Senators can take anything from their first three games this year, it is in the ability to show resolve and determination.
The Senators played their first home game of the year against the revamped Minnesota Wild. When the puck dropped, the Sens appeared to have the upper hand, and even had their opponents outshot for the majority of the game. But going into the third period the team seemed to be headed to an 0-3 start, but regrouped to come back and tie up the game in the final period by coming back from a 3-1 deficit. It took the Senators’ top dogs to make the comeback a reality, as they sealed the deal in an exciting shootout win at home. "Everybody should be excited about home openers," MacLean said. "It's a great opportunity for us to show our fans the type of team we want to be. You might have a little anxiety about it, but you should be able to put your best foot forward."
Former Senators’ superstar Dany Heatley, who twice scored 50 goals in a season as a Senator, was greeted with a plethora of boos. The not-so-warm welcome is something Heatley has become accustomed to since his departure from the team in 2010. His demanded trade to the Sharks didn’t set well with the Nation’s Capital, and after two failed attempts at a Stanley Cup with the Sharks, San Jose dealt the sniper to the Wild during this past offseason.
"I actually saw a couple of jerseys that were unmarked, so that was pretty good," Heatley said. "I thought it was all right. I thought it was what I expected it to be."
Heatley added an assist on the Wild’s second goal of the game by Devin Setoguchi much to the dismay of the home crowd, who also came over to the Wild from San Jose during the offseason in a separate deal.
Perhaps the best player in the game was Ottawa’s Chris Neil. Not often a big point producer, Neil stepped up as one of the more veteran players on the young squad both physically and point-productively. Neil started the show by landing a big hit to the chest of Minnesota’s Clayton Stoner early in the second period behind the Wild’s net, leveling the young forward who initially got the goal scoring started in the first period with an assist to Kyle Brodziak's first period tip-in goal.
"Obviously if we're doing it right, we can demand our young guys do it right," Neil said. "Tonight we were able to do that for almost a full 60. I think tonight we're pretty happy with the win because we worked hard and we deserved it."
Neil also made Dany Heatley’s night a living hell as he was all over him for the majority of the game. Neil laid a big hit on Heatley early in the third, a pleasant sight for Senators fans.
"He's still a player out there and I think we always want to be in skilled players' faces," Neil said. "I think if you bump them off a face-off or do whatever you have to do, but you have to be disciplined about it, as well. I think for the most part, we played him hard tonight, and we didn’t leave him much opportunity to score. With his one-timer, he's got a great shot. Obviously he's a guy we want to key in on, and we were able to do that."
Through two periods of play the Senators had double the shots on goal that Ottawa had taken, leading 29-14 in shots on goal. Minnesota had taken an early third period lead of 3-1, but it was Neil once again who got the team and the home crowd back into the game with a top shelf goal off a Peter Regin rebound at 6:11 of the third period. Young forward Colin Greening tied the game just over two minutes later on a mad scramble in front of goaltender Niklas Backstrom that would ultimately send the game to a shootout.
Backstrom, who ended up being named the player of the game, saw 44 total shots in the contest, and would yield every shot in the shootout that he faced. Backstrom held his head high and acknowledged his opponent’s hard work.
"When they stepped up, we didn't really have that step," Backstrom said. "We got one point but we want to do better in the future. We don't want to be in our zone that long; we want to be in the other end and we're working on that. I think that we can be better than that. That's something we'll have to stress."
When the shootout began head coach Paul MacLean called on his all-star top forwards to get the job done, and they did. Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza, and captain Daniel Alfredsson would all three not be denied goals in the shootout. Team leader Daniel Alfredsson sent the Wild home with a beautiful shot past Niklas Backstrom on the Senators’ third shot in the shootout – the comeback was complete.
The Senators may have won the game, but through three games it is obvious the team has plenty of work to do. The Sens have been outshot by their opponents 10-1 in the first two periods of play, and have been left playing catch-up, succeeding only once.
The Senators and play Thursday against the young Colorado Avalanche, who just bested last year’s Stanley Cup Champs, while the Minnesota Wild suit up Thursday night as well against the baby-faced Edmonton Oilers who were able to upend the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener.
- Kendall Grubbs
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