Senators lose star goalie Anderson but win game
When will the nightmare end? The Ottawa Senators and their fans endured yet another painful sight Thursday.
As Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson lay on the ice outside the crease, defenceman Marc Methot was staring in disbelief. Methot couldn’t fathom the possibility of yet another major injury happening to another pivotal player.
“That was tough,” said Methot, who watched, along with the rest of the Senators players and the stunned Scotiabank Place crowd of 19,076, as Anderson limped off the ice and into the dressing room with the help of the club’s training staff early in the third period Thursday. Anderson’s right foot was in the air.
“I’m speaking, I’m sure, for a lot of the guys on the team when I say my heart sank into my stomach. When you’ve got one of the guys who is a large part of the heart and soul of the team and he has been playing so well, that’s just the luck we’ve been getting right now.”
With backup Ben Bishop taking over in goal, the Senators eventually defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 when Jakob Silfverberg and Kaspars Daugavins beat Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist in a 14-player shootout. The victory, however, paled in comparison to the possibility of losing Anderson for any length of time.
The initial word from the Senators was that Anderson had suffered a sprained right ankle. He’s officially listed as day-to-day, but it looked awfully serious as he left the ice amid the silence in the crowd. While Anderson wasn’t available to the media, he did offer a post-game tweet, saying, “Another 2 pts. Bish stood tall. Hard place to come in the game. My ankle’s going to be OK. Be back ASAP.”
Anderson was the NHL’s best netminder through the first third of the season and a leading candidate to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Before Thursday’s game, he sported an 8-4-2 record, with a league-leading 1.57 goals-against average and .950 save percentage. Robin Lehner, the Senators’ 21-year-old goaltender of the future, was immediately recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League.
There was nothing malicious in the play, which occurred with the Senators leading 1-0.
As Rangers rookie Chris Kreider went hard to the net, his skate caught Methot’s stick and he fell, sliding into Anderson.
“It was a routine play, it was not intentional, at least I don’t think it was,” said Methot. “He stepped on my stick. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
The Senators organization must be wondering when the nightmare of injuries is finally going to end.
Eight days ago, star defenceman Erik Karlsson suffered a torn Achilles tendon when his leg was sliced by Penguins agitator Matt Cooke, resulting in surgery that will keep him sidelined until the 2013-14 season. No. 1 centre Jason Spezza, top left winger Milan Michalek, as well as fellow forwards Guillaume Latendresse and Peter Regin are out with injuries. Defenceman Jared Cowen will also miss the entire season following hip surgery in November.
And now, it’s Anderson, who has been the backbone for the Senators as they’ve attempted to hang on, despite their many ailments.
Captain Daniel Alfredsson couldn’t help but offer up some dark humour.
“It’s pretty much expected,” Alfredsson said, when asked about losing another key player. “We’re going to start a pool to see who’s next. So, we’ll keep going with what we have and see what happens.”
Alfredsson says it’s extra disheartening when a player who at the top of his game goes down.
“It’s never fun,” he said. “Especially when a player is playing as well as he is. He’s got something going. Hopefully, it’s nothing major and he can get back quick.”
Senators coach Paul MacLean, who is now accustomed to adjusting his lineup to make room for injury replacements on an almost daily basis, says the team has no choice but to move on. He took time to credit the organization’s scouting staff for stockpiling enough talent in the minors to be able to replace the number of walking wounded.
To their credit, the Senators somehow managed to get past the Anderson injury to win a game that could have easily slipped away from them.
The Senators held a 1-0 lead on Silfverberg’s first period short-handed goal when Kreider crashed into Anderson.
Bishop came in cold and yielded goals to Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh 49 seconds apart midway through the period as the Rangers took a 2-1 lead.
The Senators, however, weren’t done. Mika Zibanajed tied the game on the power play. After a scoreless overtime, the teams went to a shootout that went on and on and on.
While Callahan was the lone Ranger to beat Bishop on the seven shots he faced, Silfverberg and Daugavins managed to score against Lundqvist. The Daugavins goal came after he fanned on an attempted deke and the puck slipped between the legs of the Rangers goaltender.
Bishop has now stopped nine of 10 shootout shots in his past two games. His immediate concern after the game was Anderson’s health.
“It was scary,” he said. “You never want to see anyone go down like that, so hopefully he’s okay.”
Upon coming into the game, though, Bishop said he had to put blinders on to Anderson’s situation.
“You want to know if he’s okay at first, but once the puck drops, you just want to do your job. At that point, your mind kind of shuts off from that other world and you start playing hockey.”
Methot credited everyone involved for dealing with the adversity in the best possible way.
“We’ve got great leadership on this team and that comes right from the coaches on down,” he said. “They handled it pretty well on the bench. It’s pretty impressive, especially with all the young players we have on this squad. We’re a pretty resilient bunch right now.”
We seem to lose a player to injury every time we play the Rangers & Pens. It is almost as if it is intentional, & when it happens it is one’s initial reaction to think this way, but with the game having become so fast over the years, accidents happen. I wasn’t surprised that Bishop got scored on twice in less than a minute. Not because he isn’t good, because the shoot out clearly showed otherwise,but because he was clearly stunned by the sudden loss of the team’s back bone. The entire arena was stunned & disheartened as they were when Karlsson went down. This team has shown such resilience during these uncertain times, & to pull out a win on top of it all is absolutely unbelievable.
Well done boys…See ya soon Andy……JMO…GO SENS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This year certaimly looks like a hard year.
If the team continues to show such resilience. Then the young boys will for sure mature into men with increased ice time etc. If they can stay in the Playoff race, or even make it. It will payoff hugely for the coming years. I assume that Alfie is extremly important as a role model for the moment!
It will be interesting to see how Silfverberg will be reacting to this situation! It seems like he is slowly getting into his “comfort zone” and start to produce as well. He is certainly possible future captain material.
That on the other hand looks really really good for next year!
I am also curious of how Lehner will play in the NHL.
Release The Lehner
Big Ranger fan here, but have always loved the Sen’s – great goalie, hard-working, lots of talent. Another good game between these two teams. I can’t believe the injuries to the Sen’s though! He should be okay soon (I hope). On a separate note Moore should be out of the league. I’ll be pulling for you guys so long as you don’t play the NYR. (So far it looks like the Rangers can’t muster consistent energy, so I may just be pulling for the Sen’s come April.)
If the Senators make the playoffs this year, there’s no way MacLean doesn’t get the Jack Adams.
I’m surprised Sens fans aren’t calling for a lifetime ban on Kreider!!
I can’s help but mention your wonderful comment on Matt Cooke being a “goon”, and how embarrassed Pens ownership should be for employing him. Let’s look at 2 players:
Player A , in 19 games: 3 Goals, 6 Assists, for 9 Points, +/- of +3, and 20PIM (has 1052 career PIM) for 2.22 PIM’s per Point.
Player B, in 19 games: 1 Goal, 3 Assists, for 4 Points, +/- of +1, and 20 PIM (has 1927 career PIM) for 16.5 PIM’s per Point.
Guess which player is Matt Cooke and which is the Sen’s own Chris Neil. Who should be embarrassed now, Eugene? Get your own house in order before you go criticizing somebody else’s. I also remember the Sen’s signing Ruutu and Konopka in the past. I rest my case.