A little less than a year ago, the Senators lost 2-0 to the Senators and it was, at the time, the lowest point of the season (as evidenced by my rendering in the post). This year, despite a 1-0 loss to those same Los Angeles Kings, I'm not nearly so depressed. And not just because the Kings are slightly better than they were last season, and are on the Western Conference's playoff bubble.
I also saw some positive signs in the Senators play. The team has finally gotten back to an aggressive two-man forecheck within a 2-1-2 system, which should help the offence eventually--even if it didn't last night. The Senators did create turnovers, though, and did create scoring chances off of them. The Senators' largely slow d-corps has fallen victim to aggressive forecheckers this season, and the hope is that by using that same tactic, the Sens can use their offensive speed (which they still have some of, in the forms of Dean McAmmond, Mike Fisher, and Antoine Vermette). Then we get back to forcing opposing d into making turnovers, employing a reliable transition game and turning that into offence/
It also looked like Cory Clouston's attempts to make the game a bit more fun for the players is working. It was strange to say, but the game was surprisingly exciting for a 1-0 game.
I liked what I saw, and look forward to seeing what this new approach brings for the rest of the season.
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