Ottawa’s “Second Line” Finally Heating Up

A lot of digital ink has been spilled in the first few months of the season chronicling the struggles of Mika Zibanejad.

When the team is struggling to win consistently and they’re being vastly outplayed in the majority of their games, a lot of finger pointing will happen. Being the team’s second line center behind Kyle Turris in the wake of the organization’s decision to fulfill Jason Spezza’s request for a trade, much of the Senators’ growth and success is inherently tied to how growth and success Zibanejad has on the ice.

And as I mentioned before, Zibanejad’s struggles have not gone unnoticed.

In his first 15 games, Zibanejad had two goals and one assist. This lack of production put him under the microscope and it even culminated with him being made a healthy scratch for two consecutive games in late November. Some of his struggles were explained by one member of the media who revealed that the organization informed them that Zibanejad was “out of shape”.

At the time, I wrote:

“Some have already suggested that this ‘out of shape’ comment could be the by-product of the organization telling Zibanejad to tone down his offseason training because of (the undisclosed health scare that he suffered in the latter stages of the 2013-14 season) but I’m not going to speculate on a player’s health. I don’t know the specific details, nor is it any of my business. Speaking about it any further is completely unfair to the player.”

What we do know is that he spent most of his minutes saddled with wingers –Milan Michalek and Alex Chiasson – whose inability to positively drive possession hampered Zibanejad’s play. Unfortunately for Zibanejad, with the “kid line” having success in limited minutes, Paul MacLean’s unwillingness to break up the trio of Mike Hoffman, Curtis Lazar and Mark Stone meant that Zibanejad had to bide his time.

Zibanejad did spend some time playing with Bobby Ryan with limited success, but the production of Zibanejad’s line really took off once Hoffman was given an extended opportunity to play with these two.

They’re limited minutes, so the numbers are going to be inflated somewhat, but take a look at how great Zibanejad and Ryan have been with Hoffman at even strength thus far:

For reference, here is how they did in a much larger sample without Hoffman:

The line (and Erik Karlsson’s 23 attempted shots on goal! 23?!?!) played a huge factor in last night’s stunning 4-3 come from behind win over the Vancouver Canucks. Zibanejad finished the night with four points which doubled his previous career high and Ryan wound up with three assists. Hoffman may have only had one assist on the night, but it would be silly to ignore the positive impact he’s had on Zibanejad’s line.

Methot Re-aggravates Injury

Fans can’t pretend that all of last night’s events were good. Senators defenceman Marc Methot was forced to leave the pre-game warmup with discomfort in his hip/back injury that sidelined him for the first two months of the season. So all of that wishful thinking that Methot had put the injury behind him by playing in first two games of the season? Yeah, it’s essentially gone now and at least in interim, we can expect more Jared Cowen, more Mark Borowiecki and more Chris Phillips.

How the injury will affect the status of Methot’s contract negotiations remains to be seen. According to Methot, talks haven’t resumed over the past few weeks. Missing the first few months in what was supposed to be a big year for the impending UFA isn’t going to help his bargaining position or his trade value, but if you’re the Ottawa Senators, the lingering nature of Methot’s injury may not soothe whatever concerns they have for his long-term health. Mind you, this is the same team that re-signed Milan Michalek, the same player who has spent time in Germany getting blood serum therapy to help rehabilitate his knee, to a three-year contract averaging $4 million per season.

Senators 4-Point Game History

• The Senators have had 80 instances of players tallying four or more points in 79 games. Martin Havlat and Daniel Alfredsson both scored four or more points on November 2, 2005 in Buffalo.
• Ottawa’s franchise record in these 79 games is 73-3-3.
• The last Senator to register four or more points in a game prior to Zibanejad was Kyle Turris. The instance happened more than two years ago in a game at the Nassau Coliseum on April 1, 2012 versus the Islanders.
• Daniel Alfredsson holds the Senators’ record for most four or more point games with 14.
• Erik Karlsson surprisingly has only one of these games to his credit. He shares that distinction with seven other defencemen: Joe Corvo; Jared Cowen; Filip Kuba; Norm MacIver; the late Karel Rachunek; and Wade Redden.
• The most obscure name to ever record four points or more in a game title does not belong to Brandon Bochenski but Steve Larouche – an AHL scoring savant who tore it up with the 1994-95 PEI Senators playing on a line with Michel Picard and the late Pavol Demitra.