As Craig Anderson gets set to make his eighth-straight start in goal as his Ottawa Senators get set to take on the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre, it’s hard not to wonder whether fatigue is kicking in.
Assuming he plays 60 minutes tonight, he should move comfortably into the top ten for NHL goalies who have spent the most amount of time on the ice. Having already faced 607 shots against however, it’s probably fair to say that Anderson’s minutes have been a little more strenuous because others haven’t <del>to play behind Ottawa’s bottom four defencemen</del> had to face a similar volume of shots.
In his last few starts however, Anderson hasn’t been sharp. On the team’s recent Western Conference road trip, he gave up 11-goals in the three games. Fortunately, thanks to some superb goal support, the Senators managed to win two of these games.
Granted, playing such a volatile position will inevitably generate a series of peaks and valleys throughout the season, but Anderson has not had a game off since November 12th – the game after he was torched for seven goals on 38 shots in Ottawa’s loss in Nashville. Andrew Hammond got that start and won, but thanks to taking a shot to the head in practice, it’s been all quiet on the health front regarding his recovery from the concussion.
Chris Driedger, who has reportedly been the better of the two goaltenders in Binghamton (mind you, it’s hard not to be when Matt O’Connor is sporting an 0-7-0 with a 4.22 goals against average and a .863 save percentage), has not appeared in a game yet.
At least with a healthy Hammond, he would get a regular turn to help keep Anderson fresh and rested. The Senators do have back-to-back games on back-to-back nights this weekend, so there’s a chance that Driedger could get one of those starts. There is no guarantee that will happen though.
For a team whose poor possession rates have been masked by the performance of its goaltenders through the first quarter of the season, if the Senators continue to struggle in the shot differentials department, they will need Anderson and whomever backs him up to be sharp and offset this problem.
For what it’s worth, Anderson has historically shown, especially in recent years, that the less games he plays, the better his peripherals tend to be.
Just in case you weren’t invested enough in seeing Hammond get healthy, his return will allow the organization to better manage the 34-year old Anderson’s workload and keep him fresh.
Other News and Notes:
– Senators assistant general manager Randy Lee spoke to the media this morning and the interview ran on TSN 1200. I hope to have a transcript of it on the website later tonight.
– To the surprise of no one, the Senators’ Thomas Chabot was named by Hockey Canada to their U-20 world junior selection camp. He was one of 11 defencemen who were extended an invite. Francis Perron, one of the leading scorers in the QMJHL this season – who was acknowledged as having an outside chance of earning an invite according to Pierre Dorion – did not receive an invite.
– Milan Michalek left tonight’s game versus Philadelphia after getting hit in the hand with a puck. Mika Zibanejad left the game shortly thereafter after receiving a forearm to the head from Radko Gudas.
Zibanejad to the locker room after this hit pic.twitter.com/boaupGEHaz
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 2, 2015
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