BOSTON — Thumbs down for Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson. Thumbs up for Anderson.
After he allowed goals on the Bruins’ sixth, seventh and ninth shots on Monday night, turning the huge 3-0 lead into a 3-3 tie, something looked terribly off with Anderson, who was fortunate that the Senators rallied from his ghastly stickhandling gaffe in Game 2.
Somewhere in the back of the mind of Senators head coach Guy Boucher, he must have given at least a passing thought to replacing Anderson with back-up Mike Condon.
Still, if the measure of a top-flight National Hockey League goaltender is his ability to quickly shake off the bad stuff, Anderson deserved some credit.
The Senators would never have made it overtime without the play of Anderson in a third period largely dominated by the Bruins. With 9:30 left in the third, he stoned David Krejci with his pad. Three minutes into the third, he had stolen a goal away from Kevan Miller with a sharp trapper stop. Of course, he also caught a break when David Pastrnak couldn’t find a puck in his skates while staring at an open net.
MULTIPLE CHOICE: From 3-0 to 3-2 in the blink of an eye. From 3-2 to 3-3 seven minutes later. Beyond Anderson, what were the biggest factors?
A) Senators head coach Guy Boucher for not pushing hard enough for the Senators to stay aggressive and/or not calling a timeout to calm things down?
B) The experienced players on the ice and the bench for not showing enough composure to handle the inevitable push-back from the Bruins?
C) The “Celtics” bounce, which resulted in the puck hopping over Bobby Ryan’s stick, leading directly to the Bruins second goal by David Backes?
D) The referees for calling Dion Phaneuf for a slash and putting the Senators down 5-on-3, giving the Bruins control inside Ottawa’s zone before David Pastrnak’s tying goal?
E) Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask for his superb pad save on Mark Stone with the Senators up 3-2?
A TALE OF TWO DEFENCEMEN: The joint was jumping early, the fans in full voice and Ben Harpur, playing his first NHL playoff game, was swimming, scrambling to stay alive against the BUMP Line. Then Karlsson made like Tom Brady, launching a Hail Mary pass over Chara’s head and Mike Hoffman went all Peter Forsberg on Tuukka Rask. It got quiet in a hurry and quieter still 35 seconds later, when Derick Brassard buried Bobby Ryan’s pass past Rask to make it 2-0 … Seconds before Brassard’s goal, Bruins defenceman Tommy Cross, also playing his first post-season game in the NHL, lost his stick. He couldn’t stop Viktor Stalberg’s pass out front and couldn’t contain Ryan before the pass to Brassard.
TURNING THE VOLUME BACK UP: After Hoffman’s second goal gave the Senators their (seemingly) commanding 3-0 edge, there was a sense of disbelief at what had happened. Ten minutes later, there was belief in the crowd and mind-numbing noise. It lasted until the end. Montreal’s Bell Centre gets a lot of credit for being loud. The TD Garden is in the same ball park.
CONDON AND BOSTONSTRONG: Senators back-up netminder Mike Condon is a Boston native and a proud promoter of everything on the Boston sports scene. Well, almost. “It’s not like Ottawa, where it’s just Redblacks and the Senators, pretty much,” he said, referring to the Easter Long weekend that featured the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and, of course, the Boston Marathon. “It’s like this all the time. It’s easy being a Boston sports fan. It seems like every year, the Big Four teams always have somebody in the mix. The Patriots every year, the Red Sox spend a lot of money and are always in it. I don’t really care about the Bruins any more, but the Celtics, too. The Garden is pretty busy at this time of year, which is always good for the city. For sure, I’m a proud Boston sports fan … with the exception of ice hockey.” Casting a glance at a couple of Boston-based scribes, Condon said, “You should talk to those guys. Easiest gig ever. Always something to write about.”
STAYING READY: As much as it’s a disturbing thought for Senators faithful, Condon also knows he’s only a Craig Anderson injury away from being in the net himself. Or, maybe, just maybe (see above), Senators head coach Guy Boucher might at least give some thought to a drastic netminding move. “It’s just fighting complacency, which is the biggest thing right now,” Condon said of his back-up role. “You want to find drills to compete with guys. If you face six pucks, you can only let one in, that kind of thing. I told (goaltending coach Pierre Groulx) that I wanted a little more intense stuff. In a split-second, I could be in there and it’s (my) series. You don’t have any time to get your feet wet and shake the cobwebs off, so you’ve got to be ready if it comes.”
KEEP ON RUNNING ON: Felt good about myself after spending a couple of minutes on a stationary bike Monday morning. Then went outside to see some of the 30,000 on their way to run more than 42 kilometres through the streets of Boston … The Bruins paid tribute to marathoners late in the first period on the video scoreboard, congratulating those who ran and then showed up at the game. I was tired just riding the elevator and walking to the press box.
OVERHEARD: An usher named Mark inside TD Garden: “I’m a Yankees fan. I would never work at Fenway, even if they paid me way more than to work here. The only time I go near the place is when the Yankees are in town.”
kwarren@postmedia.com
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