by Joe Boughner (@McLlwainsWorld)
The Ottawa Senators return to home ice on Tuesday, having just taken four of six points on their western road trip. That trip came after winning all three games of a home stand, good enough for a record of 5-1 in their last six games.
"I just feel like we've made good strides lately," said captain Erik Karlsson. "Obviously Phaneuf has come in and really solidified the back end and we're in a good spot headed into the home stretch."
Fans, meanwhile, were sharpening their pitchforks and preparing effigies of General Manager Bryan Murray after Murray sent a depth forward who hadn't played a game in two weeks packing at the trade deadline Monday afternoon.
"Murray is the worst GM in the league," opined one fan on Twitter. "He should've been fired as GM and fired into the sun months ago!!!11!!!'
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| "Senators 2015-16" by Anonymous Submitted via Twitter. |
The Senators were relatively quiet on deadline day, having moved out perennial whipping boy Jared Cowen, injury prone forward Milan Michalek and the heavily overpaid AHL depth forward Colin Greening for a long-sought-after top four defenceman in Phaneuf earlier in the month.
Fans, though, were enraged that Murray lost out on the Brandon Pirri sweepstakes.
"PIRRI WENT FOR A SIXTH ROUNDER WHY WASN'T MURRAY IN ON THAT?" mused one distraught fan, who had only learned that Pirri existed when his name surfaced in rumours 15 minutes before his deal to Anaheim was announced.
The team now shifts its focus to its last 19 games, hoping to pull of a repeat of last year's magic run that put them into the playoffs. The road ahead was made tougher Monday with news that centre Kyle Turris will be out indefinitely with a high ankle sprain but Karlsson was optimistic about the team's future.
"We've got our first round pick if things go really bad," said the captain. "But obviously we're still hoping to get in. We could have six guys score 20 goals this year and the core of this team is locked up for the next few years. We like the direction we're going in."
"BURN IT DOWN," added a fan on Facebook. "BURN THE WHOLE THING DOWN. MURRAY CAN'T EVALUATE TALENT AND THIS TEAM WILL BE AWFUL FOREVER!!!!"
"I'll never support this stupid team again," one fan said, maybe (but probably not) even meaning it this time.
The Senators play host to the Blues on Tuesday. Puck drop is at 7:30 pm.