Craig Anderson must believe in the power of a good first impression, because he wasted no time in deleivering a turly memorable one tonight.
The last fourty-eight hours for Anderson have been interesting to say the least. Two days ago, he was sharing net time with Peter Budaj in a battle for who could be more unimpressive for Colorado’s drive for a lottery pick in this lost season. Then, out of the blue, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators for their own starting goaltender, Brian Elliott. While his new team has about as much chance of seeing the playoffs as the one he departed from (despite what his new team’s management was spouting until recently), Anderson still faced a bit of pressure in his digs. Some from his being a UFA next year, others from his drop in performance from last year. And while the optimistic of the Sens Army, ranks that seem to be quite depleted these days, feel that his could recapture the form from his 2009-10 season, it seems odd to acquire a goaltender that would better fit for a team that is looking to get into the playoffs, not one that should be rebuilding. Add to this that his first game would be against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who even in the nadir of their rivalry still capture the attention of Southern Ontario like few other matchups, and it is as if he had been taken from the snowbank he had been buried in with the Avalanche, and thrown into the fire.
After tonight though, maybe there’s a bit of method to Murray’s madness, at least briefly. To put it blunt, Anderson was given a baptism by fire and came out of it not even singed. The Leafs, who had dealt Tomas Kaberle less then twenty-four ago (you’ve had heard about that, right?), looked to have the Senators number right from the opening faceoff. They peppered Anderson with shot after shot, period after period, but to Anderson the puck was the size of a medicine ball as he turned away almost fifty shots through regulation and overtime. The finest, being on Kessel’s shot in overtime, where he would show his frustration on missing his chance in his return to the bench, one echoed often by Toronto’s offense that night. In fact, his first shout-out in over a year was probably the first time that a Senators goalie was able to single-handedly grant Ottawa victory in quite a while, not something you’d associate with each other for sure.
And it was good that Anderson did deliver a stellar performance, because it was pretty much the lone highlight of the evening. Toronto-Ottawa games usually have some fire with them, but tonights seem to be both tame and for the most part, one sided. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that tonights game could have been a goaltending clinic, especially with James Reimer having the Leaf faithful playing well enough to make them forget about yesterdays flavour of the week (Jonas Gustavsson or Jean-Sebastien Giguere, depending on the day and the person being conversed with). That both goalies were facing two of the most ineffective offences in the league, and teams that had more of an AHL feel to it then NHL with all the minor leaguers called up as of late, would make for an evening that I’m sure will have anti-trap zealots frothing at the mouth. For the Leafs, tonights performance showed that they can blow past defenses that are absolutely horrible and undermanned, but may be lacking offensive firepower to be adding fuel to the playoff talk that is starting in Hogtown.
So does tonights result mean the Senators can finally say their goaltending problems are over? Doubtful. Remember this is the same statement that was made when the Sens acquired other goalies such as Pascal LeClaire and Dominik Hašek, and we all know how well those have turned out. Add to that he’ll be able to walk away with no return for the Sens and Anderson could be added to the quickly growing woodpile of Murray never learning from his past mistakes. That being said, having other options (and hopefully cheaper) outside of the seemingly perma-injured LeClaire to fall back on couldn’t hurt. Doubly so if the Sens can get rid of some other “mistakes” (*cough*Kovalev*cough*), before the trade deadline.
Until then, we can hope that Anderson can make watching Sens games a bit more bearable, at least more then they have been. This year, it’d be a nice change of pace.
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The owner of the Sports Blog Network, Chris tells it exactly as he sees it, be it in the stands, in front of the tv, or on his semi-trusty laptop. And always with a can of trusty Dr. Pepper by his side, and spell-check working overtime. 
Anderson could quickly give the Sens some credibility in goal, and provide Lehner with that veteran presence. Leclaire / Elliott was not exactly a tandem you want teaching a young goalie. Hopefully Murray re-signs him, but if not, giving up a pending RFA goalie more suited to a backup role isn’t a tough pill to swallow.
You have a point, Elliott was learning himself, and LeClaire could teach Lehner how to get injured bizarrely but probably little else. That being said, I have little faith in Murray signing him again, especially if he keeps authoring such masterpieces.