Ottawa Senators flashing tantalizing signs of bright future with latest win streak
Things are looking up for the Ottawa Senators and their young core.
It has been a tough season for the Ottawa Senators so far who have been one of the worst teams in the NHL in 2020-21, but things are beginning to look up and they can thank their collection of unpolished but exciting young studs for that.
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This year was always going to be one filled with more downs than ups for the Senators given where they are at in their current rebuild, and the name of the game for the coaching staff and the front office was always going to be to develop the prospects and the rookies while putting more building blocks in place for the future.
And, in a best-case scenario, put themselves in a position to potentially get a high Lottery pick and add yet another elite game-changing talent to a collection of players that look like they could usher in an exciting new era of hockey for this franchise.
It was certainly panning out that way with the Sens bottom of the standings in the entire NHL and, while they will probably stay in that region, they are starting to get hot right now and showing tantalizing glimpses of what could become a more regular and familiar sight a few years down the road.
Ottawa Senators showing what they are made of thanks to their young guns
Out of nowhere the Ottawa Senators have won three straight, their fifth win in their last seven outings and they are beating up on some pretty damn good teams in the stacked North Division at the moment.
I mean, just look earlier this week when the Sens beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in Overtime before beating them in a Shootout just days later, which led to Claude Julien losing his job. Then, on Thursday, Ottawa absolutely demolished the Calgary Flames by beating them 6-1 and perhaps sending out a statement in the process.
And the one recurring theme in all of those victories was the future was very much on display for Ottawa Senators fans. This young core, that is only going to get better and better, have been at the heart of everything good this team has achieved over the last week or so.
Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk each had four points over the two games against the Canadiens, while Erik Brannstrom, Josh Norris and Artem Zub all recorded multiple points, in addition to Thomas Chabot, Tim Stutzle and Colin White also making a notable impact.
It was the same story on Thursday night as Batherson recorded his sixth goal of the year, White had two goals, Brannstrom lit the lamp, Chabot had another multi-point night and Stuetzle also tallied an assist.
By scoring on Thursday, Batherson became the sixth different Senators skater aged 22 or young to record a four-game goal streak, joining elite company such as Mark Stone and Daniel Alfredsson, while Jason Spezza is the only player in franchise history to have extended that run to five.
And, amazingly, players aged 22 or younger had scored nine consecutive goals for the Senators, tied for the second longest such streak in NHL history, prior to veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson recording his first goal of the year in the first period against the Flames on Thursday.
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With Josh Norris second in the Calder Trophy race with 12 points (4 G, 8 A) and Tim Stutzle third with 11 points (5 G, 6 A), coupled with the fact that so many of their young guns are riding considerable hot streaks right now, the Ottawa Senators can be pretty excited about what the future holds with this talent-laden core in place, no matter what happens the rest of the way in 2020-21.