When the Ottawa Senators head for overtime, something they’ve done five times in their last six games, they have a fairly predictable plan for their blue line. First, they rotate Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot.
End of plan.
Sanderson and Chabot take alternating shifts until overtime ends, and unless they’re needed in round 10 of the shootout, the other four guys’ nights are done.
But when Chabot left the Dallas game with an injury on Monday night, the Senators had to turn off their overtime autopilot and come up with a new plan. Who would replace Chabot in the furious action of the 3-on-3? Would it be Jordan Spence, Artem Zub, Nick Jensen, or Tyler Kleven?
With his puck skill, skating speed, and point production, Spence is the player in that group who most resembles Chabot, and it’s not even close. Then you might next think about Zub, who’s more known for his defense, but has shown some offensive flash this season with 9 points.
But the Senators went with stay-at-home defenseman Tyler Kleven.
Kleven has zero goals and one assist in 15 games, and while he has done some good things this season, his levels of quickness, puck skill and creating offence aren’t the reason he’s in this league. And in the wide open spaces of NHL overtime, those are crucial virtues..
Head coach Travis Green was at his short-answering best after the game when asked why Kleven was seen as the best option to replace Chabot in OT.
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“Just… Baumer went with him,” Green said, referring to assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner, who looks after the defense.
Green could have just said, “That’s what we decided to do,” which would have been very much on brand. Instead, he decided to share or remind us that it’s his assistant coach who makes that call.
So we’re left to speculate, as we so often are, and this was probably a decision based on trust. Since Kleven’s calling card is defense, Baumgartner chose the defenseman he felt he could most rely on, maybe not to win the game, but the one that’s least likely to do something that might lose the game.
It could be that Baumgartner is still spooked by Spence’s last-minute turnover against the Islanders last month, which cost the Senators at least one point in the standings. But if that were true, Spence wouldn’t have been elevated to the second pairing.
Interestingly, with Kleven out there for the extra frame on Tuesday to provide defence and physicality, it was a major defensive breakdown that led to the winning goal, with Stars players being allowed to stand around freely in Ottawa’s slot area. Kleven and Shane Pinto became the second and third goaltenders on the play, but in fairness, it was Dylan Cozens who contributed most to that defensive breakdown.
Dallas forward Jason Robertson took the puck behind Ottawa’s net, and Kleven had him contained to the outside, but Cozens unwisely left his post in front to help Kleven. That left Miro Heiskanen all alone in front, which led to four straight shot attempts from the Stars. The Sens blocked the first three, and two were game-savers by Shane Pinto, but every rebound ended up perfectly on Dallas stick blades until Hintz put it away.
Looking ahead, if Chabot is out for any length of time, it will be interesting to see how the Sens handle things in their next overtime and if Kleven continues to be their plan B. My old co-host, John Rodenburg at Ottawa’s TSN 1200 radio, put it perfectly, asking the question many Sens fans are asking today:
If Jordan Spence isn’t built for 3-on-3 overtime, what is he built for?
Steve Warne
The Hockey News/Ottawa
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