TORONTO — Craig Anderson was back in the net for the Hall of Fame game Saturday night.
He now holds a place in Ottawa’s hall of shame.
Yanked only 2:25 into the club’s 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres after allowing two goals on six shots, the Senators goalie now holds the distinction of being the first netminder in franchise history to get pulled that early in a game.
While Darrin Madeley was taken out only 1:13 into a game on Nov. 15, 1993 against the Montreal Canadiens, he hadn’t given up any goals, so he left for either health or equipment reasons.
Senators coach Paul MacLean’s quick hook shouldn’t come as any surprise.
“In that situation, it’s usually a team message and a team wakeup call,” said Hockey Night in Canada analyst Greg Millen, a former NHL goalie. “You gamble that your goalie is strong enough, you know him well enough and you talk to him to let him know why you made the change.
“I know MacLean is good at that. I’m not a fan of ever pulling the goalie in a situation like that because I’m an old goalie. You don’t like seeing goalies pulled to wake a team up. I guess when you’re a goalie, you know that comes with the territory and you just have to have thick skin.”
Millen said it was key for MacLean to put Anderson right back in the net vs. Toronto.
“(Anderson) is your guy and that’s important,” said Millen.
A NICE HONOUR
The building erupted when former Leafs great Doug Gilmour, who will be inducted into the Hall Monday, was introducted in a stirring pre-game ceremony. Gilmour was accompanied by fellow 2011 inductees Joe Nieuwendyk, Ed Belfour and Mark Howe, but the former Toronto captain received the most thunderous applause. Even Ottawa C Jason Spezza, a Mississauga native, was a Gilmour fan. “Dougie was one of my heroes growing up,” said Spezza. “I was a big fan of him and the Leafs back then. It’s nice to be here for the Hall of Fame game and to see (Nieuwendyk), who I got to know a little bit and I played against (Belfour) a bit. It’s a great honour for those guys and it’s a little extra special to be part of it for sure. I loved Dougie when he played here.”
THE MORNING SKATE
MacLean decided to give D David Rundblad a seat for the Battle of Ontario and dress D Brian Lee instead. “(Rundblad’s) play with the puck has been good, his play without the puck has given us some concern,” said MacLean. “We’re back to that situation. It’s still a product of a young player learning how to play in the league, but eventually that has to go away.” ... Calgary LW Niklas Hagman was placed on re-entry waivers Saturday. He was drafted by Senators GM Bryan Murray in 1990 in Florida, but don’t expect Ottawa to take a chance even at $1.5 million ... Great to see former 67’s GM/coach Brian Kilrea introduced in a ceremony for the Hall-of-Famers on hand. Among others were Gordie Howe, who was there to celebrate with his son Mark.
THIS ’N’ THAT
The Senators were given a scouting report on Leafs G Ben Scrivens by RW Colin Greening. The two were teammates at Cornell University. Maybe the scouting report was to try to lull Scrivens to sleep. He faced his first shot from Spezza at 13:01 of the first ... The Zenon Konopka fan club, more than 100 strong, was on hand in Buffalo for Friday night’s game and was even mentioned on the scoreboard in the intermission. Konopka, 30, who hails from Niagara-on-the-Lake, said it was nice to have people from his hometown in the crowd. “The way my career has gone, I’ve got a lot of great family and friends,” said Konopka. “I’m so excited when I’ve got that many people there. They lived through me and I lived through them. If it wasn’t for those 100 people, I probably wouldn’t be here.”
MAKES YOU GO HMMM ...
The good people at the Air Canada Centre missed RW Chris Neil (ankle). They booed when it was announced he was scratched. That’s all right, they just booed captain Daniel Alfredsson louder ... Belfour went for the “just rolled out of bed look” with a leather jacket, open shirt and pants that appeared to be black jeans. Didn’t he once offer the police a billion dollars? ... C Jesse Winchester got a diving penalty in the first after he was hooked by Joffrey Lupul. Didn’t know that call was still in the rulebook ... You gotta give Konopka credit for trying to lift the bench by fighting Mike Brown. Pretty good tussle, I’d say.
THE LAST WORD OR TWO
RW Nikita Filatov hasn’t been recalled to Ottawa, but he will be on the ice at Scotiabank Place Sunday afternoon with the club’s AHL affiliate from Binghamton. The Baby Sens take on the Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal) at 1 p.m. ... Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts were on the scoreboard during a commercial break. Two villains in Ottawa ... RW Kaspars Daugavins picked up his first NHL assist on Sergei Gonchar’s goal in the second.
