The Ottawa Senators have dropped four straight games, but they might have also witnessed the start of a new era on Sunday.
When the Senators acquired Calder Trophy contender Cory Conacher from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, they were adding to a team that was already brimming with up-and-coming forwards.
The Senators decided to embrace that by putting Conacher, 23, on a line with 22-year-old Jakob Silfverberg and 19-year-old Mika Zibanejad.
The trio of rookies showed what they could do Sunday night when they combined for a goal against Florida Panthers netminder Scott Clemmensen:
Clemmensen was otherwise perfect Sunday night, stopping 40 shots to lead the Panthers to a 2-1 victory against Ottawa.
If anything, that makes the rookie line’s efforts all the more impressive because, as you can see below, he wasn’t exactly easy to beat Sunday night: