Making his first start in 68 days, it was only natural that Craig Anderson wanted to get involved early.
But his anxiousness almost proved costly.
On the first shift of the game, Anderson stepped behind the net to play a shot that had been sent around the boards. To his surprise (not really, as it turns out) the puck hit a stanchion on the glass and ricocheted to the front of the vacated cage.
Only a heads-up play by Tom Pyatt prevented the Senators from falling behind 1-0 before a minute had elapsed.
“It looked like it was on the dasher and just kept rising,” Anderson said after his 37th career shutout and fourth of the season, a 3-0 blanking of the New York Islanders at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday afternoon.