Paul MacLean is playing a hunch by suiting up Mark Stone for Wednesday’s crucial Game 4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
A hunch that Stone can step in and help offensively like he did when he was parachuted into the Senators-Rangers first-round matchup last spring.
You’ll remember that Stone’s first NHL game was the fifth of the series against the Rangers. The Senator won it 2-0, with Stone setting up Jason Spezza for the game winner and Spezza adding a an empty netter to seal the matter.
It would be the last game the Senators would win.
Stone didn’t play Games 6 and 7 of the series, as MacLean inserted Jakob Silfverberg in his place. Silfverberg did not produce a point.
“It’s a pretty similar scenario for me, coming into a series almost half over,” Stone said after the morning skate Wednesday morning. “I’m excited to be a part of it. Just looking to produce at the best of my ability.”
Stone, who saw 8:43 of ice time that night, will replace Cory Conacher and play on a line with Spezza as the Senators try to even their series with the Penguins.
A huge point producer as a junior with the Brandon Wheat Kings, the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder had a strong second half of the season with Binghamton during this, his first year as a pro.
I think he would have had a shot with Ottawa earlier in these playoffs if he were a left winger – where the Senators are not as strong – and not a right-handed shot who has always played the right side.
With his size, he’ll be better equipped to handle the battles in front of the net than Conacher. But as a mediocre/slow skater, can he keep up to the fast-paced second-round play.
That’s the big question.
“Obviously it’s fast hockey,” said Stone. “These guys look like they play pretty fast, but at the same time I think the way our team plays, it slows them down a fair bit. We’re very good, sound defensively. We play as a five man unit. Definitely helps with individual play.”
Spezza said Stone “has that natural calm demeanor about him” that helped lead to his success in one intense playoff game last year.
The two of were watching from the press box together while Spezza worked his way back from injury and Stone waited for his chance.
Can any chemistry they have developed strike twice?
“Obviously he’s a fantastic player,” said Stone. “He’s a guy you want to give the puck to whenever you can. He makes plays, he makes things happen pretty much every time he steps on the ice. If there’s anybody you want to get the puck to, you want it to be on his stick.”
Spezza will be a key for the Senators in Game 4. Clearly, MacLean is hoping that putting Stone in the lineup can help speed up the progression of his big centre.

Let’s see now. Craig Anderson has returned, Jared Cowen, Erik Karlsson and now even Jason Spezza, too.
If we see the old Milan Michalek in Game 3, the Senators should be in good shape.
Theories vary as to why the 35 goal scorer of a year ago has not been very productive this season. Mostly, we are told, his surgically repaired knee isn’t right. But I see his hands giving him more trouble than his legs.
Somebody mentioned today that Michalek was jumping into the dirty areas in front of the net, but without Jason Spezza to feed him when he got there, he wasn’t seeing the puck. After awhile, he stopped jumping.
Well tonight he gets Spezza back as his centre, with Cory Conacher on the other side. Perhaps it will help to his second goal of the playoffs – and just his sixth, in 31 games, this season.
I asked Paul MacLean is generally able to make the switch from left wing to right, where he’ll be tonight, relatively seamlessly.
In a nutshell, the coach said: “Because he’s a good player.”
He does get one of the better pay cheques.
Asked what he anticipates Spezza’s return will have on Michalek, MacLean said: “Sometimes when you get one player back, you get two back.”
I don’t think he meant it disrespectfully, or to suggest that until now, he’s been disappointed with every aspect of Michalek’s game. MacLean can rhyme off things Michalek does well. I don’t see enough of them, but I did notice improvement in Game 2.
The Michalek who used to be a goal scorer needs to show up tonight.
But the

PITTSBURGH – The Senators shrugged off their Game 1 loss to the Penguins Tuesday.
They know special teams was the difference.
Asked by TSN about their defensive play, particularly a giveaway by Jared Cowen that led to Pittsburgh’s second goal, Erik Karlsson was not concerned.
“We want to make plays and we want to come out of our own end with the puck,” he said. “Sometimes shit happens.”
Asked later about the pushing and shoving that went on in the later stages, Karlsson went back to his new favorite expression.
“Ah, shit happens. Again,” he said. “It is what it is. I don’t think it is going to affect either of the teams going forward.”
Paul MacLean rightfully pointed to Ottawa’s 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-4 in penalty killing as the main reason for the loss.
“I think we need to be harder, and we need to be a little bit quicker,” he also said. “The good thing about that is we have the ability to do that.
“If we had any kind of stage freight or youthful jitters, that should be behind us. And now it’s up to us to make it series.”
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What the Senators power play needs is Jason Spezza. MacLean said after the game his top centre skated for an hour and a half with the Black Aces back in Ottawa earlier in the day.
“Every day he skates is a step in progress for him,” said MacLeanI. “It will be evaluated as we move forward.”
An opinion: Don’t totally rule out the possibility of Spezza flying to Pittsburgh for Game 2.

PITTSBURGH – First, let me say that if you happen to be heading this way for a game in this series – or any other reason – you should try the chilli at the Brown Bag Deli, which is behind the Marriott across the street from Consol Energy Center.
It’s 5 bucks and it’s the best I’ve had in a long time.
Secondly, I’d like to report that I had a word with Matt Cooke this morning. But it was brief.
This is the first time I’ve seen the Penguins winger since I wrote a column that got me a lot of nasty emails from Pittsburgh people. I’m still not sure why. I just wrote that Cooke said I have “no balls” – because I didn’t ask him to his face if he intentionally stomped on Erik Karlsson’s ankle in February. I felt I didn’t need to ask him as someone else did… but whatever. I certainly wasn’t hiding from him.
Anyway, I thought Cooke might have something to say to me today, because he had a lot to say that day, so I stayed in his scrum until everyone left. When it was just the two of us, I said hi Matt, how are you? He said: “I’m good.” And that was it.
It was probably a good decision on the part of both of us that we didn’t revisit that last conversation. There’s no need. The Karlsson thing is in the past. I think there was intent, or careless, and he says it was a “freak accident.”
The nice people at the Brown Bag believe the issue is not over, but they don’t understand why. They think it was “unintenional.” Karlsson, I firmly believe, does not.
Anyway, the decision I’m most curious about today is the one made by Penguins coach Dan Bylsma to start Tomas Vokoun in goal tonight. I know Marc-Andre Fleury was brutal in Round 1, and Vokoun saved their bacon. But Fleury is Pittsburgh’s best goalie. The Penguins are going to need him at some point. Why not start him in Game 1, while the team is at home at his team is jacked to start Round 2?
I know there’s two sides to the argument, but I think that’s what I would do if I was coach the Penguins.
Of course, that could be what the Senators coach wants too – for Fleury to be the goalie they have to beat.
Anyway, should be a very interesting game tonight. Enjoy.

Pernell Subban created a bit of a stir when he boldly told reporters in Montreal yesterday that the Habs are better than the Senators.
He might be right.
This series could just as easily be 3-1 in Montreal’s favor. Craig Anderson stole the first game for Ottawa, and the refs had a definite influence in Game 4.
Of course, I also find it funny that Mike Therrien blamed everything and everybody other than himself and his players after the Habs choked away a 2-0 lead Tuesday.
On the controversial faceoff spot, he could have got the players he wanted on the ice but, as the ref told him, he wasn’t paying attention.
Anyway, Senators players aren’t paying much attention to Subban’s claims. Anderson was told of them after this morning’s skate.
“Everybody has their opinion,” he said. “If we didn’t believe we were a better team than them, then we should just pack it up and go home now. And if they didn’t believe they were a better team, they’d pack it up and go home.
“It’s a confidence thing, and everybody has confidence in themselves. He has confidence in his team and we have confidence in our team. That’s the way sports works.”
The Senators need to end the debate as soon as possible. I can’t believe Anderson is about to lose three games in a row now, but they also don’t want to have to come back to Bell Centre again this spring.