Senators’ Notebook: ‘Dark cloud’ has lifted for Perron after family health scare

OTTAWA — For many of us, hockey is a distraction from the ups and downs of life. Unfortunately for Ottawa Senators winger David Perron, a terrifying episode took over his life when his fourth child, Elizabeth, was born with a mass in her lung on Oct. 27.

In August, doctors had identified the mass, allowing for Elizabeth to immediately undergo emergency surgery to remove it when she was born. To state the obvious, hockey means nothing in moments like these.

“There were a couple of scary moments where you think they’re going to have to take the whole lung out and you start wondering,” said Perron. “You start wondering what’s that life going to be like?

“In August, when we found out, we had to make an emergency trip to Toronto and the mass was pushing so much on the heart that we thought she may have a heart attack.”

Hockey took a back seat for Perron, but the good news is that his daughter looks to be on track for a healthy life.

“It was a dark cloud hanging over my head that you’re trying to manage and live your life normally,” Perron said. “There’s so many people that go through this situation. Now, it seems like it’s more under control.”

Ottawa’s 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday marked Perron’s first game since Oct. 19 because he was away from the team with his wife, Vanessa, and newborn, Elizabeth.

Perron was excited to return to the ice to distract himself with the game he loves.

“It’s just good to be around the guys,” said Perron before the game. “The last several days of skating, and taking part as much as I can, it’s good to be around, honestly. This is what we do for a living and sometimes there’s bigger things and I had to take care of it.”

During camp Perron had to travel back and forth to Toronto two to three times a week to be there for his wife and soon-to-be daughter.

“We didn’t know (what was happening) and we had appointments all the time,” said Perron. “We were in a hotel for almost all of training camp, and it’s been a crazy time, but I’m glad it’s almost over with. We’re not fully out of the woods, but we’re getting there.”

On the ice, Perron had unquestionably played well through camp and the first four games of the season, despite the concern for his family.

Though he did not record a point in his first four games of the season, Perron had been noticeable on a line with Michael Amadio and Shane Pinto, which had been dominant, out-shooting opponents 47 to 31 according to Natural Stat Trick, with a 73 per cent expected goals percentage.

On Saturday, along with the entire Senators team, his line struggled, getting out-shot 4-to-1. For a brief moment it looked like he had contributed on the scoreboard for a poetic return.

In the second period, Perron manoeuvred past a Carolina defenceman to find Tim Stützle backdoor with a beautiful pass, to seemingly tie the game 1-1. But the goal was called off because of a questionable interference penalty on Stützle for stick-checking Andrei Svechnikov.

If the goal had stood, the story arc would have been that Perron was a hero in his comeback. But playing hockey with a wounded heart is valiant regardless of the outcome.

Part of the reason the 36-year-old Perron signed a two-year, $8 million deal with Ottawa this off-season was because of his family. A francophone from Sherbrooke, Que., Perron wanted his kids to learn his culture and language after years of living in the United States. That is why Perron was excited to move to a bilingual city.

“We go around the city and we hear more French than English at times, and we’re like, where are we again?” said Perron to Sportsnet during training camp. “I hope that these next couple years will even help get (the kids’) French to be better.”

Perron speaks French at home to his kids: Mason, 9, Victoria, 7, Sofia, 21 months, and now Elizabeth. As part of raising a francophone family in Ottawa, Perron has enrolled his older kids in French schools.

During training camp, Perron said he was struck by how French was spoken in the city of Ottawa.

“I was grabbing a coffee, and I think the person recognized my accent a little bit and just started speaking French for me right away,” said Perron. “I was caught off guard. Even seeing all the signs everywhere, like, even I went to Canadian Tire last night for Halloween, Halloween signs were both in French and English, two versions of it. Honestly, that’s the first time I’ve seen that.”

In my other job as a psychotherapist, I tell my clients that two things can be true, to help them makes sense of a sometimes incomprehensible world. Senators fans might feel eternal gloom after seasons mired in disappointment and losses. On Saturday, their dark mood would be justifiable based on both the refereeing and the Senators’ overall play.

The referees made two clear-cut mistakes. First, they retracted Stützle’s tying goal and then shortly after gave Pinto two minutes for a phantom slash on Hurricanes netminder Spencer Martin, which Carolina capitalized on to score their second goal of the game.

“I think that was a huge part of the game,” said Ottawa coach Travis Green. “I really don’t understand how that’s not a goal or how it’s a penalty. It’s a big moment of the game. Could have been 1-1. And then the call on Pinto is for me, another one that really changed momentum all of a sudden. Not only are we 1-1, but we’re short-handed and take the too-many-men, which you don’t like to take, but we shouldn’t have been short-handed there as well.”

Green is right, but his team had not painted themselves with any glory to that point or throughout the game. Carolina threw 64 shot attempts compared to Ottawa’s 47 in the game. There was no question who the better team was. Senators deserved a better fate with the stripes, but not with the win column.

Languishing special teams

After a red-hot start on the power play with 10 goals on the first 25 opportunities for the Senators, the team has been pedestrian ever since with the man advantage, scoring six times on their last 33 attempts for an 18 percent mark. At that rate, the Senators would have the 19^th-ranked power play in the league, compared to their current sixth, running at 27.6 percent. It’s a worrisome sign.

Against Carolina, the Senators’ puck movement was poor on the power play, and they had difficulties entering the Hurricanes’ zone, leading to missing out on all four power-play opportunities, while only generating only six shots on goal and one high-danger opportunity according to Natural Stat Trick. Meanwhile, the Senators allowed two goals while shorthanded. First, on a five-on-three, they left Sebastian Aho all alone for a one-timer to double the Hurricanes’ lead to 2-0. Then, to open the third period on the power play, Jackson Blake pushed himself past Thomas Chabot to give the Hurricanes a commanding 3-0 lead.

“You don’t like to give up two power-play goals on the road,” said Green.

The Senators are running a 78 per cent penalty kill, which places them 23^rd in the league. A poor penalty kill and a slumping power play are a recipe for consistently lacking success. If the Senators want to win, special teams will be their key.