HELLO NOVEMBER

When Indian Summer ends, you should head for sunnier destinations. Suitably, we’re
heading to the Sunshine State of Florida at the beginning of November. This time, our
opponent is the Tampa Bay Lightning. The name should have warned us, as the team around
captain Steven Stamkos hit us hard. I get two penalty minutes and the match ends with a 3:4
defeat. Back in Ottawa, we meet the Vegas Golden Knights next. We are unable to win this
game even though we have home advantage. But the game doesn’t leave a bitter aftertaste,
since even with an interim 1:5 deficit, our fighting spirit is unbroken. Shortly before the
second break, I score the goal to 3:5, then finally, the goal to 4:5 in the 43rd minute.
The defeats just won’t stop, neither during the game against the Flyers on November 5, nor
during the game against Vancouver three days later. But despite the defeats, there are
bright spots: ex-Flyers legend Claude (Giroux) converts my assist against his former team
after just 164 seconds of play. On November 10, we meet the Devils in New Jersey and
concede our seventh loss in a row, 4-3 after overtime. It’s like darn, my shots on goal just
aren’t hitting. It wasn’t until the rematch against Philadelphia that we turned things around
with a 4-1 victory which also earned me my eighth assist and fifth goal of the season.
We’re back in Ottawa for the next few games. On November 14 we face the New York
Islanders, the Buffalo Sabres on the 16th and the New Jersey Devils on the 19th. Three very
different games that exemplify our condition. Our performance is good against the Islanders,
even though we can’t win the game. Against the Sabres, we manage a 1:4 revenge for the
first leg we lost, and against the Devils, we once again fall well short of our potential.
To free ourselves from the bottom of the Eastern Conference results, we need to be more
consistent. While I’m packing my suitcase for the next away games, I’m thinking about the
Mannheim Adler. The stadium of the San Jose Sharks is called SAP Center. A strong
representation of my old home in the middle of Silicon Valley. Despite a passable start and
my equalizer to 1:1, we are not able to represent ourselves adequately. Ultimately, the hosts
win 5:1. We move on to Las Vegas, where we play the Golden Knights on the 23rd. Here,
too, the result is a disappointing 1:4.
There is a saying that true strength is shown in times of stormy seas. Our sea is always
frozen, but on its glassy surface it is always stormy. This is how I explain the fighting spirit of
our team. Despite changeable results, our team spirit is unbroken. We want to prove to our
fans that we can do better. With the 5-1 away win against Anaheim and the 3-2 away win
against Los Angeles two days later, we finally succeeded in doing so. And even though we
lose our last November game 3-1 at home against the New York Rangers, we know we’re
never going to give up. It is with this mindset that we start the month of December.