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Well, the big story today around Sens Army has been the injury to Jason Spezza, as elaborated upon in this post. It occurred late in the game against the Leafs last night, when a collision at centre ice resulted in a Toronto player rolling over Spezza's leg and obviously causing some serious damage. (Question for the ages: why do all the injuries to our important players seem to occur when we play the Leafs? Except for Leclaire's, I guess.) I had a definite bad feeling about it as I watched him hobble off the ice and hop down the hallway to the dressing room, not even able to put any pressure on the offending leg. Spezza had an MRI today and while he will not require surgery, coach Clouston says he could miss up to eight weeks. This also effectively ends Spezza's hopes to be on the Canadian Olympic team - which were slim at best anyway, given the kind of season he's had, but that has to hurt a little bit.
Nonetheless, the team must soldier on, and soldier on they will tomorrow night at Scotiabank Place, their moderate record (16-12-4, 36 points and 7th in the East) going up against that of the Buffalo Sabres (20-9-2, 42 points and 3rd in the East). All games are starting to become increasingly important nowadays, with the schedule compression created by the Olympics, and pickings in the Eastern Conference are slim as usual. A win would allow the Sens to move into sixth place ahead of Atlanta, and also to gain some distance on the teams behind them that are nipping at their heels. And just in case there wasn't enough pressure already, Buffalo is a divisional rival, so it's especially important that we rack up points against those. The good news is that Ottawa always seems to do well when they play the Sabres, no matter how much better Buffalo happens to be, and they win against them much more often than not. More good news: it's a home game, and the confines of Scotiabank Place have been even more friendly to us than usual this season. The stars are trying to align, so hopefully the Sens can take advantage of that and come up with a better showing.
Injuries-wise, there's of course Spezza with the knee, along with other regulars Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (jaw - but he's apparently close to a return and may even play on Saturday, though Clouston says Mike Brodeur will also get a shot in net at some point) and Chris Neil (knee). Buffalo lists Paul Gaustad (knee), Chris Butler (ankle) and Nathan Gerbe (groin) as being out for tomorrow's game.
The Sens are coming off that 3-2 loss to the Leafs on Monday, while the Sabres were also victorious yesterday - 4-3 over the Montreal Canadiens.Current Mood:  okay Current Music: Philadelphia/Pittsburgh hockey - TV |
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FML
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Dec. 15th, 2009 @ 01:56 pm
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REPORT: SPEZZA COULD MISS EIGHT WEEKS WITH KNEE INJURY
Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza suffered a serious knee injury in Monday's loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and will undergo an MRI on Tuesday to determine the full extent of the injury.
The National Post is reporting that Senators head coach Cory Clouston said Spezza will not require surgery but could be out up to eight weeks.
''It means that more than ever we're going to have to be a team,'' Clouston told the newspaper on Tuesday.
Josh Hennessey has been recalled on an emergency basis from Binghamton of the AHL to take Spezza's spot.
Spezza left the ice late in the third period after getting tangled up with Leafs' forward Lee Stempniak during a faceoff. Stempniak appeared to roll over on Spezza's right leg.
The Senators' playmaker immediately left the ice and headed directly to the Senators' dressing room without putting weight on the leg.
''I don't want to speculate, but it didn't feel good,'' Spezza told the National Post on Tuesday.
Earlier in the period, Spezza had scored his fifth goal of the season.
SourceCurrent Mood:  cranky |
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Using the angry!Alfie icon just on principle. The hockey gods SUCK, and you heard it here first.
This was one of those games that I absolutely hate, where we are afforded ONE opportunity (in this case a single period) to snatch the game from our opponent, and if we don't do it with that sole opportunity, WELL THEN WE ARE DOOMED. I, as an eternal optimist, of course did not believe that, but throughout the game the hockey gods tried their damndest to turn me around to their point of view. It was one of those contests where it's so hard to keep watching, so hard to keep the faith, because every time you get even a flicker of hope, it is almost instantaneously snatched away. I hate how we couldn't even keep the tie. I hate how the goal in the last few minutes was waved off. I hate how there was always an asterisk attached to our goals, two negatives for every positive. I hate how the opposing goalie that is crappy against everybody else is NEVER crappy against us. I hate how Leafs fans were too cowardly to boo Alfie while the score was 0-0 or 1-1, but as soon as Toronto got a lead they started in. (OH YES, I WENT THERE.)
I hate a lot of things, or couldn't you tell? ;)
I don't even know why I'm so angry, technically. It's one game and it isn't even here, so it's not like I have to battle through herds of Toronto fans on my way out of Scotiabank Place. In fact, if Ottawa has to lose to the Leafs, I'd really prefer they do it in Toronto because it's far less humiliating that way. Besides, who's in sixth place (in a playoff position) and who's in 14th (decidedly out of a playoff position) here? Yeah, thought so. ;D
Anyway. Given the AWESOME first period we played, I guess I just expected more. Like, I don't know, the hockey gods to give us a break or two. But, it wasn't to be. Early in the second Toronto got its first, Finger's 6th of the season, and the Leafs then proceeded to take the balance of the play away from us until Fisher scored his 14th about eleven minutes or so later. Of course, being an Ottawa goal, it had to come with an asterisk, and that was delivered barely a minute later when Kessel put his 12th of the year into the net. Funnily enough, the Sens actually played better after that Toronto goal, and neatly turned the tables on the Leafs by scoring a goal of their own early in the third period (Spezza's 5th).
But obviously, that couldn't possibly last, because the hockey gods had already written the script and absolutely NO DEVIATIONS COULD BE ALLOWED. We held the tie for about five minutes - which, I suppose, is a slight improvement over barely a minute - before Beauchemin scored his 4th and the GWG. The Sens did have a good flurry late in the third period, and it actually looked as though Spezza had scored the tying goal with less than a minute left, but of course the asterisk came into play yet again, and the referee immediately waved it off, ruling that the puck was kicked in. I'm not so much angry at the refs as I am at the hockey gods (which I believe I have made abundantly clear). It would be almost better if Ottawa hadn't scored at all, just so we wouldn't have had that small kernel of hope only to see it pried from our unwilling fingers.
Shots were an even 24-24, we went 1-for-3 on the power play to the Leafs' 0-for-1, and I'm not even going to quote faceoff stats because they'll just make me angrier. Don't worry; I'm sure by tomorrow I will have regained my sunny optimist's disposition. ;) It's hard to see right now is all.
The Sens' next game is Wednesday at home against the Buffalo Sabres.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Komisarek
2. Fisher
3. Ponikarovsky
( And the results are ... )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake!Current Mood:  aggravated Current Music: Montreal/Buffalo hockey - TV |
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The Battle of Ontario resumes tomorrow, as the Sens (16-11-4, 36 points and 6th in the East) head down the 401 to face Toronto (11-14-7, 29 points and 14th in the East). The rivalry between the two teams has cooled significantly in the past few years without a playoff meeting to spark it up, and with the amount of player turnover - I'm hard-pressed to name more than a couple of players who are still around now from those playoff squads - it's easy to see why some members of the media have coined this the "Polite Disagreement of Ontario" or employed other such bland euphemisms to describe it. One thing's for certain: the rivalry between the fans has not cooled one BIT, owing to the fact that fans have long memories and that they regularly dispute which team is the best. ;) I for one am getting sick and tired of Toronto fans booing Alfie every time he touches the puck (especially when the game is in Ottawa!), but such is the nature of the beast, I suppose.
On the ice, everybody probably knows by now of the Leafs' woes so far this season. They and Carolina were the last two teams in the League to record a victory, and this was well past the usual point at which such things are common. Toronto has picked it up a little in the past few games - except against Boston, heh - but they are still a fragile team confidence-wise, and so long as the Sens don't play to the level of their opposition as they are sometimes wont to do, they should hopefully come out on top. Games in the Leafs' barn are always tough, but Ottawa should be used to that, given how many Leafs fans usually show up at Scotiabank Place. ;)
As far as sickbay goes, we did get Alexandre Picard back yesterday, but Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (broken cheek) and Chris Neil (knee) are still out. Toronto will be missing Mike Van Ryn (left knee), John Mitchell (knee), Carl Gunnarsson (elbow) and Jonas Gustavsson (elevated heart rate).
Our last game was Saturday's 4-2 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Leafs are coming off a 6-3 defeat of the Washington Capitals, also on Saturday.Current Mood:  lazy |
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Well, it was a close thing, and at times Ottawa certainly did not look as though they deserved it, but in the end, the Sens pulled it out and gave me my birthday win! :D I had a great time - got to sit in the club seats, met Spartacat and had dinner at the Senate Club restaurant - but what really capped it off nicely for me was, of course, the victory, and while I was my usual optimistic self, our boys waited almost right up until the last minute to make it happen. Ah well, beggars can't be choosers. ;)
Ottawa didn't waste time in starting things off tonight, as just about seven minutes into the first, Alex Kovalev got his 5th of the season to put us ahead 1-0. I was hoping this might be the start of a Sens rout, and while they played well through the first period and got a ton of opportunities, they just couldn't put it in the net. Mike Fisher then took a rare ill-advised four-minute high-sticking penalty (how's that for consecutive hyphen use?) which allowed the Canes' Ray Whitney to score his 9th of the year to tie things up twenty-one seconds into the second frame. The Sens battled back with a power play goal of their own, from the embattled Jason Spezza (his 4th), only to see that once more melt away courtesy of Whitney (his 10th) late in the second.
I have to say, despite my optimism, there are few ways to put a positive spin on the third period. Ottawa just ... went to sleep. I don't even know if it was so much playing down to the level of their opposition as it was sleeping. They allowed the Hurricanes to penetrate deep into the zone, to get tons of pressure and to basically have their way with them. Despite some shaky play earlier on in the game, Brian Elliot bailed us out again and again and again, and definitely saved our bacon in the last seven minutes in particular. There was one play where I was absolutely sure the puck had gone in, and I just kept waiting to see the goal light come on, but Elliot pulled off a spectacular save, and it stayed out.
This paved the way for some late heroics by - who else? - Kovalev. On an Ottawa power play he got his 6th of the season (and 400th career goal!) to put the Sens ahead 3-2, which turned out to be the eventual GWG. He then added the insurance marker into an empty net, his 7th of the year to complete the hat trick. Hats rained down on the ice, and the 1-in-18 odds of witnessing a hat trick (thank you, Ticketmaster) claimed its victim. All the Sens had to do from there on out was to watch the seconds tick down and wait to collect their two points. Awesome game, even if it was somewhat in doubt at times. And awesome gift for me! :D
Shots were 39-25 in our favour, but we did lose out on the faceoff circle 19-26. The good news is that our power play seems to have fired up again - we went 2-for-3 tonight, and certainly had way more sustained pressure and shots than in either of the two previous games combined. For posterity's sake, the Hurricanes went 1-for-2.
Ottawa heads down the 401 for their next contest, a renewal of the Battle of Ontario rivalry on Monday night.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Kovalev
2. Whitney
3. Foligno
( And the results are ... )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake! As well, thanks for all the birthday wishes, guys! Y'all rock. *mwah* :DCurrent Mood:  excited Current Music: Hockey Night In Canada |
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Happy birthday, Alfie! Today, December 11th, is Daniel Alfredsson's 37th birthday, and I have to admit I never have trouble remembering when his is, because my birthday is the next day. ;) I was watching CTV news tonight and they asked him what he wanted - he said, very creatively, that he'd like a few pairs of socks, but in my opinion he wouldn't say no to a Stanley Cup ring with his name on it, either. :D
Tomorrow it's time to head down to the basement of the Eastern Conference, as the Sens (15-11-4, 34 points and 6th in the East) welcome the Carolina Hurricanes (7-18-5, 19 points and 15th in the East) to Scotiabank Place for an evening tilt. The Canes are the only team in the conference more woeful than the Leafs, and believe me, that requires talent. ;) Under no circumstances should we take them lightly, though - in fact, that's probably the biggest mistake Ottawa could make. The Sens have underestimated so-called "lesser" teams before, and they do so at their peril. Carolina may be awful, but if Ottawa play down to the level of their competition, it's more than likely we won't come away with the two points. Exhibit A is, of course, those games against the New York Islanders last season, where a few extra points gained in a victory could have really helped us make the playoffs. The moral of the story is that just because they're a weaker opponent, you shouldn't assume you can win merely by showing up.
Besides, it's my birthday tomorrow, so Ottawa had better win, darn it! ;)
Injuries-wise, allow me to engage in a little copy-pasting: for us, Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (broken cheekbone) and Chris Neil (knee) are all out, with Alexadre Picard now being listed as "questionable" with the upper body thing. Go figure. Carolina is missing Casey Borer (broken neck), Michael Ryan (concussion), Joe Corvo (right leg), Chad LaRose (lower body), Erik Cole (upper body) and Niclas Wallin (upper body).
The Sens' last game was their 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. Carolina plays the Washington Capitals tonight, and I will update with that score when it becomes available. :)Current Mood:  rushed Current Music: New Jersey/Florida hockey - TV |
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Revenge is a dish best served cold, or so the saying goes.
The Sens were certainly owed a win in Philadelphia, after the 5-1 shellacking they endured at the hands of the Flyers when last these two teams met, but as we all know, the hockey gods are sometimes not so kind. Sometimes, no matter how much you feel you're "owed" a win, it doesn't come through, and luck is not on your side for whatever reason. Such was certainly the case with the Habs game, but thankfully lightning did not strike twice, and we came away with this one despite playing (in my opinion) slightly worse and more disorganized than we did against Montreal. Ah well. As I remarked to a fellow Sens fan on Twitter, a win is a win is a win, no matter how it comes about, and I'll take them however they're delivered these days. Especially since Toronto also lost tonight. ;)
It sure didn't go our way from the beginning, though. In fact, for three quarters of the contest, there were no goals at all! Both teams had numerous chances, but the goaltenders stood tall, and Ottawa once again proved rather ineffectual on the power play. I am honestly not sure what's up with that. It certainly isn't for a lack of practice, since Clouston apparently made that the pillar of yesterday's skate, and they went through power play moves for the majority of the practice. Well ... I hate to say this, coach, but I really don't see a difference. In six - yes, SIX - man advantages, the Sens were only able to get two shots. That is not per power play. That is ALTOGETHER. Needless to say, Ottawa did not score on either of those two shots. It could certainly have ended up costing us, as it did against the Habs, but for whatever reason the hockey gods were smiling on us tonight. Thank goodness.
Nick Foligno got his 6th of the year and the Sens' first of the night (it was also the GWG) with about ten minutes to go in the third, a weird dribbler that squirted out in front and rolled lazily past Flyers goaltender Boucher. It was flukey, no doubt about it, but you'll hear no complaints from me. ;) I didn't think they'd be able to keep said 1-0 lead, but somehow they hung on. Elliot was most certainly a large part of that hanging-on - no weak goals allowed by him tonight (which stands to reason, as he got a shutout!) and he kept us in it and gave us a chance until we could score. He also held the fort during a brain-cramp penalty taken by Carkner in the last couple minutes of the game. Said power play for the Flyers could very easily have resulted in a tie game and overtime, but Elliot stood tall, and very rightly earned the game's first star for his trouble. Ottawa's second of the night came on that penalty, a shorthanded empty net marker from Jesse Winchester (his 2nd) to provide the insurance and calm my heart rate just a little.
The Sens narrowly outshot Philadelphia 25-23 and narrowly lost out in the faceoff circle 23-29. They were 0-for-6 on the man advantage, and the Flyers were 0-for-7.
Ottawa's next game is Saturday, back at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Elliot
2. Boucher
3. Foligno
( And the results are ... )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake!Current Mood:  cheerful Current Music: Vancouver/Atlanta hockey - TV |
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Late again, ack! In my own defense, I've been super-busy at work lately and have actually needed to start bringing stuff home, so I haven't had the evening time that I typically do. Anyway, I'm hoping things will ease up in about a week or so, and as ever I shall attempt to be more diligent. If only work didn't have to take precedence, but alas, it does. >.>
Anyway, hockey! The next contest brings our Sens (14-11-4, 32 points and 7th in the East) to Philadelphia to face the Flyers (14-13-1, 29 points and 10th in the East) for a tilt tomorrow night. The Flyers came out, well, flying to start this season, and racked up some points early, but they've since hit a rough patch that, among other things, cost John Stevens his coaching job. I was personally a little surprised by that, but I guess it's the same old thing that you have to be seen to be doing something to help the situation, even if that something is really just a band-aid solution that might not make much difference in the end. In any case, it's a bit too soon to judge - Philly did lose the first game after the firing, but they then thumped the New York Islanders 6-2. (Mind you, pretty much anybody can beat the Isles nowadays, as evidenced by the fact that the Leafs did it tonight. You know you've got issues when you're losing to Toronto. ;D) Adding to the Flyers' difficulties is the fact that their number one goaltender, our old friend Ray Emery, is expected to miss about six weeks with a lower abdominal tear, for which he had surgery a couple days ago. Still, I wouldn't underestimate them, not by any stretch.
Meanwhile, we're coming off that loss to Montreal, and hopefully we can at least get some pucks in the net with more success than in our last game. I saw some folks claiming that that last game was the Sens' worst of the season, which I find rather preposterous. Sure, we didn't exactly take advantage of those power plays, but are they really trying to say that a game in which we had 46 shots on net and at least as many excellent chances was worse than, say, the Phoenix game? REALLY? That's ... difficult to believe. Sheesh.
Injuries are basically the same for us: Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (cheek - apparently he could be back in about ten days or so!) and Chris Neil (knee). Alexandre Picard is listed as "probable" with the upper body issue. Philadelphia's walking wounded are Mike Rathje (back), Simon Gagne (hernia surgery), Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (concussion), Darroll Powe (strained shoulder), Blair Betts (dislocated shoulder), Dan Carcillo (undisclosed), and, as I mentioned, Ray Emery (abdomen). Yikes. >.>
Our last game was the 4-1 loss to the Habs on Tuesday, while the Flyers are coming off that 6-2 win over the Islanders, also on Tuesday.Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Calgary/Atlanta hockey - TV |
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Despite what some Montreal fans might try to trick you into believing, the final score tonight is not, in my opinion, indicative of how the game as a whole went, nor is it indicative of who actually should have won based on the number of chances. The best comparison would be ... well, you know that Halloween Horror against Atlanta we went through a couple months ago? If you'll recall, Ottawa whacked 51 shots at the net during that contest but simply ran into a hot goaltender, as we seem to so often do, and lost the game 2-1. This Montreal game reminded me of exactly that. If hockey games were decided based on shots on net, or even on numbers of chances, we would surely have come out the victor tonight. But alas, that's not how things work, and while you have to give kudos to Montreal for taking advantage of the chances they got, no one should be under any illusions that the 4-1 score represents a shellacking by the Habs. That's not it, not at all.
Listening to the pregame show, someone (it might have been Mike Eastwood, but I forget) described the Habs as "opportunistic." Truer words were never spoken. They had fewer opportunities than we did but they certainly took advantage of them, and special teams were once more the difference tonight. In this case, it wasn't that there were no penalties called against our opponent - far from it - but rather that we failed to take advantage of the numerous power plays with which we were rewarded. The Sens tried, but they couldn't seem to get the level of pressure that Montreal managed. Part of that may have been that Clouston showed rare inflexibility in not switching up the top power play line once it became clear that they were not meeting with success, but good (and lucky) goaltending also came into play, along with numerous fortunate bounces that could just as easily have gone the other way. Maybe I'm giving the Sens too much credit here, I don't know, but I was in attendance at Scotiabank Place, and that's what I saw.
Ottawa came out flying in the first period, and dominated for most of the frame, but alas it was Montreal who walked away with the 1-0 lead thanks to Mike Cammalleri's 17th of the year (on which linesman Scott Driscoll unofficially assisted, as it bounced off of him before going right to Cammalleri who put it in). Of course, practically the entirety of Scotiabank Place burst into cheers. I really wish we could sell out our stupid arena in advance with all Ottawa fans so that it wouldn't be like 90% fans of the opposing team for these kinds of games. Habs fans aren't as bad as Leafs fans, but they've been coming a close second lately. I did not directly witness this, but according to a friend of mine who was at the game, a Montreal fan actually attacked Spartacat at one point. That's hitting below the damned belt if you ask me.
The Sens didn't give up to start the second, which was nice to see, and they were soon rewarded for their troubles with Mike Fisher's 13th of the season. That held all the way to the third period, and I actually had a lot of hope that we might be able to capitalize on the bunches of power play opportunities we were getting, but alas it wasn't to be. Though the Habs were decidedly shortchanged in the man advantage department, they put the ones they got to good use, and midway through the third period, Bergeron scored his 7th and what turned out to be the GWG to power them ahead. The Sens then took a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty with about three minutes left in the third, allowing Andrei Kostitsyn to get his 4th and shelve the game out of reach. (I have no comment on that one except that it's always the stupid penalties that get you. Always.) Scott Gomez put the icing on the cake with his 4th, into an empty net.
Ottawa outshot Montreal 46-27, and we also triumphed in the faceoff circle 47-24. They were 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Sens were ... 0-for-7. That, I believe, is possibly the most telling statistic of the night.
Next game is Thursday in Philadelphia against the Flyers.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Halak
2. Fisher
3. Hamrlik
( And the results are ... )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake!Current Mood: tired Current Music: Anaheim/Dallas hockey - TV |
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It's back to home cooking tomorrow for Ottawa, and after that nightmare of a road trip, I have to say that Scotiabank Place is looking pretty good right about now. ;) After all, the Sens were pretty darn good at home before they shipped out of here for the west, and maybe they'll be able to rediscover a bit of that magic and start moving up in the standings again. Hopefully, anyway!
Ottawa (14-10-4, 32 points and 7th in the East) will face their divisional rival Montreal (13-14-2, 28 points and 11th in the East) for a tilt at Scotiabank Place. The Habs have been all over the map lately, looking spectacular one night and like they should be at the bottom of the conference the next. They played an excellent game after their 100th anniversary celebrations last Friday, but looked ugly in the previous game, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason as to which team will show up on any given night. We'll just have to bring our A-game, and if we don't, we'll have to hope that they're having one of their off nights and will do us a favour and bomb out. But, I wouldn't count on that, especially since half the fans tomorrow will probably be cheering for Montreal. Nothing's worse than Leafs fans ... but some Habs fans come darn close. ;)
Our injury list looks much the same, as Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (cheek) and Chris Neil (knee) are all definitely out, and Alexandre Picard is still listed as questionable with the upper body issue. The Habs are missing Andrei Markov (left ankle tendon), Benoit Pouliot (wrist) and Brian Gionta (broken foot).
The Sens' last game was their 4-3 shootout victory over the Ducks on Sunday, and Montreal is also coming off a victory, 3-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers.Current Mood:  hot Current Music: CBC News |
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(Mod note: I decided to just combine the results posts to a degree, because I unfortunately didn't have time to type up the Coyotes results post today, and I think it's kind of silly to do two results posts one right after the other. So, under the first cut you will find points results for the Phoenix game, and under the second cut are points results for tonight, against the Ducks.)
Well, what has been a disappointing road trip for us continued last night but thankfully not tonight, and I think all Sens fans can rest just a little easier this evening knowing that we got at least one set of two points out of what was otherwise an unqualified disaster.
Even though I'm an eternal optimist, I felt especially low after last night, where Ottawa played the majority of the game as though they did not care to be there. They only came to life in the last two minutes of the contest, by which point it was, of course, far too late. The Phoenix Coyotes had built a 3-0 lead - very deserved, I might add - and while the Sens managed two goals from Kelly (his 3rd) and Winchester (his 1st), it was overall just a bad, bad night. Elliot was bad, the defense was bad, the offense was nonexistent (right up until the last two minutes) and there were few positives to take out of it even for an optimist like myself. I could see only the fact that Ottawa did perk up near the end of the third, and I thought that perhaps they'd be able to carry said momentum into the game tonight.
Well, as it turns out - that's exactly what happened! I'm not going to deny the fact that it was a bit of a struggle, because it was, and we ended up needing to depend on our old nemesis the shootout to get the two points. But surprisingly, irony came down on the side of the good guys for once. Elliot stood tall, and Alfie put the icing on the cake to give us a VERY welcome 4-3 win.
It was a weird, weird game. Ruutu started things off in the first period with his 5th of the season, but just sixteen seconds later, the puck took a bizarre carom off the end glass, came down right near our net, and before Elliot could react, it dribbled past him for a marker that was eventually credited to Getzlaf (his 6th). Really, I don't think Elliot can be faulted on such a strange bit of bad luck. You could fling the puck at the glass a hundred times and ninety-nine times out of that hundred, it would bounce another way and miss entirely. But tonight, because it's us and because all the crap seems to happen to us, of course it went in.
Okay, we thought. No biggie. We'll come back. And we did a few minutes later, with Jason Spezza scoring his 3rd to put the Sens ahead 2-1. But - before we'd held the lead for even a full minute - Lupul scored his 9th of the year to again knot the score, this time at 2-2. Elliot was again blameless on that one (my personal opinion is that the defense was crap, and should have known better) and the team in general basically picked themselves up, brushed themselves off and refused to be cowed. No further scoring was done until the third, when Filip Kuba banged in his 7th to make the score 3-2. But - oh, I think you know where I'm going with this by now! - it once more did not last. Incredibly, a mere fifty seconds later, it was Corey Perry's 15th that tied the score at three.
By this time I was absolutely boggled, and I figured that the only way we could possibly pull this one out would be if we either scored with like 0.02 seconds in the third, or if we took it to overtime and scored there. Otherwise, I thought, the score was liable to end up 25-25 by the end of it all. But things held steady throughout the third period and through overtime too, and so we were left with no choice. A shootout it would be.
Shootout
Ottawa:
1. Kovalev (goal!)
2. Alfredsson (goal!)
Anaheim:
1. Perry (miss!)
2. Getzlaf (goal)
3. Lupul (miss!)
That's right, we didn't even have to use our third shooter (who would have been Spezza). The Sens walked away victorious, and I was very glad, for many reasons but especially because I felt that the hockey gods kind of owed us after all the crappy breaks they gave us. And for goodness sakes, how many shootouts do we have to lose? You can't lose every game, and you also can't lose every single shootout. Not even if you're us. Thank goodness!
Shots were 36-29 in favour of the Ducks, but we were victorious in the faceoff circle, 30-27. Ottawa was 1-for-5 on the power play, while Anaheim was 0-for-3.
The Sens return home on Tuesday, for a game against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Place.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Lupul
2. Kuba
3. Perry
( Results for Saturday night's 3-2 loss to Phoenix )
( Results for tonight's 4-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake - with either set of results! ;)Current Mood: relieved Current Music: Team 1200 postgame show |
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If there's anything that can mess a person up, I swear, it's a western road swing. Not only was I late with the results post for the Kings game (because I didn't want to stay up until 2 a.m. putting it together on Thursday, and unexpectedly ran out of time both Friday and today), but I'm also way behind with this prediction post, because not only do we play Phoenix late tonight, we've got another game tomorrow, in Anaheim! Ugh. I'll be glad when it's over, for many reasons, but especially because it will be slightly less confusing!
Okay. Tomorrow, the Sens (13-9-4, 30 points and 7th in the East - obviously this is pending the result of tonight's game) will encounter their 2007 Stanley Cup Finals opponents, the Anaheim Ducks (10-13-5, 25 points and 15th in the West). Both teams have faded quite considerably since their meeting in June 2007, but the Ducks seem especially woebegone this year, occupying the basement of the Western conference and being three games below .500. So, at the risk of turning into a broken record, I must once more trot out that tiresome cliché: Do not take them lightly. I'm not sure how much the Sens really do that anymore, and neither am I sure that they necessarily have a right to, not being among the league's elite teams anymore. But nonetheless, I will say it. If the last two games are any indication, Ottawa needs to come out fast and very early, build up a nice lead, and just keep going at them, not stopping until the final buzzer sounds. Whether we can do that or not is in some ways up for debate, but if we're to break out of this stupid slump we seem to be in, we've got to.
Injuries are again pending tonight's game, so I will in all probability be updating/editing tomorrow morning or early afternoon. As things currently stand, however, Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (cheek) and Chris Neil (knee) are all missing for the Sens, and Alexandre Picard (upper body) did not play tonight. The Ducks will be without Ryan Carter (broken right foot), Kyle Calder (left eye) and Teemu Selanne (left hand).
Ottawa is currently being led 2-0 by the Phoenix Coyotes in the second period of play; I will update with the final score once the game is over. Anaheim lost 5-4 in overtime to the Minnesota Wild on Friday.Current Mood: blah Current Music: Ottawa/Phoenix hockey - TV |
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Well, as I sit here and type this, the Phoenix Coyotes are leading us 1-0, in front of what looks like maybe 500 fans (or, presumably, a lot more fans who are dressed as empty seats), and I hate to say that that lead is probably deserved. Ottawa is not playing very well so far. Ever the optimist that I am, I cross my fingers and hope for improvement as I finally get to the recap of Thursday's game against the Kings.
And ... it's now 2-0. Cripes. When things get shitty, they get really, really shitty. Anyway.
Like this game, the Los Angeles contest started off crappily, as just 42 seconds into the first period Randy Jones whacked in his 4th of the season to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. Ottawa was actually playing quite well, though, despite that, and were soon able to reply off Mike Fisher's 11th of the year, also a power play goal. The Sens were certainly keeping up with them, matching them stride for stride, but once again, our old nemesis the penalty began to catch up with us, and we spent most of the rest of the game trying to kill off successive minors. Which makes it kind of hard to get any momentum going. The 1-1 tie didn't last very long, and before the end of the first Los Angeles had the lead again from Simmonds' 9th.
The Kings opened the second period as they had the first, by scoring on us with Richardson's 2nd. Ottawa was undaunted, however, and battled back off Cheechoo's 3rd and Fisher's 12th (and second of the game). Then ... cometh the penalties. At the end of the night, Los Angeles only got one power play goal, but as I said before, it's almost impossible to get it together and try and set something up when you can't stay away from the box. And I hesitate to put everything on the refs' shoulders - I don't think what happened on Thursday was their fault at all. Rather, Ottawa was just taking a lot of stupid penalties. They were being slow, dragging their feet, and as such, earned a lot of hooking, holding and tripping calls. We've got to pick up the pace in that regard, or I'm really not sure what will happen with this team. And we need to not blame the referees for every single transgression. Most of the time, they do call it like they see it. They certainly did in the Kings game. I counted maybe three fouls committed against us that went uncalled, but I counted many more justified calls made against the Sens.
Late in the second period, one such penalty call cost Ottawa a goal, Drew Doughty's 7th, and from then on ... well, it was like we'd lost. The entire Ottawa bench just seemed to completely sag. We were only behind by one at that point, but it may as well have been about seven from the way they were playing. And the Kings made us pay, with two late goals from Williams (his 7th and 8th). By that time it was 6-3 and there was less than a minute to play, the game well out of reach. Brian Elliot does have to take some of the blame on those last two, particularly the one that made it 6-3. Seemed like nobody was even trying anymore.
Shots were 30-24 in favour of the Sens, and LA beat us in the faceoff circle 32-19. We were 1-for-3 on the power play, while they were 1-for-4.
Next game is of course the current one, Ottawa at Phoenix, and with another contest to come tomorrow night, I'll be putting up the prediction post for that momentarily.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Doughty
2. Fisher
3. Simmonds
( And the results are ... )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake!Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: Ottawa/Phoenix hockey - TV |
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I've still got the results post from last night's game to put up, and I haven't forgotten about it, but I just wanted to post the next prediction entry because I've been slipping back to being really late with those, and that's not so good. >.> I am also possibly avoiding typing up the recap post, because let's face it, that was a pretty abysmal game last night. Ugh. The penalties thing is REALLY starting to bug me, and I honestly do not think we can entirely blame the referees for it anymore. Not that we ever could, really, but there were a lot of calls last night that in my opinion were legitimate, and just had to do with Ottawa being stupid and getting frustrated and taking penalties that they shouldn't. That needs to be worked on, pronto, because otherwise I'm not too sure how the rest of this season is going to go. And that's a pretty big admission for me, as the eternal optimist that I am. ;)
Anyway.
The next game on our western road swing takes the Sens (13-9-4, 30 points and 7th in the East) to Phoenix to face the Coyotes (16-11-1, 33 points and 6th in the West). Everybody knows all the issues surrounding Phoenix these days, from Jim Balsillie's abortive attempt to buy the team in the summer to things ending up in bankruptcy court to the NHL assuming full control. Personally, if I were living in Southern Ontario right now, I wouldn't believe anybody who said they were going to bring an NHL team there until I was actually sitting in an arena seat waiting to watch that team play its opening game, but that might just be me. The Coyotes are still in Phoenix, and they are still drawing crappy numbers crowd-wise, although the team itself is not too bad. I don't watch many Phoenix games, so I can't accurately comment on their fortunes beyond saying that their record suggests they've done all right for themselves so far this year. I also really, really, really hope we can take this one, because only winning one game (or no games) on this road trip would be quite pathetic, and not altogether healthy for us in the standings either.
As far as injuries go, we will be without the usual suspects - Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (broken cheekbone) and Chris Neil (knee). Alexandre Picard left last night's game midway through with what is described with the usual amount of great detail as an upper body injury, and he is listed as questionable for tomorrow. Phoenix is missing Kurt Sauer (headaches) for sure, and Ed Jovanovski (lower body) and Peter Mueller (upper body) are both questionable.
The Sens lost 6-3 to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, and the Coyotes are coming off a 2-1 win over Calgary, also on Thursday.Current Mood: lazy Current Music: Montreal/Boston hockey - TV |
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It'll be another late one tomorrow, folks, as the Sens (13-8-4, 30 points and 7th in the East) slide into Los Angeles - which for some weird reason, my Firefox spellchecker doesn't recognize! - to face the Kings (16-10-2, 34 points and 5th in the West). Game time is once again 10:30 p.m., and in a surprising move, TSN has decided to pick this one up and show it across its main network tomorrow. So for those of you who, like me, are going to stay up and brave this contest, at least you can watch it live on television instead of needing to listen on the radio. (Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with the radio, mind you ...)
Looking at the standings while preparing to make this post, I was surprised to discover that the Kings do occupy fifth place in the West, where things aren't quite as tight-knit as they are over here. In past years, LA has been utterly abysmal, usually kicking around the bottom of the league with all the other basement-dwellers. But in this day and age, you can't be terrible forever (just like you can't be great forever), and they've picked it up a little. I haven't watched many Kings games this year, but my guess is if they're in fifth place, they have earned it and ought to be treated accordingly. Meanwhile, the Sens are bouncing around very fluidly from third to fifth to sixth to seventh and back up and back down again depending on whether they win and who else wins and the alignment of the planets and whether my cat scratches her left ear or her right ear first when she wakes up in the morning. (Okay, I made those last two up. Heh. But things DO seem awfully random, that's for sure.) The only way Ottawa can possibly keep afloat in the current Eastern climate is to keep on winning, and keep on collecting as many points as they can. I hope we can pull out at least a few on this road trip ... San Jose might not have been realistic, true, but it's my opinion that we should be able to keep up with the rest of the teams we've got to face. Of course, watch me be proven wrong. ;) But we shall see!
Injuries-wise, our list is actually growing somewhat shorter, with only Shean Donovan (knee), Pascal Leclaire (broken cheekbone) and Chris Neil (knee) out. Hockey gods, please don't take this as an opportunity to expand that list, however. ;) The Kings will be without Ryan Smyth (upper body), Andrei Loktionov (shoulder surgery), Brandon Segal (lower body) and Rob Scuderi (lower body). Segal and Scuderi are listed as "doubtful" and "questionable" respectively by TSN, so while they may possibly play, my guess is that they'll give the contest a miss.
Ottawa's last game was yesterday's 5-2 defeat at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. The Kings were triumphant to the tune of 4-3 over Anaheim, also on Tuesday.Current Mood: tired |
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One thing's for sure, I'm glad these Western road trips usually only happen once a year. Being only human (and having a paying job during the day), I was forced to set aside my usual routine of typing up the recap directly after the game last night, because if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have gotten to bed until two o'clock this morning. Figured you guys would understand. ;) Anyway, it's going up now, and it will be followed swiftly by the prediction post for tomorrow night's game.
So. What to say about this one. Well, on the surface, one could look at the scoresheet and understand why it wound up the way it did. After all, San Jose is first in the Western Conference, and we are ... decidedly not. We did briefly occupy third place in the East standings, but with things so close, we're back down somewhere around sixth place. It was interesting to see where the Sens are at in comparison with supposedly elite teams (I say "supposedly" only because the Sharks' playoff record closely approximates our own in terms of completely bombing out after doing wonderfully in the regular season) and while we're definitely better than we were last year, we do still have a little ways to go. Ottawa kept up with the Sharks for as long as it could, trying to match them shot for shot and goal for goal, but in the end, sheer power seemed to win out. What are you gonna do, I guess.
The contest was rather inauspicious right from the beginning, as Patrick Marleau potted his 18th of the year, followed by a marker from McGinn (his 5th) to make the score 2-0. The Sens attempted to battle back with Milan Michalek's 14th of the season, and at the end of the first period things actually looked like they might turn out okay. We were only down by one, after all, and there have been many times this season that Ottawa has come back from being behind by a goal and even gone on to win it. I was still optimistic. (But then, I am optimistic to a fault, so that's probably not the best barometer. ;D)
Alas, it wasn't to be. The Sharks began to pile it on in the second off goals from Marleau again (his 19th and the GWG) and Clowe (his 6th). The game was basically out of reach by then, but Michalek tried his best with another goal (his 15th) until all hopes were finally decisively snuffed out by Manny Malhotra's 6th of the year into an empty net. Heatley did record numerous shots last night, but no goals.
Shots were 33-27 in favour of the Sharks, and we also got creamed in the faceoff circle to the tune of 39-22. About the only positive of the night, besides the fact that Ottawa did play basically hard, was our power play, which went 1-for-4 to the Sharks' 0-for-3.
The Sens' next game is tomorrow night in Los Angeles against the Kings.
NHL.com three stars:
1. Marleau
2. Heatley
3. Michalek
( And the results are ... )
As always, let me know if I've made a mistake!Current Mood:  restless Current Music: CBC News Late Night |
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