rd 3 gm 1; ottawa @ buffalo; 5.10.2007

Nice start.

The Balance in the Bank:

Final Score: Ottawa wins 5-2 (Ottawa leads series 1-0)
Ottawa Goals: Fisher, Alfredsson, Saprykin (GW), Spezza, McAmmond
Making Sens: Alfredsson, Fisher, Volchenkov
Lacking Sens: Corvo, Comrie,
It was over when: Oleg Saprykin!
It was definitely over when: Not only was Spezza’s PP goal in the third awesome, it was the fact that it was during a Derek Roy, Resident Piss Ant, penalty that made it the icing on the cake.
Message in a Molson bottle: The Sens were faster then the “fastest” team in the league, created turnovers, and were simply the better team. Going into the game, we knew our big three had to be great and we were a better special teams group. The pizza line had a pair of goals, we had two on the powerplay and a shortie, and just drove all over their fans tonight. Great effort.
Courtesy Boxscore: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=270510002

Grab a Timmy’s double double and listen to what really happened:

Optimistic Ophelia
I like it when the pizza line scores, but I like it even more when the other forwards score. Such was the case with goals from Fisher, Saprykin, and McAmmond. Fisher was a man possessed in the first period, McAmmond was the smartest player on the other three lines, and Saprykin is like a Patty Eaves but with better hands and puck control. There wasn’t a moment with any of the four lines that you worried about Buffalo blowing past them as it was just another tight, well-played Ottawa game from the role forwards.

Pessimistic Patty
It isn’t the two-goal lead that got away that bothers me, it is the type of goals that they scored to wipe out that lead. The first one, our forwards left the zone all at once and all before the puck, leaving two out of place defencemen and a huge rebound from Emery. The second one, Heatley simply has to tie up Lydman before he gets back around in front like that. Two lapses of judgment, two goals. Let’s learn and move on.

Upbeat Ursula
Three third period goals in the third period of a tie game while visiting the best team in hockey. Not too shabby. The poise that the Sens have shown through 11 games has been magnificent and unseen in the past. What is so nice to watch is that not a single player on our team is trying to do too much with or without the puck. There is a level of trust that has been established within the core of that room and they really do count on one another to back each other up. Compare the number of odd-man rushes we gave up tonight compared to any of the previous games last year (I don’t want to bring up last year, but it is our only point of reference so far). We are just operating as a well-oiled machine right now and time will tell if Mucks has put the right pieces together. I have to say, when we traded for Saprykin, Williams and I agreed that all he had to do was score one game winner and it would be a worthwhile deal. Was that not the most important goal the Sens have scored this postseason?! Way to go, Saps. The Tenacious O. I hope he stays in the lineup and Patty Eaves sits out a few more…

Debbie Downer
The Preissing/Corvo pairing was average tonight and here’s to hoping that it was just Game One jitters. I’m sure the media hype has to get to some of these guys, so let’s write tonight off and move on. I’ll say this about both of them, though – they don’t get burned by a speedy Buffalo forward, do they? It is refreshing to see Corvo play a guy all the way around the net instead of losing a step and having the Sabre cut in front of the net.

Keys to the next game
- Skate hard and fast and keep drawing penalties
- Clear out the rebounds – Buffalo loves those
- Traffic in front of Miller works, right Alfie?