Sens Game Report - Ottawa @ Nashville - 12.14.06

Gross

Hard to really put this game into the typical format just because nobody made any sens(e) tonight and the report would be more of an angered rant than a piece of literary genius. For the fifth straight game, Alfredsson was out and his teammates looked like they were somewhere else, too. All the players that you exepct will step up with increased ice time are actually floundering worse than when they had third line time. Again, it is hard to pick out a particular player that had a disappointing game because they were all terrible. The silver lining, if you can call it that, is that after Emery was pulled, Gerber didn't allow a goal. That isn't to say that he looked good in there, but the puck stayed out. The problem is that is too pressure free to get any confidence out of that. Suer, his job was to stop the bleeding, but its a pretty different game at 6-0 then it is at 0-0.

The question now is to figure out why this team is so lifeless out there. And it isn't the road trip because they've played like this for five games now!

Sens Game Report - Ottawa @ Detroit - 12.12.06

How the BALLS did we win this one?

The Balance in the Bank:

Final Score: Ottawa wins 3-2
Ottawa Goals:
Spezza (17) takes a Lang giveaway in alone and roofs a beauty over Hasek
Neil (9) tipping in a Schubert blast – I’m getting used to these goals now
Spezza (18, pp) on a goal you need to see, splitting the defence and blowing past everyone. Tell Pierre McGuire to watch this one, too. He glides, Pierre.
Making Sens: Emery, Eaves, Vermette
Lacking Sens: Volchenkov, Corvo, backcheckers, Schaefer, Fisher, Neil, etc.
It was over when: The horn sounded. We had no business winning this game
It was definitely over when: Someone told Emery that no more shots were coming.
Message in a Molson bottle: A combination of amazing goaltending and a kiss on the cheek from the hockey monkeys allows us to leave Detroit with a much-needed win. Its hard to build off this one because everyone was terrible in this game, save the goalie. The ice looked terrible and we were literally a step behind the entire night. This looked to be a tentative team out there, terrified of shooting the puck into the stands or icing it, because our transition game was left in Kanata, probably shopping at Bayshore or something. Ugly game, much needed win, thank goodness we have at least one goalie.
Courtesy Boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=261212005
Next Game: Thursday in Nashville, Alfie might be back.

Three storylines to wow your friends over a Timmy’s double double:

A brief ray of sunny optimism
There are team wins and then there are games like this one. Emery finished the night with 43 saves and they weren’t those dumb ones like a dump in or Lalimey-type shots. He made some lights out saves and completely upstaged the q-tip in the other net. Based on the past two games, I have officially jumped the Gerber Wagon and am climbing aboard the Emery Express. I choo choo choose him to be our number one, a solid month after the rest of the fans did the same. This guy was awesome. If the Gerber for Cujo trade is at all possible, can I personally make the call to Wayne to accept? Great job, Rayzer.

Part Time Hero
Remember that old commercial that showed a young Chef Boyardee in an orphanage saying, “sister, why must everything that is so good for me…taste so bad?” It was genius, see, because it was motivation for the young toddler to grow up and create wonderful high-sodium pasta meals that are ready in just under three minutes. Hooray! I’ve obviously digressed here. I want someone to say to Jason Spezza, “Spezz Dispenser, why must your offensive creativity be so good for us, but your defensive play taste so bad?” His two goals are highlight reel variety and he follows that up with some ridiculous turnovers in our end. I still love what he does and continue to give him a long leash because he’s so young and tender, but when the frig is he going to be a Steve Yzerman and backcheck properly? By the way, the Detroit announcers asked him during a TV timeout what he got from Hasek for giving up #39. I guess he didn’t give him anything because Spezza netted two beauties on the guy. Shoulda just given him $20 or some hair gel or something.

A white elephant among the forwards?
I’m putting it out there for you all to toss around and do with it what you want. I think Peter Schaefer is a floater and is actually making his linemates worse. I thought he held Alfredsson and Vermette back and now I think he is holding Fisher and Neil back. He is never in the right place and he just seems to be lollygagging through the corners and skates away from pucks. Is he going to coast for the duration of his new contract? I think Schaefer was best in the past when he worked hard in the corners and dug pucks out and worked the boards, but he doesn’t even do that anymore, except in our own end before coughing it up to the opposition. What bothers me most is I don’t know if there is a player in the room right now that will pull him aside and give him one of those Jake Taylor-Roger Dorn speeches about tagging plays, regardless of his sty in the eye. Coffee, anyone?

Beaver Droppings
1. Detroit was credited with 13 takeaways, but they looked a lot like we just handed it over politely. Hey, that’s the Canadian way.
2. Hi, I’m Jason Spezza. I’m known to be good in the faceoff circle but tonight I won 3 of 16 (18%). I’ll try and do better next time because I’ve been told that my line isn’t so hot when we don’t have the puck.
3. Chris Phillips with 9 blocked shots. That’s wearing the C and wearing some pucks.
4. I think the practice tomorrow needs to really work on the Hennessy/Payer/Hamel line. Just kidding, they won’t see much of the ice tomorrow or Thursday night.
5. Badly outplayed in the first and third period, outshot 30-8 in those periods, 45-22 in the game.

Sens Game Report - Ottawa @ Columbus - 12.10.06

Hard to want to write a game report after this debacle. Five PP goals against, Martin Gerber pulled mid-second, a complete disaster in all three zones of the rink, and penalty trouble again.

I'm starting to question my own opinion on Gerber as he jsut undid everything he had recovered in the past three weeks with this performance. It was bad.

Meszaros took a five minute penalty and a game misconduct for a hit from behind that I didn't think was that bad. It looked like Picard turned late and Meszy couldn't pull up. Of course, we were frustrated with the 3-0 deficit so I'm sure the refs figured Meszaros was taking out his frustrations, but the ensuing powerplay put us away for good.

Again, we are reminded of what a mistake it would have been if Alfredsson had been traded during the previous losing streaks. We are lost without him and Redden.

This makes three straight sub-par efforts from the team and we now have Detroit, Nashville, and Buffalo this week.

Sens Game Report - NY Rangers @ Ottawa - 12.9.06

Where are those leaders we built from within?


The Balance in the Bank:

Final Score: New York wins 3-1 (with an empty netter)
Ottawa Goals:
Spezza (15, pp) tipping in a Schubert blast to bring us to within one.
Making Sens: Phillips, Volchenkov
Lacking Sens: Schaefer, Spezza – guys that need to be stepping up
It was over when: Spezza shows the wrong way to backcheck by whispering to Jagr to slow down instead of knocking him off the puck, and #68 roofs it over Emery’s glove
It was definitely over when: A funky bounce on a forecheck in the last minute and instead of fighting to get the puck back, we back off an let Shanny pot it into the empty net.
Message in a Molson bottle: This one was a bit sickening when you consider the effort this organization has put into developing leaders in the dressing room. The guys that we expect to fill the void of Alfredsson are playing a lifeless brand of hockey that leaves with two straight losses at a time when we need to continue going forward. Everyone seems to be skating around wondering what to do and where Alfie has gone instead of taking the opportunity to rack up a few points in his absence. Interesting how Toronto wins when Sundin misses games and we ALWAYS lose when Alfie is gone. Forwards need to want it more than they did this afternoon.
Courtesy Boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=261209014
Next Game: Tomorrow evening in Columbus, a Sunday tilt to kick off a four-game trip

Three storylines to wow your friends over a Timmy’s double double:

You’re not Ron…
Remember that scene in Anchorman when Veronica Corningstone did the evening news as Burgundy was locked in a glass case of emotion as a result of watching his dear Baxter get punted off the Coronado Bridge? The rest of the news team goes about everything in a tentative manner, not really knowing how to act. That is how the Sens are without Alfredsson. I hate to keep harping on this, but to me it was the predominant theme in today’s game. Vermette and Schaefer are useless with Eaves up there, and everyone just seems to wait for someone else to lead the way. Heck, Cassie Campbell made a mention of it in pregame when they discussed the ridiculous move of Schaefer waving the white towel on Wednesday. We’ve taken pride in trying to develop leaders within the organization but only Phillips seemed to really show he wanted the letter on his chest. These guys had better snap out of it or we’ll get absolutely embarrassed on this trip against four streaking teams.

Chara Jr.?
Not quite, but Chris Phillips was great in covering Jagr this afternoon. Whether he was stickchecking him all the way back to the blue line or roughing him up behind the net, I thought Philly looked up to the task of taking care of Jagr, besides the latter’s two points (one of those was an assist on a 5-on-3 and the other was a shot from the top of the opposite slot). I don’t know that Murray will go to the shadowing that Chara did last year against every star in the league, but it is nice to know that we have someone that can handle that role. And make no mistake, Jagr was on fire today and still scares me as the most dangerous player in the league. Nice work, Philly. I’ll work on helping you hail a cab, though.

Dumb and Dumber
No, that’s not fair because Spezza and Heatley created a lot of scoring chances tonight and were solid in the offensive zone. What drives me and Jacques Martin crazy is that they need to realize that any kind of turnover isn’t going to be against the other team’s fourth line or something. For about the half of the game, we had the pizza kids against the Jagr/Nylander/Straka line and those three are fast as hell and just waiting for the puck. Spezza and Heatley need to realize this and while they can still go hard at the net, they need to understand that they need to be quick on their horses to backcheck. Two of the three goals were a result of these two floating back….again. Should we sent them to Binghamton to learn a lesson? Maybe Zdeno can do us a favour and smack them upside the head with a half rack of ribs to get the message through? Nah, he’s a division rival now.

Beaver Droppings
1. Why doesn’t Dean McAmmond get the spot with Vermette and Schaefer? We certainly don’t gain a thing with Eaves up there as all three play a different style.
2. Peter Schaefer, down a goal in the dying minutes of a game, is useless. The only thing he can do is skate fast down the wing and then kick the puck around the corner for a while. I continue to be unimpressed by what he brings to this season’s edition and am waiting for something to change my mind.4.
3. Emery needs a rest. I’m not saying this because I like Gerber and want him to get the job back, but it is obvious that Emery isn’t healthy. Why, when Washington exposed his weak glove hand for 60 minutes on Wednesday, are we still forcing this guy in there? The game winner was a result of his inability to get his glove up. Guess what? If we’ve heard about the injury and its effect on his game, then you can bet all the opposing players know about it, too. Get Gerber some games this week, coach.
4. Neil hits really hard.

Sens Game Report - Ottawa @ Washington - 12.6.06

This one escalated quickly; it really got out of hand quick!

The Balance in the Bank:

Final Score: Washington wins 6-2
Ottawa Goals:
Fisher (7, pp) on a great pass through the blue paint from Schaefer
Spezza (14) left alone in front to tap a Preissing rebound into the partially open cage
Making Sens: Fisher, Schaefer
Lacking Sens: Vermette, Neil, Eaves
It was over when: Semin scored less than a minute after Spezza got us to within one, another two goal deficit that we just couldn’t overcome
It was definitely over when: Semin, Pettinger, Laich, bingo bango bongo and we’re packing mid-third
Message in a Molson bottle: I really hope that there is no mention in the post-game interviews about the officiating because this game was lost by the tired legs in Senators uniforms. Just as we outplayed the Islanders the night before, we lost every battle in the corner and had unbelievable difficulty moving the puck out of the zone. Missing Redden is bad enough, but we really get an idea of how important Alfredsson is as a forward in the transition game. Instead, we embarrassed ourselves by having no movement in all three zones of the pad. Thanks for coming out. Oh yeah, Ovechkin and Semin are outstanding. You could even say they’re the balls.
Courtesy Boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=261206023
Next Game: Saturday hosting the Rangers and then Sunday in Columbus. I’m guessing the goalies will split the games once again.

Three storylines to wow your friends over a Timmy’s double double:

They go together like lamb and tuna fish
Nobody missed Alfredsson more tonight than his new centre, Antoine Vermette. Vermie was completely out of synch tonight, trying to do far too much as an individual instead of trying to find chemistry with his new right winger, Patrick Eaves. It didn’t help that Eaves has been getting little icetime recently and has basically been a non-factor for offence over the past few weeks. I know people will argue that it takes time to develop new chemistry, but I expect these guys, as NHL regulars, to pick it up quickly. Plan B, s’il vous plait.

The Upper Body Injury
Anyone that questions why coaches use this ridiculous expression to define an injury to a player needs to look no further than Ray Emery’s wrist and forearm. The news of his injured arm has obviously made its rounds over the past few weeks and while some teams tried to test him by just bumping into his wrist, the Caps took what appears to be a more successful approach – they blasted pucks high glove side. There are some shots, like Semin’s ridiculously hard zinger, that are unstoppable, but we need to assume that Emery could have gotten his arm up there a bit quicker if he were healthy. Also, that whole thing about making the save at the right time to keep momentum wasn’t really in play for us tonight. I love Emery and he certainly had a team clicking around him, but he wasn’t at his best..

Ker-plunk, whoooooosh
That was the poorly written alliteration of us tossing this one out and flushing it down the toilet. We really hung it up mid third when Hamel was given a hooking penalty for lifting the Capitals player’s stick and the bench went bonkers. I imagine the bench penalty went to the coach. We then took a penalty while killing the 5-on-3 and that will typically do it for you when you’re already trailing by two. What makes me upset is seeing Schaefer and Spezza on the bench giggling while Schaefer waves a white towel on his stick over the ice. What the hell, Schaefs? First off, the joke is a bit overplayed. Second off, what can you possibly be laughing at during a third period like the one we played? Third, is that really the appropriate thing to do when we were just handed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for chewing out the refs? Take a walk and think it over, Schaefer. We need to be furious over playing a game like that. As bad as the Leafs are, at least they sound and appear genuinely livid after a loss. We laugh it off and move on without taking any lessons out of it.

Beaver Droppings
1. Fisher was hands-down our best player. You can see the passion in the way he skates hard on every shift. It amazes me that his teammates and sometimes even his linemates don’t feed off this.
2. Spezza got into the crazy errant passes in the third. Again, I think without Alfredsson out there to keep things in line, some players still try and take the game into their own hands and wind up turning the puck over at the blue line.
3. Volchenkov blocked six shots in the ugly first period and finished with eight.
4. McGrattan had a nice tilt with Erskine and wrapped it up with three solid blows the head. Callup Danny Bois accidentally looked up and realized he was fighting Brashear. Oops.
5. Their top players (Ovechkin and Semin) had 10 shots and 8 shots respectively. Our two top guys (Spezza and Heatley) had five and three respectively. The score is indicative of these numbers.

All in all, it was our inability to get the puck out of our end and lack of flow and speed through the neutral zone that kept us on our heels and fishing pucks out of the net.

Sens Game Report - Ottawa @ NY Islanders - 12.5.06

This one was actually a close game, and early start was again the difference

The Balance in the Bank:

Final Score: Ottawa wins 4-2; officially eight of the last nine
Ottawa Goals:
Heatley (17) on a quick pass from Spezza with both in the slot
Spezza (13, pp), Zinggggg, howitzer from the sideboards when everyone was expecting the feed to his boyfriend.
Corvo (4, pp) darts in on the far side for a nice tic-tac-toe with Spezza to Alfredsson
Heatley (18) Zingggg, working to get the puck off the side boards to himself and wiring it past the Dunham pad.
Making Sens: Heatley, Schaefer, Corvo,
Lacking Sens: Preissing and Schubert were so-so, although Schubert broke up a two-on-one like a 12-year vet.
It was over when: Apart from the shot clock, this one was close. Heatley’s second goal was that sigh of relief that we could chalk it up as a win.
It was definitely over when: Killed off penalties five and six in the last eight minutes, the last one featuring the defencemen picking the puck and firing it straight out at least half a dozen times.
Message in a Molson bottle: I still can’t take the Islanders seriously, and we are actually ahead of them in the standings (one more win), but they’re division leaders. This win also puts us ahead of Toronto in the standings, not like anyone in Ottawa notices that, right? Tonight, it was Heatley and Spezza playing excellent hockey as they crossed the blueline and created a ton of turnovers. Transition game was so quick that even the Islanders broadcasters noticed how well Ottawa was at making one pass to get the puck to the neutral zone. Did you hear that? We’re envied in Long Island! Success!
Courtesy Boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=261205012
Next Game: Wednesday at Washington. Remember that time we blew a three-goal lead there? I do, and you can bet the players do, too.

Three storylines to wow your friends over a Timmy’s double double:

The gerbil and his cage
Weak reference for Gerber and gerbil, I know, but I’ve got a long time to find a better one. Anyway, Gerber played tonight much like he did in Raleigh last week – making the saves that he needs to make. But you can really notice a difference in his positioning as he is much further out of his crease to challenge shooters and he seems quicker and moving post to post. His massive black pad was flicking all over the place, too. Nice game, another step forward. Mark my word, he’ll get his games this season.

Heavy \’hev-e\ adj 1: having great weight 2: hard to bear
Now you know what to say when someone asks you to define Dany Heatley’s slapshot. It seems even harder and heavier this season than last, and he knows where to place it. His second of the night was the perfect example as the puck was just too strong and went through Dunham’s pad and just forced its way into the net. It’s official – we need Spezza and Heatley to live in loving matrimony for years to come because Spezza’s passes and Heatley’s slappers will only get better. They backcheck now, too. Hooray for Coach Murray. Fire that blog guy that brought up Hitchcock’s name a few weeks ago.

D for damn you, opposing forwards
John Muckler said that he had put together a more mobile defensive corps that would be quick and potent. They score goals, jump in on plays, move the puck, and basically do what our GM told us they would. What we might not have expected is just how good they can in their own zone. Meszaros was lights out tonight and is incredibly quick throughout the zone, Phillips is playing like he does in April (which is good), Volchenkov has been getting enough airtime about how well he is blocking shots and hitting everything, and Corvo is settling in as the #2 guy here. Maybe we don’t miss the big guy after all. Although I’m sure Baton Rouge is still furious/inconsolable.

Beaver Droppings
1. Alfredsson left the game in the middle of the third and looked very shaken up about something. I couldn’t pin point what it was, but I’m sure we’ll know which play it was in the morning. I’d like to say that he was just kept out of the game for precautionary reasons, but as I said earlier, he looked bad getting to the bench and then to the room.
2. McGrattan’s three minutes of icetime were a bit weird – three shots on goal and no hits. He looked like he was skating pretty hard out there. The fighter isn’t extinct yet dodo.
3. Schaefer looked great, skated very hard and passed through checks in the corners. He looked like he wants to create goals tonight.
4. Vermette went 16-5 in the faceoff circle against Sillinger, the #2 faceoff guy in the league behind Perreault. Spezza wasn’t too shabby at 14-4.
5. Another pair of powerplay goals and killed off six of theirs. Special teams is somewhat important, everyone.