After each period blog...

First Period

After watching that first period, I'm not extremely happy with the Senators' performance. It seems that they don't have to same jump as in Game 1. Fleury is making the saves that he didn't make in Game 1. This is the recipe for disaster for the Senators.

Spezza tried sakting through a few Penguins, and Alfredsson tried the same thing. It's not working. Right now, I would say that our success in this game depends on whether Spezza and Heatley can step up.

...and the second period is starting, I'll see you at the post-game show.

Second Period

Much better! I called them out, and Heatley and Spezza stepped up. Another player who has been playing really well is Joe Corvo. He's rushing up the ice and getting the puck into the Penguins' zone with ease. Also, he's one of the few players on the powerplay who thinks 'shoot' first. He's blasting shots at the net at every opportunity.

Lots more odd-man rushes for the Senators - I want to see more of that in the third - it benefits the sens alot more because when Heatley's staring Fleury in the face, Fleury is going to blink first.

Crosby has been dangerous in this period. But, I suppose if you can keep Crosby at 'dangerous' and not 'deadly' then you're not doing too badly.

In the third, I want to see more of the same from the sens, with a further crack-down on Crosby and Staal - the sens' D might as well send a message while they're winning the game.

Third Period

I guess I can't just start a period-by-period blog and then not finish it. We definetly had our chances. Alfredsson blew at least one GRAND scoring opportunity. The Senators were taking plenty of shots at the net, they must have finished with at least 35. But they took way more shots than that, many of which simply missed the net.

Some prime examples of poor defensive positioning cost us this game. Staal was alone in front of the net (didn't I say to watch out for that guy?). Plus, Crosby was left uncovered when he netted his (lucky) goal.

I watched parts of the game on NBC. Not bad Americans, not bad. They did talk about Crosby alot, and they did call Christoph Schubert 'Christian' for most of the game - but their analysis was fair and they did not overload the viewer with stats - something that networks that are used to covering NASCAR sometimes do.

The Penguins were put to shame in the first game and rebounded with a win. The Senators now have the cris-atunity (crisis+opportunity) to come back and show the Penguins that they can bounce back as well. Note that the Senators have less than 24 hours to rebound from their loss, whereas the Penguins had more than two days.

See you tomorrow! Go sens!