Following the CBC's lead, I will heap praise on Chris Neil. You could tell that he was inspired. He had to attend the birth of his first child last night - I guess the lack of sleep made him cranky. If I were Bryan Murray I would arrange for a few annoying phone calls on Sunday night to keep him in a pissy mood.
Who else can I praise? Hmmm... Fisher played an excellent game once again. He's playing with an edge that we don't normally see. Volchenkov was more offence-minded than most games, which obviously paid off for the sens tonight. Honourable mention should go to Mike Comrie for a gritty effort, we haven't seen this type of play from him since Round 2. And although he was overlooked in the play-by-play, I think Oleg Saprykin once again played a great game - he knows his role and plays it to perfection.Ray Emery was as good as he had to be tonight. I believe Harry Neale said before the game that Emery would have to be near-perfect for the sens to win this one. I guess he proved that wrong.
Daniel Alfredsson's goal was questionable. I guess you gotta play well to be lucky. We should all thank the Hockey Gods for that one.
Slightly better game from Spezza and Heatley, but they've gotta pick up their games even more if the Senators are going to win this series.The Senators always seem to play their best hockey after a goal, whether it is for or against them. This led to to say something that was simultaneously the most insightful and most retarded line in these playoffs: "If they scored more they'd be a better team." Yes, I am the hockey Buddha.
As I've said in other game recaps, you can tell what type of game the sens are bringing after the first period. During the intermission I said something that I hadn't said previously in this series: "I'm feeling good about this one." Whether they won or lost tonight I would have been proud of their effort. I'm looking forward to Game 4.
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