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Showing posts with label Live Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Live Blog. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Post-pre-season pre-season post (ha!)
...man that headline's way too clever.The Senators have to cut about three players before the regular season begins, and made a tough decision today by putting Germany's least-known export Christoph Schubert on waivers. With his relatively cheap contract, NHL experience, big body, and versatility, I believe that someone will pick him up.
That just leaves two or three cuts to make. The only people remaining on the roster with two-way contracts are Peter Regin, Erik Karlsson, Brian Lee, and Matt Carkner. So... that seems like an easy choice. The only other people who might be expendable are Shean Donovan (yeah, my hate for him continues for some reason...) and Jesse Winchester.
One is led to believe that the biggest competition right now is between Lee and Karlsson for the puck-moving-up-and-comer-on-the-blueline spot. It would be a serious career setback for Lee if Special K (ha!) were to beat him for that place on the roster.
It's going to be a tough choice since it turns out that NHL GMs don't want to trade for the guys you're considering putting on waivers anyway.
Opening Night Blog update!
Momentum is building for the largest online meeting of Sens fans ever (I hope). I recently got confirmation from Five For Smiting and Silver Seven Sens are in (yaaaaaaaay!). And as an added bonus, you can sign up on the left side of the page for an email reminder for the big night. We'll be blogging during the game on Oct. 3 - the game's on CBC, so watch it and send us your comments!
I hope to see you then!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Come (blog) together, Sens Army
The Ottawa Senators season-opening game is less than a week away--October 3, at 7 p.m. to be exact. I'm pretty psyched.
Everyone's getting ready in their own way. For instance, I'm setting up a bat-signal-like device that will indicate to television-less friends that they can come over to my place and watch the game.
Of course, this blog is never far from my mind when it comes to the Sens...
I would like to set up a live-blog to collect everyone's comments during the game and kick off this season with the largest online gathering of Sens fans in recent memory.
The idea is to get as many fans and blogs on board as possible. Get everyone in the same room and share our views for the upcoming season, and freak out IN ALL CAPS when Alex Kovalev scores his first regular-season goal.
For bloggers: I'll supply the code, you put it on your site and make your readers aware that we'll be having one big party this year, rather than separate ones.
For blog-readers: Save the date, and keep in mind that Sens Army is coming together as one this year to talk about our team. You'll find the same discussion everywhere, so go to your favourite blog during the game and hunker down for a crazy-good time.
I've already got the good people at Silver Seven Sens on board (unofficially) and I'm rallying the other troops. All Sens blogs, large and small, are welcome to participate.
Send me an email benkmyers (at) gmail.com for more information, or to add your blog to a list of participants.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Monday, November 17, 2008
Live blog: Rangers 2, Sens 1 (SO)
The stories for tonight's game against the New York Rangers: Wade Redden hosts his former team for the first time as a New York Ranger tonight. The CASH Line has been re-united. The Rangers have been playing well this season, while the Senators have been playing poorly.
Sportsnet's Ian Mendes interviews Redden, who says he's adjusted well enough to the environment and the new team, and that New York is beginning to feel like home. Apparently he won't be giving the puck away to the Senators, which is too bad because he gave the puck to the opposition so often when he was in Ottawa.
Jason Spezza lost the opening faceoff. This hasn't started well, trade him! TRADE HIM! Just kidding. And just like that, after a 28-second shift, the CASH Line is off in favour of the new second line: Nick Foligno, Mike Fisher, and Jarkko Ruutu, who get some good pressure in the Rangers' zone. Ruutu threw a solid hit on Brandon Dubinsky, making his presence known right off the bat.
According to Garry Galley, the key to the game for the Senators is a simple one: Just play. I know you can give us better analysis than that, Galley. And the key for the Rangers is to strike early... great diagnosis. Sens powerplay as Rangers defenceman Fred Sjostrom gets two for delay-of-game. On the point for the first powerplay is Filip Kuba with Mike Fisher on the point once again tonight.Powerplay has not been pretty so far.
Brendan Bell's first powerplay chance ends quickly, as Antoine Vermette gets a slashing call to bring about some 4-on-4. Bell's with Alex Picard on the second PP unit, and Vermette is with Ilya Zubov and Nick Foligno on that unit's forward line. Solid penalty killing by Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Kelly in particular, and the Rangers' first powerplay is as futile as the Senators'. Shean Donovan is on the PK for the first time I can recall this season, in the place of Ruutu with Dean McAmmond.
Hahahaha... good work, Ruutu. Just laid a hit that was more against Nick Foligno than Marc Staal, and drew a penalty on Aaron Voros who took exception to the intended hit. Pretty good first two shifts for Ruuuuuuu. Unfortunately he took a penalty in the process, and we'll see some more 4-on-4 play.
Ottawa's first shot on net: Ten minutes into the game, from Kelly. Followed quickly by two from the stick of Vermette, and a fourth by Mike Fisher, and somehow the Sens are now outshooting the Ranger 4-3 somehow. Thank Redden for those couple shots that Vermette got, which were pretty good chances.
Scramble in front of the Sens net, as Alex Auld lost track of a puck that was stuck in his feet. I didn't agree with what Don Brennan said about Kuba, but I'd like to see the big Czech get a bit meaner in front of the net when guys are hacking Auld.
Another thing I'd like to see is Dany Heatley getting a bit harder on the puck. He's been throwing his weight around a bit more on the forecheck, but he doesn't seem urgent enough when there's a loose puck or almost-loose puck a few feet away from him. Get your stick involved, Heatley, and cause some turnovers.
Not a pretty first period, not by a longshot. Ottawa got a few chances, but the Rangers had the better ones. A good sign for the Senators: They got into shooting and passing lanes: eight blocked shots so far, and a whole bunch of blocked passes. Three stars of the first period: 1. Vermette; 2. Anton Volchenkov; 3. Ruutu.
I have a question for the people at Home Hardware: How am I supposed to open the packaging for the Safe Cut?
Second period underway, and a great chance for Jesse Winchester as he digs for the puck in Henrik Lundqvist's pads. His line, with Vermette and Kelly, have been the Sens' best combination so far, including the CASH Line. And what a steal by Volchenkov! I never thought he had the speed to jump up and intercept a pass the way he did there, but a great read that resulted in another shot for Winchester. That line has five of the Sens' 12 shots so far.
Back to the powerplay, as Redden took a delay of game penalty. First shot of the powerplay? Solid cross-ice pass from Heatley to Alfredsson, whose one-timer was bested by some great lateral movement by Lundqvist. And with the second unit on, a great shot by Ilya Zubov walking in off the side boards and firing one right on net.
A short 5-on-3 after Staal takes a hooking penalty, but Heatley can't convert a cross-crease pass and the Sens' powerplay continues. Who was that pass to, Spezza? About ten feet away from Kuba, the (I assume) intended receiver. It's a bit weird seeing Fisher on the point on the powerplay, but he's actually been doing pretty well here.
Ooooh... pretty stupid and useless penalty there for Foligno, not the kind of play that is going to get him very much extra ice time. Luckily nothing-doing on the Rangers' powerplay, which looked even less potent that the Senators' at first, but ended with a few good chances--nothing Auld couldn't handle. One of those chances came off the stick of Markus Naslund, who's had a surprisingly (to me, at least) good season so far. Hindsight is 20/20, but Naslund might have been a pretty good off-season signing at two years and $4M apiece--I bet he would have given Alfredsson and Fisher a pretty good left winger for that second line. You may be happy to know the symmetrical PK duo of Ruutu (#73) and McAmmond (#37) has been restored.
Rumours are that Fisher may be injured; Galley mentioned his knee was being kneaded by the Sens' trainer. Updates as they are available.
Two things we all remember from Redden's days in Ottawa that he just tried for the Rangers: Meandering out of the defensive zone slowly, and then having a pass turn over as the defensive team lined up at their blue line, and the 'rim'; his favourite play, apparently, just sending the puck around the boards. An easy out for defencemen, and much-hated by wingers who have to dig the puck off the boards and passed a defender who knows it's coming.
Oh no, Fisher had to be helped off the ice and into the dressing room with that knee injury. It looked to be the result of a rut or something he caught in the ice. I didn't notice which knee was injured, but you might remember last season Fisher missed the end of the year with a left knee injury--a knee he's also had problems with in December 2006/January '07 and January '03.
DANIEL ALFREDSSON! What a huge individual effort, just like Galley said. Alfredsson worked it out of the defensive zone, dumped it into the offensive zone, won the puck back and out-waited Lundqvist until he spotted an opening. Neither Spezza nor Heatley are making much happening, but Alfredsson is going to make that line effective if he has to do it all himself. Assists to Heatley and Picard.
Holy shit, after taking the lead the Sens are really making Auld work hard to keep it. Sustained pressure pretty much since the goal at 16:13 to the end of the period, including four shots for the Rangers in that time.
The Sens scored and, finally, have a lead to play with--thank heavens. You could see the longer that game went scoreless the more it played into the Rangers' advantage, because the Sens would have continued to get more nervous. Now they've got twenty minutes to go. Three stars of the second: 1. Auld; 2. Alfredsson; 3. Donovan.
Third period underway, two chances early one, one for Winchester who cut in and just missed the puck, and Ruutu, who heeled a Spezza cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1. Then a really weak hooking call on Ruutu and the Sens are back on the penalty kill. I don't even think Ruutu really touched whoever he 'hooked', but whatever. Great save by Auld, who got square to Chris Drury on that shot. Geez, short-handed breakaway for Vermette, who finally used that speed to break free, but he got stopped cold by Lundqvist. Nice to see Vermette and Kelly re-united on the penalty kill as well as in even-strength situations. Worth mentioning that Redden did not see any powerplay time on that last Ruutu penalty; it seems Redden hasn't quite enamoured himself with fans in New York, as the Blueshirt Bulletin blog criticized the Rangers blueline as being "a corps of defensemen who have been effective in inverse order of their salaries". Which means the highest-paid defenceman (Redden) has, according to BB, been the least effective.
Well, the Sens were running around once again, and you knew that was going to happen. Momentum heavily shifted the ice in favour of the Rangers, and Sjostrom was the first one who could beat Auld. In favour of the Sens' tender, he had stopped... what, three shots before the goal? Brutal, if the Sens want to end their losing streak they're going to have to get back into this game.
Beautiful glove save by Auld, who appears to be the only one still playing for the Senators. Pick it up, fellas, because this isn't pretty.
Wow. No idea how Lundqvist stopped that one... scramble after a Bell shot, with Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza all swatting at him. Alfredsson was basically standing right on top of him, but Lundqvist was up to the task. Would have been nice to score a garbage goal like that. Spezza had a great chance, and Heatley was just stopped by Lundqvist's arm.
Galley was just talking about Redden 'putting money up on the board', some cash that he probably put up for whoever might score the game winning goal against his old team. I wonder if any Senators' players put money up on the board tonight; I'm about willing to put together a couple grand to put up in the Sens dressing room if they'd just start winning some games.
Ottawa is 'out-scoring-chancing' the Rangers by a count of 20 to 12. It would be nice if they'd put one or two more of those away. Am I bitter? Maybe. WIN A GAME! AND THEN WIN ANOTHER ONE!
Oh wow, great move by Spezza (that didn't end in a giveaway, for a change), and a pass to Vermette, who just couldn't put it away. Is he ever snakebitten. In fact, there must be a tonne of snakes in the Sens' dressing room, because everyone is snakebitten... will somebody get these motherf*cking snakes out of this motherf*cking dressing room?
Thanks to Auld, the game ends in a tie and the Sens get a point in the standings. Wicked, that point is nice. But it's lonely, get it another point to hang out with, Senators.
A lot of poor, soft passes for the Senators so far in overtime. Playing with the puck like that can be dangerous, luckily it hasn't been costly yet. Interesting 4-on-4 pairing of Heatley and McAmmond, but they don't quite look comfortable with one another. Overtime over, and here comes the shootout. Let's see if Craig Hartsburg learned his lessons from the last shootout: Use Ruutu first.
Nikolai Zherdev is up first: Shot, five-hole, scores. Sens are down just like that. Then Spezza tried the same thing for the Sens, but Lundqvist doesn't fall for it. Here comes Sjostrom for the Rangers, and he's bested by a great glove save by Auld. Here's Ruutu, who dekes himself out and then shoots from way outside. Drury is stopped point-blank by Auld, and so it's all up to Vermette. But Vermette barely even gets a shot on net, and the Sens get shutout in the shootout.
The losing streak extends to five games, although the Sens got a point, at least. Maybe I should have just watched Heroes... Credit has to go to Auld, who looked like the Sens' best player on the night. It was also a good game for Bell, whose debut was pretty strong and finished +1 with two shots--his powerplay work was good, and his defensive play was surprisingly solid. And kudos to Zubov, who played only 6:25 but still managed two shots on net and two hits--would have been nice to see him in the shootout. The Sens' best line was Vermette-Kelly-Winchester--combined eight shots and five hits--but it's too bad Vermette can't score to save his life. And it's back to the drawing board for Hartsburg, as the Sens prepare to play in Montreal on Thursday.
Wow, a 2,000+ word post. I'm sorry, it got away from me. Hopefully it wasn't terribly boring to read. And we're back to the same question we were asking before the game: Who does Bryan Murray try to trade? With a few days off until the next game, I think something might happen soon.
Sportsnet's Ian Mendes interviews Redden, who says he's adjusted well enough to the environment and the new team, and that New York is beginning to feel like home. Apparently he won't be giving the puck away to the Senators, which is too bad because he gave the puck to the opposition so often when he was in Ottawa.
Jason Spezza lost the opening faceoff. This hasn't started well, trade him! TRADE HIM! Just kidding. And just like that, after a 28-second shift, the CASH Line is off in favour of the new second line: Nick Foligno, Mike Fisher, and Jarkko Ruutu, who get some good pressure in the Rangers' zone. Ruutu threw a solid hit on Brandon Dubinsky, making his presence known right off the bat.
According to Garry Galley, the key to the game for the Senators is a simple one: Just play. I know you can give us better analysis than that, Galley. And the key for the Rangers is to strike early... great diagnosis. Sens powerplay as Rangers defenceman Fred Sjostrom gets two for delay-of-game. On the point for the first powerplay is Filip Kuba with Mike Fisher on the point once again tonight.Powerplay has not been pretty so far.
Brendan Bell's first powerplay chance ends quickly, as Antoine Vermette gets a slashing call to bring about some 4-on-4. Bell's with Alex Picard on the second PP unit, and Vermette is with Ilya Zubov and Nick Foligno on that unit's forward line. Solid penalty killing by Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Kelly in particular, and the Rangers' first powerplay is as futile as the Senators'. Shean Donovan is on the PK for the first time I can recall this season, in the place of Ruutu with Dean McAmmond.
Hahahaha... good work, Ruutu. Just laid a hit that was more against Nick Foligno than Marc Staal, and drew a penalty on Aaron Voros who took exception to the intended hit. Pretty good first two shifts for Ruuuuuuu. Unfortunately he took a penalty in the process, and we'll see some more 4-on-4 play.
Ottawa's first shot on net: Ten minutes into the game, from Kelly. Followed quickly by two from the stick of Vermette, and a fourth by Mike Fisher, and somehow the Sens are now outshooting the Ranger 4-3 somehow. Thank Redden for those couple shots that Vermette got, which were pretty good chances.
Scramble in front of the Sens net, as Alex Auld lost track of a puck that was stuck in his feet. I didn't agree with what Don Brennan said about Kuba, but I'd like to see the big Czech get a bit meaner in front of the net when guys are hacking Auld.
Another thing I'd like to see is Dany Heatley getting a bit harder on the puck. He's been throwing his weight around a bit more on the forecheck, but he doesn't seem urgent enough when there's a loose puck or almost-loose puck a few feet away from him. Get your stick involved, Heatley, and cause some turnovers.
Not a pretty first period, not by a longshot. Ottawa got a few chances, but the Rangers had the better ones. A good sign for the Senators: They got into shooting and passing lanes: eight blocked shots so far, and a whole bunch of blocked passes. Three stars of the first period: 1. Vermette; 2. Anton Volchenkov; 3. Ruutu.
I have a question for the people at Home Hardware: How am I supposed to open the packaging for the Safe Cut?
Second period underway, and a great chance for Jesse Winchester as he digs for the puck in Henrik Lundqvist's pads. His line, with Vermette and Kelly, have been the Sens' best combination so far, including the CASH Line. And what a steal by Volchenkov! I never thought he had the speed to jump up and intercept a pass the way he did there, but a great read that resulted in another shot for Winchester. That line has five of the Sens' 12 shots so far.
Back to the powerplay, as Redden took a delay of game penalty. First shot of the powerplay? Solid cross-ice pass from Heatley to Alfredsson, whose one-timer was bested by some great lateral movement by Lundqvist. And with the second unit on, a great shot by Ilya Zubov walking in off the side boards and firing one right on net.
A short 5-on-3 after Staal takes a hooking penalty, but Heatley can't convert a cross-crease pass and the Sens' powerplay continues. Who was that pass to, Spezza? About ten feet away from Kuba, the (I assume) intended receiver. It's a bit weird seeing Fisher on the point on the powerplay, but he's actually been doing pretty well here.
Ooooh... pretty stupid and useless penalty there for Foligno, not the kind of play that is going to get him very much extra ice time. Luckily nothing-doing on the Rangers' powerplay, which looked even less potent that the Senators' at first, but ended with a few good chances--nothing Auld couldn't handle. One of those chances came off the stick of Markus Naslund, who's had a surprisingly (to me, at least) good season so far. Hindsight is 20/20, but Naslund might have been a pretty good off-season signing at two years and $4M apiece--I bet he would have given Alfredsson and Fisher a pretty good left winger for that second line. You may be happy to know the symmetrical PK duo of Ruutu (#73) and McAmmond (#37) has been restored.
Rumours are that Fisher may be injured; Galley mentioned his knee was being kneaded by the Sens' trainer. Updates as they are available.
Two things we all remember from Redden's days in Ottawa that he just tried for the Rangers: Meandering out of the defensive zone slowly, and then having a pass turn over as the defensive team lined up at their blue line, and the 'rim'; his favourite play, apparently, just sending the puck around the boards. An easy out for defencemen, and much-hated by wingers who have to dig the puck off the boards and passed a defender who knows it's coming.
Oh no, Fisher had to be helped off the ice and into the dressing room with that knee injury. It looked to be the result of a rut or something he caught in the ice. I didn't notice which knee was injured, but you might remember last season Fisher missed the end of the year with a left knee injury--a knee he's also had problems with in December 2006/January '07 and January '03.
DANIEL ALFREDSSON! What a huge individual effort, just like Galley said. Alfredsson worked it out of the defensive zone, dumped it into the offensive zone, won the puck back and out-waited Lundqvist until he spotted an opening. Neither Spezza nor Heatley are making much happening, but Alfredsson is going to make that line effective if he has to do it all himself. Assists to Heatley and Picard.
Holy shit, after taking the lead the Sens are really making Auld work hard to keep it. Sustained pressure pretty much since the goal at 16:13 to the end of the period, including four shots for the Rangers in that time.
The Sens scored and, finally, have a lead to play with--thank heavens. You could see the longer that game went scoreless the more it played into the Rangers' advantage, because the Sens would have continued to get more nervous. Now they've got twenty minutes to go. Three stars of the second: 1. Auld; 2. Alfredsson; 3. Donovan.
Third period underway, two chances early one, one for Winchester who cut in and just missed the puck, and Ruutu, who heeled a Spezza cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1. Then a really weak hooking call on Ruutu and the Sens are back on the penalty kill. I don't even think Ruutu really touched whoever he 'hooked', but whatever. Great save by Auld, who got square to Chris Drury on that shot. Geez, short-handed breakaway for Vermette, who finally used that speed to break free, but he got stopped cold by Lundqvist. Nice to see Vermette and Kelly re-united on the penalty kill as well as in even-strength situations. Worth mentioning that Redden did not see any powerplay time on that last Ruutu penalty; it seems Redden hasn't quite enamoured himself with fans in New York, as the Blueshirt Bulletin blog criticized the Rangers blueline as being "a corps of defensemen who have been effective in inverse order of their salaries". Which means the highest-paid defenceman (Redden) has, according to BB, been the least effective.
Well, the Sens were running around once again, and you knew that was going to happen. Momentum heavily shifted the ice in favour of the Rangers, and Sjostrom was the first one who could beat Auld. In favour of the Sens' tender, he had stopped... what, three shots before the goal? Brutal, if the Sens want to end their losing streak they're going to have to get back into this game.
Beautiful glove save by Auld, who appears to be the only one still playing for the Senators. Pick it up, fellas, because this isn't pretty.
Wow. No idea how Lundqvist stopped that one... scramble after a Bell shot, with Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza all swatting at him. Alfredsson was basically standing right on top of him, but Lundqvist was up to the task. Would have been nice to score a garbage goal like that. Spezza had a great chance, and Heatley was just stopped by Lundqvist's arm.
Galley was just talking about Redden 'putting money up on the board', some cash that he probably put up for whoever might score the game winning goal against his old team. I wonder if any Senators' players put money up on the board tonight; I'm about willing to put together a couple grand to put up in the Sens dressing room if they'd just start winning some games.
Ottawa is 'out-scoring-chancing' the Rangers by a count of 20 to 12. It would be nice if they'd put one or two more of those away. Am I bitter? Maybe. WIN A GAME! AND THEN WIN ANOTHER ONE!
Oh wow, great move by Spezza (that didn't end in a giveaway, for a change), and a pass to Vermette, who just couldn't put it away. Is he ever snakebitten. In fact, there must be a tonne of snakes in the Sens' dressing room, because everyone is snakebitten... will somebody get these motherf*cking snakes out of this motherf*cking dressing room?
Thanks to Auld, the game ends in a tie and the Sens get a point in the standings. Wicked, that point is nice. But it's lonely, get it another point to hang out with, Senators.
A lot of poor, soft passes for the Senators so far in overtime. Playing with the puck like that can be dangerous, luckily it hasn't been costly yet. Interesting 4-on-4 pairing of Heatley and McAmmond, but they don't quite look comfortable with one another. Overtime over, and here comes the shootout. Let's see if Craig Hartsburg learned his lessons from the last shootout: Use Ruutu first.
Nikolai Zherdev is up first: Shot, five-hole, scores. Sens are down just like that. Then Spezza tried the same thing for the Sens, but Lundqvist doesn't fall for it. Here comes Sjostrom for the Rangers, and he's bested by a great glove save by Auld. Here's Ruutu, who dekes himself out and then shoots from way outside. Drury is stopped point-blank by Auld, and so it's all up to Vermette. But Vermette barely even gets a shot on net, and the Sens get shutout in the shootout.
The losing streak extends to five games, although the Sens got a point, at least. Maybe I should have just watched Heroes... Credit has to go to Auld, who looked like the Sens' best player on the night. It was also a good game for Bell, whose debut was pretty strong and finished +1 with two shots--his powerplay work was good, and his defensive play was surprisingly solid. And kudos to Zubov, who played only 6:25 but still managed two shots on net and two hits--would have been nice to see him in the shootout. The Sens' best line was Vermette-Kelly-Winchester--combined eight shots and five hits--but it's too bad Vermette can't score to save his life. And it's back to the drawing board for Hartsburg, as the Sens prepare to play in Montreal on Thursday.
Wow, a 2,000+ word post. I'm sorry, it got away from me. Hopefully it wasn't terribly boring to read. And we're back to the same question we were asking before the game: Who does Bryan Murray try to trade? With a few days off until the next game, I think something might happen soon.
Live blog tonight!
Tonight feels like a live-blog night. I think I'll bring my TV into my computer room and watch the game in here, so anyone who's interested can join me here around 7:00 EST.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Live blog: Sens @ Sabres
After hearing a first-period radio coverage which included a hilarious (not really) comment about "soft dumps" and an existential question before Christoph Schubert opened the scoring for the Senators, I've decided to live-blog the radio coverage of the game. Some of it will be good, some will be critical. All will be about the game. This will be a stream-of-consciousness live blog, which I bet will be long to read afterwards. Hopefully it will be worth it, though.
Oh, and Dany Heatley just broke a four-game goalless drought with a second power-play goal for the Sens to make it 2-0 just 19 seconds into the second period. I don't want to get too high on this, because I don't want to screw anything up.
Too many men on the ice penalty for the Sabres, with Jason Spezza serving the infraction. Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette are killing the penalty to start, and did pretty well by the sounds of thing. It's always good to start a kill with a scoring opportunity. Plus Filip Kuba, whose defensive play hasn't been spectacular (although he's done fine) made a great PK play.
Another short-handed shot! Anyone else love the PK duo of Dean McAmmond and Jarkko Ruutu, the mirrored twosome (numbers 37 and 73, respectively)?
JASON SPEZZA SCORES, right after leaving the box. Deke, fake the shot, go the other way. You'd think Patrick Lalime would know Spezza never shoots, but I guess he doesn't. He does now. Quick two points for Spezza, giving him 11 (4G, 7A) on the year. Vermette gets the only assist, and now has two points on the season. Cha-ching!
Holding penalty on Nick Foligno. And a stupid series of commercials. At least we don't have to deal with Jungle's ridiculous Baton Rouge commercials... what are they thinking? This is supposed to be a classy place, not the kind of trashbag that makes plays on 'luscious racks'.
Gord, I realize you're trying to be colourful. But we're trying to listen to the game here. Let us know what's happening on the ice. And Dean, we realize that Teppo Numinen isn't from Seinfeld. Thanks for the clarification, though.
Penalty killed. Buffalo is 0-for-4 on the night now.
ANOTHER penalty? Holding on Vermette. And Jason Pominville got a scoring chance, but hit the side of the net. Phew. Okay, it was killed, and it's five-on-five. Shit, Daniel Alfredsson's hurt? Okay, he's back up, and pissed. What happened, Gord, please tell me? Oh, he got a shot in the gnads. Uncomfortable, but not likely to keep him out of the lineup. Sorry if you think I'm not sensitive enough, Alfie. Ales Kotalik gave him a shot between the legs, the bastard.
Special teams update: Sens are 2-for-4 on the powerplay, Sabres are 0-for-5. So far.
Statistical note: McAmmond is tied with Anton Volchenkov right now for most hits on the Sens (two). Are you going to take that, Jason Smith, Mike Fisher, Chris Phillips, Ruutu, Chris Neil... I could go on. Bottom line, not enough hitting. I guess people are too worried about scoring.
Why do people call periods 'stanzas'? Stupid, stupid thing. Anyone who's wondering what it is, as Dean (or was it Gord?) asked, it is a unit within a larger poem.
Ruutu has just been united with McAmmond and Shean Donovan on the fourth line. I guess Craig Hartsburg read my blog and decided to heed my advice. Be warned, Sens fans. Fisher is going after Mike Weber, the little puke who kneed Alfredsson! Good for you, Fisher. If you don't score, at least start some shit. Coincidental fighting majors, and Weber gets an extra two for tripping. Sens powerplay. Sounds like Fisher really went after him, which is one good thing about having him playing with Alfredsson.
Auld gives the puck away to comeback-player-of-the-short-season-so-far Thomas Vanek, and then he gets another short-handed chance. Someone knock him down, please? Now Derek Roy and Adam Mair are making short-handed magic. Score, guys!
YES! I told Spezza to do that! 4-0 Ottawa, off a scramble right after a Sens powerplay. Good stuff, CASH Line.
Now another penalty kill, hooking on Volchenkov. Tough not having him on the PK, but good start for Vermette sending the puck down the ice. Sounds like the key to the Sens' playing well is winning battles. That's a good place to start, anyway. McAmmond does the ol' pass-back-to-the-defence penalty killing tactic to Schubert, and it works.
Scramble in front of Auld, but the second period comes to a close. Sens are still up 4-0! They are also outshooting the Sabres 25-15, and I don't think that's a coincidence. The best defence is a good offence, so keep it up, guys.
Interview with Tim Murray, about the B-Sens: They are hard to play against. He says 'Pressure' exactly like Bryan Murray does, sort of like 'Presh-shure'. Zack Smith has apparently been inbelievable this season in the AHL: five goals in seven games, yeah, I think he's doing pretty well.
Third period starts, only 31 seconds in, and Chris Kelly takes a hooking penalty. Volchie is out now, so it's 5-on-4 for a little more than a minute. With Kelly in the box, it's a good thing the Sens have penalty-killing depth.
And now McAmmond draws a penalty on Toni Lydman, so the Sens are off to the powerplay. The Sens are 2-for-5 right now, which is pretty good considering the Sabres had killed off 94.3% of their penalties going into the game. Penalty over, no damage done.
SHEAN DONOVAN! What an incredible start to the season for the Sens' fourth line, and Jesse Winchester seems to be fitting in well enough with them. This line could easily play 10-15 minutes on a night; I say we bump them up to 'third line' on the depth chart. Assists to Winch and D-Mac.
Troy Kaleta smokes Kuba, and the Sens start a scrum. Andrew Peters against Neil, and Neil seems to have gotten a good shot in there. Naturally, Kaleta didn't drop the gloves when Smith challenged him, but I guess he just pulled a Ruutu. Third game in a row for Neil's fighting, and that includes two wins against heavyweights George Parros and Peters, with rookie Luke Schenn in the middle. Neil's effectiveness is hinged on fighting, and it's something he didn't do enough of last year, in my opinion. Peters got a 10 and a 5, Neil got 5 and Smith for some reason got a 10. I didn't see it, but he didn't sound unsportsmanlike.
A couple great stumbles in one sentence: 'Califlorida' and 'Eugene Owner'. Great job, Gord.
Remember how instrumental the Sens' fourth line was in the 2007 playoff run? We've got an effective one again, folks. Hopefully they keep getting rolled into games, because they've been huge in the past few.
Heatley gets a tripping penalty. Sounds like Alex Picard shied away from a hit rather than taking one to make a play, which is something that someone of his size hopefully won't do often. Now Volchenkov has taken a delay-of-game penalty, so it's a 1:55 powerplay for the Sabres. And Alfredsson's stick broke, but Auld came through with a rebound-free save. That's what a goalie has to do on a 5-on-3. Kelly goes out as the Sens' forward, but loses the faceoff. He blocks a shot. Auld makes a great lateral save, and then an even better save on Roy. Good for cueball: or, how about Alex 'Luthor' Auld? Get it? Lex Luthor? Kind of blends with the science-fiction theme that's been established with Martin "Darth" Gerber.
Damn! Drew Stafford ruins Auld's shutout bid with a 5-on-3 goal. Really too bad for him, but should be fine. Sens 5 Sabres 1.
Ruutu and Kaleta actually got into a fight! A couple of guys who like starting shit but don't usually finish it (Kaleta more than Ruutu), this sounded like a weak fight thanks to Kaleta's resistance. And Ruutu gets the extra two for unsportsmanlike, which sounds pretty bogus. Neil got a ten minute misconduct for some reason, powerplay number ten for the Sabres.
Well, it seemed like the penalties would eventually catch up to the Sens, and the Sabres just scored a second power-play goal. Numminen (not from Seinfeld) had his shot deflect off Schubert's foot, and past Auld. 5-2 now, 10 seconds left...
And game over. Sens 5, Sabres 2, and the Sens are back on the winning train. Sorry this live-blog was (is?) so long, hopefully it was enjoyable.
One sour note on the night: Kuba's assist streak to start the season is over at eight games; so much for an 82-game assisting streak. At least he set an NHL record in the process.
Oh, and Dany Heatley just broke a four-game goalless drought with a second power-play goal for the Sens to make it 2-0 just 19 seconds into the second period. I don't want to get too high on this, because I don't want to screw anything up.
Too many men on the ice penalty for the Sabres, with Jason Spezza serving the infraction. Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette are killing the penalty to start, and did pretty well by the sounds of thing. It's always good to start a kill with a scoring opportunity. Plus Filip Kuba, whose defensive play hasn't been spectacular (although he's done fine) made a great PK play.
Another short-handed shot! Anyone else love the PK duo of Dean McAmmond and Jarkko Ruutu, the mirrored twosome (numbers 37 and 73, respectively)?
JASON SPEZZA SCORES, right after leaving the box. Deke, fake the shot, go the other way. You'd think Patrick Lalime would know Spezza never shoots, but I guess he doesn't. He does now. Quick two points for Spezza, giving him 11 (4G, 7A) on the year. Vermette gets the only assist, and now has two points on the season. Cha-ching!
Holding penalty on Nick Foligno. And a stupid series of commercials. At least we don't have to deal with Jungle's ridiculous Baton Rouge commercials... what are they thinking? This is supposed to be a classy place, not the kind of trashbag that makes plays on 'luscious racks'.
Gord, I realize you're trying to be colourful. But we're trying to listen to the game here. Let us know what's happening on the ice. And Dean, we realize that Teppo Numinen isn't from Seinfeld. Thanks for the clarification, though.
Penalty killed. Buffalo is 0-for-4 on the night now.
ANOTHER penalty? Holding on Vermette. And Jason Pominville got a scoring chance, but hit the side of the net. Phew. Okay, it was killed, and it's five-on-five. Shit, Daniel Alfredsson's hurt? Okay, he's back up, and pissed. What happened, Gord, please tell me? Oh, he got a shot in the gnads. Uncomfortable, but not likely to keep him out of the lineup. Sorry if you think I'm not sensitive enough, Alfie. Ales Kotalik gave him a shot between the legs, the bastard.
Special teams update: Sens are 2-for-4 on the powerplay, Sabres are 0-for-5. So far.
Statistical note: McAmmond is tied with Anton Volchenkov right now for most hits on the Sens (two). Are you going to take that, Jason Smith, Mike Fisher, Chris Phillips, Ruutu, Chris Neil... I could go on. Bottom line, not enough hitting. I guess people are too worried about scoring.
Why do people call periods 'stanzas'? Stupid, stupid thing. Anyone who's wondering what it is, as Dean (or was it Gord?) asked, it is a unit within a larger poem.
Ruutu has just been united with McAmmond and Shean Donovan on the fourth line. I guess Craig Hartsburg read my blog and decided to heed my advice. Be warned, Sens fans. Fisher is going after Mike Weber, the little puke who kneed Alfredsson! Good for you, Fisher. If you don't score, at least start some shit. Coincidental fighting majors, and Weber gets an extra two for tripping. Sens powerplay. Sounds like Fisher really went after him, which is one good thing about having him playing with Alfredsson.
Auld gives the puck away to comeback-player-of-the-short-season-so-far Thomas Vanek, and then he gets another short-handed chance. Someone knock him down, please? Now Derek Roy and Adam Mair are making short-handed magic. Score, guys!
YES! I told Spezza to do that! 4-0 Ottawa, off a scramble right after a Sens powerplay. Good stuff, CASH Line.
Now another penalty kill, hooking on Volchenkov. Tough not having him on the PK, but good start for Vermette sending the puck down the ice. Sounds like the key to the Sens' playing well is winning battles. That's a good place to start, anyway. McAmmond does the ol' pass-back-to-the-defence penalty killing tactic to Schubert, and it works.
Scramble in front of Auld, but the second period comes to a close. Sens are still up 4-0! They are also outshooting the Sabres 25-15, and I don't think that's a coincidence. The best defence is a good offence, so keep it up, guys.
Interview with Tim Murray, about the B-Sens: They are hard to play against. He says 'Pressure' exactly like Bryan Murray does, sort of like 'Presh-shure'. Zack Smith has apparently been inbelievable this season in the AHL: five goals in seven games, yeah, I think he's doing pretty well.
Third period starts, only 31 seconds in, and Chris Kelly takes a hooking penalty. Volchie is out now, so it's 5-on-4 for a little more than a minute. With Kelly in the box, it's a good thing the Sens have penalty-killing depth.
And now McAmmond draws a penalty on Toni Lydman, so the Sens are off to the powerplay. The Sens are 2-for-5 right now, which is pretty good considering the Sabres had killed off 94.3% of their penalties going into the game. Penalty over, no damage done.
SHEAN DONOVAN! What an incredible start to the season for the Sens' fourth line, and Jesse Winchester seems to be fitting in well enough with them. This line could easily play 10-15 minutes on a night; I say we bump them up to 'third line' on the depth chart. Assists to Winch and D-Mac.
Troy Kaleta smokes Kuba, and the Sens start a scrum. Andrew Peters against Neil, and Neil seems to have gotten a good shot in there. Naturally, Kaleta didn't drop the gloves when Smith challenged him, but I guess he just pulled a Ruutu. Third game in a row for Neil's fighting, and that includes two wins against heavyweights George Parros and Peters, with rookie Luke Schenn in the middle. Neil's effectiveness is hinged on fighting, and it's something he didn't do enough of last year, in my opinion. Peters got a 10 and a 5, Neil got 5 and Smith for some reason got a 10. I didn't see it, but he didn't sound unsportsmanlike.
A couple great stumbles in one sentence: 'Califlorida' and 'Eugene Owner'. Great job, Gord.
Remember how instrumental the Sens' fourth line was in the 2007 playoff run? We've got an effective one again, folks. Hopefully they keep getting rolled into games, because they've been huge in the past few.
Heatley gets a tripping penalty. Sounds like Alex Picard shied away from a hit rather than taking one to make a play, which is something that someone of his size hopefully won't do often. Now Volchenkov has taken a delay-of-game penalty, so it's a 1:55 powerplay for the Sabres. And Alfredsson's stick broke, but Auld came through with a rebound-free save. That's what a goalie has to do on a 5-on-3. Kelly goes out as the Sens' forward, but loses the faceoff. He blocks a shot. Auld makes a great lateral save, and then an even better save on Roy. Good for cueball: or, how about Alex 'Luthor' Auld? Get it? Lex Luthor? Kind of blends with the science-fiction theme that's been established with Martin "Darth" Gerber.
Damn! Drew Stafford ruins Auld's shutout bid with a 5-on-3 goal. Really too bad for him, but should be fine. Sens 5 Sabres 1.
Ruutu and Kaleta actually got into a fight! A couple of guys who like starting shit but don't usually finish it (Kaleta more than Ruutu), this sounded like a weak fight thanks to Kaleta's resistance. And Ruutu gets the extra two for unsportsmanlike, which sounds pretty bogus. Neil got a ten minute misconduct for some reason, powerplay number ten for the Sabres.
Well, it seemed like the penalties would eventually catch up to the Sens, and the Sabres just scored a second power-play goal. Numminen (not from Seinfeld) had his shot deflect off Schubert's foot, and past Auld. 5-2 now, 10 seconds left...
And game over. Sens 5, Sabres 2, and the Sens are back on the winning train. Sorry this live-blog was (is?) so long, hopefully it was enjoyable.
One sour note on the night: Kuba's assist streak to start the season is over at eight games; so much for an 82-game assisting streak. At least he set an NHL record in the process.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Live blog - Sens and Bluejackets
Well the game starts.... AND OH MY GOD SECONDARY SCORING!!!
Cory Stillman opens the scoring for the Sens. Play started by Mr. Heart-and-Soul, Chris Kelly.
Now we're reminiscing about the worst trades ever. Yashin, Gretzky, and Luongo make the list.
Hitchcock - looks better with the Mustache or without? I vote with. He looks too happy without.
Where's Meszaros been lately? Has his time been cut down since the Commodore acquisition? Something to investigate at a later, less beer-related time.
Period 1 over. Antoine Vermette provides the least insightful interview ever.
Nick says 'hi'.
Neil injured? Who will kick ass for the Sens now? Well... Bass or McGratton or Commodore. The Sens have changed quite a bit in the past few years.
Period 2 begins
Nash nets a clean shot on Emery to get the Jackets back in the game. No one has questioned Emery's long term goaltending abilities yet... that's a good sign. Give it a minute.
After that deke, where Emery gave Vyborny the entire right side of the net, now we are questioning his long-term goaltending abilities.
Mezzy makes it 2-1
Andrej Meszaros makes it 2-1 on the powerplay, with a wrist shot from the blueline. Leclaire didn't look too good, as the puck hit him before trickling over the goal line.
End of 2nd
Did you guys hear that there's a goaltender controversy in Montreal? There's one guy named Huette and another guy named Who-ay, and they both want to get recognized. Thanks to Jamie for the heads up. You mean I've been insulting him this whole time? Good!
Start of the 3rd
Commodre starts the period with a fight against a random fight, which he wins.
5:30 Fedorov scores his ninth goal of the season which I believe was due to mass amount of illegal drugs, or talent, probably drugs though. He's terrible.
Ben predicts a 3-2 Sens win in overtime - Stillman gets his second goal.
Simon predicts 4-2 win for the Sens.
Vermette is on pace for a career high in points. I still think they should trade him.
Overtime
Everyone agrees that Gerber is better at shootouts.
Who taught Volchenkov how to stickhandle? That was great! ...and Simon tells us that Vermette is teaching him how to speak English? That explains the 'Sens Burmy' fiasco.
Now the Sens are doing good work with zero seconds left in OT. Missed opportunity on the PP there.
Shootout
Going with Alfie despite his miss two nights ago... dekes... did it go in?! No... balls.
Nash shoots blocker side on Emery and scores. Nick calls for a steroid investigation.
Vermette misses 5-hole. Balls.
Zherdev goes in on Emery and goes low on Emery. Game over.
I guess they should have put Gerber in.
Live Blog Tonight: Pregame thoughts
I'm hosting a bit of a Sens get-together tonight and the laptop will be open for all comments from a group of opinionated Sens fans.It's going to be madness. Tune in to this blog during the game for some live blogging madness.
Comment #1: Why is the Sens game tonight NOT IN HD?! ...I'm pissed.
Comment #2: I hate to say it, but Nick Kypreos made a good point on Hockey Central. It seems the Sens' coaching staff have been angling to turn Ray Emery into the #1 goalie since the All-Star break.
It kinda sucks for Martin Gerber, who has a better record and better GAA than Emery, but the team has to get behind whomever they play best in front of.
Comment #3: Just heard on TSN that Dany Heatley is pointless in the Sens last four games. Maybe we should be blaming some losses on him.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Live blog: Sens 3 Bruins 2
First Period:Decent period. Good first half, not-as-good second half.
In the last few blogs, I've been pretty hard on Randy Robitaille, and I think it's been with good reason. It's only fair, however, to point when when he plays well, and he did so in the first period. He actually won battles, threw a small hit or two, and set up some plays. He had a pretty bad giveaway, but I was pleased all-in-all.
Props to Martin Gerber. He faced 12 shots, including three breakaways, and the only goal he allowed was on a Chuck Kobasew breakaway, and I can hardly blame The Gerber for that one. If he keeps playing as he is, the rest of the team needs to step it up on his behalf.
It must be pretty frustrating to be Daniel Alfredsson right now. By no fault of his own, he's been demoted to the second line to toil with lesser-skilled players, and he's the only reason that second line is generating any pressure right now. Antoine Vermette and especially Chris Kelly really need to step it up if they want to show they deserve some respect as more than role-playing forwards.
On Boston's side, Alex Auld hasn't looked stupendous in nets, but he's made a few saves. One of the most underrated prospects in the league must be Milan Lucic; ever since his play as captain of the Canadian squad in the Super Series against Russia, I've loved this guy's play, and he's had a good game so far. And, of course, Zdeno Chara is dominant.
Second period:Why isn't anyone shooting the puck? Ottawa got nine shots in the second, but should probably have twice that many if the players would shoot when they're in the zone instead of trying to continually set other guys up. Auld is playing well, but he can't stop them all, fellas; get pucks to the net.
Big Luke! Luke Richardson scored his first of the season. Awesome. Probably the best or at least most surprisingly effective off-season acquisition is now not only being the defensive stalwart this team needs him to be. He's thrown three hits--more than anyone else in the game so far--and has pinched a couple of times effectively. After receiving a beauty pass from Kelly and then sending another one to Vermette, he got the rebound and buried it. Awesome. Even if that's the only goal he scores all year, it's a bonus. And he's already one ahead of Bill Muckalt.
How effective is Chris Neil if all he's going to do is take penalties? His job is to draw penalties, not get called for them. In the last 5 games and two periods tonight, he's got 19 minutes (seven minors and one major) in penalties and two assists. Not really a good trade-off, Neiler. He's also got to work on his physical game, because his timing seems completely off.
Ropes has been demoted. And Brian McGrattan hasn't seen a shift since the first period. I can't say I'm surprised about either; Robitaille had a good first, but slowed down, and this isn't the kind of game Grats is really suited for.
Third period:
Great finish. Who makes it close? Lucic. I see pretty good things for that very big and very young prospect.
For the second time in three games, Jason Spezza finishes with two goals, and continues the search for his first career NHL hat trick. With six goals and thirteen points in the last six games, Spetzky has really stepped it up. As has Dany Heatley, whose one assist gives him nine points in the five games.
Alfie looked quite relieved to be back on the CASH line, and it showed on the score sheet. He demonstrated why it's no less effective to have that line together than to break it up, because that line is all but unstoppable when they're together.
The Gerber played well again and made saves when he had to, stopping 26 of 28 shots he faced. The winning streak extends to six games, and Ottawa plays in Atlanta Thursday night.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Live Blog: Sens vs Pens
Greetings all. I hope you'll spend the evening with me as I watch the Ottawa Senators take on the Penguins tonight.
7:11pm - About half an hour till game time, I'm watching Senators Overtime on Sportsnet with Ian Mendes. Did you guys check out Mendes' blog on sportsnet the other day? He was taking about his man-date with Brent Wallace - hilarious!
7:20pm - Overtime was boring so now I'm watching Full House. Can you believe this show was popular back in the early 90's? Oh... now back to Overtime and they're talking to Sens' prospect Nick Folino, who has dual citizenship... another Brett Hull *sigh*.
7:24pm - Full House update: Uncle Jesse and his wife had twins!
7:33pm - Cool stat: Senators and Penguins are #1 and #2 top teams in the NHL since the all-star break. Gary Gallery is living in the 70's according to his outfit. Way to go Galley, don't let the decade tell you how to dress.
First Period:
13:16 - Both Kelly and Spezza were able to just walk in towards the net. Hopefully they'll take a freakin' shot next time they have the opportunity. But they've got some good pressure right now. Pens had their chance at the PP - now it's our turn.
11:30 - Sens goal! The key to this play was the pick that Heatley pulled on Gonchar. Then, Spezza gets stoned by Fleury, luckily he doesn't give up and fires the next one into the net.
Oh yeah - now a storm's brewing because Armstrong ran into Emery, then a sen went after Crosby. Not a good combination. Luckily, Neil's on the ice and he's not afriad to grab somebody. Could turn into a tough game. No suspensions though - too late in the season.
9:53 - Rutuu drops like a ton of bricks and stays on the ice to sell it. Good on Spezza though for being proactive. He gets 5 for the hit that Rutuu really should have seen coming. This was because Rutuu went for the late hit after Spezza touched the puck back out of the zone - at least it would have been a late hit if Spezza hadn't jumped out of the way.
4: 31 - Nice shot by Oullette for the tieing Pens goal. Nothing Emery could do he was left alone. The D were frozen trying to cover the guys at the side of the net.
Oh crap - Roberts scores. This was different. Emery could have had that one. ...I don't like Roberts as a Penguins anymore than I liked him as a Leaf. Argh! I'm starting to question Spezza's actions now.
Not sure if I'm satisfied with the first period - but if this is how entertaining the playoff series is going to be then I say bring it on!
Second Period
12:58 - I was going to say that this period is going really well until Armstrong almost gets away on a breakaway. That's just a reminder for me to keep my mouth shut. Heatley got his 49th some time ago. Sweet. It looks like the 2nd-line players are doing well too - Comrie, Vermette, Schafaer and Fisher are all playing their roles and body-checking hard.
6:06 - I just noticed Saprykin on the ice. He took a shot. He must be playing better than usual because normally I barely notice him on the ice.
Crosby does a spin-o-rama and I yell at the TV.
3:38 - This game is all about thr powerplays, and there's really only one measure for the effectiveness of powerplays: goals. Right now, I see some potential but no real scoring chances, only shots that COULD go in. I would like to see Fleury jumping around more - that would please me.
HUGE pass block by Volchenkov when Crosby tries to Roberts on a 2 on 1.
1:00 - Nice save by Emery standing way out of the crease. But WHAT WAS SPEZZA THINKING ON THAT DROP-PASS!?!! The whole crowd says 'awwwww!!!/argh!!!!'.
Third Period:
During intermission I watched the Ask A Ninja episode where he interviews Will Ferrell and Napoleon Dynamite about Blades of Glory. Hilarious stuff.
16:12 - Pittburgh just got a few scoring chances, Emery seems to be holding up well under the pressure. Hopefully the sens can score soon and really take the pressure off him.
14:25 - My dad and I scream at the TV as Spezza dances around everyone but can't getthe puck to Heatley. That seems to be the case alot. But Spezza's looking good for the final 14 minutes of this game. Right now, I would say that Heatley scores the winner from Spezza, or Volchenkov gets a shot past Fleury from the point.
11:12 - Ooooohhhh!!! What a save by Emery! How come the camera didn't stay on that for longer?! That save could have been the highlight of the night.
1:45 - Phillips takes a penalty. The Senators were playing so well 5 on 5 I thought they were going to be able to score one. Corvo especially was playing well, winning pucks in the offensive zone. Malkin takes a punch at Chris Kelly - the heart and soul of the team - and this evens up the players. Nice one Kelly. Should make for an interesting finish - no shootouts please!
:09 - Well... no shooutout I guess. Mezaros lost the puck in our zone and it cost us the game! Mezaros choked. I don't want the sophomore slump to cost us the series when we meet in the playoffs.
End game. Great game thought, very entertaining. I'm gonna go to sleep. Let me know what you thought of the live blog, especially if you refreshed a couple of times during the game.
Have a great night! ...not you Pittsburgh.
7:11pm - About half an hour till game time, I'm watching Senators Overtime on Sportsnet with Ian Mendes. Did you guys check out Mendes' blog on sportsnet the other day? He was taking about his man-date with Brent Wallace - hilarious!
7:20pm - Overtime was boring so now I'm watching Full House. Can you believe this show was popular back in the early 90's? Oh... now back to Overtime and they're talking to Sens' prospect Nick Folino, who has dual citizenship... another Brett Hull *sigh*.
7:24pm - Full House update: Uncle Jesse and his wife had twins!
7:33pm - Cool stat: Senators and Penguins are #1 and #2 top teams in the NHL since the all-star break. Gary Gallery is living in the 70's according to his outfit. Way to go Galley, don't let the decade tell you how to dress.
First Period:
13:16 - Both Kelly and Spezza were able to just walk in towards the net. Hopefully they'll take a freakin' shot next time they have the opportunity. But they've got some good pressure right now. Pens had their chance at the PP - now it's our turn.
11:30 - Sens goal! The key to this play was the pick that Heatley pulled on Gonchar. Then, Spezza gets stoned by Fleury, luckily he doesn't give up and fires the next one into the net.
Oh yeah - now a storm's brewing because Armstrong ran into Emery, then a sen went after Crosby. Not a good combination. Luckily, Neil's on the ice and he's not afriad to grab somebody. Could turn into a tough game. No suspensions though - too late in the season.
9:53 - Rutuu drops like a ton of bricks and stays on the ice to sell it. Good on Spezza though for being proactive. He gets 5 for the hit that Rutuu really should have seen coming. This was because Rutuu went for the late hit after Spezza touched the puck back out of the zone - at least it would have been a late hit if Spezza hadn't jumped out of the way.
4: 31 - Nice shot by Oullette for the tieing Pens goal. Nothing Emery could do he was left alone. The D were frozen trying to cover the guys at the side of the net.
Oh crap - Roberts scores. This was different. Emery could have had that one. ...I don't like Roberts as a Penguins anymore than I liked him as a Leaf. Argh! I'm starting to question Spezza's actions now.
Not sure if I'm satisfied with the first period - but if this is how entertaining the playoff series is going to be then I say bring it on!
Second Period
12:58 - I was going to say that this period is going really well until Armstrong almost gets away on a breakaway. That's just a reminder for me to keep my mouth shut. Heatley got his 49th some time ago. Sweet. It looks like the 2nd-line players are doing well too - Comrie, Vermette, Schafaer and Fisher are all playing their roles and body-checking hard.
6:06 - I just noticed Saprykin on the ice. He took a shot. He must be playing better than usual because normally I barely notice him on the ice.
Crosby does a spin-o-rama and I yell at the TV.
3:38 - This game is all about thr powerplays, and there's really only one measure for the effectiveness of powerplays: goals. Right now, I see some potential but no real scoring chances, only shots that COULD go in. I would like to see Fleury jumping around more - that would please me.
HUGE pass block by Volchenkov when Crosby tries to Roberts on a 2 on 1.
1:00 - Nice save by Emery standing way out of the crease. But WHAT WAS SPEZZA THINKING ON THAT DROP-PASS!?!! The whole crowd says 'awwwww!!!/argh!!!!'.
Third Period:
During intermission I watched the Ask A Ninja episode where he interviews Will Ferrell and Napoleon Dynamite about Blades of Glory. Hilarious stuff.
16:12 - Pittburgh just got a few scoring chances, Emery seems to be holding up well under the pressure. Hopefully the sens can score soon and really take the pressure off him.
14:25 - My dad and I scream at the TV as Spezza dances around everyone but can't getthe puck to Heatley. That seems to be the case alot. But Spezza's looking good for the final 14 minutes of this game. Right now, I would say that Heatley scores the winner from Spezza, or Volchenkov gets a shot past Fleury from the point.
11:12 - Ooooohhhh!!! What a save by Emery! How come the camera didn't stay on that for longer?! That save could have been the highlight of the night.
1:45 - Phillips takes a penalty. The Senators were playing so well 5 on 5 I thought they were going to be able to score one. Corvo especially was playing well, winning pucks in the offensive zone. Malkin takes a punch at Chris Kelly - the heart and soul of the team - and this evens up the players. Nice one Kelly. Should make for an interesting finish - no shootouts please!
:09 - Well... no shooutout I guess. Mezaros lost the puck in our zone and it cost us the game! Mezaros choked. I don't want the sophomore slump to cost us the series when we meet in the playoffs.
End game. Great game thought, very entertaining. I'm gonna go to sleep. Let me know what you thought of the live blog, especially if you refreshed a couple of times during the game.
Have a great night! ...not you Pittsburgh.
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