The Senators just lost 2-0 to the worst team in the league. By the transitive property, does that now mean that the Senators are the worst team in the league? At times, it looked like it. Notably in the second period.
Why the crap was Dean McAmmond scratched? Great call, Bryan Murray. It paid off in spades. While I agree that Brian McGrattan can be useful to get into games--and the fight he had tonight showed that--D-Mac's versatility is useful. A lot more useful than Randy Robitaille, who can't play defense, can't play physical, can't kill penalties, and can't really do anything aside from drift around the ice.
I'll point out a couple of good things about tonight's game. Martin Gerber played pretty darn well. He let in one goal, which was on a 5-on-3, and was a nice play by Anze Kopitar. Other than that, he stopped 30 of 31 including some pretty darned good chances. Andrej Meszaros looked alright, and he was really pissed when that empty-netter was scored--he slashed, hooked, and high-sticked Patrick O'Sullivan on his way to the net, and then hit him after he put it in. I can't blame him for being pissed. Although he's on a hell of a cold streak, Mike Fisher led the team in shots (five) as well as hits (six).
Bad stuff... whatever. Apparently Murray's policy of keeping ice times equalized is out the window. McGrattan only played 2:42, and Nick Foligno only played 5:59. On the other end of the scale, Dany Heatley played 24:33, which was higher than any other player on the Senators, including defencemen, and second-highest in the game to only Jack Johnson of the Kings. Second highest one the Sens was Jason Spezza, with 23:32. I understand you want to get some goal scoring, Bryan, but these are a lot of the mistakes that John Paddock made during games. Foligno, in his limited ice time, might have had the Sens' best opportunity to score.
That's all I can say, really. I guess congratulations have to be given to Erik Ersberg, who stopped all 40 Sens' shots to shut Ottawa out in his fourth career NHL game (and first career win). Good for you.
For the record, this is only frustrating because--as we all know--the Sens are still a good team. So Murray just has to figure out what the crap is wrong, figure out how to fix it, and then have it fixed within the next couple of weeks to make sure Ottawa makes the playoffs, and then make some waves when the team is there.
Gah... I'm going to bed.
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