Another loss: Bruins 6, Sens 4

What a woeful road trip. Eight games, one win, three points, 34 goals against, 20 goals for, zero signs of improvement. It ended like it started, with a loss, this one a disappointing intra-divisional 6-4 loss to the Boston Bruins.

Although Ottawa went down 2-0 early in the first period, the game started to look better when Ottawa came back to tie the game 3-3 late in the second period. Then Boston cashed in on mistakes from both Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza, and the Bruins were on their way to the 6-4 victory.

Head coach Craig Hartsburg laid blame for the loss squarely on the shoulders of Spezza and Alfredsson, according to the Ottawa Sun. Although Spezza wasn't quoted in the story, Alfredsson accepted the blame, and said he was just trying to do too much (what else is new?):

"It's my fault. I'm trying to do too much. It was awful because everybody worked really hard and battled."

I don't even have any comments to make on the game. It's not fun to watch anymore. I was playing Guitar Hero: World Tour through a lot of it. I'm just looking forward to another win.

What's next for Ottawa? What is Eugene Melnyk going to do with this team? Who knows?

No goalie controversy, and Bass and Elliott to Bingo

Craig Hartsburg came out today with a strong vote of confidence for Martin Gerber, announcing that Darth will in fact be starting in the home opener despite his poor performance last Saturday, and despite Alex Auld's solid start the next day.

Going into the season, Gerber was announced as the team's number one goaler. One poor performanec this season isn't enough to change that, Hartsburg seems to be saying. According to the above-linked story, Hartsburg says there's no issue here: "We brought Alex in here to be a real good goaltender and in that game he was. He's here to support and be that guy behind Martin and he'll give us quality games."

What seems incredible is that Auld, Gerber, and Hartsburg all seem to be on the same page. Auld understands his role on the team--to push Gerber whenever he gets the chance. It's a nice change after what we had to live through last year.

Other roster notes include the assignment of Cody Bass and Brian Elliott to Binghamton today. Elliott is no surprise, as he's expected to be the number one goaltender on the B-Sens. Going into the season, though, many had pencilled in Bass--who played a lot of NHL time last season--as the fourth line centreman.

Not sure about Bass. I think his demotion might be temporary, because I still have a feeling there might be a trade for another defenceman soon.

ADDENDUM: In other roster moves by former Senators, the Boston Bruins placed former Sens winger Peter Schaefer on waivers today with the purpose of assigning him to the AHL. Or, more likely, with the purpose of hoping that someone else will pick up the two years and $4.6M remaining on his contract. Which makes me think we were lucky to dump his contract and still get Shean Donovan in return, but then I remember that Vancouver has gotten a lot of miles out of Sami Salo, who was traded by Ottawa to acquire Schaefer.

WE'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

That is definitely not something I thought would be in question when the season was in its early stages. It's disappointing that it took until the last gam of the season, but I'm still damned excited about the playoffs.

Despite the 2-1 loss the Sens suffered at the hands of the Bruins, the Sens made it into the playoffs through the back door. In what I can't describe as anything less than a playoff-like game--probably because both teams had their playoff lives on the line--the Sens came up short against the Bruins. Whatever. I don't care. Thanks to a 4-3 Florida Panthers victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the 'Canes are now officially eliminated (EDIT: Actually, if Washington loses their last game against Florida, then they finish tied with Carolina and the Hurricanes would win the most-wins tie-breaker) from the playoffs and Ottawa will finish in either seventh or eighth (EDIT: The Sens could technically jump into sixth if Boston loses their last game, thanks to that most-wins tie-breaker). Thank you, Jacques Martin!

Speaking of the game against Boston, Antoine Vermette continued to step it up. He had a great game, made all sorts of chances, and scored the Sens' only goal. He's now got 4 goals in the past two games, the kind of offensive step-uppability that will make it difficult to consider letting him go as an unrestricted free agent this season. A bunch of other players had great games, too, but none of that matters anymore, because now the real season starts.

As it stands, the Sens will play either Pittsburgh or Montreal (EDIT: Or, depending on what happens with the earlier scenarios, Carolina or Washington). Without further adieu, here is an impromptu playoff preview, which will likely be elaborated upon once we figure out who will actually be the Sens' opponent.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Insane offensive firepower. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Sergei Gonchar, Petr Sykora, among others. Goaltending has been up-and-down, but both Ty Conklin and Marc-Andre Fleury have had their moments. Defense is questionable; one hilarious comment I heard on the Team 1200 today was the accurate point that the Pens picked up Hal Gill at the deadline as a defensive upgrade; this guy would be lucky to crack Ottawa's top six if it weren't for his size. Pittsburgh will probably also benefit from the return of Gary Roberts when he returns from his injury, but they lost some serious depth when they acquired Hossa. The Sens handily defeated the Pens last year, but this Pittsburgh team has had one full year more to develop, and Malkin kind of scares the shit out of me. It wouldn't be an easy series, but if Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza step it up as they can, Vermette continues the way he's going, and the role players... well... play their roles, the Sens have what it takes to beat the Pens.

Montreal Canadiens

What an amazing series this would be. Montreal is always such a hard team to predict, however. The resurgence of Alexei Kovalev is nothing to scoff at, but he has been known to lose interest in games if he's punished physically. Thomas Plekanec can also be controlled if you pressure him, and Ottawa's shutdown defencemen like Anton Volchenkov, Chris Phillips, Mike Commodore, and Christoph Schubert (should he drop back) should be able to make his life difficult. Carey Price is an unknown quantity; if he steals games, there is very little the Sens can do aside from continuing to get to him with everything--shots, bodies, snow, verbal abuse--to try and knock him off his game. Nothing's worked so far, but Price hasn't had to deal with the same guy in his crease, stepping on his toes, for 4-7 games straight. That means Chris Neil, Martin Lapointe, Shean Donovan, and Cody Bass will have their work cut out for them, and they'll have to do so while staying out of the penalty box to avoid Montreal's punishing powerplay.

I don't really care who we play at this point. Whichever team it is poses difficulties, but every team in the league also has vulnerabilities that can be exploited if the coach can find a way to pick them out and take advantage. I think the Sens should be able to take down just about any team in the East, especially if they get Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, or Daniel Alfredsson back from their injuries sooner rather than later.

(EDIT: Sorry, I wrote this late last night and I apparently missed a few things. I added in edits wherever I made mistakes. I'll add in a preview for the Washington or Carolina scenarios later this afternoon if I can.)

Shane Hnidy scored... I'm so embarassed...

It's 3-0 right now for the Boston Bruins. I'm not watching the game because I'm at work. But Shane Hnidy just scored a short-handed goal on the Senators. It was his second goal of the season, and allowing him to score, and while shorthanded to boot, rivals the 5-0 loss to Toronto as the lowest point of the year in my opinion.

Is anyone watching the game right now? What the hell is going on?

Two in a row! Sens 4 Bruins 1

The big guys stepped up. Martin Gerber, Jason Spezza, and Dany Heatley all had huge games Tuesday against the Bruins, and the Sens won 4-1 thanks to Heater's hat trick.

Gerber continues to impress those following the Sens, and he had a great game. It would have been a totally different game had he not made a tremendous toe-save on Phil Kessel, because that save allowed Heatley to go down the wing with Andrej Meszaros and snipe his first of the game. He stopped 28 of 29, and the only goal was an unlucky play where a Gerber save bounced off Mike Commodore and into the net.

With three goals, it's pretty obvious Heatley had a good game. The first was a wicked shot low far side, then a rocket high short-side over Alex Auld's trapper, and both were from the right faceoff dot. The third one was a gift from Antoine Vermette, who tried not just once but twice to make sure Heatley got to score the empty-net goal. Nice of Vermette to do so, but it's always scary when someone doesn't take an easy goal. Heater also added an assist, for a four-point night. With 35 goals on the season, Heatley now has eleven games to score 15 goals in Sens Army Blog's Drive for Fifty 2008 campaign. Call me crazy, but I think he can do it.

As for Spezza, his game was solid for the most part. He made a few very casual tip passes, one to Randy Robitaille and the other to Meszaros. Neither worked, and the one to Meszaros was dangerous because he was the last man back in the defensive end. These passes are so slick that the opposing team doesn't expect them, but apparently Spezza doesn't realize that his team isn't ready for them, either. He finished with a goal and an assist in just over 16 minutes on the night.

Aside from those three, some other players had good games. Meszaros continued his climb towards recovery, and played pretty well on the night. So did Martin Lapointe, who had two great scoring chances at the end of the first, and also had two hits in the 11 minutes he played.

On the other side of the scales, Commodore continued to struggle, and Luke Richardson does seem to be losing a step as the year drags on. I think both of them will be valuable in the playoff run, but I would like to see Richardson sit out a game or a few and Christoph Schubert step back to play with Commodore. It would give Richardson a few days off to rest, and Schubert's speed would add a dimension to the already physical pairing. If the experiment would work, then it would be something to consider going into the playoffs.

A few notes on things that continue to improve:

1. Powerplay went 2-for-3? Awesome.
2. Defencemen seem to finally be able to know how to handle a 2-on-1, obeying the basic principle of defence--take the passer, allow the goalie to handle the shooter. Since Gerber's shown the ability to make the first save, defencemen--and Cory Stillman, when he's on the point--feel comfortable covering the passer.
3. The team is winning.
4. Big players are scoring: Mike Fisher last game, Heatley tonight.
5. The team is no longer hollow without Daniel Alfredsson. With the captain's health in question, it's good to know the team can string together a couple of wins without him in the lineup.
6. Only two players had more than 20 minutes in ice time, Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips, and they barely went over. With more players getting equalized ice time, third- and fourth-liners are getting more comfortable with their roles and first- and second-liners are getting more rest in preparation for the playoffs.

Sorry about the long post. I've been so inconsistent with posts recently, so I figured I would say as much as I thought about the game. The win sets the team up for a huge game Thursday against Montreal, with the lead in the Eastern Conference--or at least the Northeast Division--on the line.

Time is ticking for JP

After being embarassed (and shut out) in a second straight game, and only a minor deal happening in Sens land, it's hard not to think John Paddock's job is on the line.

The Bruins just blew Ottawa out of the water, beating them 4-0 in Boston last night. A very, very average effort from just about everyone on the team. When Martin Gerber gives Anton Volchenkov 'the look', as if to say 'come on man, what are you doing?' when he inadvertently screened his keeper on Boston's third goal, trying to block Zdeno Chara's shot... it tells you something about the kind of atmosphere there must be in the Senator's locker room.

TSN's NHL experts all seemed to agree that now would be the right time to finally hit the so-called 'panic button'.

When even players admit that a coach has 'lost the dressing room', it's very hard to not think something's going to be done. Sens fans can only hope Bryan Murray pulls the plug (and takes over himself) before it's too late.

I got a bad feeling

The Sens have been impotent lately without Dany Heatley, and are downright paralyzed without Daniel Alfredsson. On the other side of the red line, the Leafs have been competitive in their last few games. This adds up to one conclusion for Saturday's game against the Worst Team Ever: Ottawa might lose.

Ray Emery is going to get the start in net, despite his antics. Hopefully, facing a hated rival, this is where the Big E (we're taking it back) will stand his ground. Martin Gerber didn't fare too well against the Bruins last night and the rest of the team (minus Heater and the Captain), couldn't seem to put the puck in the net despite all their scoring chances. I miss Chara.

A little bit of (pure) trade speculation for you: I want Patrick Marleau on the Sens, and I want it now.

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.

Old Senators lose to themselves three years later

It's really hard to write about this year's Boston Bruins without referencing the Senators.

The Bruins' GM, Peter Chiarelli, was a associate of John Muckler, followed in Muck's footsteps by building the 2000-01 Senators... in Boston... in 2005-06.

Zdeno Chara, Peter Schaefer, and Brendan Bochenski? I suppose it's a start for the Bruins, who have been struggling to remain respectable since Joe Thornton left. They put up a good fight on Saturday night at Scotiabank Place, but the Senators managed to pull out a win thanks to some grind from Mike Fisher and some style from Dany Heatley.

What a shot from Heatley, and what a game from Fisher. Both players doing exactly what those expensive, long-term contracts are telling them to do.

Why are the Sens fans booing Chara? The man left through free agency. Of course, he left for more money, but players do that all the time. There's no hard feelings from me towards the Z-Tree - that guy was awesome in Ottawa, and I wish the Sens kept him. Are the fans booing because the Sens chose to keep Redden instead?

The rematch goes tonight. Watch this one to see if the close game on Saturday was the result of Tim Thomas standing on his head, or if the Sens just couldn't finish their plays.

Around the boards: Oct. 15

Since there's little to no Sens news, I'm going to try something new; a Northeast Division wrap-up, since I don't feel like doing the whole league! Sorry if you find them boring. Well, I'm not really sorry, but you know what I mean.



Ottawa Senators

• The Sens are gone on a team-building trip to the Muskokas or something. Must be nice. Apparently there will be some scrimmages while they're there, and some rounds of golf.
• Dean McAmmond participated in his first full team practice since the Steve Downie incident, which is awesome. The sooner Deaner's back, the better.
• According to Bruce Garrioch, the Sens are going to sign Randy Robitaille as soon as he is released from the Russian team he signed with. I wonder if they are as pissed at him as we were at Alexei Kaigorodov last year. Probably.
• Scott Niedermayer is coming to Otttawa. Don't ask me why or how, but if it happens, you heard it here first.
• Ray Emery's wrist is back in fine shape, apparently, so he's ready to dress come next game. I'd say Marty Gerber will start against Montreal on Thursday, but Emery might make his first start of the season against Florida on Saturday.

Toronto Maple Leafs

• If the trend oof inconsistency (OTL-L-W-L-W-L so far in the season) continues, the 2-3-1 Leafs will at least get a point against Buffalo tonight. While stranger things have happened, don't count on it.
• Andrew Raycroft is starting against the Sabres. If you ask me, goaltending was the least of Toronto's problems last year, and they just made it worse with the Vesa Toskala addition.
• After injuring his knee in a practice, Alexei Ponikarovsky is close to returning, but won't be rushed. He won't play against Buffalo.
• Now that Matt Stajan has scored a few goals, idiot Nick Kypreos wants to trade him for--get this--grit. This is why the Leafs are in the position they are in now; trading away young guys to get old men like Gary Roberts. And it's also why Ben still doesn't watch Sportsnet.
• Mats Sundin is on pace to get a career-high 137 points. I guess bringing in Jason Blake was a good thing. Plus he's playing incredibly well.
  

Montreal Canadiens

• Guillaume Latendresse, whom I thought was embraced as the francophone saviour of les Habitants, looks like he's worked his way out of the lineup (according to TSN). I respect Guy Carbonneau, but why would he bench fan-favourite Latendresse? This team is in a priveleged position of appealing to all francophone players not named Danny Briere if they market the team right. Maybe if he got more than 10 minutes of ice time a game and some powerplay time he'd be getting points, Carby.
  
• Speaking of Carbonneau and players who are being embraced as saviours by Habs fans, why isn't he giving Carey 'the next Patrick Roy or Ken Dryden' Price another start? Cristobal Huet is going to play Tuesday aginst Florida, but wouldn't the lowly Panthers present a pretty good game for Price to play in? I guess Carbs is saving him to play the Sens, including the three leading scorers in the NHL. That'll be great for his confidence.
  

Buffalo Sabres

• I don't know why I hate the Sabres so much, but I do. Probably as much as I hate the Leafs.
• Jocelyn Thubault is starting against the Leafs. That's a slap in the face if I've ever seen one. I hope Jason Blake gets a hat trick of hat tricks. Nothing against Thibault, but I see Buffalo as a bigger threat to Ottawa's Northeast Division title, plus Blake's a pretty respectable character.
• After losing the first two games the Sabres have won the following two by a combined score of 13-3. But they were against Washington and Atlanta, so do they really count? No. So maybe tonight's contest against Toronto will be close.
  

Boston Bruins

• Apparently the Bs are looking at, and possibly close to, signing Danny Markov. Word on the street was that Ottawa was looking at him in the off-season, but there's little to no reason to sign him considering the depth Ottawa has on D.
• Tim Thomas, the goaltender with the ugliest helmet in the league, has outplayed newcomer Manny Fernandez, and has so far retained the starting-goaltender moniker.
• Milan Lucic is playing well for the Bruins, and TSN.ca is reporting he's been promoted to the third line. I wish he was on Ottawa. His play in the Super Series against Russia was pretty stellar; he's the kind of left-winger I would like to play with Christoph Schubert. Or Daniel Alfredsson. I don't care.

And that's that. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. In other news, I love that the NHL made all team websites the same. No matter what the Detroit Red Wings say, it makes summarizing team news easier, so I don't care.

Housekeeping in the front office?

According to the Ottawa Sun today, the Ottawa Senators may announce as early as Monday that General Manager John Muckler has been fired. The reason has not become clear, but I'm sure there are many theories.

Ottawa fans have had a love/hate relationship with Mucky-Mucks for a while; at the start of 2006-07, when the team was doing poorly, many were calling for his head stating that he was too old and didn't know the new NHL well enough.

When he didn't pick up Gary Roberts--who proved to be meaningless anyway--and instead acquired Oleg Saprykin--who turned out to be a pretty good addition--many people were once again saying he'd lost the golden touch that brought five Stanley Cups to Edmonton.

But after a season with the Senators making it farther than they ever had before, with Muckler-era acquisitions like Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Dean McAmmond, Joe Corvo, and Tom Preissing having significant contributions to the team's playoff run, why would Mucks be fired now? Especially given the fact that he's only got one year left on his contract, anyway.

A friend of mine suggested maybe Muckler was actually entertaining the thought of bringing Alexei Yashin back to the Senators. While that would certainly be grounds for dismissal, it's not as likely as some other possibilities.



Obviously, the long-term plan is to gift-wrap the General Manager position for Bryan Murray whenever he wants it. The success the Anaheim Ducks, largely choreographed by Murray when he worked for that organization is proof enough of his abilities. Bob McKenzie of TSN suggested Murray may assume both Coach and GM duties, but, if I'm not mistaken, Murray has publicly declared that he wouldn't want to or be able to do both. There goes that.

Other key NHL management news may be important to consider: the Boston Bruins recently fired Dave Lewis, meaning there's a vacancy at the Head Coach position. Ottawa Senators coach John Paddock has been remoured as a desirable replacement, as he's well-respected across the league and would no doubt like to be a Head Coach once again. Given Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli's knowledge of the Senators' organization, this seems all too likely.

Obviously, Melnyk and Co. would love to keep Paddock for as long as possible. I would assume the original plan was to move Murray up to GM once Muckler's contract had expired, and allow Paddock to jump in as head coach, but Boston knocking on Paddock's door threw a wrench in the spokes. So perhaps Melnyk's hand was forced. Muckler seems like the type who, when offered to resign or be fired, would insist on getting fired instead of quit somethign he's apparently having so much "fun" doing.

One streak ends, another continues!

The streak that continues...

The Ottawa Senators have made the playoffs for a decade straight. That's pretty impressive no matter what team accomplishes it, but it should be extra special for the Senators who have not missed the playoffs since they first made it there in 96-97.

That's not to say that the team has gotten better every year, but rather that effective management has allowed the Senators to fill in the cracks relatively seamlessly. If not for the early-season collapse (better than a late-season collapse, I guess) the Senators would be first in the Eastern Conference right now, despite all they lost in the off-season.

The streak that ends... Bruins 3 - 2 Senators

The Senators lost in regulation last night to the Boston Bruins. This is the first time that the Senators have lost in regulation time (without getting a single point) in around 20 games! In the words of Bryan Murray, "We played so damn well on the road." Was the cursing necessary? Yes, it probably was. It's a great stat to fall back on when you consider that all playoff games are 5-on-5 20 minute periods - no shoot outs or 4-on-4.

The Drive for Five-ty

Heater picked up a goal last night and he's now on pace for 48 goals this season - not good enough Dany! If you don't make it to 50 this season I will photoshop whatever number you do get onto the back of your jersey - and you will have to live with that number until I find something more cruel to do! So just hit 50 goals this season and we can call the whole thing off.



Doesn't Mike Fisher look good with that 'A' on his jersey? He deserves it - not only is he Canadian, but I'm sure he has other good qualities too! The more people on our team named 'Mike' the better!