Sens make me look like an ass, beat Bolts

During tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, TSN took a sick pleasure in pointing out to Ottawa Senators fans that while our new crop of forwards were struggling to score, Dany Heatley was tearing up the Western Conference. (Where's the love Duthie? You're an Ottawa boy!)

Dave Hodge's mailbag question was "Should the Senators have handled the Dany Heatley situation differently?"

Going into the game, all signs pointed to the Sens being a sinking ship, in need of a shake-up. Well, I guess it's time to find a new angle. The Sens won the game 7-1, and made me look like a total ass for all the internet to behold.

Milan Michalek scored a trio of pretty goals, thanks in no small part to a few long-time Senators. Jason Spezza maintained (yes, I've been praising him despite his lack of points for some time now) his strong play, and set up Milan a few times, Daniel Alfredsson collected three assists (all in a day's work for Alfie), and Chris Kelly's hard work in the PK not only kept up the Sens' excellent penalty-killing stats, but set up two short-handed goals.

So what's the score now TSN?

Dany Heatley 5G, 5A (No points in two games, btw)

Milan Michalek 4G 0A
Jonathan Cheechoo 0G 2A

Not looking so bad now (would be looking even better if Cheechoo were anything more than a salary dump. Ouch... too soon?). Next time, I'm picking the game winner using some sort of hockey tarot cards.

Karlsson? Oh yeah, that guy...

After a win tonight, and a game on Saturday night against the Habs, you won't find bored hockey writers speculating about the future of Erik Karlsson. I think Bryan Murray will do what he thinks is best, and with modern free agency rules, he's probably going to the minors (or back to Sweden) no matter how well/poorly he plays. Probably.

Is that a mini-stick in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?

You've let your imagination run amok again Ottawa. Depth has not been one of the Senators' strong points for the past couple of season, but moderately talented, inexperienced players do not take the place of experienced NHL regulars. (I think I said as much in the last post.)

So while you're drooling that Matt Carkner (why did I not hear of this amazing talent before this season?!) may take the place of Chris "heart and soul" Kelly and his $2.1 million contract, try to remember why he was offered that contract. Kelly is an excellent penalty killer, an occasional scorer, and a solid defensive forward.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of return you're expecting to get for the likes of Christoph Schubert and Chris Kelly, but it's a fact that 4th round picks can't kill penalties or score goals. Hell, even Carkner probably won't.

So before you go throwing the baby out with the bathwater, try to remember that baby is pretty good at hockey. And your bathwater is inexperienced at penalty killing at an NHL level.

....so there!

Ontario: A Hab-not province

You could probably tell from my previous post that I was conscious that some Habs fans would be terribly noisy and probably ruin this game for all the Sens fans in attendance, but our team shut those overly boisterous Habitants up pretty well with a edge-of-your-seat 5-4 win. Ole-ole-ole-ole.

First of all... Brian Elliot, your crazy glove saves are spectacular, and they are giving me heart attacks. On the plus side, you're rarely beat glove-side. On the other side of the equation, you're caught out of position and HAVE to make these saves in order to bail yourself out. It's madness. I hate you and you're amazing.

Great game from Nick Foligno too. He's becoming such a consistent player because of his forecheck and occasional offensive contribution. Under Clouston's system, he's become a very important part of the Senators' game plan.

This was one of Jason Spezza's better games. He minimized his giveaways and was a pivotal player in the offensive zone. Oh yeah, also those goals.

Anton Volchenkov has remembered how to hit people again. That's nice: he's quite good at it. The Sens out-checked the Habs 31-16 on the game, and it showed. The team's overall enthusiasm seems to sky-rocket after Fisher or Volchenkov goes out of their way to clobber an opponent. Keep it up for God's sake.

If I were to credit Canadiens fans for anything, it's in recognizing that Carey Price clearly weaker than Jaroslav Halak in net right now. Thank goodness Bob Gainey's ego won't allow Halak to be the #1 goalie.

Penalty-killing was pivotal for the Sens in this win. Credit to Daniel Alfredsson for some extremely smart plays (he must be one of the smartest players in the NHL) and Chris Kelly for helping the Sens survive some stickey situations.

Despite some defensive lapeses, this game displayed the Sens at their late-season offensive best. There were times when Ottawa was man-handling the Canadiens in their own end. This sort of game makes me think the Sens will be in the playoffs next year.

Ottawa Sun headline: Spezza jabs Habs in the abs!

If I should fall behind: Habs 5, Sens 3

The Senators had every reason to come out strong on Saturday afternoon. Ever-decreasing opportunities to make up ground in a playoff race. A chance to make up two points on a team that the Senators' would likely have to bypass. Their captain, Daniel Alfredsson, making a heroic return from a broken jaw. But it was all for nothing, and the Canadiens' Alex Kovalev--also returning to the lineup, but for an altogether different reason than Alfie--took over the game in the first, getting three points on four goals in the game's first 27 minutes.

The Habs came out strong in the first, and it didn't help that the Sens gave them three powerplay opportunities in that period--and Montreal capitalized on two of 'em, with goals from Tomas Plekanec and Mathieu Schneider. Their even-strength goal came from Kovalev, off a turnover from Chris Kelly, weak coverage by Chris Phillips, and poor positioning on the part of Brian Elliott. Ells was pulled after the third goal in favour of Alex Auld.

Shean Donovan tried to get his team going with a fight early in the second, but it didn't quite have the desired effect. On their fourth powerplay, Patrice Brisebois scored to put the Habs up 4-0. It would turn out to be the game-winning goal.

Jarkko Ruutu scored a minute after Brisebois, and a couple minutes after that Dany Heatley scored his first of the game--it looked like the Senators may have been on their way back into the game. But Mathieu Dandenault scored off a juicy Auld rebound late in the second, and not even another Heatley goal in the third could get the Sens back into it.

Special teams were the story. Montreal's powerplay went 3-for-4, and their penalty kill was 6-for-7. That, in the end, did the Senators in on the night. Ottawa outshot the Canadiens 47-32, including a game-high seven from Heatley as well as five from each of Filip Kuba and the recently-reacquired Mike Comrie, but Jaroslav Halak was up to the task for the Canadiens. As good as Kovalev was, Halak was the Habs' best player on the night.

Another disturbing stat? Ottawa had 16 giveaways (Jason Smith had a team-high four of them), and only five takeaways. Tough to balance those numbers.

The good news for the Senators is that both Comrie and Chris Campoli played very well in their debuts. Campoli, obviously, had the more notable first game with a couple of assists, and he was one of only four Senators on the plus side of the ledger (only Heatley, Alfredsson, and Jason Spezza were also pluses). But Comrie played with plenty of intensity and made some chances, and looked pretty good as well.

Ottawa's got two more shots at the Canadiens this season. Although the nails are about as close to hammered into Ottawa's coffin as they can be right now, it would be nice to play spoiler a little bit more.

Alfie out at least a week

NOOOOOOOO! Thanks a lot, Dany Heatley. Because of your snapshot to Daniel Alfredsson's jaw, the captain is expected to miss at least 7-10 days before having another x-ray to determine the status of his injury. Way to go; I'm calling on you personally to step it up in Alfie's absence.

Josh Hennessy was recalled from Binghamton to fill out the roster, and Chris Kelly will play right wing on the top line with Heatley and Jason Spezza.

The Sens have five games over the next 10 days, so if Alfie stays out that whole time it's a pretty big blow to the Sens' last-ditch playoff push. But hey, what can you do?

Now, back to the 36-hour Obamathon...

All The Way Home: Avs 3, Sens 2 (OT)

Wow. The Senators had 15 points on the road in their first 25 road games, but got nine on this five-game road trip. Says a lot about how this team's been playing of late, and for anyone to get 90 per cent of points available on such a disjointed road trip has to come (all the way) home feeling pretty darn good about their trip.

Ryan Shannon made this game for the Sens. He scored the Sens' two goals, one on a sneaky shot and the other a top-corner wrister from the point. He looks a little unusual playing the point on the powerplay, but it worked tonight. Shannon didn't make much of an impact in his first stint, but his recent seven-game stint under Cory Clouston has re-energized his line with Mike Fisher and Nick Foligno, and his speed is lethal.

In nets, Alex Auld made some big saves tonight, and was one of the main reasons the Sens walked out of the game with even one point. He stopped 24 of 27, including one terrific chance Ryan Smyth had in alone after a lucky home-ice bounce off the back boards.

For obvious reasons, ice time was pretty evenly distributed amongst the players tonight. It's a pretty important coaching tactic when playing the second game of a back-to-back, particularly in the mile-high city of Denver. No one had less ice time than Jesse Winchester's 10:52 (and he still had three shots), and Mike Fisher led the forwards with 18:28 on the night.

Could Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza have been more invisible on the night? Apparently Heatley had three shots, but they couldn't have been very good scoring chances, and the only moments I noticed Spezza were when he looked for an open pass with futility, eventually to lose the puck to an Avalanche player--such as what happened on Colorado's second goal, when Spezza lost the puck and then offered absolutely no defensive coverage when backchecking. They had one shift with any semblance of intensity, and that was with five minutes left in the third; and it didn't even generate a shot on net, as Heatley sent his one chance wide. But then Spezza's inability to get the puck in deep and severely lacking defensive coverage were the chief reasons for Wojtek Wolski's overtime winner. Need more offence than that from these guys, especially in such a difficult game.

In his 1,000th career NHL game, Jason Smith played an effective game. He had 18:11 of ice time, usually with Alex Picard, and he bailed out his younger defence partner a couple of times. And he even had a couple shots on net. As for Picard, I`ll give the guy a break because it was his first game in quite a while, but he didn`t look very good on the whole.

Got to laugh about Chris Kelly's continued offensive drought. The guy doesn't have a goal in 13 games including the Colorado game, and only has six on the year. He had Ottawa's best chance to go up 3-2 with about 80 seconds left in the third, but his clean shot from the slot went high and wide. Coupled with his empty-net post-clanger last night against Nashville, the guy's got to be damn frustrated.

So now it`s back home for a game against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. Should be a good game, as both teams are pretty hot right now.

Prove it all night: Sens 3, Sabres 1

Despite the best efforts of referees Chris Ciamaga and Kerry Fraser, and the somewhat less-than-best efforts of the Buffalo Sabres, the Senators walked into Buffalo feeling pretty good and walked out feeling even better, and two points richer. The game was a necessary sixty-minute effort, and almost to a man the Senators brought their best.

Alright, let's start with special teams. Penalty-killing. Although several of the penalty calls were on the chintzy side, most of them were justifiable. One that wasn't, though, was the triple-minor assessed to Jason Smith, which Fraser complemented with a ten-minute misconduct after Smith told him how he felt about it. For those of you who didnt' see the incident, it began when Patrick Kaleta took a run at captain Daniel Alfredsson. Then Smith stepped up to run Kaleta through the boards, but held back when he saw Kaleta was in a vulnerable position. So he held back, told Kaleta to watch his ass, and the Kaleta challenged Smith and they went at it. Out of it all, Smith got three roughing penalties, and Kaleta got nothing. It boggles the mind, but I guess Fraser thought he'd seen something that wasn't there. Anyway, the Sens penalty killing--even without Smith for almost half the game--was impeccable, killing 17 of 18 short-handed situations, and only allowing the one powerplay goal on a 5-on-3. It was an impressive showing, particularly for Antoine Vermette, Chris Kelly, and Anton Volchenkov (but also for the rest of the PK team, including Alfredsson, Mike Fisher, Dean McAmmond, Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Phillips, Filip Kuba, and even Brian Lee once in a while).

On the powerplay, Ottawa was a very impressive 2-for-6, and I'll give a lot of credit for that to Brendan Bell. Although he can be a liability at even-strength, Bell's ability to control the puck at the point and thread passes through openings directly resulted in the first goal, which banked off Jason Spezza's skate, and Bell got another assist on Alfredsson's powerplay goal, as well. He's earned his spot on the Sens' third d-pairing, even if that means Alex Picard sits out a few more games.

Speaking of Spezza, he had a great game. He was competing and skating hard, and driving to the net--as evidenced by the Sens' first goal. He had four shots, second on the team only to Alfredsson (who had five) and one takeaway. His pressure, though, undoubtedly helped cause several other Buffalo giveaways, as did the Senators' aggressive forecheck all night. Spezza looks like he really appreciates the system that new coach Cory Clouston is trying to implement, and it sure is impressive to see.

A lot of credit for tonight has to go to Ruutu, who--on top of his disciplined and effective penalty-killing--was at his most super-pestiest tonight. He, Alfredsson, and Nick Foligno each bowled over Ryan Miller at some point, and Ruutu's screen was quintessential in giving Shean Donovan something to shoot at for Ottawa's second goal of the game. He was jawing at the Buffalo bench all night, and that might have had something to do with their apparent disinterest in competing in the game.

On the Dany Heatley front, I don't want to overstate anything, but he only had 12:44 in ice time, by far a season-low. It certainly had something to do with all the penalty-killing time, but both Spezza and Foligno had negligible PK time but more ice time than Heatley. More concerning was that in his 12 minutes of ice time, Heatley had zero shots--a huge faux-pas for a shooter who is expected to lead the second powerplay unit. He and his coach can say they're on the same page, but Heatley's going to have to show it on the ice if we're going to believe it.

I've also got to give Lee credit for his work short-handed. He had 5:17 in PK time on the night, and twice drew Buffalo penalties to negate their powerplays. He kind of looks like Bambi on ice when he's out there, wide-eyed and light on his feet, but his play is effective and he makes it obvious when an opposition player gives him a shot in the back in front of the net.

Most of all, though, Brian Elliott. A huge part of any penalty kill is going to be your goaltending, and--despite what analyst Pierre McGuire thinks--Elliott was terrific in stopping initial shots and limiting his rebounds to a minimum. He ended up stopping 31 of 32 shots in all, and his play at the start of the game likely frustrated the Sabres until they lost interest. And when Buffalo regained interest in the third period, Elliott was solid. I don't want to jinx anything, but he is--amazingly--perfect on the road, and has four of Ottawa's seven road wins this year. Very strange, but also awesome.

Prove it all night. There's nothing else we can do.

Damn: Habs 5, Sens 4 (SO)

It was an exciting game, at any rate, and the Sens did end up coming out of it with one point. That, however, is small consolation when I've had my hopes so high for so long.

I guess that's my own fault, though.

Still, through it all (if you watched the whole thing), the Senators kept us entertained. The Sens came out pretty strong in the first, but ran into penalty troubles early. It was a combination of the team playing precariously on the edge, and some weak calls. I don't like to blame refereeing, and I won't, but some weak calls--particularly Jason Spezza's second consecutive penalty, a slash on Andrei Kostitsyn mere seconds after A-Kost had blatantly tripped Dany Heatley, which was followed just eight seconds later with another weak penalty (to Daniel Alfredsson, no less) that set the Sens on the wrong side of a 5-on-3 that the Habs capitalized on--really set the Sens back. Ottawa had six penalties, and Montréal only had two; that wasn't the true case, if you measured actual infractions in the game.

Nonetheless, it happened, and the Sens were on their heels for a time. But a little more than four minutes after Alex Kovalev scored the first goal of the game, Chris Kelly replied to tie the game, and keep Sens fans in the game for the moment. The goal was resultant from some very solid board work on the part of Jesse Winchester (whose strength is in the trenches, and could stand to get back to it more often) and a nice pass from Jarkko Ruutu.

A-Kost scored a semi-weak dribbler a couple of minutes after Kelly, and late in the second Matt D'Agostini scored thanks to some weak coverage, and the Sens were down 3-1 and it looked all but over. The Sens got something they haven't gotten a lot of this season, though: A good break. A failed Habs pinch brought about a a 3-on-1 for the Sens, and Heatley "looked away" Jaroslav Halak while breaking down on his off-wing, and just snapped a wrister far side.

Then the Senators had to deal with something they've seen all too much of this season: A weak goal against. Tom Kostopolous fired a snapshot that Brian Elliott got a piece of, but not enough, and the Sens were back down two goals. After that, though, instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the Sens' big guns went out and took charge. Heatley scored his second of the game with assists from Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, and later on Mike Fisher fired one hell of a slap shot (I knew it would be lethal if he would just hit the net) thanks to another oh-so-unexpected pass from Chris Neil (two sick set-ups in two games? Where is this from, Neiler? Keep it up, though). We were off to overtime, and then a shootout, and the Senators' continued their shootout struggles.

I'm not going to rag on Elliott. In fact, I think I'm going to give him a pass all season. It's not just because he has Casey Jones painted on his helmet (but how freakin' awesome is that), I just think the kid's been thrown into a circus, and he's already done better than either of the other two goalies have done. He allowed two weak-ish goals, sure, but he also made two sick breakaway saves to keep the game from getting out of hand really quickly. Judging by body language, those saves were more inspiring than the weak goals were deflating. It seemed, at times, that the team was actually playing for one another; the skaters knew that Elliott deserved better than an uninspired loss, so they picked it up and salvaged something from the game, at the very least.

It wasn't a win, and it's all the more disappointing that it wasn't a win because it was against Montréal. Still, it had some good signs, and it's five of a possible six points in the last three games. At least there's that. Bring on Washington on Tuesday.

Sens Flame out: Flames 6, Sens 3

Losing a two-goal lead was obviously pretty frustrating, but it was even more frustrating when you have to listen to Greg Millen Craig Simpson and Jim Hughson host a Calgary Flames love-in (especially for Dion Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla) all night long. Maybe I was just a little bit short because of the result, but did anyone else notice an obvious passion from CBCs commentators for Calgary?

Whatever. No scoring in the first. Two goals early in the second, the first with a slapshot from Chris Phillips at the point (with two goals in two consecutive losses for him, is this the end of the "Phillips mojo"?), and the second after some solid board work from Dany Heatley (I'm as surprised as you are) to free up the puck for Jason Spezza to take a shot (!) high blocker side.

After those goals, though, the Flames brought it to the Sens, and the roster holes left by Anton Volchenkov and Filip Kuba on defence were abundantly clear. Some defensive foibles and the Flames had three goals in 2:07, and the Sens were behind. On defence, it was obvious the Sens were going to have problems without the aforementioned stalwarts, who are arguably the Sens' two most consistent d-men so far this season. As good as Brian Lee has played since his recall, he played 25:18 on the night. I'll give him credit for how clean his game was, but that's just a sign of how desperate the Sens were on defence on the night.

Cody Bass tried to spark the Sens late in the first by dropping the gloves with Eric Nystrom, but he just injured his shoulder and left the game. It seems unlikely that he'll be back, but--as unfortunate as his injury is--I think Ilya Zubov (who was a healthy scratch against the Flames) will offer more of what the Sens need.

People will lay plenty of blame on Spezza for Rene Bourque's second goal of the game, but I don't think it's necessary to crap on him. As Kelly Hrudey pointed out, this wasn't a blind errant pass; Spezza simply lost control of the puck, and actually slid face-first to try and block the shot afterwards. It's shitty that it happened, but it wasn't the kind of stupid mistake that people usually rag Spezza for.

Then Alex Picard scored his fifth goal of the season to tie the game. (Five goals, by the way, ranks Picard higher than Mike Fisher, Antoine Vermette, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil, and Jarkko Ruutu in goals scored this season.) One thing about Picard's goal, that you can say about most of his goals this season: Instead of looking for a perfect pass or a howitzer slapshot, he simply focussed on getting the puck on the net. Christoph Schubert could learn a thing or two from the kid, because a slapshot isn't much use if you fan on it or miss the net.

Did anyone else see Daniel Alfredsson throw some lumber towards Phaneuf after the Flames' neanderthal jumped at a Sens player in the corner (I think it was Nick Foligno)? Maybe, after getting the cold shoulder from his teammates, Alfie's trying to lead by example.

Not much else to say, really. The Sens are scoring some goals now, but they've lost the defensive responsibility that was their strong suit at the start of the season. If I've got to choose between a 2-1 loss or a 6-3 loss, I think I'll go with the latter, so maybe it's better this way.

I'm not sure when the roster freeze thaws, but Bryan Murray is sure to be making plenty of phone calls in preparation for that day. We've all heard how difficult it is to make a trade in the salary cap era, but the roster right now simply isn't working as a whole, no matter how hard the individual components might be working.

Puck + net = happy fans: Thrashers 4, Sens 1

What... is... going... on? How can this team be so different from night to night? I've almost come to accept that the Senators aren't as good as I hoped they would be. But how can they beat the Atlanta Thrashers 5-1 one week, and then lose to them 4-1 the next week? It doesn't make any sense to me.

I guess 4-1 score aside, though, the game was actually pretty close. A powerplay goal by Vyacheslav Kozlov on an iffy delay-of-game penalty (the play-by-play folks though it hit the glass and then went out) was all that separated the Sens from the Thrashers until the start of the third period. Then all hell broke lose, as Dany Heatley took a lazy hooking and Colby Armstrong scored on the powerplay, and then Armstrong scored again 31 seconds later. Chris Kelly--after hitting the cross bar earlier in the third--scored off a sweet pass from Chris Phillips with Nick Foligno screening Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. But then Todd White scored an empty-netter one the powerplay and the game was over for realsies.

Special teams was the difference. Atlanta went 3-for-6 on the powerplay, and Ottawa was 0-for-4. Same old story for Ottawa: Their only goals at the start of the year came on the powerplay, but it's cooled off to absolute zero and the team is now 19th in the league with a 16.7 per cent efficiency rating.

The onus lies on the CASH Line to get their play going for the team's powerplay--and overall success--to improve. Daniel Alfredsson needs to realize that, as valuable as he is in the defensive zone, he's more valuable in the offensive zone; I love to see a player backcheck, but it's not unusual to see Alfie behind the defensive goal line--causing turnovers and taking control of the puck, granted, but his true value lies in creating turnovers in the offensive zone. Heatley is obviously showing his frustration, but he needs to channel it into positively creating chances and maybe skating a bit more quickly into the offensive zone. And Jason Spezza needs to keep playing with the hustle he is playing with, but start taking his own shots on net and stop cutting back to look out for the Heatley pass. Score a goal, no matter how it happens or who gets credit.

On defence, I've got to give loads of credit to Alex Picard. He played over 20 minutes, and he looked to have the poise combined with physicality that Bryan Murray expected when the deal was made. If his play continues this way, the deal could be a steal for Ottawa, because on this night Picard looked better than Andrej Meszaros did on many nights last season. And Brian Lee, who scored an assist, played with the confidence he was lacking earlier in the season.

Kudos also goes to Ottawa's pests, Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu. Although I still believe that Neil has been improperly slotted into a third-line role, he did a number on Atlanta's Bryan Little in--make no mistake--a completely clean open-ice hit, and Little (after being shaken up) appeared to get out of it without an injury. His hit did what Neil has to do: Use his physicality to turn the tide, and get the Sens going. And Ruutu, the shift after Neil's hit, stood up to the Thrashers' Jim Slater and really took it to him. It looked their actions had changed the momentum, but the Sens couldn't cash in on it in time.

I hate to say it, but Shean Donovan is going to take the fall for the Thrashers' first goal. It was his first--and may be his last--penalty killing shift in quite a while, and he was over-committal and too aggressive. In the end, when Ron Hainsey had the puck at the point on Donovan's side, Shean Don was in front of the net, checking no one, screening Martin Gerber. Donovan was great with Foligno and Ruutu on the fourth line, but he needs to settle down on the PK.

And that brings me to Gerber. He was screened on the first goal, the second was a wrap-around that squeaked in, and the third was after Heatley lost his check and then the puck hit Armstrong, dropped right down and towards the open net. Darth Gerber only stopped 21 of 24, but the fault on the goals shouldn't lie on his shoulders. Still, go back to Alex Auld next game, because he's earned the start.

Sigh... callers on the Senators' post game show are proposing the Sens acquire players like Sean Avery and Alexei Yashin in order to help add some scoring depth. The only thing more disturbing than that fact is that--because they won't likely cost much in a trade or signing--I almost think there's some merit to the ideas.

Win for the refs: Panthers 4, Sens 3 (OT)

Alright, Sens fans. I don't usually like doing this. It's not usually justified, and when I'm blogging I try to be as non-Homer-ish as possible. When I'm in the stands it's a different story, but I try to at least be reasonable when I'm writing. So I say this without hesitation: The Senators would have won Monday night's game if the referees were better. And I don't mean if the referees were better for Ottawa; if they were remotely equitable, Ottawa would have won the game in regulation.

For instance: One bogus hooking call on Anton Volchenkov. It was a weak call, and you could see the refs discussing it afterwards. But hey, sometimes mistakes happen, and you've just got to make up for it by calling one the other way. But instead of 'evening it up', the refs handed Volchenkov another chintzy call --this one for boarding. And then when Volchenkov steps out of the box Gregory Campbell hooks and trips him on his way to a 3-on-2, giving the refs an easy-peasy even-up call, and they decide not to call it. Nor do they call a trip on Jason Spezza later, nor did they call a slash on Daniel Alfredsson that knocked the stick right out of his hands. I'm not just a bitter fan. Yes, Ottawa had a 5-on-3 for 90 seconds, but those were easy calls, and the way the Sens play on 5-on-3s you'd almost rather have them not call the second penalty. It was a terribly-refereed game.

With that said, though, the Sens weren't their best on the night. Far from it. They started the game ridiculously slow, and were being worked in the defensive end most of the night. The Panthers were missing nine regulars from the lineup, and aren't a great team to begin with. Although Chris Kelly scored what the referee proclaimed a "good hockey goal" to get the Sens the lead, they blew it. Dany Heatley scored an unassisted goal (although Filip Kuba made it happen), restoring the Sens' lead, but they blew it again. So Jason Spezza scored a pretty goal (five in three games now) to make the score 3-2 for the Sens, but--thanks in some part to a weak hooking call on Alex Picard--Jay Bouwmeester scored a powerplay goal to tie the game. The game-winner was a result of a neutral-zone turnover that somehow ended up on Stephen Weiss' stick, and then in the Sens' net. It was a boring first period, but the teams started exchanging chances in the second and third.

Overtime was all Ottawa, but there was no beating Florida 'keeper Craig Anderson. Highlight of the period was a sick cross-ice pass from Alfredsson to Mike Fisher, but the pass--and Fisher's shot--were outshined only by Anderson's post-to-post save.

I was impressed with Volchenkov on the night. He took two penalties, but--as I said--I question the validity of the calls. Oddly enough, as solid as his defensive play was, I actually thought he had a really good game offensively. I never really thought I'd say that about Volchenkov, but I've noticed this year he's joined (occassionally led) the offensive rush, and he's not afraid to take a shot from the point. All without getting caught out of position. Plus he threw an awesome bodycheck on Radek Dvorak.

Although Alex Auld didn't have his best game, he didn't play poorly. He made some great saves, and starting eating rebounds when it became apparent that the Sens' defence couldn't clear the puck to save their lives. And in the end, he stopped a respectable 36 of 40 shots he faced.

Ice-time disparity watch: It was actually pretty equitable. Although the bench was short in the third period, the ice time was somewhat well spread out. Despite that, Alfredsson played 24:29, but he earned every second, and Cody Bass only played 6:22. But the fourth line had a rough game on the night. I think, on a night like tonight with a team as fast as the Panthers were, that line really missed Dean McAmmond. Sure, Jarkko Ruutu is fast and has some skill, but he can't do anything with Chris Neil and Bass along with him.

Strange note: With three unassisted goals in total tonight, there were only 13 of a possible 21 points scored by players. I don't know what that means, but I think it's a little weird.

Sigh. Well, another game lost to a team that Ottawa has the ability to outplay. And they're back at it on Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, a game which--for some reason, despite being the only meeting between two skilled teams--is only televised on TSN2. I don't even know if I get that channel. Anyone know if it's available on Rogers Digital Cable basic package something-something?

Pre-game: Sens v. Pens, Dec. 6, 2008

Third game of the season against Pittsburgh, and the only real home game after the games played in Stockholm to start the season. The Sens are 1-0-1 against the Penguins so far this season, but are still 12 points behind the Pens in the standings (albeit with two games in hand).

Sens roster notes include the return of Chris Neil, who's back after having arthroscopic knee surgery earlier than anticipated. Ryan Shannon was already sent back to Binghamton, but because Dean McAmmond is still out with the throat infection, Cody Bass will still draw into the lineup. Neiler and the BassMaster, and throw in Jarkko Ruutu on the same line for good measure; plenty of grit in the lineup tonight. On defence, Alex Picard is a game-time decision with that wrist injury, but if he's out Christoph Schubert will play defence once again tonight. I thought he didn't look out of place last game, which is more than you can say for many of Schubert's previous games on defence this season.

Although the Penguins haven't strung together consecutive victories in about a month (3-2-0 in their last six), Sidney Crosby is tearing it up. He's got 14 points (6G, 6A) in five games, but is still second to Evgeni Malkin (who has 41 points) on team scoring. After them the next Penguin in scoring is Miroslav Satan with 19 points. On the injury front, Tyler Kennedy (also known as 'Ugly Crosby' or 'The Ugliest Jonas Brother') won't be in the lineup with a knee injury that will keep him out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks. They're also still missing defencemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney.

So we'll see what happens. The Sens have had some success containing Crosby and Malkin in the past, but these kids just keep getting stronger and smarter. With the CASH Line (apparently) rolling and Alex Auld playing some great hockey, though, the Sens certainly have the ability to beat the Pens--as long as the team shows up and plays their game.

No Habs No! note: After getting interviewed on Puck Daddy yesterday, we've received yet another donation supporting the Campaign. To donate, send any amount to sensarmyblog@gmail.com via PayPal. You can also support the Campaign on Facebook by visiting the official No Habs No! page. The Habs are playing the Devils tonight, and I'm really hoping to write another letter to someone on the Devils; Patrick Elias, do you hear me? Zach Parise? It doesn't matter who, but some Devil score a winner tonight. Preferably in regulation time.

The Rumour Mill: Who should Bryan Murray try to trade?

You may notice a new poll in our left sidebar featuring a very simple question: Who should Bryan Murray try to trade? On a team that has only scored four goals during a four-game losing streak there is no shortage of candidates, but the names we've listed are some of the front-runners. If you've got your own ideas of who should be on their way out, post the name (and some reasoning, if you're so inclined) in the 'comments' section. Without further adieu, here is a breakdown of what we think are the leading candidates, in no particular order, with their contract status in terms of cap hit (including this season).

1. Christoph Schubert, D/W, two years at $0.9M
   Schubert wsan't happy going into this season at the prospect of playing another year of forward instead of his natural position at defence. In training camp he was given every opportunity to prove he could do it, but didn't prove it to anyone. It wasn't until both Brian Lee and Luke Richardson played themselves out of the lineup that Schubert got a chance, and he hasn't looked great. He's often caught out of position, doesn't work on the powerplay, is weak on the penalty kill, and his one real asset--his hard shot--rarely hits the net. Although his contract is reasonable, a more reliable sixth defenceman can be had for less.
2. Jason Smith, D, two years at $2.6M
   Smith started out strong, but has faded in recent games. It doesn't help playing with a different partner every night, but he often seems to be caught out of position, and is very vulnerable to faster players and the back-door play. Smith has let his physical play fade away, and needs to get that back to prove his worth. Once Smith realizes his limitations and focuses on his positional play, he could be valuable. One question: If the Sens aren't able to make the playoffs (perish the thought), is there any reason to have a playoff warrior?
3. Mike Fisher, C, five years at $4.2M
   After a very slow start, Fisher has finally passed Shean Donovan to become the Senators' fifth-highest scorer. He's still only got six points in 15 games, on pace for 26 points on the season. Not good enough, considering his salary. Fisher does have some intangibles, however, and the possibility may still exist for him to become that second-line centre the Sens pay him to be. If not, it would be difficult to deal him anyway, since he's got a no-movement clause and his trade value is probably as low as it's ever been.
4. Antoine Vermette, C/W, two years at $2.763M
   Vermette isn't producing so far this season. But not many players are. Still, he can no longer say he wasn't given an opportunity to play as a top-six forward, and he didn't produce in that role. It may simply be that he needs a different opportunity, or that he isn't as good as the flashes of brilliance he teases us with might indicate. Given his relatively low cap hit and his potential, and the fact that Florida and Vancouver are both rumoured to be interested, might make him the Sens' top trade bait right now.
5. Chris Neil, RW, this year at $1.1M
   I was all over Neil last season, and for good reason--he was terrible. This year, so far at least, Neil appears to have gone back to what was working for him (fighting), and is proving that he does still have some value to a team. The writing seemed to be on the wall when Jarkko Ruutu was signed, but the two of them have been an effective duo at getting under the opposition's skin (see: Adam Mair). Still, if there is no intention of re-signing Neil with the likes of Cody Bass and Chaz Johnson (and Jeremy Yablonski!) in Binghamton, then there is likely a market for Neil. If he wants to re-up for a little less than he's making right now, and proves he can get back to 10-15 goals this year, it might be good to keep him around.
6. Alex Picard, D, two years ay $0.8M
   Picard was a necessary return for Murray in the Andrej Meszaros trade, largely because of his purported potential. Unfortunately, he has struggled mightily at times, and that has made the times when he's looked good a little less memorable. It seems unlikely that the Senators would give up on a project player like Picard after so little time, but if a trade involving him would improve the team, then I'm certain Murray would take it.
7. Chris Kelly, C, four years at $2.125M
   Kelly is the fourth player on this list that Murray re-signed last season; it's not a good sign. Kelly's value is as a third-line defensive centre and penalty-killing specialist, but those can likely be had for less than his cap hit. Which is why it might be difficult for the Sens to find a trading partner for Kelly. He has played well given offensive opportunities, however, so he might be a flexible opportunity should the Senators need a more offensive centreman to step up.
8. Other
   Who else do you think is likely to be traded? I'm sure I'll see Jason Spezza in the comments; why do you think he's so expendable?
   

Alfie's pissed

According to the Ottawa Sun, Daniel Alfredsson expressed his frustration in practice today by smashing a pane of glass with his stick. Apparently Dany Heatley also had a "heated discussion" with Chris Kelly, and then Heater had a long talk with Craig Hartsburg. You can watch a video on SUN Video here (but don't expect to see the glass actually get smashed).

This is all second-hand information from Bruce Garrioch, so I don't know how 'heated' the discussion was, or exactly what precipitated Alfie's outburst (apparently it was because the team couldn't complete a drill). But I'm not sure it's a bad thing; at least it's some emotion. The team is obviously searching for answers after a pretty thorough beating at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Given some criticisms about Alfredsson's leadership or hesitance to make his feelings known, I think everyone knows where he's at right now.

In his search for answers, Hartsburg scrambled the lines today in practice:

Heatley-Spezza-Foligno
Winchester-Fisher-Alfredsson
Donovan-Kelly-Vermette
Ruutu-McAmmond-Neil

Obviously Jarkko Ruutu is now suspended, and it's unclear where callup Ryan Shannon will fit into the lineup. Given his defensive lacking and offensive flair, I think Shannon might pull right up onto a line with Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out for sure.

It was also announced today that Alex Auld will be in nets again on Thursday against the Islanders. He's earned at least a few starts with how he's been playing.

Sens squeak by Panthers 2-1

Very defensive effort last night, I don't know if my heart can take a whole season of tight games like that. Who am I kidding, I'm used to it after Jacques Martin's era.


I didn't get to pay very close attention last night, but I did get to see the second and third periods at a local establishment. They were pretty boring, but that might be a good thing--definitely worth it if the team ends up winning more than they lose.

Good effor by Alex Auld, who gave the Senators the stops they needed and brought his record up to 3-2 on the season. He stopped 25 of 26, another game where he was close to a shutout. The one goal allowed was on another 5-on-3 powerplay, and Auld had little to no chance on the save.

It was tense going into the third, but the tension was slightly relieved when Dany Heatley scored a powerplay goal about 6 minutes into the third. Walking out of the corner, Heatley took a shot short-side that ramped up a defender's stick and snuck past Vokoun. The tension was further relieved when Chris Kelly hammered home some garbage after Chris Neil threw said garbage to the front of the net. It was the kind of goal that third line of Kelly, Neil, and Jarkko Ruutu can be expected to score fairly regularly.

The tension was fully relieved at the 20:00 mark of the third, when the game ended in a 2-1 result. Tight finish, but two points is two points. The way the Sens won, in a close, defensive battle, was pretty impressive considering the periodic defensive flaws in the last couple seasons.

No Fisher for season opener

Well, it's finally here: Just a couple hours until the Sens begin the season. Unfortunately Mike Fisher's groin injury hasn't heal well enough, so he's decided to take it easy and sit this one out. So that means that it's not serious, just precautionary, or that it's very serious, and the team is downplaying it. Who knows.

This likely means that the second line will be three (natural) centremen: Nick Foligno, Antoine Vermette, and Jesse Winchester. Chris Kelly may jump up, but he might play third line once again instead. Maybe we'll see the Cockroach Line (get it? Pests?) of Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Neil, and Cody Bass. One of Shean Donovan or Dean McAmmond will be suiting up with Fisher out.

For the record, neither Andrej Meszaros nor Wade Redden have stood out too much in the Rangers/Lightning game. So far, at any rate.

How Swede it is: Sens 4 Indians 1

I had to include at least one 'Swede' pun, because apparently everyone else is doing it ('Home Swede Home' in the Citizen, 'Swede and Sour' in the Sun). I'm pretty sure Ottawa Sun headline-writers will be pissed because I stole their best cover-copy, but too bad!

Anyway, the Sens took their first game outside of North American by a score of 4-1 over the Frolunda Indians on Wednesday afternoon. Although I didn't get to see the game (I should have called in sick), scorers for the Senators were Daniel Alfredsson, Chris Kelly, Alex Picard, and Jason Spezza. Oscar Hedman of the Indians scored a goal off of Jason Smith to make it 2-1 in the second, but the Sens took it away in the third.

Also for the Indians, according to the Ottawa Citizen's recap of the game, Erik Karlsson laid out Antione Vermette with a big hit, which is bittersweet. Since Vermette dosn't appear to be worse for wear, maybe it's just sweet. Not sweet, though, is a possible groin injury for Mike Fisher, who left the game as a precaution although his status for Saturday's season-opener is unclear.

What to do with Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley

Sportsnet's Ian Mendes published a story on Monday about the CASH Line, and how--although Craig Hartsburg hasn't said what he'll be doing--both Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza expect that their line, usually filled out with Dany Heatley, will be split up to start the season.

The reasoning is obvious: By spreading out the most potent offensive threats into two lines, the Senators become a more difficult team to play against because their stars can't be easily targeted. It's difficult for any team to shut down the CASH Line completely, and I'd say the only team to really do so effectively were the 2007 Anaheim Ducks. Still, the fact remains that much of the Sens' scoring prowess has been heavily concentrated in that top line, and if falls off pretty quickly.

The Sens do have other offensive weapons. Antoine Vermette is a solid offensive player with tremendous defensive awareness, and his point totals have consistently climped to a career-high 53 points (24G, 29A) in 81 games last year. He should get plenty of second-line time this year to set a new career-high. After seeing his numbers fall off a bit last season, more will be expected from Mike Fisher, and he likely expects more from himself. Finally, many people are saying Nick Foligno has the abilities to be a point-producer in the NHL, so he should get the chance this season with a full year in the NHL.

Assuming the CASH Line is to be split up, there are four possibilites (and be sure to vote for your choice in the poll that is in the left info bar):

1. Keep Spezza and Heatley together
2. Keep Spezza and Alfie together
3. Keep Alfie and Heatley together
4. Spread them onto three different lines

I don't think the fourth option is really going to be tried, so I'll cross that off the list right now. That leaves three more possibilities.

Spezza and Heatley have obvious chemistry, and their point totals prove that. They play off each other's abilities, with Spezza setting up Heatley once he's gotten himself into a shooting position, and Heatley letting one of his one-timers rip. One problem with this is that Heatley changes his game when he plays with Spezza (and he has admitted as much, if I recall correctly), concentrating more on getting open and less on a puck-possession game that could make him more effective defensively. It also leaves Alfredsson as the offensive fulcrum of the other line, subjecting his 35-year-old body to the physical punishments of that role. It's not a point that is dealt with often, but Alfredsson's health has to be an issue of concern as he gets into the twilight of his career.

Secondly would be keeping Spezza with Alfredsson. This maintains the two puck-possession experts from the current CASH Line, and they would be filled out by a winger who would have to be able to turn pucks over and finish plays. It would allow the two to excercise some of their chemistry, and may allow Alfredsson to score more goals by setting up for passes from Spezza. Finding a suitable left-winger for this line would be difficult, though; Vermette is not suited to what would be asked of him, and Jarkko Ruutu is probably not skilled enough offensively to make it work.

The final option would be my preference, and I would try it were I given the head coaching job with the Senators. Alfredsson and Heatley have some chemistry, even if they may not be the soulmates that Spezza and Heatley apparently are. When Heatley is playing his hard, possessional, forechecking game--the one that made him so effective with Rick Nash and Ryan Getzlaf in this summer's world championships--his performance is at its finest. Alfredsson wouldn't be the premiere skilled player on the line, so he'd be comfortable in not being overly targeted by defencemen. And the centreman could be Vermette, if you're looking for an offensive player with defensive abilities, or even Chris Kelly, if you're looking for a defensive player with offensive abilities.

However it happens, the individual players may not do as well offensively than they would as members of the CASH Line. I do believe that they are more than simply the sum of their parts. For the greater good of spreading the offensive production and adding more defensive responsibility, though, splitting up the CASH Line could very well help the Senators' bottom line.

Sens trade up to draft Karlsson, re-sign Kelly

It was a busy Friday for Sens fans. After the buyout process of Ray Emery began friday afternoon, the Sens went into the draft looking to make a splash and made one (although it was minor), and re-signed utility forward Chris Kelly to a four-year, $8.5M contract.

Beginning with the draft, Ottawa was slotted to pick eighteenth overall, but decided that when Swedish defenceman Erik Karlsson--who was the fourth-ranked European skater--was still available when the fifteenth pick, the Sens traded picks eighteen and a third-rounder for the 2009 draft to get Nashville's first-round pick in order to draft Karlsson.

Said GM Bryan Murray of Karlsson:

"We had Erik (rated) ninth overall, I think," said Murray of a player who was named the top defenceman at the Under-18 IIHF World Championship earlier this season. "Very definitely, we're happy we could add him. I like big, strong guys but I also like high-end skill people that do things with the puck and create offence on the back end, and it helps our forwards a great deal. I think he brings that for us."

As for Kelly, the deal was made public while I was at the draft (more on that below), but it's pretty exciting after many reports suggested that Kelly and the Senators were far apart in contract talks, and that Kelly was likely to test the free-agent market. And the deal, which works out to a cap hit of $2.125M per season, seems like a reasonable one for a flexible defensive specialist whose role on the team seems certain to increase this season.

As for the draft, it was cool for a bit, but it got old fast. You know how long it seems when you're watching on TV? Well, imagine that without interludes of intense prognosis from Pierre McGuire and Bob McKenzie, and just sitting waiting. But still, it was neat to hear the many trades that were made over the course of the draft. What surprised me was how many decent players were moved (including Mike Cammalleri, R.J. Umberger, Alex Tanguay, and Olli Jokinen). Other than Jokinen (who was traded for Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and a pick), all the players were traded for draft picks.

Now it's off to the second round! I'm probably only going to stay for the next Sens pick, but I'll be back with a report later.

Sens minus Heart and Soul for 3 weeks

A couple hours ago, those 3 divorced (I presume) guys at Off the posts posted (ohhhh, I get it now) that in a conversation with Bryan Murray, it was stated that Chris Kelly would be out for three weeks - a period that includes the first round of the playoffs.

The more interesting part is that Murray said no one would be called up from the farm to fill in his spot. That means Randy "belongs in Russia" Robitaille will likely be back in the lineup. Okay, I guess. If that's the plan for the playoffs then I would say give Cody Bass a try before the end of the regular season.

Due to some injury-related administrative details, Bass is with the Sens for the rest of the season and won't be sent to the Baby Sens. So give him a shot.

The Kelly injury also means that Christoph Schubert should expect more time on the pk as a forward.

Last night I was surprised to see Mike Commodore and Luke Richardson killing penalties, not the roles I expected them to fill. But I suppose that some line juggling can be expected on the pk units as Kelly ate up a ton of that time.