Quick pre-game thoughts

Tonight's game, I believe, is the culmination of a lot of hard work from Senators players over the past 2 weeks. After beating Washington, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, it seems fitting that the Sens would take on last year's Eastern Conference Champions--the tests just keep coming, and Ottawa seems up to the task at the moment.

Despite various injuries to key players, the Sens have found the depth and strength to move forward. Looking at previous games, it hasn't always been Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza, or even Milan Michalek, who have been contributing the majority of the offence.

Against Columbus, Jesse Winchester had assists on both of the Sens goals. When Ottawa took on Washington, Filip Kuba collected three assists and Ryan Shannon, Winchester, and Peter Regin all had points.

I know I've said this before... but this grand scheme from Bryan Murray to add depth to the team might actually be working. Hopefully I didn't put my foot in my mouth just minutes before the game begins. Let's see...

Send me your thoughts during the game @sensarmyblog.

Faceless Senators make Emery look good

After work today, I went to the local LCBO and picked up eight tall boys to drink this weekend.

The beer for tonight's game against the Flyers is Holsten Maibock 7.0%.

Sports writers are going to struggle for angles on this one (so I bet they'll go with either 'Leclaire inconsistent' or 'Ray Emery shows Sens what they're missing' for lack of better option). The Senators have been entirely faceless tonight.

I can't think of one outstanding player who took the game into his hands. Usually, it's someone like Daniel Alfredsson or Jason Spezza who just says 'Fine, I'll do it'. But tonight, with those two shut down, it's up to some other players to step up.

Mike Fisher had done his part in the second period. Alex Kovalev? Jonathan Cheechoo? Milan Michalek? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Somebody had to step up to win this game for the Senators... but no one did. That's a product of a lack of aggression and creativity.

Much of that goes to Cory Clouston. TSN (as much as I hate to admit it) did a great job of illustrating how the Senators were sitting back for the whole game. Last season, Clouston was known for making the Sens a more aggressive team. Tonight? Nada.

Oh man. Starting to feel that beer. The label was right. Strong.

The easy way out would be to blame Pascal Leclaire. Though I'm certainly not impressed with his performance, if the Senators had not lost this game 5-1, they would have lost it 2-1. No offence, no wins. It's simple.

Still... I'm going to have to put this somewhere in the yellow-to-red for the Pascal Leclaire Advisory System. Tonight's game is unsettling.

Tip of the Hat:

• Beer. Just in general.
• TSN producers.
• Ray Emery - yeah, take that Sens.
  

Wag of the Finger:

• Trapezoids; other so-called 'bad angles'.
  
• Logos that almost look like a "P", but with feathers.
• Photoshop -- should be more beer-user-friendly.
  

Old guard Sens still driving force on offence

When Dany Heatley left Ottawa, it seemed that we were trading one asset (or ass-hat, in this case) and getting two in return. Plus, the signing of Alex Kovalev was meant to add another aspect to the Sens game. Well we're now 14 games into the season and a couple aspects of the trade have turned out well, while others have gone to complete shit.

Milan Michalek is on pace for his best NHL season, scoring 40 goals and 58 points (I love TSN.ca's on-pace stat), but Jonathan Cheechoo have proven all of his doubters correct with only 2 points so far this season. Some nights, he barely sees the ice, and other nights, it seems like he can barely skate.

Kovalev has, so far, lived up to his billing as a streaky scorer. Undoubtedly, he has crazy moves--but little results to show for them. Despite some fancy playmaking with Jason Spezza, Kovalev has not, in my view, lived up to my optimistic expectations.

But the real question is: Are these elements adding up to wins?

It's difficult to make the argument that the Senators would be better off without Michalek and Kovalev, but it's the Senators' old guard that has been the major contributors to the Sens moderate success so far this season.

Daniel Alfredsson is having another outstanding season, and with Spezza, are again the driving force that wills the team towards wins. Unexpectedly, it's Mike Fisher that has been the x-factor in many games this season--he's already got half as many goals as all of last year.

The Sens just need a couple more players to have above-average seasons in order to ensure themselves a playoff spot. That means Nick Foligno contributing more offence on the third line, and Cheechoo at least hitting 15 goals this year.

It's no secret that it takes a whole-team effort to make the playoffs in the NHL, and if even two lines contribute the offence, the third still has to make its contribution.

PS: I saw my first instance of someone calling Pascal Leclaire 'inconsistent' today. Does that make him a good goalie that sometimes plays poorly, or a bad goalie that make the occasional incredible save? I hope it's the former.

Sports sections on life support

I've written a lot of blogs about how there's nothing to blog about, and this week is certainly one of those times.

You know the story - the Ottawa Senators haven't played in five days and the dailies are just pulling at straws for stories even remotely connected to the hockey team. Metal bands, girlfriends' cd liner notes, long-forgotten grudges meant to anger up the blood... A sports section on life support. (What did these papers do before 1992-93? Look further than album notes for stories, I suppose.)

I haven't watched Sens play in a while either. On Saturday, I was watching the Gee-Gees football team blow their season when it matters most (again)... and on Thursday night I was scraping together a costume for an office Halloween party (the results were proportional to the amount of time I left putting together my 'Hawaiian tourist' costume... ouch). In any case, it was better than watching the Sens be single handedly beaten by a no-name goalie. (PS: I CALLED IT!)

The contentious issue right now is: Are the Senators even a good team?

We were pretty high on ourselves before last week's losses. The playoffs seemed like a lock. The Sens lose Anton Volchenkov and Jason Spezza, and suddenly the team seems to be scraping the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

I'm erring on the side of optimism for the Sens upcoming game against the Tampa Bay Lightning (seriously NHL? Again?). Spezza may be back in the lineup, so Alex Kovalev can dodge the pressure and go back to just dekeing around one defenceman and then losing the puck.

...too soon?

About now, I would say send your in-game thoughts to @sensarmyblog on Twitter... but the game's on TSN2, so tell me what you're doing instead!

What's up with the Sens? They're missing their best players

What is up with the Sens lately? I guess it doesn't matter how many goals Jason Spezza contributes, they need him on the ice to produce offence at all.

Who has TSN2? Honestly... It must be part of the cable package for people who can't stand to miss an all-Texas NBA game. Go Spurs. Sorry, it just sucks that I missed a Sens win a couple days ago, and a Raptors game tonight. Blerg!

I've got half a mind to put H1N1 On Notice... we'll see about that tomorrow. It all depends on whether Pascal Leclaire plays or not.

Here's my prediction for the Sens game on Saturday:

Atlanta 4-3 Ottawa

I believe that Ottawa will miss Jason Spezza and Anton Volchenkov more than Altanta misses Ilya Kovalchuk. It hurts them more offensively and defensively than Kovalchuk's absense hurts the Thrashers, who started off the season with an impressive 4-1 record. The Thrashers' most recent losses have all been by one goal. If Pascal Leclaire misses this game too, it's a done deal. I wouldn't trust Alex Kovalev with my Halloween candy, let alone a whole game's worth of offence.

Send me your predictions. I've been doing terribly recently. Hey - if you send me your prediction for the game on Thursday against the Lightning in the comments (jeez, them again?!), I'll send it in to the Ottawa Citizen blog word-for-word.

Here's hoping it's a happy Halloween for the Senators.

Tip of the Hat / Wag of the Finger

I think I could drink a whole pit of coffee and not think of a single especially interesting storyline for tonight's game against the Boston Bruins, when compared to the Ottawa Senators' last game against the Nashville Predators. That game is still stuck in my mind. Too bad they lost.

And it's hard to say that results are not mixed when your team climbs back into a game that they were down 3-0, and manage to lose 6-5.

Tip of the Hat:

Philchenkov:
Each of them scores about three goals a year, and it's safe to say that Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov have never scored a goal in the same period. They were +4 and +3 respectively on the game as a whole. That's to say nothing of their defensive contribution so far this year, which has been outstanding.

Jason Spezza:
With three assists against the Predators, Spezza effectively shut up Nick Kypreos and everyone else that was questioning his offensive contribution. (C'mon people, he always has twice as many assists as goals by the end of the season.) The media hoard has moved onto Jonathan Cheechoo now--I'm sure they're just checking names off the roster.

Nick Foligno:
He certainly had his most visible game of the season against the Predators, being both offensive threat and effective pugilist. His penalty trouble came at the worst time in the game, but that can be forgiven if he maintains this pace.

Wag of the Finger:

Matt Carkner:
He made Bryan Murray look like an ass by coming up with his worst performance of the year immediately after signing that nice new contract. He was ineffective as an aggressive hockey player and slow on defence. Sorry Matt - better is expected of full-time NHL defencemen. PS: He was a game-worst -4 vs the Preds (Hat Tip to Anonymous commentor in last blog).

Pascal Leclaire:
I'm as big a PL fan as anyone on earth (planned tattoo: "PL 4 Life or 'till 2012! woo!") but allowing three goals in the first period is unacceptable. I know, I know: the Sens were playing like total crap, but that doesn't excuse a goalie letting six goals get past him. I fully expect him to be back on track tonight against the Bruins (edit: Apparently Elliott gets the start in net tonight. Thanks commentor!), but if he lets in three during the first period, no amount of magic-goal-light-on-ice will save the Sens.

Jonathan Cheechoo:
Just score one goal. Please.

If you're a Twitterer, send me your thoughts during tonight's game @sensarmyblog

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.

Kovalev needs support: Cookie Monster

I've been taking every opportunity to be critical of Alex Kovalev recently. Sure, we're only three games in, but I've barely noticed the guy on the ice. I had a sudden realization while discussing the Ottawa Senators with a co-worker recently: AK27 isn't getting much support.

In the Sens most recent game, Kovalev was on a line with Mike Fisher and Nick Foligno... one of these things is not like the other things. Give the flashy winger some flashy linemates! At least somebody with a little Nordic or European blood in them!

Luckily, I think Cory Clouston has watched Sesame Street in the past 20 years, and has decided to make some changes to the top two lines for tonight's game against the Atlanta Thrashers. You know--the lines that are supposed to be scoring the goals.

So Kovalev will have some support from Daniel Alfredsson tonight, and Foligno will play with Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek. Hopefully, with another goal-scorer on his line, Kovalev can put some of those fancy moves to good use, rather than just coming up with some of the NHL's most interesting ways to lose the puck.

Carkner most impressive newbie

Looks like the young, hungry guys are the ones really stepping up their game so far. The big-money new guns, like Michalek and Kovalev, are the absent ones so far. Of course, we're only three games in, and one good game from any of them could turn this table on its head.

Despite my initial criticism, I must admit Matt Carkner has been a shining light for the Senators of late. He's a big body that can hit, fight, play defence and generate some offence as well. Of the newbies, he's been the most impressive.

I also want to praise Jason Spezza too, though he's not new. He's been creating offence, limiting his turnovers (I can't real cursing him during a game lately), and even killing penalties. He's only got one point in these first three games, but if he keeps up his play, and can figure out a way to exploit his new triggerman, Michalek, the points should start flooding in.

...and regarding the prediction I submitted to the Hockey Capital blog before tonight's 3-2 overtime win over the Islanders...

Senators 4, Isles 2

The Senators' last win should give them some confidence. A couple of new additions to the Sens' roster, namely Alex Kovalev and Jonathan Cheechoo, are yet to have a big game. The Islanders, despite the addition of John Tavares and a couple new goalies, are the same team that won 26 games last season. I expect AK27 to finally show off his talent, and the Senators will prevail.

Record: 0-1

I was close, and right regarding who would win, but for the wrong reasons. Bah!

Non-believers, like me, be damned

All the credit for the Ottawa Senators' 2-1 win over the Maple Leafs tonight should go to two people: Pascal "Chuck" Leclaire and Cory Clouston. I didn't think the Sens were going to pull it off tonight. I thought the Leafs goons would get to gooning and that-goalie-that-really-looks-like-Martin-Gerber-when-he-was-a-Leaf would seem like a God-sent for Leafers in his NHL debut. I am happy to admit that I was wrong.

If that puck that made it past Leclaire had gone in, instead of ringing off both posts, we'd all be singing a different tune about Chuck, but let's celebrate the solid goaltending we did get. Leclaire was the epitome of clutch tonight. Especially in the final, say, 5 or 6 seconds of the game.

Milan Michalek appears to be gaining confidence with his linemates Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson. (Gimme a minute to hetero man-swoon for Alfie a moment here.... okay, enough).

I see too much to brag about from the other lines. In fact, in the middle of the third period, I was wondering if Alex Kovalev had been benched. Other than some fancy stick-handling from him on the penalty-kill, we haven't seen anything to warrant that $10-million two-year contract.

Finally! We see a resurgence from Philchenkov. Especially from the 'chenkov portion of that duo. Anton Volchenkov gets back to what he's known for: being physical and blocking shots like pieces of his body like they're replacable (though this blog did speculate some time ago that he's a Soviet android...). Philchenkov doesn't have to do anything except prevent the other team from scoring, and make them hurt whenever they enter the Sens zone. Hopefully, they're finding this out.

...which brings me to Clouston. He picked Alfredsson to take that penalty shot despite the captain's less-than-stellar shoot-out record, and didn't even mention Brian Elliot since Saturday's game. That's what we call very un-Leaf-like coaching. Nice work.

Send Karlsson to Bingo (and the D lineup)

First, the disclaimers so I don't get slammed in the comments: I didn't take into account who plays left or right (they don't even do that in the Sens program anymore), and it's a bit of wishful thinking, and what I've heard in the newspaper.

Basically, I can't imagine this any other way. I know that Erik Karlsson is The Great Blond Hope, and probably the Ottawa Senators best prospect since Jason Spezza, but from what I've seen of his defensive skill, he's just not ready to take on the towering, powerful forwards of the NHL.

To be completely fair, I do think he's capable of getting 30 points in the NHL this season, but the cons outweigh the pros for now. Even compared to the not-terribly-large Brian Lee, Karlsson is small. Lee also has parts of two NHL seasons under his belt, and weighs 25 pound more than Alfie's babysitter. He's the better choice for this year's squad.

I've had sweet, sweet (non-sexual!) dreams of General Lee and King Karlsson throwing the puck along the blueline on the Sens power-play. Dancing between slower defenders, and setting up one-timers for Dany Heatley Jonathan Cheechoo. But I don't think this is the season to make it happen.

Karlsson is a better puck-handler than Lee (though Lee is no slouch), but the defensive aspects of his game need work. Perhaps when he was paired with towering defender Victor Hedman, he was able to get away with certain defensive lapses against smaller competition, but that won't be the case this season. Karlsson need the AHL experience to gain some grit, put on pounds, and delay his rookie season.

Alex Picard, for example, was not born in 1990, is 6' 2" and 225 pounds, and will pick up 25 points this season. It's a crowded blueline roster, and there's no harm in giving the NHL contracts a chance to prove themselves before making room for the rookies.

I think the rest of the lineup is a gimme. Except for Christoph Schubert, who has been on the trading block for all of last season.

Miscellaneous observations from Saturday night:

Thanks to SBP for making free wireless internet available during games, it's great for twitter during the games (and I took full advantage in case you didn't notice).

Are the NHL refs now wearing strange NFL-style stripes? It sure looked like it to me.

And man! Is Ryan Shannon ever small! I didn't really notice until Saturday's game. He looks like a leftover from the intermission Timbits game.

Who's the next Habs captain? Don't ask Jacques

Got an email from Fred at www.enroutepourlacoupe.com today, asking for some insight on Jacques Martin as a coach and who he's likely to pick as the next captain of the Montreal Canadiens.

I was still a (very) young man when Jack was coach of the Senators, and not yet blogging (or as it was known in the 90's 'wasting time') so I'm hoping you, the loyal commentors, can add your thoughts to what I've written and give Fred some perspective on Mr. Martin.

Jacques Martin, from what I can remember, was very much known as a 'laissez faire' coach in these respects.

When the Senators were gaining steam back in the late 90's, Martin very much focuses on defensive fundamentals. While this produced a team that was extremely successful in the regular season, and made C-caliber goalies look like A's, it was also ultimately his downfall.

Sure, the Senators would win games 2-1 or 3-2, and make the playoffs consistently, they lacked the flair and fight of a team destined for a Stanley Cup when he was coach. For example, Jason Spezza was and is a supremely talented player, but when the Senators first drafted him, Martin refused to play him consistently. He was a defensive liability, Martin would contend. Once Martin could instill that defensive responsibility, Spezza would play--that was the mantra.

I'm not sure what his years in Florida have taught him, but Martin had little to do with captain selections why he was in Ottawa. If anything, Martin merely capitulated to the wills of overbearing players when Yashin was named captain. In Daniel Alfredsson, of course, there was an obvious choice--a player of poise, character, and commitment--but again, I can't recall Martin ever making any grand statements of support or opposition for Alfredsson. (Martin, of course, was already gone during the dark days when the team considered trading Alfie).

To summarize, Martin is a soft-spoken coach who, I believe, will not be the determining factor when the Habs pick their next captain. In all likelihood, it will be whomever the players on the Canadiens roster show their support for.

In order for this player to last long as the Canadiens' captain, I would recommend that he emulate Martin--speak softly, think defensively, and never lose his cool.

Senators are taking on the Canadiens tonight. I'll see if I can ask yell "Who's the next captain?" at Jacques through the glass.

Spezza gets kick at Olympic can

Hey - if Jordan Staal and his 49 points gets an invite to the Team Canada orientation camp, why not the guy who collected 73 points on a team that didn't win the Stanley Cup?

Jason Spezza was invited to the camp later this month to replace the injury Ryan Getzlaf.

Good call Mr. Yzerman. Why don't you visit Nepean any more? We miss you and the scariest fucking eyeball I've ever seen.

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!

General Lee break down

I had a good feeling about this game for some reason. I think it had something to do with the fact that the Sens hadn't played the Sharks in a long time, and that since everyone now presumes they will lose every game, the team has nothing to lose--every two points are an unexpected bonus.

Of course, they did lose 2-1 to the Sharks, but I'm going to be optimistic about the game. A 2-1 loss to the top team in the western conference isn't that bad, is it?

Recently, it seems that momentary mental lapses have kept the Sens from winning the game. In past games, it's been the first 20 minutes of the game (see: game vs Vancouver), and this time it was a second period penalty kill. Brian Lee, you sloppy rookie. We expect this sort of thing from Jason Spezza, but not from The General!

Speaking of Jason 'deke through everyone, get to the front the net and then pass off to someone 25 feet away from the crease instead of taking a shot that might very well go in in tonight's game vs the shark' Spezza. TAKE THE FREAKING SHOT!!

Overall, the Sens seemed to have have a structured offence and defence this game. Clouston's system seems to be a system worth following. Still, Chris Phillips makes me nervous whenever he's supposed to be covering someone in front of the net. Auld looked good and the coach should stick with him while he's hot. What have the Sens got to lose? (As I already established, nothing. Nothing but John Tavares).

Turning point: Lee double-minor

Tomorrow's Ottawa Sun headline: SHARK ATTACK!!!!111ONEONEeleven

Harsh reminder of poor decisions: The team that Sharks wanted to trade Marleau to a couple years ago: The Sens. The player they wanted in return: Wade Redden. sigh.

Canucks fans are jerks :'(

Well I went to the Sens game tonight and I was not happy with the result. The first period pretty much sunk Ottawa, as they spent the rest of the game trying to claw their way back into it. Ultimately a four-goal hole was too large for the Sens to find their way out of, and time ran out for Ottawa in this game.

This was a totally winnable game for the Sens, or at least, their play of late lead me to think so. Cory Clouston puts much more faith into second and third-line players like Shean Donovan and Nick Foligno, but it's hard to say whether this strategy pays off. While Foligno was grinding in the corners, the Canucks defence seemed ripe for a speedy centre to deke through them and score. Dany Heatley's goal was straight of out his "wait with your stick cocked high in the air" play book.

Despite the score, Brian Elliot played very well, especially in the second and third period. It's not his fault that the Senators defence abandons him. I don't think that better "team defence" is the answer anymore. Fingers need to be pointed, and there's more than enough fingers to go around. Defence needs to be addressed as much as scoring when Bryan Murray looks at his options this trade deadline.

Mike Fisher had one goal and more than 20 minutes of ice time. What's the strategy here? Jason Spezza, having a far more successful season, played around 14 minutes. I'd rather have the Sens' first-line centre than their supposedly fearsome eight-goal scorer.

After an incredible road trip, the Sens are facing the true test of their season in the next week. Are they an underperforming team in need of inspiration? Or is it truly the end of days? Either way, I like the Canucks a whole lot less tonight.

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.

The Rising: Sens 2, Preds 0

Hey Alex Auld is back! The Alex Auld that helped Ottawa string together some points in late November and early December of 2008. As effective as the Sens' up-tempo forecheck was tonight, we would have seen a completely different result if Auld didn't play as well as he could. Auld faced some bona fide scoring chances from the Predators, and was right up to task. I don't want to say he stole the game, but he was definitely accessory to the crime. He got his shutout (despite TSN's Gord Miller's best attempts to jinx his goose egg), and the Sens walked out of Nashville with two more points on their fifth consecutive win.

The suddenly sizzling Nick Foligno scored the game-winning goal off a great read and great pass from Mike Fisher (and a terrible giveaway by Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne). Since Cory Clouston took over as head coach, Foligno's been given a greater role, and has responded very well: He has five points (4G, 1A) in the seven games under Clouston, compared to 13 (6G, 7A) in the previous 48 games. This is the Nick Foligno who I signed to a lifetime contract in NHL2K9, and who Sens brass (and fans) want to see every night.

Dany Heatley has similarly stepped up his game of late, and he scored the Sens' second goal with a snipe-job in tight short side off a clean pass from Jason Spezza. He also had seven shots on the night, and had a half-decent open-ice hit early in the game. Heater's got four goals and five points in the last three games since being 'encouraged' (or gently called out) by Clouston. Nice to see the assistant captain step up and show some leadership-by-example as the Senators continue to put together a last-ditch playoff push.

Something of note that was brought up in TSN's commentary was the body language of the Senators, on the ice and on the bench. Obviously the increased intensity on the ice is well-known, but shots of the bench showed a confident group that appeared to have plenty of respect for one another, and good communication. It was in heavy contrast to the Nashville bench about half-way through the game, which was panned across by the camera and appeared completely silent with no one looking at each other, let alone talking to each other. The Sens look like a group that's maybe having fun playing the game again, which they haven't looked like for quite a while.

Penalty killers have to be given credit once again. They killed off all four fairly effectively, although Auld had a big hand in that. Antoine Vermette had a great chance short-handed when he snapped a shot at Rinne and almost tucked the rebound in, and Fisher had a short-handed breakaway in the second but got robbed by a great glove save by Rinne. One notably intimidating penalty-killing defensive pairing was Anton Volchenkov and Jason Smith; needless to say, the Predators didn't get a shot on goal during the time those two were on the ice.

On Nashville's side of the ice, Jordin Tootoo was a freakin' monster tonight. He had a game-high five hits, including a couple devastating ones, and even got or made a few good scoring chances. I didn't like seeing him head-hunting, but he does one hell of a good job within his role, and even adds in some offensive flair to boot.

Can I ask that we stop ragging Fisher about Carrie Underwood? Enough with the questions. Enough with the 'investigative reporting' of Underwood being at Spezza's Christmas party. Enough with the camera shots of her trying to hide from cameras at the hockey game. Let's just be happy for two seemingly nice people who've become friends. They obviously don't want to talk about it, so fuck off already.

Workin' on a dream: Sens 5, Flyers 2

How many good things are going to come out of Binghamton this season? Cory Clouston appears to be making a significant difference in the approach this team takes to their games. Brian Elliott is playing unbelievably well. Brendan Bell is quarterbacking the powerplay like no one else has this season. Ryan Shannon, along with Nick Foligno, is making a second line into an actual second line. Brian Lee is solid defensively, and can move the puck up better than any other defenceman. Is this what a farm team is supposed to offer?

Starting in nets, this game could (and likely would) have been completely different without Elliott. He played out of his mind hockey, stopping 34 of 36 shots including plenty of good opportunities. Ottawa was massively outshot (36 to 23) on the night, but Elliott was up to task. One of the two goals he allowed was off an unfortunate rebound, but his defencemen gave him no help on the play. And Mike Richards scored on a breakaway; anyone could let that guy's shot in.

Of course, Bingo callups didn't do everything for the team. The CASH Line played a large part in the win, as well. Although I didn't get to see the whole thing, Dany Heatley responded to criticism with two goals on four shots and three hits, if you'll believe it. He was named first star as a result. Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist, and Daniel Alfredsson also had one assist.

Secondary scoring kicked in with the rest, with Foligno scoring what turned out to be the game-winner (and what looked like the easiest goal in the world) and Antoine Vermette actually scored, his third in six games, on a solid solo effort cutting to the net (Vermette added an assist, to boot).

So, incredibly, the Senators have now won three in a row (first time this season), and are 3-1-1 under Clouston. Elliott is (knock on wood) undefeated on the road. Still 14 points back of a playoff spot, but it's nice to see some good effort on the ice.

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.