Feb. 23, 2009: Tom Renney, NYR: 31-23-7, 69 points, winning percentage: .566
Feb. 15, 2009: Michel Therrien, PIT: 27-25-5, 59 points, winning percentage: .517
Feb. 2, 2009: Craig Hartsburg, OTT: 17-27-7, 41 points, winning percentage: .402
Nov. 15, 2008: Barry Melrose, TBL: 5-7-4, 14 points, winning percentage: .437
Four coaches. Four teams that started the season in Europe, two (Ottawa and Pittsburgh) in Sweden and two (New York and Tampa Bay) in Finland. Is it a coincidence? Probably. But it might not be.
A season begun in Europe means a lot of things. One positive thing Sens fans were looking for was team bonding, bringing a team that had a difficult year and some significant changes closer together under the team's banner. It also means, however, an unusually shortened training camp and atypical exhibition games. It means a circus-like beginning to the season, that cuts into the regular season, and certainly offers some distraction from the team's focus on the season. I don't know if any of that affected these teams' respective performance this season, but it's a very interesting coincidence.
Next season, four more games in Europe: Detroit versus St. Louis in Stockholm, and Chicago takes on Florida in Helsinki. Let's see how that goes.
Showing posts with label New York Rangers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Rangers. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
No-trick pony: Rangers 2, Sens 0
Another loss. Another ugly loss. Maybe they didn't play that badly, but they paid for their mistakes, and the Ottawa Senators didn't take advantage of mistakes the New York Rangers make. So the resulting 2-0 loss should be no surprise.
Still, despite his first NHL loss, you've got to give Brian Elliott credit. He came into the game looking extremely confident, and made plenty of big saves--none bigger than a breakaway save he made in the third period. I'm not sure if he should want to stay in Ottawa, considering the shit he'll get here compared to the All-Star start he'd get in the AHL, but Bruce Garrioch is under the impression that the Sens are on the verge of waiving Martin Gerber, so Elliott might be up here for a while.
(In another strange development, the Senators seem to be closely linked with All-Star goaltenders everywhere: Elliot was voted to be the started in the AHL's all-star game, and Ray Emery might have been the best goaltender in the Continental Hockey League's all-star game last night. It's too bad we don't have an NHL all-star.)
I'll also give Filip Kuba credit for his play in his return to the Sens lineup. He got a bum rap in the Sun for some of his board work, but Kuba had good defensive coverage and a definite positive effect on offensive zone pressure. Too bad he can't score goals. Still, he pinched in to help out a few times, and was good at getting back into position quickly.
Rough game for Jesse Winchester. He had one shift with two terrible giveaways, and didn't look solid on the night. For Winnie to get success, he needs to get back to the simple, reliable play he was executing earlier in the season. Come to think of it, a lot of Senators could use to simplify their game significantly.
It really is a shame that Christoph Schubert doesn't want to play forward. He's about ten times more effective as a forward, as evidenced by his team-high four hits last night. And even when he takes a shot and has it blocked--as happens extremely often with Schubert--at least he's not the last line of defence before the opposition gets a breakaway. Stick with forward, Schubert, you're better at it, and Ottawa's better for it.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Live blog: Rangers 2, Sens 1 (SO)
The stories for tonight's game against the New York Rangers: Wade Redden hosts his former team for the first time as a New York Ranger tonight. The CASH Line has been re-united. The Rangers have been playing well this season, while the Senators have been playing poorly.
Sportsnet's Ian Mendes interviews Redden, who says he's adjusted well enough to the environment and the new team, and that New York is beginning to feel like home. Apparently he won't be giving the puck away to the Senators, which is too bad because he gave the puck to the opposition so often when he was in Ottawa.
Jason Spezza lost the opening faceoff. This hasn't started well, trade him! TRADE HIM! Just kidding. And just like that, after a 28-second shift, the CASH Line is off in favour of the new second line: Nick Foligno, Mike Fisher, and Jarkko Ruutu, who get some good pressure in the Rangers' zone. Ruutu threw a solid hit on Brandon Dubinsky, making his presence known right off the bat.
According to Garry Galley, the key to the game for the Senators is a simple one: Just play. I know you can give us better analysis than that, Galley. And the key for the Rangers is to strike early... great diagnosis. Sens powerplay as Rangers defenceman Fred Sjostrom gets two for delay-of-game. On the point for the first powerplay is Filip Kuba with Mike Fisher on the point once again tonight.Powerplay has not been pretty so far.
Brendan Bell's first powerplay chance ends quickly, as Antoine Vermette gets a slashing call to bring about some 4-on-4. Bell's with Alex Picard on the second PP unit, and Vermette is with Ilya Zubov and Nick Foligno on that unit's forward line. Solid penalty killing by Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Kelly in particular, and the Rangers' first powerplay is as futile as the Senators'. Shean Donovan is on the PK for the first time I can recall this season, in the place of Ruutu with Dean McAmmond.
Hahahaha... good work, Ruutu. Just laid a hit that was more against Nick Foligno than Marc Staal, and drew a penalty on Aaron Voros who took exception to the intended hit. Pretty good first two shifts for Ruuuuuuu. Unfortunately he took a penalty in the process, and we'll see some more 4-on-4 play.
Ottawa's first shot on net: Ten minutes into the game, from Kelly. Followed quickly by two from the stick of Vermette, and a fourth by Mike Fisher, and somehow the Sens are now outshooting the Ranger 4-3 somehow. Thank Redden for those couple shots that Vermette got, which were pretty good chances.
Scramble in front of the Sens net, as Alex Auld lost track of a puck that was stuck in his feet. I didn't agree with what Don Brennan said about Kuba, but I'd like to see the big Czech get a bit meaner in front of the net when guys are hacking Auld.
Another thing I'd like to see is Dany Heatley getting a bit harder on the puck. He's been throwing his weight around a bit more on the forecheck, but he doesn't seem urgent enough when there's a loose puck or almost-loose puck a few feet away from him. Get your stick involved, Heatley, and cause some turnovers.
Not a pretty first period, not by a longshot. Ottawa got a few chances, but the Rangers had the better ones. A good sign for the Senators: They got into shooting and passing lanes: eight blocked shots so far, and a whole bunch of blocked passes. Three stars of the first period: 1. Vermette; 2. Anton Volchenkov; 3. Ruutu.
I have a question for the people at Home Hardware: How am I supposed to open the packaging for the Safe Cut?
Second period underway, and a great chance for Jesse Winchester as he digs for the puck in Henrik Lundqvist's pads. His line, with Vermette and Kelly, have been the Sens' best combination so far, including the CASH Line. And what a steal by Volchenkov! I never thought he had the speed to jump up and intercept a pass the way he did there, but a great read that resulted in another shot for Winchester. That line has five of the Sens' 12 shots so far.
Back to the powerplay, as Redden took a delay of game penalty. First shot of the powerplay? Solid cross-ice pass from Heatley to Alfredsson, whose one-timer was bested by some great lateral movement by Lundqvist. And with the second unit on, a great shot by Ilya Zubov walking in off the side boards and firing one right on net.
A short 5-on-3 after Staal takes a hooking penalty, but Heatley can't convert a cross-crease pass and the Sens' powerplay continues. Who was that pass to, Spezza? About ten feet away from Kuba, the (I assume) intended receiver. It's a bit weird seeing Fisher on the point on the powerplay, but he's actually been doing pretty well here.
Ooooh... pretty stupid and useless penalty there for Foligno, not the kind of play that is going to get him very much extra ice time. Luckily nothing-doing on the Rangers' powerplay, which looked even less potent that the Senators' at first, but ended with a few good chances--nothing Auld couldn't handle. One of those chances came off the stick of Markus Naslund, who's had a surprisingly (to me, at least) good season so far. Hindsight is 20/20, but Naslund might have been a pretty good off-season signing at two years and $4M apiece--I bet he would have given Alfredsson and Fisher a pretty good left winger for that second line. You may be happy to know the symmetrical PK duo of Ruutu (#73) and McAmmond (#37) has been restored.
Rumours are that Fisher may be injured; Galley mentioned his knee was being kneaded by the Sens' trainer. Updates as they are available.
Two things we all remember from Redden's days in Ottawa that he just tried for the Rangers: Meandering out of the defensive zone slowly, and then having a pass turn over as the defensive team lined up at their blue line, and the 'rim'; his favourite play, apparently, just sending the puck around the boards. An easy out for defencemen, and much-hated by wingers who have to dig the puck off the boards and passed a defender who knows it's coming.
Oh no, Fisher had to be helped off the ice and into the dressing room with that knee injury. It looked to be the result of a rut or something he caught in the ice. I didn't notice which knee was injured, but you might remember last season Fisher missed the end of the year with a left knee injury--a knee he's also had problems with in December 2006/January '07 and January '03.
DANIEL ALFREDSSON! What a huge individual effort, just like Galley said. Alfredsson worked it out of the defensive zone, dumped it into the offensive zone, won the puck back and out-waited Lundqvist until he spotted an opening. Neither Spezza nor Heatley are making much happening, but Alfredsson is going to make that line effective if he has to do it all himself. Assists to Heatley and Picard.
Holy shit, after taking the lead the Sens are really making Auld work hard to keep it. Sustained pressure pretty much since the goal at 16:13 to the end of the period, including four shots for the Rangers in that time.
The Sens scored and, finally, have a lead to play with--thank heavens. You could see the longer that game went scoreless the more it played into the Rangers' advantage, because the Sens would have continued to get more nervous. Now they've got twenty minutes to go. Three stars of the second: 1. Auld; 2. Alfredsson; 3. Donovan.
Third period underway, two chances early one, one for Winchester who cut in and just missed the puck, and Ruutu, who heeled a Spezza cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1. Then a really weak hooking call on Ruutu and the Sens are back on the penalty kill. I don't even think Ruutu really touched whoever he 'hooked', but whatever. Great save by Auld, who got square to Chris Drury on that shot. Geez, short-handed breakaway for Vermette, who finally used that speed to break free, but he got stopped cold by Lundqvist. Nice to see Vermette and Kelly re-united on the penalty kill as well as in even-strength situations. Worth mentioning that Redden did not see any powerplay time on that last Ruutu penalty; it seems Redden hasn't quite enamoured himself with fans in New York, as the Blueshirt Bulletin blog criticized the Rangers blueline as being "a corps of defensemen who have been effective in inverse order of their salaries". Which means the highest-paid defenceman (Redden) has, according to BB, been the least effective.
Well, the Sens were running around once again, and you knew that was going to happen. Momentum heavily shifted the ice in favour of the Rangers, and Sjostrom was the first one who could beat Auld. In favour of the Sens' tender, he had stopped... what, three shots before the goal? Brutal, if the Sens want to end their losing streak they're going to have to get back into this game.
Beautiful glove save by Auld, who appears to be the only one still playing for the Senators. Pick it up, fellas, because this isn't pretty.
Wow. No idea how Lundqvist stopped that one... scramble after a Bell shot, with Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza all swatting at him. Alfredsson was basically standing right on top of him, but Lundqvist was up to the task. Would have been nice to score a garbage goal like that. Spezza had a great chance, and Heatley was just stopped by Lundqvist's arm.
Galley was just talking about Redden 'putting money up on the board', some cash that he probably put up for whoever might score the game winning goal against his old team. I wonder if any Senators' players put money up on the board tonight; I'm about willing to put together a couple grand to put up in the Sens dressing room if they'd just start winning some games.
Ottawa is 'out-scoring-chancing' the Rangers by a count of 20 to 12. It would be nice if they'd put one or two more of those away. Am I bitter? Maybe. WIN A GAME! AND THEN WIN ANOTHER ONE!
Oh wow, great move by Spezza (that didn't end in a giveaway, for a change), and a pass to Vermette, who just couldn't put it away. Is he ever snakebitten. In fact, there must be a tonne of snakes in the Sens' dressing room, because everyone is snakebitten... will somebody get these motherf*cking snakes out of this motherf*cking dressing room?
Thanks to Auld, the game ends in a tie and the Sens get a point in the standings. Wicked, that point is nice. But it's lonely, get it another point to hang out with, Senators.
A lot of poor, soft passes for the Senators so far in overtime. Playing with the puck like that can be dangerous, luckily it hasn't been costly yet. Interesting 4-on-4 pairing of Heatley and McAmmond, but they don't quite look comfortable with one another. Overtime over, and here comes the shootout. Let's see if Craig Hartsburg learned his lessons from the last shootout: Use Ruutu first.
Nikolai Zherdev is up first: Shot, five-hole, scores. Sens are down just like that. Then Spezza tried the same thing for the Sens, but Lundqvist doesn't fall for it. Here comes Sjostrom for the Rangers, and he's bested by a great glove save by Auld. Here's Ruutu, who dekes himself out and then shoots from way outside. Drury is stopped point-blank by Auld, and so it's all up to Vermette. But Vermette barely even gets a shot on net, and the Sens get shutout in the shootout.
The losing streak extends to five games, although the Sens got a point, at least. Maybe I should have just watched Heroes... Credit has to go to Auld, who looked like the Sens' best player on the night. It was also a good game for Bell, whose debut was pretty strong and finished +1 with two shots--his powerplay work was good, and his defensive play was surprisingly solid. And kudos to Zubov, who played only 6:25 but still managed two shots on net and two hits--would have been nice to see him in the shootout. The Sens' best line was Vermette-Kelly-Winchester--combined eight shots and five hits--but it's too bad Vermette can't score to save his life. And it's back to the drawing board for Hartsburg, as the Sens prepare to play in Montreal on Thursday.
Wow, a 2,000+ word post. I'm sorry, it got away from me. Hopefully it wasn't terribly boring to read. And we're back to the same question we were asking before the game: Who does Bryan Murray try to trade? With a few days off until the next game, I think something might happen soon.
Sportsnet's Ian Mendes interviews Redden, who says he's adjusted well enough to the environment and the new team, and that New York is beginning to feel like home. Apparently he won't be giving the puck away to the Senators, which is too bad because he gave the puck to the opposition so often when he was in Ottawa.
Jason Spezza lost the opening faceoff. This hasn't started well, trade him! TRADE HIM! Just kidding. And just like that, after a 28-second shift, the CASH Line is off in favour of the new second line: Nick Foligno, Mike Fisher, and Jarkko Ruutu, who get some good pressure in the Rangers' zone. Ruutu threw a solid hit on Brandon Dubinsky, making his presence known right off the bat.
According to Garry Galley, the key to the game for the Senators is a simple one: Just play. I know you can give us better analysis than that, Galley. And the key for the Rangers is to strike early... great diagnosis. Sens powerplay as Rangers defenceman Fred Sjostrom gets two for delay-of-game. On the point for the first powerplay is Filip Kuba with Mike Fisher on the point once again tonight.Powerplay has not been pretty so far.
Brendan Bell's first powerplay chance ends quickly, as Antoine Vermette gets a slashing call to bring about some 4-on-4. Bell's with Alex Picard on the second PP unit, and Vermette is with Ilya Zubov and Nick Foligno on that unit's forward line. Solid penalty killing by Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Kelly in particular, and the Rangers' first powerplay is as futile as the Senators'. Shean Donovan is on the PK for the first time I can recall this season, in the place of Ruutu with Dean McAmmond.
Hahahaha... good work, Ruutu. Just laid a hit that was more against Nick Foligno than Marc Staal, and drew a penalty on Aaron Voros who took exception to the intended hit. Pretty good first two shifts for Ruuuuuuu. Unfortunately he took a penalty in the process, and we'll see some more 4-on-4 play.
Ottawa's first shot on net: Ten minutes into the game, from Kelly. Followed quickly by two from the stick of Vermette, and a fourth by Mike Fisher, and somehow the Sens are now outshooting the Ranger 4-3 somehow. Thank Redden for those couple shots that Vermette got, which were pretty good chances.
Scramble in front of the Sens net, as Alex Auld lost track of a puck that was stuck in his feet. I didn't agree with what Don Brennan said about Kuba, but I'd like to see the big Czech get a bit meaner in front of the net when guys are hacking Auld.
Another thing I'd like to see is Dany Heatley getting a bit harder on the puck. He's been throwing his weight around a bit more on the forecheck, but he doesn't seem urgent enough when there's a loose puck or almost-loose puck a few feet away from him. Get your stick involved, Heatley, and cause some turnovers.
Not a pretty first period, not by a longshot. Ottawa got a few chances, but the Rangers had the better ones. A good sign for the Senators: They got into shooting and passing lanes: eight blocked shots so far, and a whole bunch of blocked passes. Three stars of the first period: 1. Vermette; 2. Anton Volchenkov; 3. Ruutu.
I have a question for the people at Home Hardware: How am I supposed to open the packaging for the Safe Cut?
Second period underway, and a great chance for Jesse Winchester as he digs for the puck in Henrik Lundqvist's pads. His line, with Vermette and Kelly, have been the Sens' best combination so far, including the CASH Line. And what a steal by Volchenkov! I never thought he had the speed to jump up and intercept a pass the way he did there, but a great read that resulted in another shot for Winchester. That line has five of the Sens' 12 shots so far.
Back to the powerplay, as Redden took a delay of game penalty. First shot of the powerplay? Solid cross-ice pass from Heatley to Alfredsson, whose one-timer was bested by some great lateral movement by Lundqvist. And with the second unit on, a great shot by Ilya Zubov walking in off the side boards and firing one right on net.
A short 5-on-3 after Staal takes a hooking penalty, but Heatley can't convert a cross-crease pass and the Sens' powerplay continues. Who was that pass to, Spezza? About ten feet away from Kuba, the (I assume) intended receiver. It's a bit weird seeing Fisher on the point on the powerplay, but he's actually been doing pretty well here.
Ooooh... pretty stupid and useless penalty there for Foligno, not the kind of play that is going to get him very much extra ice time. Luckily nothing-doing on the Rangers' powerplay, which looked even less potent that the Senators' at first, but ended with a few good chances--nothing Auld couldn't handle. One of those chances came off the stick of Markus Naslund, who's had a surprisingly (to me, at least) good season so far. Hindsight is 20/20, but Naslund might have been a pretty good off-season signing at two years and $4M apiece--I bet he would have given Alfredsson and Fisher a pretty good left winger for that second line. You may be happy to know the symmetrical PK duo of Ruutu (#73) and McAmmond (#37) has been restored.
Rumours are that Fisher may be injured; Galley mentioned his knee was being kneaded by the Sens' trainer. Updates as they are available.
Two things we all remember from Redden's days in Ottawa that he just tried for the Rangers: Meandering out of the defensive zone slowly, and then having a pass turn over as the defensive team lined up at their blue line, and the 'rim'; his favourite play, apparently, just sending the puck around the boards. An easy out for defencemen, and much-hated by wingers who have to dig the puck off the boards and passed a defender who knows it's coming.
Oh no, Fisher had to be helped off the ice and into the dressing room with that knee injury. It looked to be the result of a rut or something he caught in the ice. I didn't notice which knee was injured, but you might remember last season Fisher missed the end of the year with a left knee injury--a knee he's also had problems with in December 2006/January '07 and January '03.
DANIEL ALFREDSSON! What a huge individual effort, just like Galley said. Alfredsson worked it out of the defensive zone, dumped it into the offensive zone, won the puck back and out-waited Lundqvist until he spotted an opening. Neither Spezza nor Heatley are making much happening, but Alfredsson is going to make that line effective if he has to do it all himself. Assists to Heatley and Picard.
Holy shit, after taking the lead the Sens are really making Auld work hard to keep it. Sustained pressure pretty much since the goal at 16:13 to the end of the period, including four shots for the Rangers in that time.
The Sens scored and, finally, have a lead to play with--thank heavens. You could see the longer that game went scoreless the more it played into the Rangers' advantage, because the Sens would have continued to get more nervous. Now they've got twenty minutes to go. Three stars of the second: 1. Auld; 2. Alfredsson; 3. Donovan.
Third period underway, two chances early one, one for Winchester who cut in and just missed the puck, and Ruutu, who heeled a Spezza cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1. Then a really weak hooking call on Ruutu and the Sens are back on the penalty kill. I don't even think Ruutu really touched whoever he 'hooked', but whatever. Great save by Auld, who got square to Chris Drury on that shot. Geez, short-handed breakaway for Vermette, who finally used that speed to break free, but he got stopped cold by Lundqvist. Nice to see Vermette and Kelly re-united on the penalty kill as well as in even-strength situations. Worth mentioning that Redden did not see any powerplay time on that last Ruutu penalty; it seems Redden hasn't quite enamoured himself with fans in New York, as the Blueshirt Bulletin blog criticized the Rangers blueline as being "a corps of defensemen who have been effective in inverse order of their salaries". Which means the highest-paid defenceman (Redden) has, according to BB, been the least effective.
Well, the Sens were running around once again, and you knew that was going to happen. Momentum heavily shifted the ice in favour of the Rangers, and Sjostrom was the first one who could beat Auld. In favour of the Sens' tender, he had stopped... what, three shots before the goal? Brutal, if the Sens want to end their losing streak they're going to have to get back into this game.
Beautiful glove save by Auld, who appears to be the only one still playing for the Senators. Pick it up, fellas, because this isn't pretty.
Wow. No idea how Lundqvist stopped that one... scramble after a Bell shot, with Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza all swatting at him. Alfredsson was basically standing right on top of him, but Lundqvist was up to the task. Would have been nice to score a garbage goal like that. Spezza had a great chance, and Heatley was just stopped by Lundqvist's arm.
Galley was just talking about Redden 'putting money up on the board', some cash that he probably put up for whoever might score the game winning goal against his old team. I wonder if any Senators' players put money up on the board tonight; I'm about willing to put together a couple grand to put up in the Sens dressing room if they'd just start winning some games.
Ottawa is 'out-scoring-chancing' the Rangers by a count of 20 to 12. It would be nice if they'd put one or two more of those away. Am I bitter? Maybe. WIN A GAME! AND THEN WIN ANOTHER ONE!
Oh wow, great move by Spezza (that didn't end in a giveaway, for a change), and a pass to Vermette, who just couldn't put it away. Is he ever snakebitten. In fact, there must be a tonne of snakes in the Sens' dressing room, because everyone is snakebitten... will somebody get these motherf*cking snakes out of this motherf*cking dressing room?
Thanks to Auld, the game ends in a tie and the Sens get a point in the standings. Wicked, that point is nice. But it's lonely, get it another point to hang out with, Senators.
A lot of poor, soft passes for the Senators so far in overtime. Playing with the puck like that can be dangerous, luckily it hasn't been costly yet. Interesting 4-on-4 pairing of Heatley and McAmmond, but they don't quite look comfortable with one another. Overtime over, and here comes the shootout. Let's see if Craig Hartsburg learned his lessons from the last shootout: Use Ruutu first.
Nikolai Zherdev is up first: Shot, five-hole, scores. Sens are down just like that. Then Spezza tried the same thing for the Sens, but Lundqvist doesn't fall for it. Here comes Sjostrom for the Rangers, and he's bested by a great glove save by Auld. Here's Ruutu, who dekes himself out and then shoots from way outside. Drury is stopped point-blank by Auld, and so it's all up to Vermette. But Vermette barely even gets a shot on net, and the Sens get shutout in the shootout.
The losing streak extends to five games, although the Sens got a point, at least. Maybe I should have just watched Heroes... Credit has to go to Auld, who looked like the Sens' best player on the night. It was also a good game for Bell, whose debut was pretty strong and finished +1 with two shots--his powerplay work was good, and his defensive play was surprisingly solid. And kudos to Zubov, who played only 6:25 but still managed two shots on net and two hits--would have been nice to see him in the shootout. The Sens' best line was Vermette-Kelly-Winchester--combined eight shots and five hits--but it's too bad Vermette can't score to save his life. And it's back to the drawing board for Hartsburg, as the Sens prepare to play in Montreal on Thursday.
Wow, a 2,000+ word post. I'm sorry, it got away from me. Hopefully it wasn't terribly boring to read. And we're back to the same question we were asking before the game: Who does Bryan Murray try to trade? With a few days off until the next game, I think something might happen soon.
CASH Line reunited, and other roster notes
From the Ottawa Sun (via Sens Chirp) here are the roster combinations for tonight's game against the New York Rangers:
Craig Hartsburg has swallowed his pride and decided to do what many have been calling for for weeks--reunite the CASH Line. I wasn't one of the people calling for it, but right now I'll settle for anything that might work. And tonight we will see if it will work.
I guess that 'offensive players in offensive roles' idea was short-lived, as Ilya Zubov--an offensive player by any measure--is now relegated to fourth-line play despite a solid season debut. It might actually be better for him, though, because both Dean McAmmond and Shean Donovan are speedy and consistent, and they might work well with one another.
I'm not sure what to think of the second and third lines; I guess you could call one line 2A and the other line 2B. I would think that Jarkko Ruutu-Mike Fisher-Nick Foligno will be more of a checking line, but Antoine Vermette-Chris Kelly-Jesse Winchester won't have much offensive flair unless Vermette makes some miracles, Winchester starts taking offensive chances, and Kelly picks up his game.
On defence, Christoph Schubert is a healthy scratch while Brendan Bell draws into the lineup. (As an aside, our recent number of callups from Binghamton really hurt the B-Sens last night, as they lost 9-0 to Hershey.) We'll see how Bell does, but he did well enough in the pre-season and won't likely see much ice time outside of the powerplay. And it will be nice to have an actual powerplay quarterback, even if he is a second- (or third-)tier QB, on the point.
In nets, we will naturally see Alex Auld start. No big surprise there.
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson
Vermette-Kelly-Winchester
Ruutu-Fisher-Foligno
Zubov-McAmmond-Donovan
Phillips-Volchenkov
Kuba-Picard
Smith-Bell
Vermette-Kelly-Winchester
Ruutu-Fisher-Foligno
Zubov-McAmmond-Donovan
Phillips-Volchenkov
Kuba-Picard
Smith-Bell
Craig Hartsburg has swallowed his pride and decided to do what many have been calling for for weeks--reunite the CASH Line. I wasn't one of the people calling for it, but right now I'll settle for anything that might work. And tonight we will see if it will work.
I guess that 'offensive players in offensive roles' idea was short-lived, as Ilya Zubov--an offensive player by any measure--is now relegated to fourth-line play despite a solid season debut. It might actually be better for him, though, because both Dean McAmmond and Shean Donovan are speedy and consistent, and they might work well with one another.
I'm not sure what to think of the second and third lines; I guess you could call one line 2A and the other line 2B. I would think that Jarkko Ruutu-Mike Fisher-Nick Foligno will be more of a checking line, but Antoine Vermette-Chris Kelly-Jesse Winchester won't have much offensive flair unless Vermette makes some miracles, Winchester starts taking offensive chances, and Kelly picks up his game.
On defence, Christoph Schubert is a healthy scratch while Brendan Bell draws into the lineup. (As an aside, our recent number of callups from Binghamton really hurt the B-Sens last night, as they lost 9-0 to Hershey.) We'll see how Bell does, but he did well enough in the pre-season and won't likely see much ice time outside of the powerplay. And it will be nice to have an actual powerplay quarterback, even if he is a second- (or third-)tier QB, on the point.
In nets, we will naturally see Alex Auld start. No big surprise there.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Rangers 2, (B-)Sens 1
The Sens dressed a scoring-challenged lineup, leaving Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, and Mike Fisher all out for the final half of the home-and-home against the New York Rangers. It showed. The Sens only managed 22 shots, including 10 in the third, and lost the game by a 2-1 score that looked better than it was (thanks to the Sens' goalies). Another sloppy game brings the Sens' pre-season record to 1-1.
The biggest storyline might be Wade Redden playing his first game against his old team. It's about what you'd expect: He was on for all three goals, and--although not being tagged for any giveaways--he (apparently, I didn't see it) didn't look good on the Sens' only goal.
For Ottawa, everyone was talking about Alex Auld getting a chance to impress coach Craig Hartsburg, and impress he did tonight. As good as Martin Gerber looked on Saturday night, Auld was challenged more often, and usually met those challenges (although he had some help from the posts). Of the two goals, the first was weak, but the second was a tip after the Sens weren't able to clear the puck. In fact, I'd blame the second goal on Antoine Vermette, who had a golden shooting opportunity but tried to deke, got smoked, lost the puck, and had it come up the ice until the Rangers were able to put it past Auld. I didn't get to see Jeff Glass, but he stopped all eight shots he faced, so couldn't have been too bad.
The Sens' best forward was probably Nick Foligno, who caused a few turnovers and played a strong game. Close after was Dean McAmmond, who scored the Sens' only goal, and also caused quite a few turnovers. With the log-jam at forward, McAmmond needed to show something in the pre-season, and he did a pretty good job tonight. On a line with D-Mac was Brad Isbister, and there appeared to be some reasonable chemistry between the two--but don't hold you breath for Isbister to make the team. Finally, Ilya Zubov had a great scoring chance, and--according to the official scoresheet--threw three hits. The Sens' best hit was Jarkko Ruutu on Brandon Dubinsky, an open-ice collision that knocked Doobie off the puck.
On defence, Brendan Bell looked better than I'd expected, and certainly made a case for himself. I would be surprised if he's in the round of cuts tomorrow. Luke Richardson looked pretty good, too, playing 17 minutes, including some penalty-kill time. Still, Richardson still has a way to go, but he might travel to Sweden as part of the roster.
On the other side of the ledger, Brian Lee has something to prove. He got beat on a breakaway tonight, and had to tak a penalty and rely on a great Auld pokecheck to prevent a goal. But then he got an assist, and, although I didn't see the goal, that's got to mean something. Also, Ryan Shannon was certainly exposed as the undersized player he is. Although he had some opportunities, he rarely if ever was able to win a battle, and was often muscled off the puck.
So a bunch of cuts will come tomorrow morning, probably at least a dozen, maybe 16 players will head to the Binghamton training camp. Next game will be on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers in Ottawa; the Flyers won on Monday night 4-1. The Sens should dress a lineup that will look a lot like the one they'll start the regular season with, so stay tuned tomorrow morning.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Preview: Sens @ Rangers
Finally, the Senators will get the opportunity to play against Wade Redden. It will be interesting to see how some of his former teammates respond, and how some of the newcomers--signings, trades, and up-and-coming rookies--treat the player who, until Monday night, will never have played an NHL game in any other jersey. And, of course, how Redden responds.
The game will also be Alex Auld's first test in a Sens jersey, so keep an eye out for what he's got to show. Jeff Glass is scheduled to take over for the third period.
Only one cut has been made since Saturday night, with Jim O'Brien being sent back to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. I was hoping that after his showing in the rookie camp O'Brien would be playing in Binghamton, but he'll certainly get plenty of ice time in the WHL.
In other news, Alexandre Picard was complaining about soreness in his groin (what's going on here? First Daniel Alfredsson, now Picard?), so Chris Phillips will take his place in the lineup. According to the Ottawa Sun, Alfredsson might be playing against Philadelphia on Tuesday (EDIT: the game against Philly is on Wednesday, not Tuesday).
No word on what the line combinations are, but the Sens official site has said that the lineup will include Chris Kelly, Dean McAmmond, Shean Donovan, Anton Volchenkov, Cody Bass, Nick Foligno, Ryan Shannon, Brendan Bell, and Luke Richardson.
EDIT: Nothing on local TV, but it's on MSG so you should be able to see the game on NHL Centre Ice. The game is, of course, on TEAM 1200.
The game will also be Alex Auld's first test in a Sens jersey, so keep an eye out for what he's got to show. Jeff Glass is scheduled to take over for the third period.
Only one cut has been made since Saturday night, with Jim O'Brien being sent back to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. I was hoping that after his showing in the rookie camp O'Brien would be playing in Binghamton, but he'll certainly get plenty of ice time in the WHL.
In other news, Alexandre Picard was complaining about soreness in his groin (what's going on here? First Daniel Alfredsson, now Picard?), so Chris Phillips will take his place in the lineup. According to the Ottawa Sun, Alfredsson might be playing against Philadelphia on Tuesday (EDIT: the game against Philly is on Wednesday, not Tuesday).
No word on what the line combinations are, but the Sens official site has said that the lineup will include Chris Kelly, Dean McAmmond, Shean Donovan, Anton Volchenkov, Cody Bass, Nick Foligno, Ryan Shannon, Brendan Bell, and Luke Richardson.
EDIT: Nothing on local TV, but it's on MSG so you should be able to see the game on NHL Centre Ice. The game is, of course, on TEAM 1200.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
HOCKEY STARTS TONIGHT!
This is exciting. Sure, it's only the pre-season, and you won't see all of the players you wanted to, but it's NHL hockey, it's on the radio (TEAM 1200), it's on TV (Rogers 22), and it's on.
The Sens are playing the New York Rangers tonight, but don't expect Wade Redden to be in the lineup. I guess it's just too soon for him. Whatever.
According to the Ottawa Sun, these will be the Sens' line combinations for the game:
Dany Heatley-Jason Spezza-Jesse Winchester
Antoine Vermette-Nick Foligno-Daniel Alfredsson
Jarkko Ruutu-Mike Fisher-Chris Neil
Josh Hennessy-Jim O'Brien-Danny Bois
Chris Phillips-Christoph Schubert
Jason Smith-Filip Kuba
Alexandre Picard-Brian Lee
Martin Gerber (first two periods)
Brian Elliott (third period)
Those three forward lines look awesome. I'm excited to see what Jesse Winchester can do in a real game alongside Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. I'm also looking forward to seeing Nick Foligno at centre, and whether or not he stays there or switches with Antoine Vermette part way through. And to see how many Rangers want to play against that extremely punishing and aggravating third line of Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Neil, and Mike Fisher. The fourth line is probably just to see what those three can do. I doubt they'll be making the full-time roster, but Josh Hennessy, Danny Bois, and Jim O'Brien might be high on the Sens' call-up list if injury troubles arise.
On defence, I'm sure Chris Phillips will be playing with Anton Volchenkov, but head coach Craig Hartsburg may just want to see how Christoph Schubert responds. That or he wants to yell less, so he can just say, "Chris, get on!" and that pairing will. Jason Smith is expected to play with Filip Kuba, so we'll see what kind of chemistry they'll have. And Brian Lee and Alexandre Picard might be battling for that sixth defence spot, so it makes sense to see them in the same situations.
Martin Gerber has been given the 'starting goaltender' mantle, so it's now his to lose. We'll see how he responds tonight and in coming games.
I can't believe I'm this excited for an exhibition game.
EDIT: The Sens also trimmed the roster down sixteen players, fifteen of whom were assigned to the Binghamton tryout. Moving down are goalies Kevin Desfossés and Mitch O’Keefe, defencemen Mitch Ganzak, Tomas Kudelka, Guillaume Lépine, Brandon Roach, Derek Smith, Chris St. Croix, Geoff Waugh, and Ben Wright, and forwards Kaspars Daugavins, Denis Hamel, Chaz Johnson, Mick Lawrence, Shawn Weller, and Jeremy Yablonski. Only Wright wasn't assigned to Bingo, instead electing to return to his junior team.
Look for Lawrence to make a pretty good impression, as Bingo GM Tim Murray has already been impressed. And hopefully Chris St. Croix will be a big-time goal scorer so they can play 'Jump, jump' by Kris Kross every time he puts one in (unless they've reserved that for Foligno).
The Sens are playing the New York Rangers tonight, but don't expect Wade Redden to be in the lineup. I guess it's just too soon for him. Whatever.
According to the Ottawa Sun, these will be the Sens' line combinations for the game:
Dany Heatley-Jason Spezza-Jesse Winchester
Antoine Vermette-Nick Foligno-Daniel Alfredsson
Jarkko Ruutu-Mike Fisher-Chris Neil
Josh Hennessy-Jim O'Brien-Danny Bois
Chris Phillips-Christoph Schubert
Jason Smith-Filip Kuba
Alexandre Picard-Brian Lee
Martin Gerber (first two periods)
Brian Elliott (third period)
Those three forward lines look awesome. I'm excited to see what Jesse Winchester can do in a real game alongside Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. I'm also looking forward to seeing Nick Foligno at centre, and whether or not he stays there or switches with Antoine Vermette part way through. And to see how many Rangers want to play against that extremely punishing and aggravating third line of Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Neil, and Mike Fisher. The fourth line is probably just to see what those three can do. I doubt they'll be making the full-time roster, but Josh Hennessy, Danny Bois, and Jim O'Brien might be high on the Sens' call-up list if injury troubles arise.
On defence, I'm sure Chris Phillips will be playing with Anton Volchenkov, but head coach Craig Hartsburg may just want to see how Christoph Schubert responds. That or he wants to yell less, so he can just say, "Chris, get on!" and that pairing will. Jason Smith is expected to play with Filip Kuba, so we'll see what kind of chemistry they'll have. And Brian Lee and Alexandre Picard might be battling for that sixth defence spot, so it makes sense to see them in the same situations.
Martin Gerber has been given the 'starting goaltender' mantle, so it's now his to lose. We'll see how he responds tonight and in coming games.
I can't believe I'm this excited for an exhibition game.
EDIT: The Sens also trimmed the roster down sixteen players, fifteen of whom were assigned to the Binghamton tryout. Moving down are goalies Kevin Desfossés and Mitch O’Keefe, defencemen Mitch Ganzak, Tomas Kudelka, Guillaume Lépine, Brandon Roach, Derek Smith, Chris St. Croix, Geoff Waugh, and Ben Wright, and forwards Kaspars Daugavins, Denis Hamel, Chaz Johnson, Mick Lawrence, Shawn Weller, and Jeremy Yablonski. Only Wright wasn't assigned to Bingo, instead electing to return to his junior team.
Look for Lawrence to make a pretty good impression, as Bingo GM Tim Murray has already been impressed. And hopefully Chris St. Croix will be a big-time goal scorer so they can play 'Jump, jump' by Kris Kross every time he puts one in (unless they've reserved that for Foligno).
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sens win into Christmas break
Hey Sens Army, happy holidays.Now that the niceties are out of the way, let's get to business. The Sens played pretty well against the Rangers on Sunday evening, winning 3-1 to go into Christmas break. Which is always nice.
Martin Gerber had a solid game, and kept the Sens in it through the first period, while Ottawa was tremendously ousthot and outplayed by New York.
One good thing about having a farm team in New York is that in the rare occasion that a player gets injured the day before the Sens have a road game against the Rangers, a callup can get to the game relatively quickly. And that's exactly what happened after Joe Corvo suffered an injury against the Thrashers and Larry Nycholat was brought in to replace him. Nycholat had a solid game, and the team played pretty well defensively considering two of the top-six d-men were out of the lineup. In particular, Andrej Meszaros had a good game, and played a hard game physically.
Shean Donovan finally got rewarded for the hard work he's been doing, and it paid off. He looked pretty good alongside Chris Kelly (who scored a goal) and Antoine Vermette, and it looks like those two are starting to come out of their funk. Which is a plus. Unfortunately, Dean McAmmond was benched for most of the game, and only got two minutes or so in the game. I can almost understand benching young, unexperienced rookies like Cody Bass and Nick Foligno (almost, but not quite), but D-Mac is one of the most defensively responsible players on the team. He's made two mistakes in the last two games, and both have been costly, but he's also scored two points. When you refuse to give a player like McAmmond the opportunity to make up for the mistakes he makes, you're missing out.
The break the Sens are on right now will be a short one, and they'll be playing again on Wednesday. I'm not sure if Ben or I'll be posting in the meantime, but I have a feeling I'll have something to say.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Could Emery bring us out of the rut?
Despite a 5-2 loss to the suddenly-surging New York Rangers, it looks like there might be light at the end of the tunnel for the Senators. About time, because it seems like it's been a damned long tunnel.It all started with a terrible first period. Terrible for everyone, including (and probably especially) Martin Gerber. Good decision by John Paddock to leave Gerber in to finish the first period, and then start Ray Emery in the second.
Despite an early goal by Brendan Shanahan, the Sens began to turn their game around in the second, peaking with a goal by Joe Corvo after a rarely-successful Jason Spezza drop-pass. In the third, Dany Heatley tipped a pass from Spetzky right of Henrik Lundqvist's shoulder, but it was once again too little, too late for Ottawa and the Rangers added an empty-netter.
Rayzor played a good two periods of relief, and it looks like he may--once again--be answering everyone's calls for one of the goalies to snap us out of this streak. While we won't know until Tuesday's game in Tampa Bay, if Emery is able to play like he did Saturday then we'll be alright for a while.
To avoid confusion, I'm neither pro-Gerber nor anti-Emery. I'm pro-winning. As I said in my last post;
Last season, when The Gerber faltered, Rayzor earned the starter's job and ran with it. If he wants it this year, Emery is going to have to work a lot harder than he appears to be right now to get it.
I don't care how it happens, but this team has to win. I'm still skeptical as to Emery's value when he's playing poorly and upsetting the dressing-room dynamic, but as long as he starts winning we won't have to worry about that happening.
Mike Fisher snapped out of his one-game funk and played well, laying a total of seven punishing hits, including two painful-looking ones on defenceman Joe Girardi in the same shift. Christoph Schubert took a couple of shifts, but he eventually got his goove back on defence and looks to be alright alongside Chris Phillips. And finally starting to live up to his agitator billing was Shean Donovan, playing hard on the forecheck. It was also nice to see Chris Neil get under the skin of Scott Gomez, taking the Alaskan Wonder of his game for much of the latter stages.On the other side of the coin, Wade Redden looked pretty bad on the first three Rangers goals. He and long-time partner Andrej Meszaros were split up, and Corvo played well beside Redden when the Sens were looking for offence, while Meszei--through little fault of his own--was demoted to playing third-set defence with Luke Richardson. I also have to agree with Jeremy of Black Aces on the Randy Robitaille front, as Ropes continued to look completely disinterested against the blueshirts.
As previously mentioned, look to Emery to start on Tuesday. If his play against New York is any indication, he might be starting to get back into his game.
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