Outgunned: Caps 7, Sens 4

Although captain Daniel Alfredsson came out to play in his 900th NHL game, scoring two goals in the process, his teammates didn't give the same consistent effort. As a result, despite a third-period comeback attempt, the Senators fell short of the Washington Capitals, losing 7-4.

I hope that Brian Elliott realizes that him being pulled half-way through the game wasn't a shot at him, but was a mercy pull to get his teammates to wake up. It's never easy for a goalie to get pulled, and four goals against on 16 shots doesn't look good, but Elliott didn't have much of a chance on the goals: Two early powerplay goals off wicked shots that resulted directly from lost defensive-zone faceoffs, a scramble-goal where Elliott had about a half-dozen guys on top of him, and a strong wrist-shot goal by Alex Ovechkin with Filip Kuba screening Elliott cleanly.

In a statistical peculiarity, Alex Auld will get tagged with the loss because he allowed the game-winning goal. Doesn't seem fair, but whatever.

I think it's safe to say that Kuba's season has hit its low point. (Not to say it can't get lower, but I hope it doesn't.) He came back from the All-Star Game without the comfort and confidence he had at the start of the season, and it showed up tonight. A couple weeks ago in the last game against Washington, Kuba was given the assignment of shutting down Ovechkin, and he did an admirable job. Tonight, though, he gave Ovechkin too much time and space to do his work. So Ovie got a hat trick.

On the plus side, the CASH Line actually looked pretty good overall. Especially Alfredsson, obviously, with his two goals, but Jason Spezza had some good "compete" in his game--finished with one assist, four shots, a hit, and three takeaways to only one giveaway--and Dany Heatley was pretty consistent in his effort, and his one goal was because he didn't give up on a play--he knocked the puck of Caps d-man Tom Poti's stick right into the net, also had an assist, three shots, and actually blocked a couple of shots (although he did take a stupid penalty in the first period that the Sens paid for).

Antoine Vermette scored the Senators' other goal, almost midway through the third off a nice set-up from Chris Kelly.

Chris Neil had a not-so-good game. He took a really stupid penalty to quickly end a Senators powerplay opportunity, couldn't reel in the puck on a break after his penalty, and just didn't look sharp on the night. He can rebound, but it wasn't among his better showings this season.

It's time to shit or get off the pot on the Brendan Bell situation. If we're going to play him in Ottawa, we need to play him--he might not have changed the game tonight, but he certainly would have helped the Sens one-for-six powerplay get a few more shots on net. And if we're just going to keep scratching him, well, we might as well send him to Binghamton and let him dominate down there.

And, I don't know how much longer we'll be able to say it, but we're not playing as poorly as the eight-losses-in-a-row Vancouver Canucks.

Surviving the second: Sens 3, Caps 2

On the post-game show, Dean Brown suggested that the Sens' biggest challenge over the last few games has been surviving their own play in the second period. Again tonight, they had dominant first and third periods, but bombed in the second. If not for Brian Elliott stopping 17 of 19 shots in that second period, including plenty of decent scoring chances, this game would have been all Capitals.

But Elliott was there. And Dany Heatley's two first-period powerplay goals were enough to give the Senators the lead they needed to stay in the game until Brendan Bell could score another powerplay goal to give the Sens the win over Washington, 3-2. Ottawa's powerplay was a very impressive 3-6 on the night.

On the night, Heatley played like the superstar he's paid to play like. His 'demotion' (although I shudder to call it that) to the second powerplay unit has given the Senators two powerful units, and as a matter of fact, Heatley's line--with Antoine Vermette and (tonight) Nick Foligno (it had been Chris Neil in previous games, but he was out with the flu)--was and has been more dangerous than the first unit of Mike Fisher, Jason Spezza, and Daniel Alfredsson. Heatley's first goal was a pretty passing play, with Vermette dishing the puck through a few opposition players to Filip Kuba at the point, who set Heatley up perfectly. The second was a bit of luck, as it bounced off a Capitals defender, but they all count--and, don't look now, but with four goals in the last two games, Heatley has 23 on the year and is on pace for almost 42 on the season.

Vermette looked solid on the night, as well; he's one of the Senators who has gone back to what had worked for him in the past, and--surprise!--it's working for him again. He assisted on all three goals, and had a couple shots and a couple of takeaways, to boot. On the topic of streaks, Vermette has ten points (2G, 8A) in the last ten games, the same number of points he had in the first 35 games of the season. It's nice to see, as a fan of the team that's now finding ways to win and after watching him work so hard to start the year without much in the way of results.

Bell scored the winner on the powerplay with less than two minutes remaining, and it was a huge goal. Somehow, Bell's already got a goal song ("Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward), despite only having four goals on the season; I guess that's cool. He had four shots on the night, as well, but was often caught in the defensive zone with partner Jason Smith, unable to clear the puck cleanly. It didn't cost the Sens on the scoreboard, but it was still pretty unnerving to watch.

With Anton Volchenkov suffering a shoulder malfunction, Kuba was given the unenviable assignment of containing Alexander Ovechkin. It seemed like a pretty risky decision by coach Craig Hartsburg, but Kuba's mobility and reach were enough to contain AO as much as AO can be contained, as only two of Ovie's six shots were even-strength opportunities. Kuba, as mentioned, also had an assist, three shots on net, and three blocked shots, and was once again a very solid powerplay quarterback.

I'm pretty sure I've realized why Christoph Schubert doesn't like playing forward: Tonight, with Schubert starting as a forward, he only played 6:14; that includes 1:15 of penalty-killing time as a defenceman, which means Schubert played less than five minutes as a forward. In those five minutes, though, he played effectively as a forward; his line with Dean McAmmond and Jarkko Ruutu was a lot of fun to watch for those five minutes. He can take more than five minutes as a forward, but hopefully he'll deal with it, because he's always fun to watch out there bangin' bodies on forward.

I've also got to mention Peter Regin, who looked surprisingly comfortable in his first NHL game. Of all the Senators prospects who have played their first NHL games in the past couple of seasons (Foligno, Cody Bass, Jesse Winchester, Ilya Zubov, Alex Nikulin, Brian Lee, and probably others I'm forgetting), I'd say Regin was the most effective and the most comfortable in the first game--with the exception of Elliott in his first game last season (but goaltenders always seem the exception). He was a little light on is skates, but he played over 10 minutes, had one takeaway and one blocked shot, and just buzzed in the offensive zone. He warrants another opportunity, if not next game then in the near future.

With the All-Star Game in Montréal on Sunday, Jan. 25, the Sens have the week off, and don't play again until next Tuesday when they host the New Jersey Devils. It will be a break for every Senator except Heatley, who has looked like an All-Star in the recent half-dozen games. Although the timing of the break is not optimal, hopefully Ottawa can carry the momentum of seven of a possible eight points in the last four games into the post-All-Star season.

Now, to write a letter to Richard Peverley of the Atlanta Thrashers, newest hero of the No Habs No! Campaign...

Preview: Sens v. Caps, Jan. 20, 2009

Washington Capitals: 2nd in the Eastern Conference (47GP, 30W, 14L, 3OTL, 63GP 151GF 135GA)
Ottawa Senators: 13th in the Eastern Conference 43GP, 15W, 21L, 7OTL, 37P, 105GF, 127GA

According to the Senators website, Peter Regin has been recalled from the Binghamton Senators to make his NHL debut tonight against the Washington Capitals. The Danish-born centre was just signed to an entry-level deal with the club in June of 2008, and has done pretty well in his first North American pro season despite injury setbacks: 29GP, 8G, 12A, 20P, +8.

And, according to the Ottawa Sun, Jason Smith is doubtful for the game tonight against the Capitals with a lower-body injury. Should he miss it, it seems likely that Brendan Bell will step into his roster spot.

We all know what the Capitals bring to the table. Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Niklas Backstrom, Matt Mike Green, and all the rest. It should be an exciting game.

The Game That Never Happened: Sens 1, Caps 5

This photo was constructed in Photoshop. There was no game in which it could have been taken.

Let's just pretend that there was no 5-1 loss last night. It will be easy for me because I didn't watch the game that didn't happen, so we'll just act like the Sens only play 81 games this regular season. Awesome.

We can still give statistical credit to the players who took part in The Game That Never Happened, though; Jesse Winchester scored his third goal of the season, because he needs it, and Nick Foligno and Alex Picard still notched assists.

There is, however, the unfortunate incident of trying to explain Anton Volchenkov's fluke injury. It's easy, really; he was using his snowblower on the outdoor rink, and when he ran over a puck it shot it out--but Volchenkov jumped in front of it, out of habit, and suffered an injury. For that reason, Brian Lee has been recalled from Binghamton. Even though Brendan Bell is already here, as is Christoph Schubert. But whatever.

Ilya Zubov was also called up from Bingo today, probably because Craig Hartsburg is going to scratch a forward in an effort to wake up his team. Will it work? Nothing's made them smarten up yet, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a try. I'm not sure, at this point, which player will be out of the lineup. Nor am I sure whether or not Dean McAmmond is ready to play, but I don't think he is.

And Martin Gerber will start tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning? That might be a can of worms you would rather leave closed, Hartsburg. Alex Auld is not the problem here. Hopefully it's just giving Auld another break.

To be honest, I can't believe a trade hasn't happened yet. I would say one is inevitable, but I've thought that trades were inevitable at many points this season and last season, and they just didn't happen.

FISHER SCORES! And Sens 2, Caps 1 (OT)

You could actually see Mike Fisher go through three distinct emotions after he scored the overtime game-winning goal against the Capitals Tuesday night:

1. Disbelief: "Did it actually just happen?"
2. Relief: "Holy shit, it actually just happened!"
3. Love: "Daniel Alfredsson, never leave my side again."

You could tell by the effort he'd put forward in the last few games that Fisher's first point was going to come soon enough, and he broke his slumb in style against the Caps. He started the scoring by threading the needle through the neutral zone to get the puck to Dany Heatley after Heater had left the penalty box; Heatley scored, and Fisher had his first point of the season. (Heatley now has a goal in 4 consecutive games.) With a couple of really, really close calls for Fisher after that, the (previously-) goalless one followed Alfredsson and Filip Kuba on a 3-on-2 break. Kuba passed the puck to Alfie, who did a behind-the-back pass to Fisher, who put it in the empty net. Sens win their first overtime game of the year, and have now won 100% of the games in which Fisher scored. I like those odds, as long as he keeps scoring.

Some other players had great games, too. Like Alex Auld, who was outstanding--especially when he made a kick-save on Alexander Semin in the third period. He was among the league-leaders in both goals-against average and save percentage before going into the game, and improved his numbers with a 26-save performance. You can really see how the team responds to having a goaltender they can trust to be consistently solid behind them, and it's nice to get back to that.

Really, every player looked good on the game. It was a solid team effort, of the type that Craig Hartsburg would have liked the Sens to play 82 times over--but I'm sure he'll settle for the 70 remaining games this season. Although Chris Neil made a costly mistake in the second by not getting the puck out of the zone (resulting in Tomas Fleischman's goal), Jason Smith was caught flat-footed out of position on that same goal, and Alex Picard looked soft on the puck at times, the team still held it together.

Importantly, all four lines generated chances. We all knew the fourth line of Dean McAmmond, Shean Donovan, and Nick Foligno--dubbed the 'O-Line' by the Ottawa Citizen (Dean-O, Don-O, Folign-O)--was going to put pressure on the Caps, but the other lines pulled their weight for a change. Jason Spezza was buzzing for the top line, Fisher really had the second line going, Chris Kelly and Jarkko Ruutu made things difficult on the third line, and the whole fourth line was abuzz. Sure is nice to see, and was one of the main reasons the Sens got 44 shots: Every skater with the exception of McAmmond and Jason Smith had at least one shot on net. The only reason the Caps made it to overtime was goaltender Brent Johnson, who had an incredible game.

Disturbingly, the Sens went 0-for-5 on the powerplay, including a 1:57 5-on-3 and a four-minute double-minor to Sergei Federov. The powerplay was good when the team was playing poorly, and now the opposite is true. But the Sens had some chances on the powerplay, none better than one off Heatley's stick where he couldn't quite tuck in the cross-crease pass.

With a record of .500 now, the Sens wait for the Philadelphia Flyers to get into town on Thursday. And it'll be on TV (Sportsnet again), so thank goodness for that.

Playoff opponent update: No Montreal in first round

Conference Quarter-Final Opponent Watch, Day Four: As it now stands, there is no way the Senators can play against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2008 playoffs. With Carolina officially officially eliminated from the playoffs, the only possible opponents now are the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Washington Capitals.

Fresh off a 3-1 victory over the Maple Leafs, Montreal now sits at first in the Eastern Conference with two more points than Pittsburgh. The Penguins have a game in hand, and would have more wins should they win that game--which will be against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Should Pittsburgh win the game (whether in regulation time or in overtime or a shootout), the Senators will remain in sixth place with one more point than seventh-place Boston and eighth-place Philadelphia. If the Flyers win the game (regardless of regulation time or overtime/shootout), though, they leapfrog over Ottawa and the Bruins and would finish in sixth, dropping the Sens down to seventh place into a matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who would remain in second overall.

So it boils down to this:

1. Philadelphia win: Sens v. Pittsburgh
2. Pittsburgh win: Sens v. Washington
   

Cheer as appropriate in order to achieve desired result. The only other order that can change is between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers, who are basically playing each other on Sunday to determine who will get home-ice advantage in an all-Atlantic 4-5 series matchup. By scheduling these divisional matches for the end of the regular season, the league did good in planning out its schedule to keep the playoff picture murky right to the very end.

Sens start 2008 terribly

The Sens began 2008 the same way they ended 2007: by getting bombed by the Washington Capitals. Great.

After Dean McAmmond and Chris Neil each notched a goal and an assist to get Ottawa an early 2-0 lead, Washington scored five in a row on their way to a 6-3 victory. And Alexander Ovechkin only scored two assists... awesome. The other Sens goal was from Andrej Meszaros at the start of the third, but the Sens were unable to finish the comeback.

You've got to wonder what the deal is with Martin Gerber. I'm sure he's wondering himself. Every time Ray Emery does something wrong and The Gerber seems to get the green-light to keep going or redeem himself, he drops the ball and Rayzor gets the opportunity once again. There's really no excuse, and I don't really know how coach John Paddock could justify starting The Gerber on Friday.

Paddock behind the All-Star bench

Speaking of Paddock, he'll be coaching the Eastern Conference All-Star Team. I wonder if he'll smile at all behind the bench... it will be weird seeing him in such a relaxed atmosphere.

Finally, the Volchinator is back

The Sens will receive a much-needed boost on defence for Friday's game against Buffalo, when Anton Volchenkov will return from his finger injury. Thank goodness... 14 goals in two games against the Washington Capitals makes our d-corps look a lot weaker than it should be.

Frustrating, but exciting nonetheless

The Sens' 8-6 loss to Washington was pretty tough to watch at times, with the team scoring to get back into the game only to allow the Capitals a chance of their own. But it was pretty exciting, especially in the third period, where 7 of the 14 goals were scored.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but somehow Daniel Alfredsson was +3 on the night. That was the best of the game, as not even one of the Capitals had a +/- that high. At the other end, though, Chris Kelly and Chris Neil were both -3.

Speaking of Neil, he got pummeled by Donald Brashear. Kudos to Neil for standing up, but come on, man. As for Brashear, he's a wuss for not standing up to Brian McGrattan while Grats wanted to fight him, but then fighting the much smaller Neil when he got the chance. As for the ice time situation, McGrattan got 3:17, exactly half as much as Brashear was given by Caps coach Bruce Boudreault. A coach showing confidence in his role players? No...

Martin Gerber looked weak on some of the goals. John Paddock didn't pull him to put Ray Emery in in relief, who knows why (maybe this week's drama?). But I think Rayzor might get a chance next game if he puts his words into actions and heeds his own advice:

“I got mad at myself because I’ve been having trouble getting motivated on the ice. I was more upset with myself. It was a coincidence that I slept in (Friday),” he said. “I have no one to blame but myself for the situation I am in. I’ve got to get it turned around.
“It’s one thing to say you want to do more. I don’t know why I’m not motivated right now, but it’s got to change.”

He was at practice by 8:30 on Saturday to work with goalie coach Eli Wilson, and hopefully he keeps actually getting work done at practice. And hopefully this is the end of the ongoing goaltending controversy, but don't count on it.