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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't get the refs angry

Referees have very good memories. And they like to stand up for one another. So with all the discussion about how embarassed referee Wes McCauley was when Bryan Murray tore a strip off him in Anaheim, I've become a little nervous about what refs in tonight's game will do to show Murray that he can't mess with refs.

You'd like to think referees are pure professionals, and aren't affected by what happened on prior nights. But history has shown that they do use their authority to make a point. As a Sens fan, I've felt the Sens have gotten the short end of the referee's stick some nights. That's why I've put Stephane Auger on notice. But a lot of that might have to do with my bias. Even trying to account for that bias against Anaheim, though, it's hard to believe that the refereeing was anywhere close to equitable.

It will be interesting to see if the referees for tonight's game against San Jose will retaliate, and show Murray--who wasn't suspended or fined--that he's got to take it easy on them.

Bill McCrears his ugly head

Is it just me, or is Bill McCreary a jerk? Aside from looking like Frank and/or Gordon from the Bell commercials, he's also a egomaniac who loves turning hockey games into the Bill McCreary Show.

Here's a tip, Billy: When a team is assessed for five of the final six penalties in a game, including two extremely weak calls (on Andrej Meszaros and Chris Phillips, two pivotal PK d-men) to leave them fighting off a 5-on-3 in a game that's closer than it should be, don't be surprised if someone bitches at you for making another call, this time on Joe Corvo, after missing the blatant cross-check he took. Maybe you should just toughen up a bit and shrug off Dany Heatley calling your mother overweight, because you're supposed to be a professional.

In the end it worked out for the Sens, and I think that's why Corvo and Heater were so freakin' excited after scoring the sixth goal in a 7-3 victory. But that doesn't make it any more fun to watch some jackass call brutal penalties.

Okay guys, it's not funny anymore

For the second time in a row and third time in the last four games, Ottawa lost. It was most disappointing tonight because the Sens were up 2-0 and 5-3 over Pittsburgh at different times in the game, and still blew it.

It would seem the Sens are so generous that they're losing games to teams with front office staff on the chopping block. With a loss to the Capitals on Nov. 8, our considerate guys delayed the inevitable firing of head coach Glen Hanlon, although not for long (he got fired Nov. 22). Dropping a game 3-0 to Toronto has further delayed the firings of Paul Maurice and John Ferguson Jr. And finally tonight, losing to Pittsburgh has given Michel Therien a stay of execution. And you know what? It's all well and good to be charitable once in a while, but sometimes you have to think about your own record.

Martin Gerber did not play his best game. He did play well at times, especially at the end of the game to keep it 5-5. I'm not certain you can blame The Gerber for any of the goals, but he certainly didn't do anything outstanding. He was also as angry as I've ever heard him after the game, explaining the rulebook to the referees and off-ice officials regarding the shootout; Erik Christensen's shot was initially stopped, and that is (apparently) when the play should stop, whether the shooter or the tender knocks the puck in.

For some reason, after the Sens went up 2-0 in the first (chasing Marc-Andre Fleury from the net in the meantime), coach John Paddock screwed up with the lines, and that may very well have opened up the door for a Penguin comeback.

Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley played well. Spetzky tripled his goal total on the season (he now has three) and added an assist, while Heater scored a nice goal; both were +1 when all was said and done.

Then there's Daniel Alfredsson, who notched three assists. Awesome. But in the overtime period, Alfie aggravated his groin. The extent of his injury is not yet known, and he's apparently going to sleep on it to see how it feels, but here's to hoping he's just fine. With Randy Robitaille and Patrick Eaves already injured, we don't need another guy off the roster, especially not one as valuable to this team as the captain.

With regards to the Sputnik watch: regrettable game for Alexander Nikulin, although not because he played poorly, simply unfortunate circumstances in which he found himself. After Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros both pinched into the offensive zone, Nikulin was left as the last man back to defend against Evgeni Malkin on a 1-on-1. No offense to Sputnik, but it was a bit of a mismatch, and it showed (Malkin smoked him and scored on The Gerber off a breakaway). In the end, Sputnik finished -2 in just over five minutes of ice time, and I don't think he had an opportunity to redeem himself in the second or third periods. I do hope Paddock gives him another chance next game, though, because he's got some potential.

Speaking of Redden and Meszaros, they both played good games (aside from the aforementioned play). One assist each, Reds was +1, and Samson (thus called because without his locks of hair, Meszaros is powerless--see last season) was even on plus/minus.

You know what else was weird? How well Shean Donovan was playing before Paddock made him ride the pine for the last half of the game. I guess it was because he got three penalties, but the refereeing was questionable all night (Stephan Auger, consider yourself on notice). Oh yeah, Joe Corvo played a pretty good game, too.

I think that every time Colby Armstrong steps on the ice I hate him more. I guess that's his job, but holy crap I might hate him even more than anyone else in the league this side of Steve Downie--and yes, that includes Darcy Tucker. After that hit on Eaves in the playoffs last year, and the fact that he's so damned ugly really doesn't help his case.

In the shootout... I don't really want to talk about it. Sweet goal from Spezza on the first shot, then a bogus goal by Christensen, and after Heatley and Dean McAmmond both hit the post, Jarkko Ruutu scores the winner. How embarassing.