Donovan leads team red in Senators Super Skills victory
Okay, maybe Shean Donovan didn't win any official events in the Ottawa Senators Super Skills competition today, he won the best dressed award when he came out for the fastest skater competition in a speed skater's full body suit. The getup earned him the nickname 'Catriona Lemay Donovan' from teammate Mike Fisher, after the legendary Canadian speed skater. He also got some help in the event from teammate Chris Phillips, who brought out a couple protective pads to prevent Donovan from crashing into the boards and getting an injury like last year's. The final score of the event (including points from some kids who were also competing) was 13 for red and 6 for black.
His team red teammate Ryan Shannon won the fastest skating competition over Donovan, though, and also won the puck control relay to help team red beat team black convincingly. You know who didn't win the puck control relay? Chris Neil, who somehow snuck onto the ticket for that event. Neil also tried the fastest skater, but he fell going around the corner, and got the worst time (credit, though, for finishing strong, and Neil did make up for it in the shootout--more on that later). Fisher somehow tied Milan Michalek in the one-on-one puck control competition.
The hardest shot competition was highliy contested, with Matt Carkner's 100.9 mph blast bested only by Fisher, who hit two in a row at 101.3 mph to retain his hardest-shooter title. Daniel Alfredsson, the team black captain, also broke the 100 mph threshold with his 100.1 mph slapshot (apparently his secret was imagining Scott Niedermayer in front of the net).
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Sens Super Skills competition today
The Sens Super Skills competition is today, and I'm hoping it's a little more fun to watch than last night's game against the Leafs. Starts at 1:00 pm, I'll be there and offer my thoughts on the thing later tonight.
1 day ago
PeterR
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Uninspired Senators lose 5-0 to Maple Leafs
How a team fails to get sufficiently motivated while trying to extend a franchise-high winning streak to 12 while playing against their most hated rivals is beyond me, but that's what we saw tonight. The Ottawa Senators started slowly, took a couple stupid tripping penalties early, and the Toronto Maple Leafs scored what ended up being the game-winning goal on a powerplay less than five minutes into the game.
Once again, Matt Carkner performs an interpretive dance to demonstrate the theme of the night:
Bottom line: It wasn't pretty. In fact, the loss was just about the worst way the Senators could have ended their winning streak.
A little bit more after the jump, including (if you can believe it) a Sens hero.
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Game 59: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs
Hey Ottawa Senators, it's me, Darren. This is some win streak you've been on, eh? Eleven games is far more than I ever could have dreamed of, so I feel a bit selfish asking for one more. But to be completely honest, you simply cannot lose this game tonight. Yes, I know that there's that guy from the Stanley Cup Finals in net, and that Phaneuf guy probably wants to kill Jarkko Ruutu for that little tripping incident (H/t to The 6th Sens). I also understand those Leafs are going to be in crush-kill-destroy mode after suffering an embarrassing meltdown against the New Jersey Devils last night. There is some serious adversity to overcome, but you absolutely have to overcome it.
You see, you simply cannot let them win. This win streak cannot end in Toronto, because if it does, people everywhere will say "Wait, they lost to Toronto?" It will nullify the impressiveness that is an eleven game winning streak. Furthermore, Chemmy, PPP, and JaredFromLondon will probably come on here and heckle us, and I simply can't take that kind of antagonism.
I'm sure all Senators fans agree with me, so let's see some of that discussion on this big game in the comments.
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Erik Karlsson out until Olympic break with shoulder injury
Some bad news making the rounds today: rookie blueliner Erik Karlsson's shoulder injury from last night will keep him out until at least the Olympic break. He joins fellow youngster Nick Foligno on that injury timeline.
This is a huge loss for the Senators, as Karlsson had become their best offensive defenceman throughout their recent 11 game win streak. His speed and precision passing are unmatched on the Senators' blueline, and his absence was immediately noticeable in last night's game against the Vancouver Canucks. During the win streak, Karlsson assisted on 5 goals, had 18 shots and was +8.
Expect Alex Picard to take his place on the blueline until he returns from injury.
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Brian Elliott: Making opposing forwards look foolish since Jan. 18, 2010
If you were trying to pinpoint the cause of the Ottawa Senators' eleven game win streak, it wouldn't take you long to credit the goaltending. Mike Brodeur kicked it all off by posting a shutout against the Rangers and leading the Senators over the Habs, but since then it's been all Brian Elliott. Elliott has only allowed 11 goals in the 9 games that make up his portion of the streak, which is all kinds of absurd when you consider that the day the winning streak started I questioned if Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire were the worst Senators goalie tandem ever. Oops.
At the time I posted the article -- January 14 -- such criticism of Elliott was warranted. He had a save percentage of .893, which was 45th in the league. His goals against average was 2.91. His performance, at that time, was nowhere near acceptable for an NHL goaltender.
Fast forward to now, and look at the change that an incredible hot streak in net can make in one man's stats:
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These go to eleven: Senators 3, Canucks 1
The Ottawa Senators are a tough team to beat right now. And spotting them an early lead is not the way to do it. Sens fans may not know this, but in addition to being an NHL defenseman, Matt Carkner performs interpretive dance. Here he is paired with Vancouver's Tanner Glass in a little piece he calls "The First Period:"
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Game 58: Vancouver Canucks @ Ottawa Senators
Whenever the Senators play against a Western Conference team, the game is shrouded in a bit of mystery. After all, the Sens rarely play these Western foes, so it's hard to get a read on them. Luckily for Senators fans, I'm actually a born and raised British Columbian, so I've got the goods on this Vancouver Canucks team that is threatening to break the Sens' ten game win streak. Here's my exclusive scouting report, straight from the Canucks' home province:
- The Canucks have a pair of twins (called "Sedins" by fans and management), who seem to be doing alright this season. Perhaps these two are a task for the Sens' shutdown twins, Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov.
- Dave Babych (who looks kind of like that creepy uncle who won't stop dancing with bridesmaids at weddings -- click his name if you don't believe me) has been surprisingly quiet this season.
- Shane O' Brien is the Canucks' version of Matt Carkner, except more expensive and takes dumber penalties. I wouldn't be surprised to see these two mix it up with some fisticuffs tonight.
- Roberto Luongo has been Mike Brodeur-esque in net this season. Jason Spezza will need to extend his goal-scoring streak by wristing a few past
himAndrew Raycroft, who has been given the start. - Alexandre Burrows is already a ball hockey legend, but is working his way in the diving record books as well (not if Derek Roy has anything to say about it!)
- Our Canucks-related affiliate, Nucks Misconduct, has provided a far more intelligent scouting report that gives a good look at some presumably irrelevant stats. I say presumably irrelevant because the Senators seem to be worse in every category.
As always, join in on the fun in the comments as we see if the Ottawa Senators can stretch this incredible run all the way to 11 wins!
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