Senators recaps
Struggles continue as Senators lose 4-1 to Maple Leafs
by PeterR on Mar 16, 2010 11:08 PM EDT
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Anyone out there who, like me, thought a return to Ottawa would reverse the fortunes of the Senators as they took on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night turned out to be depressingly wrong. The Sens played the same urgency-starved game that has earned them a 1-4-1 record since the Olympic break, and lost 4-1 as a result.
Although the Senators didn't deserve to win the game, there were some positives to take out of it. A few players, particularly Milan Michalek and Chris Kelly, had glorious chances to score, but just couldn't get the puck past Jonas Gustavsson. It's not as much that Gustavsson was stellar--he was pretty good, but certainly didn't steal the game--but the Senators' ongoing struggles to score just continue. Ottawa actually outshot the Leafs 31-30, but just couldn't capitalize on their chances.
Sens heroes: Chris Campoli, Nick Foligno
Oh, look, the two guys who've just returned from injury; apparently they haven't been affected by the losing their teammates have allowed to get them down. Campoli might have been the Senators best defenceman tonight, with a shot on net and a couple of hits. What he did more effectively than any of his teammates was contain the young, quick, and energetic Leafs players by forcing them to the outside and limiting their ability to get to the middle of the ice. His fellow defencemen would have benefited from following his lead (and I'm not sure I've ever said that about Campoli before).
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Senators unravel in 5-1 loss to Canucks
by Mark Parisi on Mar 14, 2010 3:07 AM EST
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The Ottawa Senators lost to the Vancouver Canucks because they couldn't maintain their poise. After goaltender Pascal Leclaire did everything in his power to keep it 1-0 after one period -- in which the Senators were outshot 17-2 -- Jason Spezza made an outstanding individual effort to tie the game at one on a full speed end-to-end rush. The rest of the team responded to this by not playing defense and giving up three unanswered goals, including a brutal shorthanded breakaway to Alex Burrows. There was very little to like about this game outside of Leclaire's play. It's a real disappointment to see how little support his teammates gave him after he put forth top effort even after the game was clearly out of reach.
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Senators blow a million chances en route to 2-0 loss to Flames
by Mark Parisi on Mar 12, 2010 2:51 AM EST
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Ottawa should have won this game but didn't. Thanks for reading.
What, you want more?
OK, here's a short list of the major missed chances:
- Milan Michalek had a power play goal waved off because of a high stick. Whether it was truly a high stick or not is debatable, but there was not enough evidence to overrule the call on the ice, which was no goal.
- 0 for 5 on the power play.
- Peter Regin hit the crossbar of an open net.
- The Senators had 33 shots on goal. The Flames blocked almost as many. This is NOT an exaggeration.
A little more misery coming up.
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Senators remember how to win, beat Oilers 4-1
by DarrenM on Mar 10, 2010 12:31 AM EST
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The first period was dominated by Ottawa, but they were unable to take advantage of it because A) the powerplay was useless despite four chances (including a half-minute of 5-on-3), and B) goalie Jeff Deslauriers was on top of his game. The highlight of the period, though, was probably Brian Elliott stopping Mike Comrie on a penalty shot near the end of the period. A goal would have swung the momentum in Edmonton's favour, but Elliott didn't let it happen.
The second period, however, started with an Edmonton goal by Fernando Pisani in the first 5 minutes. The Ottawa Senators then took control of the game and near the end of the period Chris Kelly sniped one into the back of the twine -- except by "sniped" I mean shot from an impossible angle and got a fluke bounce.
That opened up the dam for the third period, so to speak, as the Senators managed to put three more past Deslauriers, including power play goals from Milan Michalek and Matt Cullen. Mike Fisher had the other goal for the Sens.
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Shorthanded Senators salvage a point in 2-1 SO loss to Maple Leafs
by PeterR on Mar 6, 2010 11:05 PM EST
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If that game seemed painfully long for us spectators, imagine how painful it would have been for the Ottawa Senators players who were fighting the flu while trying to fight off the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a tight game--thanks entirely to Pascal Leclaire--and a blustery one too--thanks in large part to Colton Orr--and the Leafs outlasted the Sens to get the decision in a shootout. Still, considering Daniel Alfredsson and Brian Elliott were both out of the lineup, and another half dozen Sens probably should have been, the effort was there, and the Senators got one point in the game--so it wasn't a complete loss.
Sens heroes: Pascal Leclaire, Chris Neil
Leclaire played, in all likelihood, his best game in an Ottawa Senators jersey. He stopped 30 of 31 shots through 65 minutes, because he was well-positioned, controlled his rebounds, and followed the puck closely. Some of his saves were spectacular, but most were simply routine saves--exactly the kind of routine saves the team wants him to make every night. The one shot that beat him was a Phil Kessel snapshot, and he didn't have much of a chance to stop it, anyway.
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Dull effort dooms Senators in 4-1 loss to Hurricanes
by Mark Parisi on Mar 5, 2010 12:47 AM EST
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Earth to the Ottawa Senators: The season has resumed. Please show up and resume play.
No excuses this time. The Senators were thoroughly outworked by a Canes team that has now won seven straight. Manny Legace, who apparently had never beaten the Sens before, absolutely owned them all night. Unfortunately, Ottawa made his job far, far too easy.
Matt Cullen had the lone Senators goal, and played with good jump. He looked more comfortable than he has, and Sens fans should not worry about him fitting in -- he's going to be fine on this team. The same goes for Andy Sutton. Ottawa's newest defenseman did not look out of place playing alongside Erik Karlsson. Sutton was far from perfect. He had a blatant turnover in his own zone -- he passed it to an opposing player, shades of Chris Kelly -- and accounted for two goals. On the third goal of the game, hesitancy on who to play allowed jerk Chad LaRose to sneak behind him and bury a rebound. Sutton could simply not catch LaRose in time after realizing he had lost his man. In addition, with an empty net and two goal deficit, Sutton made the odd decision to go for a hit instead of playing the puck, allowing Brandon Sutter to tally his 16th goal of the season. Still, Sutton was aggressive and sound. His gaffes should not be held against him in his first game, especially since they were the result of effort instead of standing and watching.
So, the new guys were good. How was the rest of the team?
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Senators struggle after Olympic break, lose 4-1 to Rangers
by DarrenM on Mar 2, 2010 10:04 PM EST
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Things started relatively well. The Ottawa Senators struck first with a Milan Michalek goal in the first period that came from a beautiful Jason Spezza pass. They went into the first intermission with the 1-0 lead, and that was about the highlight of the night, because it was all downhill after that.
The second period was an exercise in futility for the Senators. Though the Sens outshot the Blueshirts 11-7, the Rangers scored on 4 of those 7 shots. The Senators? They couldn't convert on one of those shots. The biggest problem was in their own zone, obviously, as defensively responsible blueliners like Matt Carkner and Anton Volchenkov were absolutely pitiful in their own zone. The forwards didn't help either, with tons of giveaways in the period. After the fourth goal of the period, Brian Elliott was pulled from the net, letting Pascal Leclaire get in a bit of action.
Sure, the Sens can make excuses. Yes, they had a long break so their timing was off. Yes, Filip Kuba left after the first with a lower body injury, forcing the Senators to shuffle defensive pairings. However, neither of those things excuse the pitiful display the Senators put on in front of their hometown crowd tonight.
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Third-period comeback powers Senators to 4-3 win over Islanders
by PeterR on Feb 14, 2010 8:32 PM EST
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The Ottawa Senators' 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday was one of those 'find a way to win' games. A good start helped the Sens to a pretty early 1-0 lead, but they slowed down for the last half of the first and were completely missing in the second, allowing the Islanders to take a 3-1 lead. A huge 5-on-3 penalty kill to start the third period got Ottawa back into the game, and Alex Kovalev scored a goal and two assists to drive the Senators past the Isles and take the two points. Although not huge in isolation, the win was a big one because it leaves Ottawa on a winning note going into the break as the top team in the Northeast Division.
Sens heroes: Alex Kovalev, Ryan Shannon
In the third period, Kovalev really stepped up. He was double-shifted for a lot of it, playing 7:46 TOI in that period, and racking up his three points in just under seven minutes of that period. He was +2 and had five shots on the night, and has looked like the game-changer Ottawa has wanted him to be for a good while now. He's on a four-game point-scoring streak, with 7P (3G, 4A) in that span--and plenty of meaningful points in the process.
Shannon was a huge component of Kovalev's strong third period. The two look like a great wing pairing, especially with Peter Regin in the middle, and work well together. The speed of Shannon, and to a lesser extent Regin, give options to Kovalev, and he opens up ice for his linemates. Although he's not able to be effective every game, tonight was an opportunity for Shannon to use his quickness in a game with little physicality, and he took advantage of the extra space.
(Read more... )
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