Silver Nuggets: Cheechoo draws in for Senators
Here's your gameday dose of Ottawa Senators headlines, heading into game four of their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins:
- Looks like Jonathan Cheechoo will draw into the lineup in the place of Ryan Shannon tonight. Lines: Regin-Spezza-Alfredsson; Cullen-Fisher-Foligno; Ruutu-Kelly-Neil; Z. Smith-Winchester-Cheechoo. (Gordon)
- Prediction panel for tonight's game: Don't stop believin'! Only one panelist picks the Pens. (Citizen)
- Daniel Alfredsson knows the team's got to leave it all out on the ice tonight. (Citizen)
- Ken Warren column headline: "It’s not all about the stars for Penguins". Umm... Ken? Sidney Crosby (7P) + Evgeni Malkin (4P) + Sergei Gonchar (3P) = rest of team (14P). Brooks Orpik is not why the Pens are winning right now. Just sayin'. (Citizen)
- Cool article about Jesse Winchester's first home playoff experience. (Sun)
- Tough reality check: The Sens have never come back to win when down 2-1 in a playoff series. But there's a first for everything, right? (CTV)
(Read a lot more... )
- Frustrating to think that the Penguins learned a lot about how to compete in the playoffs from the 2007 Senators. But it's probably true, at least to some degree. (NHL)
- It's pretty amazing to think about how mature both Peter Regin and Erik Karlsson are, considering they're a couple of rookies getting their first taste of the playoffs. (Tribune-Review)
- Former Senator Jason York has a guest column in the Sun today, breaking down the reasons for Pittsburgh's series lead so far. (Sun)
- Damien Cox pens a good column about whether or not the Senators have what it takes to win the series. The best thing he says: Ottawa's going to have to win the series, because Pittsburgh's not going to give it away. (Toronto Star)
- The Scranton-Wilkes Barre Penguins were eliminated from the AHL playoffs last night, so Pittsburgh's probably going to have their taxi squad in place soon. (Pensburgh)
- Milks looks at the rumours of Jonathan Cheechoo getting a shot in the series (well, yesterday they were just rumours), and wonders why the hell we aren't giving Shean Donovan that spot. Got to agree with him here: You could say Cheech was a victim of the salary cap, but he lost his spot on the roster; Chum's done nothing but helped his team the odd time he's been given the chance this year. (Black Aces)
- You saw a glimpse of it yesterday, but seriously, check out Matt Carkner's full blog post on the Sens website. It's a great read. (Sens)
- Michael Sharp takes a look at next year's Binghamton Senators roster situation. Could be big changes for next season, with the captain (Denis Hamel) and two assistant captains (Josh Hennessy and Jeremy Yablonski) both unrestricted free agents. (Sharp)
- Colour me surprised: Former Senator Bryan Smolinski (you know, they guy we traded Tim Gleason for?) is still playing hockey. He's winning Player of the Week awards playing with the Flint Generals of the International Hockey League. (Flint Journal, via @Sean_Leahy)
- Getting a little ahead of myself here, but you know who might be a good depth player for the Senators? Paul Kariya. The Blues aren't sure if they'll re-sign him, but he's still got hands and wheels, and would be a great second-liner if he can be had for a couple million. (Thinking about how ridiculous that last sentence is just makes my head hurt... just a couple million... ) (STLToday)