Hi there and how are you on this glorious day?

Before I start, I would like to apologize for the lack of a JDP for game one. As a working mother with a drinking and drug problem sometimes it can be difficult to find the time in a day and/or see the keyboard straight enough to be “always with updates”. Today is a new day and I promise promise promise I wont let going to court get in the way of being there for orange slice duty at your next soccer baseball game ever again.

 And now a take that you get to hear for the 30th time thanks to the 3 day gap between games!
I thought there were a lot of positives that came out of that last game despite what the score indicates. One of the biggest positives was that even though the Sens looked pretty overwhelmed at first and gave up a goal very early that they responded by tying it up on a dirt rascal greaser by Colin Greening. Not only is this the type of goal you want to see your team be able to score against a squad as good as the Penguins but the fact that it wasn’t scored by someone known for their offensive flair was also encouraging. Dirt rascal goals.

Another thing I noticed is that despite going pointless in game one, Erik Karlsson is really starting to get back to his 19 shots per game groove back. I find it very, very hard to criticize Karlsson because most players would have just shut it down for the season so to even see him playing half like himself is something I am still wrapping my head around. The fact that MacLean plays him 27-30 minutes and that Karlsson is able to do it blows my mind. No matter how deep the Sens can go this post season the dazzling King K skating we’ve come to know and love is just not going to be there so it was great to see EK just hammering shot after shot from the blueline. They weren’t all hitting the net but hey what am I going to say? Shoot less?

I thought Conacher and Pageau were looking great and Mika had a couple of close calls. For all the talk about the Sens having stage fright these guys did not really look like rookies in my opinion and that bodes very well for the Sens.

Jared Cowen looked pretty rough out there. You know what though? I think he’s the type of player that will learn from his bad game and take it to them tonight. Sure, the optics were terrible when he fanned on that pass and then looked weak on Malkin on the subsequent goal. Good news: I have a feeling Jerry is going to put Malkin on his ass next time they meet in front of the net.

MacLean Says “Yes [you may grudgingly return to the lineup]” to the Latendresse!!! 
Can we each and every last one of us agree that you do not want to get in Paul MacLean’s bad books? You could say the players do it to themselves to an extent but damn MacLean is not afraid to bench someone indefinitely. Remember The Ballad of Bobby Butler? A little depth returned to the lineup and MacLean all but shutdown Jim O’Brien and Peter Regin for the year. Paulrus obviously did not like what he saw out of Latendresse against Montreal and benched him for the next four games. BY THE WAY HE HAD A GOAL IN THAT SERIES. PMac means jolly-BUSINESS. 

I dont want to seem like I’m overdoing it here…or actually this is the internet whatever…
Now that Latendresse is getting that second chance that he otherwise probably wouldn’t if Spezza was put back in the line up or if Matt Kassian didnt skate like a gingerbread man (Ed. Note: ?) this is positively a pivotal moment in his career. The guy was healthy scratched for the remainder of the series against his former club because for not showing enough fire and for getting sonned by the smaller Ryan White. This does not look good on your resume going into the off season. And he cant really fall back on his regular season play either. He was good. He impressed me, a doubter, at times but the fact is he was Andre Benoit good. Andre Benoit is an overage AHL call up defenseman. Lats is a former 25+ goal top six forward. I think he has to make some noise and pad up those stats for the sake of his career. I know he’s only 25 but nobody’s looking for a top 6 forward in decline who cant play in the playoffs. Actually, Scott Gomez is playing right now…dont stop believin….hahaha seriously do not fuck this up dude. Be superthug tough in front of that net.  So yeah…uhh…unleash the Guyet!

BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!!!

Andre Benoit also draws into the line up in place of the banged up Eric Gryba. Not too much to say here. As much as it sucks to see the Sens go a man down I’m not about to pretend that Gryba was some irreplaceable rock on D. He’s performed well for a rookie called up from the AHL but so has Benoit. In fact I welcome Benoit’s offensive ability what with Patrick Wiercioch on the IR. Again, I cant say that Latendresse is an offensive upgrade without giving the same accolade to a defenseman who matched his point total in only 6 more games.

Swapping Kassian for Latendresse and Benoit for Gryba gives Ottawa an undeniably more offensively capable line up for tonight and considering they only managed one goal on 36 shots. It’s up to them to make the most of it and just pepper Vokun with shots and stay all UP in his kitchen OR WHO KNOWS WHAT KIND OF FOOD PREP AREA.

Craig Anderson who is still a frigging great goaltender gets the start.

Who to watch for: 
I think Nikita Filatov is going to finish that 3D puzzle he’s been picking away at tonight. Should be interesting to see how that shakes out.

GO SENS GO!!!

Pre game hype up jam: 

So, this is a thing I found on the internet.

I’ve got to post something just because I’ve had a post about being empathetic to Leafs fans on the front page for like a week and I’m over it. (Okay, one last word on it: if you haven’t read Tyler Dellow’s amazing post on the probability of seeing a game like that again, go do that now.)

MacLean for Jack!

Unsurprisingly, Piddy Macaroon got his second consecutive Jack Adams award nomination today. I think we can all agree it’s well-deserved, considering the combination of low payroll and injuries he had to deal with. But one has to wonder at what point the expectations game catches up with him.

As we all know, the Jack Adams is awarded to either the coach who is perceived to have done the most with the least, or the coach who wins so handily in this parity-filled league that the team’s success just has to be his doing, right? In the battle of the paupers, MacLean and Boudreau go head to head–as if neither of them have anything to work with. All MacLean had was Vezina caliber goaltending and Boudreau had relative unknowns like Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan.

This angle is a bit of a joke. If it’s expectations we’re talking about, why not Capuano for getting the Islanders into the dance, or Todd Richards for having Columbus playing competitively all season long? Or even Hitchcock again? He has a good team, but that’s one of the lowest payrolls in the league and Blues were a regular season powerhouse yet again.

In any case, it’s probably going to be hard for the jury (or whatever ramshackle assembly of arena workers and carnies they have vote on this thing) to ignore Chicago’s record-setting start to the season. I mean, good is good, but the record books sort of elevate a person’s case beyond reproach.

And hey: Michel Therrien wasn’t nominated! Yeah, fuck that guy!

Oh yeah, the playoffs

Sigh…the Pens are pretty good. Didn’t like much of what I saw from the Sens this week, but they had their chances. It’s going to be a really fine line all series long. Ottawa has to play with grit and toughness, getting right up in the Pens’ wheelhouse. But at the same time, if you give a team like that power plays, they’re going to eat you alive. I don’t know how you do it. I don’t see Ottawa getting this team off their game through peskiness, given all the veterans they have in their lineup. Which brings us back to that old mainstay…Help us, Craig Anderson. You’re our only hope.

Playoff predictions

Anyone watch that LA – San Jose game last night? Obviously I’m hoping the Senators win two or three Cups this year, but if it’s not them, LA has the look of a team who could repeat. Just fantastic depth on that team, and their system is relentless. Perfect combination of hard work and skill-based puck possession. You can see how it pretty much wouldn’t work at all without Doughty (so glad we’ve got one of those on our team), but beyond him, I can’t think of a more serviceable and intimidating group of tough defensive defensemen than Regehr, Scuderi, and Mitchell. None of them has to be The Guy, but together it’s just a wall. Get past them, and you get Jonathan Quick. And, as the Sharks learned last night, even if you get up on them by a couple of goals, they have the kind of tenacious and skilled players in Brown, Kopitar, Carter, Richards, and Stoll that they can absolutely claw back. I’m also still blown away that a GM as incompetent as Sutter could be such a good coach. The Kings are the complete package.

And this was an event not just because of the already much-bandied fact that no team had ever come back from a three goal deficit in the third period in the history of the playoffs. To me the takeaway is that I sometimes forget that that team is not a team like our team. Our team, like most teams, is tied to our city, is tied to local pride, is tied to community, and is tied to our desire to distinguish ourselves from that team. But that team…they’re about people’s fathers, you know? Other than maybe a few of the other original six teams, they’re different. Not special. Not better. But different.

As I read Twitter last night, I saw the sort of stunned reaction as events unfolded turn to something resembling empathy. Can you imagine if that happened to us? How would that feel? About twenty minutes later that empathy transformed, predictably, into gleeful schadenfreude, then, weirdly, into blame: Toronto fans deserve this, somehow. Because some dude made a shitty sign; because they’re mean to us at our home games; because they cheered for Anaheim in the Final; because they’re everywhere.

I don’t know–maybe they do deserve this. But I’m reading the various blogs and recaps this morning and I don’t feel like rubbing it in. This is a team that missed the playoffs for eight years, were killed over the Kessel trade, and now, when they finally make the playoffs, raise hopes to insane levels only to open the door to the most crushing, excruciating letdown any sports fan could ever feel. Maybe that’s just sports, and we should dog pile on because, yeah, they’d probably do the same to us.

But I have to admit: it might have been fun to see something resembling success in the biggest hockey market in the world.

Ottawa is my team, and Toronto is always going to be Enemy Number One, at least until we actually beat them in the playoffs and exorcise those demons a little bit. But this morning I’m feeling a bit of empathy here. They played a good series. A gutsy series. They won two games in a row to force a game seven against Boston, and then dominated in Boston for 45 minutes against a team that has owned the entire division’s ass all season long, including ours. There will be plenty of time to shove the meltdown in their fans’ faces later. But for now, at least, I want to say: good series, guys. You’ll bounce back.

VARADA SAYS: 

Okee doke: so how do we beat the Pens?

PK Subban

His hissy fits and alpha-male demonstrations became more a distraction by game three, but seeing what Subban can do, I can appreciate the difficulty of balancing the detrimental effects of that ego with how inextricably that ego is tied to performance. Subban gets pumped up, and he largely backs it up with Norris-worthy offensive play. The two things are dependent, really. But combined with other volatile personalities, like Michel Therrien, you can see the mixture becoming counterproductive. One gets the feeling that the burgeoning rivalry between these two clubs will center around the young defenceman. I’m looking forward to the teams’ next meeting, if only to see what he’ll do. It’ll either be a brilliant performance, or his head will explode.

Michel Therrien

If there’s anyone whose stock dropped during this series, it must be Therrien, who was not only outmaneuvered on the ice by Paul MacLean, but became a distraction to his team and a rallying cry for the opposition. He epitomized the characterization of the Habs as over-sensitive, entitled, and unprepared for the physicality of playoff hockey. The problem with the whole “they have no class or respect” tactic–if it was indeed a tactic to get his team fired up–is that you can only really play that card once, maybe twice. After that you’re just making excuses.

I said earlier in the year that the Canadiens wouldn’t be as bad as last year–how could they be with Markov back full time, another year’s development for their young players, a host of veterans, and an all-start goalie? Therrien deserves some credit, but I think his Jack Adams credentials were overstated, and in this series he showed himself the lesser between he and MacLean. Maybe Therrien is best thought of as a coach who gets a team back on track after years of underperformance, only to be replaced when the team is ready to get over the hump.

Brendan Gallagher

What a pitbull this kid is. Obnoxious, sure; a borderline player, full of greasy goals and provocation, definitely. Basically, he’d look great as a member of the 2012-2013 Senators.

Carey Price

He deserved better than this series. Price looked like a man on an island most nights. I  think he’s a quality player, possibly a top five goaltender in the league, but he was hung out to dry by his team on some of those goals. Imagine what he could do behind an even stodgier defensive system, without the injuries on the backend, and without the distractions of the Montreal market. He’d look great in Anaheim.

All them others

Even with the injuries, Montreal looked like a team with enough depth on paper to have better luck than they did. Bourque and Galchenyuk looked good, as did the players mentioned above, but looking at the box score to yesterday’s game I’m surprised to see that Michael Ryder actually played. I didn’t even notice him. (You have to wonder if Bergevin is rethinking that Cole trade about now.) I’ve often thought that Plekanec was an underrated top centerman, but he was largely invisible this series. That defensive corp was good at moving the puck and establishing a presence in the Ottawa zone, but couldn’t compete with Ottawa’s physical play. This group underperformed at a time of year when motivation should never be a problem.

Ultimately, the pundits will look at their division crown and pick them to finish much higher next year, and Montreal has an intriguing mixture of veterans and good young players that you’ll see them compete. In a seven game series, it doesn’t take much to tip it one way or another, and Montreal was outplayed, had bad luck, and got down early. These things happen; they’ll be back.

#UnitedinTherriensHead

HOT CHRISTMAS CAN THIS DAY GO ANY FRIGGING SLOWER!!!

Hi everybody. To quickly go over the Pageautions surrounding game 4, I have to say as I did after the 6-1 routing of game 3, we are witnessing a new era of Senators playoff hockey. Though pound for pound more talented, the President’s Trophy winning era Sens teams were not the type to do something like claw back from a 2 goals to none deficit in the third to win it in OT. Damn. That said, all this bologna about Ottawa having never blown a series up 3-1 is completely irrelevant to me. Those were different teams. Different circumstances. Tonight is about tonight. Let’s make out a bit…

I’m actually not all that happy that Carey Price is out. 
Oh sure, Peter Budaj is currently rocking a .500 playoff save percentage but he presents quite a wild card. Who knows how this guy is going to react to getting a start. I am never one to discount a backup tender. Lord knows we’ve seen enough of them get started against Ottawa the past couple seasons and seen a fair share beat us. My ideal scenario would have been Price trying to be a hero and not playing 100%. Instead we get a healthy guy who’s fresh. Ottawa’s had success against him in the past but having never started a playoff game before we have no idea what to expect of Budaj. If Price were to start, Ottawa would have a bit of a better picture of what they were in for. A good goalie not playing his best. If I were to guess, Montreal is going to fall back and try to protect their backup goalie as best they can so Ottawa’s going to have create chances and take a lot of shots…wait let me rephrase that:: Ottawa is going to have to take a lot of QUALITY shots tonight.

I am fine with Brandon Prust being out.
This guy. I have to hand it to him after his meathead walrus remark he did follow it up with being what I felt was Montreal’s best skater the next game. Montreal loses a significant physical presence in the game tonight. Ditto with the loss of Ryan White who is out with a human being injury or whatever coaches don’t call them. Montreal is not an overly physical team to begin with but with these two out of the lineup and a nicked up Max Pacioretty Ottawa is presented with a tremendous opportunity here. In game 3 Ottawa was laying out Montreal players left, right and centre and it slowed them to a Latendresque crawl. In each game that Ottawa has not played the body Montreal has pressured them with their impressive speed. Some people really don’t like him but I think Chris Neil has been particularly effective in stopping this. His big, timely hits have opened up space for the Sens to maneuver. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, attractive reader, but Ottawa has had some difficulty entering Montreal’s zone from time to time in this series. This is a game where Ottawa has to come out as aggressively as they did in game three. I feel we’ve only seen that kind of jump once so far. It would also help if Subban can manage to get another game misconduct. Neil get that irritating face of yours all up in his tonight! The Habs are missing a significant amount of players but there is still a lot of talent in that lineup and I expect them to come out looking like a team fighting for their playoff lives.

Smooth Jimmy’s HOT and uhhh NOT QUITE SO HOT list: A Presentation of That Really Creepy Strip Club and/or Adult Video Store I Cant Even Tell Out By The Airport. 

HOT
Marc Methot. 
Remember how much doubt there was surrounding the trade for Methot? I recall a lot of, “He’s played his way out of Columbus’ top 4″ or “His possession numbers are terrible” etc etc. Look sugar bear, after the Pascal LeClaire fiasco, it wasn’t unreasonable to be skeptical of a trade for a Columbus player but for a guy billed as a “big shut down defender who can move” I have to say, as someone who was pretty excited about the acquisition in the first place I was not expecting the type of performance we’ve gotten from Methot this year. A solid season is one thing but a point per game and only one penalty in 4 games? Methot’s been fantastic on Ottawa’s back end. I am so happy to have this guy on board for the next couple of years. Also, according to every lady on twitter he is very handsome.

Hmmmmmmmmm Not Exactly Hot in Hurr..
Milan Michalek.
I dont know what to think here. Guy plays pretty poorly, get his knee scoped, misses time, comes back, plays well. Playoffs come, largely invisible. I dont know what the deal is but I know I’m not crazy about a guy as suited for this series as Michalek being pretty much a non factor. His two points and 11 shots are positives but he’s not the same guy who can burn by defenders on the rush down the wing. Get normal get normal soon we want you to resume being norrrrrmaaaaaaaaaal.

Creamy Middles
Tyle Kurris. 
Massive goal from Turris. Just massive. Pretty crazy to think that when you type “Kyle Turris Epic OT winner” into Askjeeves.net there’s more than one result now. At a point a game and hot off his goal that’s put Ottawa up 3-1 in the series its tough to criticize but Montreal has been taking it to Turris in large for most of the series targeting him every chance they get. It would be great to see Turry get yet another important goal. Revenge is a dish best served …goals.

Things that make you go UGH.
So, MacLean has announced that there will be zero line up changes for Ottawa tonight and as such Matt Kassian will continue playing his 3 minutes against a team that will not try to fight anyone tonight. Gotta trust MacLean as he is a better man than I (not hard btw) but from my point of view this is a missed opportunity to play the possibly fired up and far more talented Guilaumme Latendresse. I mean first off this is the one time that LATENDRESSE IS AN UPGRADE SPEED-WISE. Second, you sat him for being a bit soft, punishment served, lesson hopefully learned, now let the guy who has good hands and an ax to grind back in the game! Also, Mark Stone has been taking practices with Ottawa lately, you’re telling me that Stone also isn’t an upgrade over Kassian’s 3-4 minutes. I don’t know. Also, Jim O’Brien and Peter Regin are now skeletons covered in cobwebs.

Holy crap I’m so keyed up right now. The Sens winning a third straight game is a lot to ask. See you all out there. Deep breaths and only 17 more hours till game time!

Zen Jam

I’ve been in Winnipeg for a few days (jealous? You’re jealous) but I’ve been watching these proceedings from afar–like God, or a pervert in the bushes outside your house. What can I say that hasn’t been said? Just look at Cory Conacher blasting off, Superman style, into the stratosphere. I like to imagine that in that moment all of us, across the Ottawa Valley, did the same thing–arms raised, big boy pajamas on–and froze in mid-air then faded to grey. I’m still stuck in that position. On my coffee table. Naked.

Here it is from another angle.

20 years from now we’ll all have real-time 3D computer monitors and you’d be ducking right now as Cory Conacher comes flying out of your screen and brushes past your left ear.

Anyways: fuck Therrien for being a laughing stock, and fuck the league for ignoring repeated attempts to injure Ottawa players just because there was no injury to force their hand, but outside of those things this has to be the most feel-good series I’ve watched in years. Not to get too ahead of myself–there’s still one win left, and Montreal almost got one of their own there. They’re deep enough to still make this a series. But all the same, the Sens have embraced their #pesky persona, and it’s one I think I could get used to seeing.

UPDATE:

Oh shit, sorry. Here you go:

After Sunday’s game I actually found myself thinking back to some low times as a fan, oddly enough. You know what I’m talkin’ about… back to the days of Heatley’s ugly and drawn out exit, Clouston as ice king, many fans down on Spezza and hoping people like Alexandre Picard would ‘find their game.’ Worst of all Ottawa was still wearing that black SNES jersey.
We fans had enjoyed some very strong years in the early to mid 2000s but back just a couple of years ago it was really sinking in for me that the Senators were making a strong shift into shittiness.

Oh sure, I was still supporting the team and still making it out to what were some pretty painful games. The worst of which was a 5-1 pounding at the hands of the Florida Panthers on a Tuesday night in their black jerseys. MONEY AND TIME WELL SPENT! I mean, I’m a pretty optimistic fan overall but by all indications it seemed that we were in for a very steep and very, very long decline from the President’s Trophy days.
I wont dwell on it too long as I recognize it’s easy to wax on all flowery when your team just won a huge playoff game but thinking back to how recent many of those unpleasant events were I have to say I am feeling very grateful that despite a couple of Pascal LeClaire shaped bumps and thanks maybe to a few bits of good fortune like your talented but spotty diminutive mid-first round pick blossoming into the best defenseman in the game…I have to hand it to Bryan Murray and co. They made this team very fun to watch again…and FAST. I often think “What must it be like as an Oiler’s fan.” All those young fire crackers collected over years and then at the end of another brutal season your reward is, well, time for another high draft pick. That year that “earned” Ottawa Mika Zibanejad at sixth overall was hard enough. The Sens brass have built a team so solid that a squad comprised of half of the farm team is still a post season contender. And all without ever having to come in worse than 25^th.  Cant really call it a fluke anymore when MacLean actually got a better result with less. Anyway, speaking of Zibanejad, let’s get into it…

Obviously Pageau was the story of game 3 and we will get to him hey IM NOT MADE OF TALKING ABOUT STUFF EVERYONE’S TALKED ABOUT ALREADY!!! I want to point out that Zibanejad is now getting 20 minutes of ice time and he’s earning it. It would seem Mikachu has earned increased trust form his coaches and as such essentially doubled his ice time. I notice Zibanejad every game and even if he’s not getting the goals he is certainly attracting attention. Montreal appears to have a very tough time answering to Zibanejad’s size and strength. I love watching the Swedranian Bull routinely shrug defenders off his back Mario Lemieux style and work to get the puck to Silfverberg (whom he shares beautiful chemistry with).
It isn’t as if Zibanejad has been a slouch out there with 2 assists in 3 games. That’s not bad at all for a rookie but goals are what puts the pee-pee in fans pants (just…terrible writing here today). No question there will be a lot of focus on the diminutive JGP tonight (Note to JGP: Be careful out there buddy, this team is immune to disciplinary action! ITS A GREAT LEAGUE!). Anyway, if there is a lot of pressure to shut down Pageau I hope that opens things up a bit for Zibanejad as I am confident he can get something done. Big game for him I think.

You got me feelin’ Pageautions
Okay here we go. Judging by the way he was playing during his initial call up I just had a feeling this kid was ready to explode out there. I mean sure it’s still very early and I believe it was Winfrey Churchills who said, “Those who fail to learn from the Regins of the past will Bobby Butler in the future.” But you know what? Sometimes unexpected rookie sensations DO actually work out. We cant always be sad-sack realists.  It’s fun to be excited! PAGEAU UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE™! Regardless of what happens tonight or in this series no one will ever be able to take that game away from Pageau or the ever growing history of the franchise. Most dominant franchise win in the playoffs, a 5-0 line brawl, a rookie hat trick and of course, the “PAGEAU, PAGEAU, PAGEAU” chant (in my opinion one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen happen at SBP). Pageau was a key in a night where I felt we saw the entire franchise move closer to a new chapter.

Can you believe Ottawa was out shot last game?
Despite all the story lines floating around out there I think this game is about goaltending yet again. Anderson is going to have to be very, very good again as my inkling is that Montreal is going to employ a strategy of going hard to the front of the net and trying to bang home rebounds. The Canadiens have made it no secret that they think that Andy is a “first save” goalie and if you can get a rebound off of him and on your stick you can put it behind him. It will be up to Andy to stop those pucks from rebounding but also up to the large lads in front of him to make sure they cant get in too close, particularly the sneaky Gallagher (who’s comedy is terrible) and Subban who likes to jump up in the rush (and on his hits). No telling which Carey Price we will see. Your guess is as good as mine.

So In A Roundabout Way What I’m Trying to Say Is…

Despite how satisfying that game was for we Sens fans lest we forget that one game before Ottawa was positively dominated. The complete 180 that they made between games 2 and 3 has me as excited as I am nervous about tonight. In fact, Ottawa has only looked particularly good in 1 of 3 games thus far. That’s not to say that game 3 wasn’t a turning point but if we tune in tonight to see Ottawa with their foot off the accelerator we could have a tied series again and a much different scenario on our hands. The good news is the game they did look good in was a particularly inspired performance, the kind you can build momentum around. Ottawa’s going to have to come out as hard as they did on Sunday, no question.  Keep it simple stupids. Hit, skate and score.

Go Sens Go!

And now this… 

More gold from Steven! Enjoy the game everybody!

“Let me be your hero…”

Hi everyone,

I’ve had Spin Doctors “Two Princes” stuck in my head for I am NOT kidding you, four straight days. I’m hungover. LETS DO THIS.

We have a lot to talk about. I suppose I will get it out of the way off the jump

A Tale of Two Hitties

I will go on the record (that no one asked me to go on) saying I thought Gryba’s hit was a legal but devastating one. For those opposed I asketh thee this: “What gentlesir/madam was Gyba supposed to do instead of lay that hit?” Was he to step out of one Montreal’s best forward’s way? Delicately poke check the puck off of his stick? That was a trolley track pass from Diaz a la LaRose + Skinner = Cowen that we saw in Jared’s first game back. Like the Cowen-Skinner hit, I call it the Andy Sutton Special. “Five minutes for being humongous.” Eller is no shrimp but examine Gyrba’s positioning. I’ve seen many a head hunt and I cannot call that one of them. Hockey’s an incredibly fast game to the point that the NHL has added A WHOLE OTHER REFEREE to keep track of it in recent years…also O’Rourke is a terrible referee. I am willing to accept that in the moment at ice level that hit probably looked dirty. Eller laying knocked out in a quickly growing pool of his own blood did nothing to help anything. Fine. Gryba gets the gate. What I find laughable is now with the advantage of multiple angles of replay that he’s still getting a hearing with the Shannahan. Rediculous.

You know what hit was not so clean?

I don’t like how Subban jumps into the boards and I don’t like how his elbow goes right to the head of Neil. But that hit makes the highlight’s package and PK is celebrated for “being fired up tonight” why? Because Neil pops up like nothing happened. What am I trying to say here? I’m saying optics play a huge role in how a play is perceived apparently. If you’ve ever worn a hockey elbow pad you know how hard they are. If Subban concussed Neil and knocked his teeth out he gets the gate. Fortunately, he appears fine after the play (though I didn’t think he looked quite right after) and life goes on.  I never, ever relish seeing a player get hurt. I think it’s terrible what happened what happened to Eller. I hope he makes a full recovery but much like fighting after throwing a hip check I’m confused by the aftermath of this thing. In a game this fast with players the size of Gyrba or Sutton or Chara I say this: Players. Will. Be. Hurt. On. Clean. Plays. I point the finger at Diaz for a very stupid play that endangered his teammate.

NOW ONTO THE ACTUAL GAME: 
So good things and bad things. Let’s start with a few quick bad points.
-Ottawa looked HORRIBLE in the second period. In my mind this game had the potential to be a blow out. They are not going to get away with 20 minutes that bad very often. That game lived and died to the play of Craig Anderson. The goals surrendered to Bourque and Gallagher we’re beauties. Craig Anderson was the game’s hero. I was worried he’d be shaky after taking that puck the grill but he remained Steady Ruxpin in the crease. Hail Andy.
-The Sens gave up 50 shots BTW…on the heels of praising Anderson’s play…bros, don’t force your goalie into making 48 saves. Good God.
-And that power play. Forget trouble setting the table there was one power play that was pretty much played exclusively in Ottawa’s zone. Just unacceptably bad. There were a lot of thing’s I am not feeling great about considering this is a 7 game series.

Good points:
-Latendresse scored SUCH a troll goal. The only person laughing more than me when that went in was Latendresse himself. Those are the kind of Flugly goals that Lats is going to have to score if he’s going to be a factor against such a speedy team. That one had to hurt for Habs fans.
-You have to love that Marc Methot had the same stat line as Erik Karlsson last night. I actually thought EK had a few shaky moments to be honest. He had a goal and an assist, played a ton of minutes was a plus three…all good BUT I actually think he can play better. Which is ultimately great news for Ottawa.
Can you believe Mika Zibanejad is a rookie? I mentioned this yesterday but I cannot get over the chemistry he has with Silfverberg. I like their line with Latendresse.

Am I A Terrible Human Being For Even Mentioning This?
Hit controversy aside, how huge a loss Lars Eller is for Montreal? When the smoke clears on this thing that is not a player you want to see get injured in game 1. Not only one of their best players but one of their biggest.

The Price is Wrongderson…or whatever.
Tonight will be another goalie battle. Regardless of last night’s result, each game is a new one. A blank slate. Keep in mind Ottawa got their asses kicked in 4-2 by the Rangers in game 1 last year and bounced back with a 3-2 OT win in a much, much tighter game 2. I still don’t take Price lightly but if the Sens can get to him early that will be massive for momentum. The interesting thing with the Bell Centre atmosphere is that yes, undoubtedly it is the most electric building in the league…but if stuff starts going wrong I think it can also be the quietest. That’s the trade you get when you have fans as emotional as the Canadiens’. After that Silfverberg goal last night you could really feel the air exit that building even on TV. Of course the other delicious possibility is that if things go really shit for the Habs that base of passionate fans have a tendency to take out their frustrations on their own guys. After all this is the team I’ve seen boo their own side for not converting on a powerplay against one of the league’s best PKs in a game THEY WERE WINNING. Two home losses would be crushing for them. Especially after a game as frustrating as last night’s. With back to back games it’s not like Ottawa’s powerplay is going to miraculously get awesome overnight. I basically think we’re going to need yet another masterful performance from Anderson and continued scoring to pull this one out. If they can do that it would be beyond huge for the series but Montreal is going to come out trying to win one for Eller. Ottawa’s going to have to keep it calm on their side and take them out of it early.

Love Silfverberg’s reaction to scoring the game-tying goal.

There’s something deeply gratifying about being the team with excellent goaltending and gritty, plucky, “fuck you” performances from rookies and discarded vets. It’s probably the team’s history. But this group has the fortitude to duke it out over a long and hard-fought series. As I said in my series preview, Game One was going to be huge, and you have to wonder if the Habs are feeling a little fragile today.

After all, what we saw last night was grit tinged with a little bit of trauma. You have to think nerves are exposed right now.

Really tough to see a good young player like Eller get injured like that, but I was impressed by the reaction of fans on Twitter. Not one person seemed to take the kind of pleasure in another person’s pain the way one of Ottawa’s ‘legit’ newspapers did this morning:

We can all agree that the Ottawa Sun is classless garbage, right? They’re the lowest common denominator in an equation that keeps hockey second-tier compared to other pro sports. We’ll never be taken seriously so long as these are the ambassadors of the sports. Walk east ’til your hat floats, Garrioch.

In any case, the hit was only borderline if you consider that Gryba couldn’t line his body up with Eller’s perfectly. Other than that, his elbows are down, he doesn’t leave his feet, and he’s not charging. Totally different conversation if Gryba is 20lbs lighter, or Eller is two inches taller, or if Eller doesn’t hit the ice face first. Frustrating to think that even in this day and age the game could have been decided because of the refs’ reactions to seeing blood on the ice. It’s also frustrating because the ref’s penalty now turns the hit from something to be reviewed and assessed to a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ charge. Gryba could be suspended even after he gets ejected and Ottawa plays down a man for half the game, and the Canadiens get a five minute powerplay. Ottawa’s been punished already for the horrific randomness of the game. I’m curious to see how hard the league comes down on Gryba, if only to keep things calm in Montreal tonight. If there’s no suspension, I wonder if you see the likes of Prust and Armstrong start running around like idiots. Watch out, Karlsson.