Welcome?
Off the hop, you know what’s going to be dynamite? The month of November, where I can actually talk a bit of shit about the team the Sens are playing once in a while and lay off the whole “Here’s what Ottawa must do to hide from the impending Mongol hordes as they look to expand their glorious empire and boil alive those who dare defy their advances in scalding vats of Kelly Hrudey’s hair gel” angle.
But here we are again tonight. Playing another excellent team that just earlier THIS YEAR you could have had a conversation like this about:
Human Being: “Hey so who do you think is going to win the Stanley Cup this year?”
Human Being 2: “Well, the Chicago Blackhawks haven’t lost a game in months…so I’m going to wager the Chicago Blackhawks are the favorite to win it all.”
And then? Theyyyy diiiiiiiiid.
Ugh…this team. I remember I was in Chicago in the summer a few years ago and there was a Blackhawks fan convention at the hotel (that’s right ball so hard that I stay at a hotel) I was staying at that was basically themed “Buckle up because the Blackhawks are going to be good now.” AND THEN JUST LIKE THAT THEY FRIGGING WERE. It was like a Eugene Melnyk radio spot come true! RRRR ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID. I’ve kind of spited them for that ever since. Collect some draft picks and free agents and bling blong blang, you’re the class of the NHL.
I admit I sided with Brian Burke when he snapped on that journalist for that “why dont you copy the Pittsburgh model?” suggestion. Like, what? No one’s saying “Hey why don’t you just copy the Edmonton model of getting the no.1 draft pick nearly every year and continuing to miss the playoffs by a country mile.”
What can I say, sometimes a team gets Jonathan Toews with no. 3 overall and hmmmmm other teams get *puts on reading glasses* …Alexandr Svitov(.com). I suppose when you stink as bad as Chicago did for as long as they did you get something out of it…but on the other hand, Blue Jackets…so…let’s move on…

Well, at least Nikolai Khabiboulicantbelievehestillplaying is getting the start.
Not that the Senators have lit any mups when it comes to taking advantage of the complete lack of rispeck that other teams have been showing them by putting in their backup goaltenders. Worst of all the Sharks gave Alex Staylok his first start ever. We’re that team right now.
Granted Khabibulin is a former cup winner, 4 time all star and 2 time Olympic medalist…but please, can we remember that one of those Olympic medals was won the same year Michael Jeter won the Prime Time Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as the beloved Herman Stiles on Evening Shade? Can the Sens not put a few past the good old ‘Bulin Wall for old time’s sake? Now that I think about it, he has been playing for the Oilers for a few years and might be used to getting peppered with shots. What’s that? Oh, right, and the Blackhawks are playing in front of him.
*Puts hand on Craig Anderson’s forehead, checks pulse* Hmmm…and you’re sure this is the same guy who had the astronomical save percentage just a few months ago? Fascinating specimen! Sounds like someone’s got a case of SENATORS GOALTENDER (Caused by bad babysitting defensive coverage). Give him 50cc’s or whatever it takes to get back to that place. Legal or illegal. I’m not at all ready to give up on Andy or anything but with where I think the team is at, Andy or Lehner OR WHOEVER (Mike Brodeur?) is going to have to straight up steal a couple to give the Sens some breathing room so they can right the ship. So far Lehner has come to the closest. No info for the DEA on who’s getting the start for Ottawa tonight because WTYKY is your source for up to the minute player information ACCESS.

MacArthur in..Greening out? K.
I’ll take it. MacArthur has basically been one of the few good possession players on our puck possession team. I felt he was really missed last game because I like when Ottawa can gain the zone! The fact that he’s coming back from an injury means I’m not going to expect to him to be the team savior. Besides I’ve already put that unfair expectation on the goaltenders so…. Oh loooooooook Colin Greening could be a healthy scratch tonight. I suppose that’s normal for a young player looking to make his way in the NH–oh, what’s that? Just signed him for 3 more years? Oh, well….ummm….get your bologna together. This is real LIFE. I can’t make up my mind about Greening. Seeing him get scratched so early into the season is…helping me make up my mind. 

Another bit of news has been the return of Bobby Ryan to the top trio in practice. This to me isn’t where the Senators problems lay. Ryan, Spezza, Turris, Karlsson, the big guns, are producing fine. They aren’t going to get a point every game but they damn near are. I couldn’t be more happy to have Zibanejad in the top six. Say what you will about the resuls they’ve been getting most nights but:

Michalek – Spezza – Ryan
MacArthur – Turris – Zibanejad

…pretty boss top 6 if you ask me. Weird that the Sens keep getting criticized as slow where I would describe 4 of those top 6 forwards as fast. Again, I can’t wait to play some terrible teams at some point. Wow, that is a horrible attitude to have. Get it together, me.
This is going to sound kind of ridiculous but the Sens need to come out looking like they want it more and to stay that way. They definitely showed that they have that gear against the Wings but then just looked flat against both the Ducks (that fucking name) and the Sharks (see how easy it is to name a team, Ducks?). *scary negative political ad comes creeping in* C’mon, The Ottawa Senators…what kind of a team are you REALLY trying to tell us you are*?

Back to Back Games No Match for Ottawa’s Whack to Whack Games….
Chicago might be coming into tonight’s match with sore goal scoring wrists from whooping Minnesota’s ass 5-1 last night then taking an ARDUOUS hour long flight home to sleep on their own pile of cash. This is another thing Ottawa’s not been able to take advantage of. San Jose looked a bit sleepy at points on Sunday but nothing frightens away Mr. Sandman like a shorthanded breakaway. If I were to give Ottawa one criticism for their struggles so far is that they are lacking a killer instinct. Granted they’ve been playing some great teams so far this year but something that makes those teams great is that they can still win no matter the circumstances surrounding the game. They overcame pressure in their win against Phoenix and especially in Detroit but they’ve been blowing big chances to improve their record for nights like tonight where like Chuck Norris before them, they are against all odds. No seriously look up the betting line for tonight…

*Paid for by the Friends of the Ottawa Senators WTYKY foundation for the winning of this goddamn game.