James and Varada return uninvited to your minidisc player OR WHO KNOWS WHAT PERSONAL LISTENING DEVICE in part 1 of a 2 part series. They share what they think are their authoritative views on Canada’s all-men Olympic hockey squadron.
Enjoy and stay tuned for part 2. Well, that is if I somehow manage to avoid suffering a complete mental collapse while trying to sort out the mysterious technical issues that are currently stopping the MUCH ANTICIPATED part 2 from working…maybe it will never work…at this point I’m not sure. I actually woke up at 4:30am because I couldn’t sleep because it’s bothering me so much (not joking!). Anyway, it’s now 6:30am and I managed to get part 1 to work. What I’m saying here is, I’m having a great day! Anyway, don’t you worry about any of that. What’s important is that you enjoy part one while I go cry in the dark, fully clothed under an ice cold shower.
So let’s get right down to it. Our playoff bubble team (flattering!) plays back to back road games against Stenchburgh and St. Louis…3 of 4 points collected. Naturally. Called it. You can read more about these games in my upcoming book “WHY I DO NOT BET MONEY ON HOCKEY: One Special Little Girl’s Journey”
Welp, Buffalo played last night, got thumped by the Pens and are playing in our building so…logic says Ottawa will lose 4-1, all goals scored in the first period? Lone goal for Ottawa a puck bouncing off of Cory Conacher’s neck to cut the deficit to 3?
I don’t really know if I’m kidding. I’ve spent much of my valuable time [Ed Note: Since when, guy who writes about hockey to nobody for free?] writing (flattering!) about how hard it is to get a read on how the Senators are going to perform game to game.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that they seem to bring an extra gear to their games against the best teams in the league because if they make the playoffs they’re definitely going to have to play one of the best team’s in the East. But they have dropped some of their most slam dunk games of the year, which has REALLY hurt them and put them in the must win position they now find themselves in.
This will be an interesting game to see if Ottawa can finally HACK THE BONE when it comes to taking advantage of opportunities to move up the standings. Standings that have thus far not been friendly to them but not like the Sens didn’t get themselves in this spot. Also, who told Carolina (not the name of a US state) that they could even be in the conversation?
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Turns Out Erik Karlsson Is Amazing At hockey!
I declare tonight to be the beginning of the march to a new milestone. WTYKY Presents Erik Karlsson: Road To The Twenty Goals Classic.
Who’s comin’ with me?
He got ever so close to the plateau in his Norris winning campaign of 2011-2012 with 19. He is shooting so much this year (a team high 177) I think he can do it. 25 games remain for him to put up the 6 goals needed to hit the mark. No small task for a defenseman but we know that our special little guy (SLG) is more than great coats. He has an hilarious 12 points in his last 11 games. Comedy gold, how good this guy is.
Jason Spezza Is Trolling The Post-Game Call In Show At This Point With the recent cooling off of Clarke MacArthur and Robert Ryan, the captain has crept into 3rd in points on the team. This is the ultimate Spezz troll, even defenders of him like myself were at their wits end so what does he do? puts up three points against one the best teams in the NHL, scores an absolutely huge goal in the game, oh and to top it off FuCkInG pUlls OfF THiiiiIIiiissSssssS:
Spezz Captain and the Whirl of Tomorrow (you may now close down your browser and come find me and kill me).
He did that against the St. Louis Blues, a team coached by Ken Hitchcock, across their entire D zone…and it worked. Hockey. So this week he was the goat of the Stenchburgh game, the hero of the Blues game…tonight…let’s see him be I don’t know…I would settle for a creamy middle like “extremely competent in his role” against the Sabres.
He’ll be playing between the much improved of late Milan Michalek and Mika Zibanejad OR AS EVERY PLAY BY PLAY GUY CALLS HIM ZA-BIN-A-JAD. It was rumored that Ziba might miss the game thanks to an infection to his hands caused by wearing absolutely filthy mitts in the shootout. The shootout moves, this guy.
DaPpreciation Korner:
Stephane DaCosta deserves a ton of credit for keeping the skills competition alive after Lehner gave up two goals to Oshie and Steen. The Senators sent a pretty big message to SDC by returning Mark Stone to Binghamton today. I didn’t hate his getting called up seeing as DaCosta went back to Bingo and did everything the Sens told him to, but I will admit my stock on him had gotten quite low. I felt like: The kid can definitely complete the bajeezuz (?) out of a pass but…always with the getting rag dolled off the puck.
I think many of us have learned from the Bobby Butler heritage jerseys of the past to be measured in our excitement about call ups but DaCosta has a multi-goal game, the lone goal against the Pens and a huge shootout goal against the Blues and no one can deny that. Of note on his shootout attempt: First at the NHL level…whiiiiiiich was a do or die situation against a guy who just won a Jennings trophy. Im sure MacLean just told him to go out there and HAVE FUN.
Anyway, frere has been very impressive during an important stretch of games. If he can keep it rolling until the Olympic break (is team France in the Olympics? I cant muster enough fucks to look that up) he could very well play the rest of the year with the big club.
On the heels of one of his best performances of the year, Craig Anderson gets the start against former Buffalo Sabre (just warming up for the future) Ryan Miller.
Should be interesting to see how Miller performs tonight. He has been his impressive self despite playing on the Buffalo Sabres. If and when he is dealt, I hope it is in a division far, far away as Ben Bishop has taught us the dangers of good goaltending on teams that otherwise struggle. Rebuild-shmeebuild, I’m looking forward to playing the new look Jhonas Enroth Sabres at least for a bit.
Miiller’s impressive numbers on the season aside, he’s winless in his last two with a goals against average of 6.00 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) including a 5 goal beat down from the Pingus last night. Seeing as this is Buffalo’s final game on a back to back before the Olympic break, let’s hope Ottawa catches Miller day dreaming about Olympic Silver and the sunny shores of some other team.
Puck drop is scheduled for the beginning of the game. GO SENS!
Key to victory: Bobby Ryan has to fill the St. Louis net.
Hi how’s everyone’s Chinese New Year going so far? Great, mine too, mine too. Very new, very Chinese.
We are currently in the middle of celebrating what our friends to the East call The Golden Week…and with four games this week before the Olympic break it’s going to have to be one for Ottawa.
The Senators have their work cut out for them facing some very good competition and the Buffalo Sabres.
Last night, we put game 1 in the books. An overtime loss (naaaaaaaaaaaturally) to the Penguins (who I haaaate but children loooove). It was a game in which Ottawa wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible, spent too much time in the box and didn’t take advantage of power plays…I would say it was the perfect encapsulation of their season except for one element: Craig Anderson kept the score very flattering while being pelted mercilessly with 48 shots and allowing only 1 in regulation in an outstanding performance.
I don’t know about you Eddy, but that loss stung big time. For me I think it was because the morale boost of absolutely stealing a game away from the conference’s best team on the road would have been perfectly timed. It’s the kind of thing where it could have been worse but you still find yourself pissed off and frustrated. The people who are saying “that’s a huge point against a great team” are totally right but in the moment, deep down, I can’t help but be concerned about how down the line if the team indeed can make it into the playoffs it would be by dragged along by overtime loss points. I believe famed football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant Jr once said, “Loser points win championships.”
Ottawa sits 4th in the NHL in OT losses and while I acknowledge that earning a point in a loss is a fundamental reason behind why Ottawa’s even in the hunt, I still find it pretty concerning that they have a really hard time getting it done in the extra five minutes. Let’s try to look at this positively. That game was one highlight of the night glove save away from 2 points and tonight they are playing another excellent team they fairly recently beat in overtime, the Blues.
Zibreciation Korner
I was frankly stunned to see that Zibanejad had only (I know right? ONLY) 5 shots last night. It seemed like he made something happen on every shift. As a fan, I must say it feels really good to have such good young forward on the team. We endured a very shite season to draft this kid and I think for a 20 year old (!!!), he is developing beautifully. He is currently on pace for 17 goals but it’s games like last night that show me if he can just bury his chances a tad more I have no doubt he can be a 25+ goal scorer one day, and soon. He deserves a bounce or two to go his way because goddamn is the kid working for it. Michalek too to a lesser extent. Has been noticable and hard working and really, reeeeeeeeeally needs to pull ahead of Neil and Smith if he wants to sign another NHL deal.
Heyyyyyyyyy speaking of 25+ goal scorers…
Hockey is like life, there’s ups and downs and I told you ’bout equality and it’s true either you’re wrong or you’re right but if you’re thinkin’ bout my baby (?) it don’t matter if you’re black or white…but also, here’s a list of the players who have scored for Ottawa this month:
Chris Neil
Colin Greening
Chris Neil
Stephane DaCosta
…so attention top 6 forwards, you’re free to exit this low and point the ship toward the sunny shores of another high at any time. TONIGHT FOR INSTANCE! This team has been carried on the offensive output of the Turris-Ryan-MacArthur line all season (adoi). That line has slowed down, however breifly, and the team is winless in their last two as a result. That’s the pressure associated with being a top line. You let your foot off the gas every so briefly and the seas get choppy almost instantly. It’s akin to when Karlsson has a bad game. It’s pretty rare that the story following a victory is “team manages 2 points despite poor play from Karlsson.” It can happen…but let’s not bank on it. The only key player the team has been able to win despite their occasional poor play has been Craig Anderson. Kind of a bummer that he put on a goaltending clinic and a lousy two goals would have got him the much deserved win.
The articles are starting to get written and a point in the season has come that I feared since October. Knowing that he’s a 30 goalscorer coming in…must think of a temperature related word here…whatever, to Ottawa, it was clear Bobby Ryan would have the odd dry spell. He’s played very, very well, picked up assists, hell, even had a goal against Tampa but his scoring drop off coinciding with being left off the US Olympic team, even if just coincidence, has the makings to become a big, distracting and unnecessary story. I’ve been saying for a minute Bobby’s due for a big game and I am still saying it. He was a Blues killer during his time with the Ducks, not as useful these days but tonight would be great to see some of that to put an end to the narrative that’s developing.
Seems kind of harsh to tell Ottawa’s best line to pick up the pace after two games without a goal but I just think that’s the kind of season it is.
Hockey, Am I RIGHT? Part 3 of an Infinity Part Series:
I still find it fucking MENTAL that since Brian Elliot was traded to Colorado for Anderson, and played so poorly for the Avs (2-8-1) that he was let walk was then picked up by one of the best teams in the league and has since been an All-Star and won a Jennings IN THE WEST. It doesn’t stop there either, he has only 4 regulation losses in 23 starts this season. Senators fans know that he has one skeleton in his closet though: He’s. Actually. Not. All. That. Great. Hey, he has had some great seasons and as much as it pains me, could win a goddamn Stanley Cup this year but having watched Ells play for years he is not the brooding, mysterious western superpower he would seem if he’d never played for Ottawa. We know this guy is beatable which is very handy considering that Jaroslav Halak will get the nod in net tonight *catapults self into the surface of the moon for making you read all of that* Funny (and by funny I mean not funny) to think that Halak has had the “worse” season of the two with a 2.22 GAA and .915 save %. If Ottawa is going to win this game it’s going to be by filling the net. No easy task considering that St. Louis is 3rd in the league in goals for but hey AT LEAST THEY ARE ONLY 2ND BEST IN GOALS AGAINST SO JUST GO OUT THERE AND HAVE………………FUN. I gotta wrap this up and as of this time can’t find any info on who’s starting for Ottawa (THANKS FOR SKIMMING!), regardless of who gets the start they have to play out of their goddamn head tonight.
MUPDATE (1:27pm, EST): Robin Lehner will get the start for Ottawa, he will have to play out of his goddamn head tonight.
“HIYA FOLKS!” – You, coming home to your parents’ house, pretending you’re not high.
What more is there to say about the week that was other than:
Sharing the laughter and loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove.
But it wasn’t all hipchecks betwixt dudes that we’re traded for each other since the “Bolts” (cool nickname!) last met the “Sens” (much cooler nickname).
We’ve seen solid goaltending, weak goaltending, Stephane DaCosta with his trademark multi-goal game and Platinum Angel Kyle Turris with his very own DaCosta-like two goal game in a losing effort against the Canes…what else? Jason Spezza is good again, I’m really starting to like Eric Gryba, ummm Bobby Ryan, Jared Cowen and Turris all missed an open net while in the attacking zone (Life Hack: Just pass it to MacArthur). Anyway, a solid road win and an ugsome afternoon loss…basically an encapsulation of the season.
Let’s focus on Tampa. The biggest plus I took from the last game against them was, yes, it was great to see Ottawa battle back 3 times but to me what was important was that they scored on Ben Bishop just in general. I still trip out over the fact that on skates his waist is at the same level as the crossbar. He looked huge all through the beginning of the game and was getting in the way of everything Ottawa was throwing at him. Spezza, Turris, Michalek (back from the dead?), and Spezza combined for 17 shots that game and none of them finished the game with a goal. Despite losing in the shootout, a reminder for tonight: do NOT go up against Bishop in the shootout!, I was very happy to see them make him look human and get a few past him. Especially late in the game. Last thing this team needs is a monster division rival goalie (THANKS Brybama!) who can get in our boys heads.
Honestly, Tampa Bay reminds me a lot of Montreal, a team that is not devoid of good players, in fact some great ones are in the mix, but if that goaltending falters? Not that intimidating. It’s teams like the Lightning (14th in the East last season) that make me confident that if Ottawa could just get some shit [goaltending / defense] to really click on a consistent basis they could do some damage. Come talk shit with me!
I guess no better place to start than…continuing to talk about goalies.
The gap betwixt games has given coach MacLean the opportunity to ride Anderson in net and its worked out pretty well. Ottawa is a surprising 5-2-3 in their last 10 and Anderson has been a huge part of that. I found against the Jackets he was his trademark combination of great positioning, timely acrobatic saves, and straight up good luck. Not even hating with the luck comment. You have to have a bit of that to succeed.
This is all we need from him here on out: Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency.
Anderson is a pretty impressive 6-2-3 against Tampa with 3 of those wins shutouts. I know, when did THAT happen?
After this morning’s skate Paul MacLean announced Robin Lehner has been upgraded to “bread, water and 1 hour of yard time” so…pretty good progress there.
Bishop is a perfect 3-0 against the Sens since being traded to the Lightning so…this brings me to the next item of business:
Hood Pope Cory ChronicHerb
What? It’s his rap alia$. Anyway, I’m not even bringing him up to pick that trade apart. What’s done is done. I can see taking a Calder candidate over the Oilers offer of Ryan Jones (?) for Bishop. I’m aware that he’s not riding shotgun with Stamkos anymore (welcome to your playing with DaCosta on the fourth line years!) but Conacher can you please choose a time to become a “Lighting killer”? RANT: Maybe it’s that our team is heavily built ‘in-house’ but do we have any “<Insert team> killer” guys on this squad? Sure Anderson plays really well against his former Panthers club but does that REALLY count as an NHL team? You’re telling me I had to watch JOE CORVO score a hatty against Ottawa when he was a Hurricane for NOTHING? I’m not expecting the world from Conacher but he has 6 goals in 63 games here. He is playing with DaCosta tonight who’s gotta be feeling pretty great about himself right now but on the 4th line it’s hard to expect a lot of output. You know what? Just go out there and HAVE FUN……………………………but seriously score some fucking goals.
Karlsson Korner:
The Glamours Child looks to continue is just supreme play (now featuring hard hits!). It’s funny as I feel like EK is pretty consistently heralded as one of the best players in the game yet I still think he is underrated. It’s called being a homer, its probably not in the dictionary LOOK IT UP. Anyway, Karlos the Jackyl had an outstanding game the last time the Sens took on the lightning with a goal and an assist. He has 9 points in his last 7 games and I for one would be in favor of his extending this streak. Its crazy to think that the Senators have 4 forwards currently on pace to score between 20 and 30 goals and Karlsson has at least a 9 point lead on all of them. Hail.
Factoid of the day: Karlsson currently trails Chris Phillips for second in all time scoring among Ottawa Senators defensemen by 70 points. He has only 836 games to catch up though.
As a creep [See: above line], I’ve been going about my business creeping on message boards and twitter and in my travels I keep coming across something I’d like to discuss with you up in that tree fort over there.
Recent injuries to veteran Christophers Neil and Phillips have seen their newly minted Associate Assistant Captain duties assigned to other deserving players in the line up. We’ve seen the “A” affixed to the uniforms of Marc Methot, Kyle Turris and delightful wood sprite Erik Karlsson over the course of the season. You know what? The letter has looked good on each of them.
Since these fine young lads have taken so well to the letter, I have encountered a number of fans speculating who will take over the role of assistant captain next year. Particularly with regard to Phillips whom many think is on his way out. Your father and I have become very concerned that you’re going to be hurt by this.
I’m afraid you’re setting yourself up to be among the many people who will be disappointed when Chris Phillips is re-signed for maybe two more years after this season. Make no mistake here, I’m definitely not saying that I want that, I wish the team would get real-real with him and say, “Thanks for your years of dedication but the organization has decided to move on.”
I am personally of the opinion that Eric Gryba, who is the lowest paid player on the team by the way…YES he makes less than Matt Kassian, could handily take over Big Rig’s role on the team. It’s not going to happen though. Gryba wouldn’t be included in proposed trades if he was a lock for a future spot on the team.
Let’s look at the cold hard facts: Phillips has 1100+ games / 100+ playoff appearances in an Ottawa uniform, wears an A and owns a goddamn RESTOBAR in town. That’s not even touching the PR mess that was the organization letting their beloved captain walk a little over 6 months ago.
Murray is desperate to buy und Phillips is desperate to sell. They’re the original odd couple! Phillips is so entrenched here, I think he’d even take like $900K to stick around if he has to. HE EVEN HAS A SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME! I’ll be interested to see how that plays out as both sides appear to have leverage.
The other misconception with #4 is that because he LOOKS old that there’s an assumption that he is retiring soon. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that it will be at the end of this season. I’m going to knock your socks off here, dude is but 35 years of age. Perspective: Rap-rocker Joe Corvo is 36! My feeling is that despite Philly’s advancing age and declining play, he is not yet old enough or bad enough that the he wont be kept on in his current mentor role and for a minute.
“But what of the trade deadline,” ye might ask, “on an expiring deal wouldn’t he be the perfect veteran pick up for a contender?”
No! That ship has totally sailed. If Ottawa were going to get a return on Phillips it would have had to have been during Yon Great Fire Sale of 2011. Instead they inked him to an EVEN AT THAT TIME overly long, overly generous 3 year/$3.5MM per year deal.
As for suitors, I can’t really think of a team that would consider themselves a contender who would be looking for a bottom pairing D man who’s been so-so this season for their playoff run. Sure he’s been to a Final but that was 7 years ago now…also on a team that didn’t win. Remember how Murray could barely give away Alex Kovalev? That guy had over 1000 points, numerous all star appearances, 2 Olympic medals and a cup ring! I simply cannot see the team giving away one of their associate assistant captains for a conditional seventh round pick.
Anyway, as Gryba shows, those bottom pairing type players are guys teams tend to already have kicking around. A buying team would have to be one with serious injury concerns looking to pick Phillips up as depth. Plus I generally think they straight up wont shop him Oh, PLUS+PLUS Phillips has a limited no trade clause. Murray gave him a pretty nutso deal last time around (3rd highest paid D man!) I can totally see him getting TWO more years. It would be a one year deal that would be the surprise for me.
As for Neil, the conversation is a much shorter one: Bro is a fourth liner who makes nearly $2MM until 2016. The Sharks apparently wanted him in 2011, instead Ottawa locked him up until he turns 37. Don’t see Neiler as movable now or at least until the 2016 trade deadline and who knows what his game will look like then.
Anyway, maybe you’re fine with all this. I’ve made peace with it and if you haven’t, well, I’m not trying to bum you out or whatever just trying to brace you for what I think is to come. If it were up to me, this is an area where I wish the organization would pass the torch a little bit. They made a good step with the Spezza captaincy and, yes, my picks would be Karlsson and Turris for the A’s. Maybe one day we will see them in that role but I think we’re going to have to wait a while to see it.
Let’s start this off in the Konfession Korner:
I have never previewed an Ottawa-Columbus game of any import before today. I hope I don’t screw this up! What’s that? Hard to screw up when your standard is “Refried Garbage”? Well, looks like we’re BOTH in luck then! Come away with me…
I don’t know how many more times they will be allowed to hit “Continue” by the grace of the Toilet Bowl Conference but the Sens once again get another shot at…well, at this point I’m going to describe it as “taking steps toward” a Wild Card spot. Sure, only three points separate Les Boys and Detroit, but you have to be a bit humble to the fact that Ottawa does have three additional teams separating them from the Wings. Heyyyyyyy including The Columbian Blue Coats. HOLY FREEDOMY BELLS OF FREEDOM THEY ARE PLAYING EACH OTHER TONIGHT! #bellletstalk about it!
One of the main reason’s Ottawa’s even in the hunt still? These chaps: Platinum Angel Kyle Turris and Clarke “Underrated Flow” MacArthur. These guys! Turris is quickly becoming lauded as the best trade of Bryan Murray’s tenure here in Ottawa. It hurt when the trade went down but Turris is going from “Solid acquisition” to “maybe best bang for the buck player in the NHL”. Is it just me or does he seem to improve with each game? With Jason Spezza having a spotty go at a season with high expectations, how much heat has Turris taken off the captain by seamlessly sliding into the top centre position. Much as I respected him as a player, this is something Mike Fisher could never have done. If Turris is perhaps Murray’s best trade, is it safe to say that MacArthur is fast becoming his best FA signing? I’ve been saying since the off-season (no reference needed WHAT IS THIS WICKEDPEDIA?) that MacArthur would surprise Sens fans….but ahh…I did not expect 2nd in points on the team at any point in the year. Just outstanding work. MacArthur is right up there with Bobby Ryan on my list of “Operation: Give All the Monies To Re-Sign” players. The unbelievable roll the 16-7-6 line has been on has been keeping Ottawa in some games they don’t even deserve to be in. Thanks fellers!
A big night for Bobby Ryan is on the horizon. I mean it has to be. He’s in a bit of a goal slump yes but he’s still a factor game and game out and he’s actually still been wracking up points. He’s a 30 goal scorer not an 82 scorer. There’s going to be the odd dry spell.
“I’d blame player 61 [for my decision to put Greening on Spezza’s wing]” – Paul MacLean Get Well Get Well Soon We Want You To Get Well Mark Stone! Just when the kid was getting into a little groove eh? Someone on Twitter brought up a terrifying comparison of Stone to Martin Havlat. Obviously crazy early on both the performance and injury fronts but already the poor guy has seemed to suffer a setback as soon as he’s gotten something going. High praise to dole out to a guy who’s got a goal and an assist on the season but it’s as much a shame for Spezza as it is Stone. MacLean looked like he was going to keep the 19-61 combo intact for you know…A COUPLE GAMES. Again Spezza sees his linemates shuffled and Colin Greening is the latest contestant. Luckily the Sens have a line that’s really clicking as Greenzo has but 3 more goals than Stone this season despite playing FORTY-FIVE MORE GAMES THAN HIM. Ugh, I think I’d like Greening more if he wasn’t locked up until the futuristic year 2017. Michalek, who I thought was one of the Senators best players on Saturday, will complete the jazz trio. Oh and one more thing:
Chris Phillips’ Injury Is The New Chris Neil Injury!
Kinda mean? Lil mean. As much of a fan favorite as Neil is, I think it was pretty cool to get a sneak peak at the future when Neil’s injury opened a spot for M. Stone Shyamalan. Despite being only 3 goals behind Dany Heatley IN A CONTRACT YEAR, Neil’s not exactly had his best season. For me, it was welcome to see some young blood injected into the lineup tonight for a good stretch there. With Phillips’ undisclosed injury, we’ll get a glimpse at a youthful backend some of the teams developing rearguards (much better).
One of the duos will be Patrick “Still 2nd in points among defenders despite sitting out 20 games” Wiercioch and local hero Cody Ceci. Ceci, who just got word he’d be spending the rest of this storm tossed season with the Sens *throws confetti* has been paired mostly with the defensively responsible (pointing!) Phillips. It will be interesting to see if MacLean will let these two offense-minded young pups eat ice cream and stay up to watch Saturday Night Live or if he’ll assign them each to Old Man Methot or Nightwatchman Gryba at the sign of the first mistake. Pretty exciting pairing if you ask me……………….ASK ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! … Moving on…
Craig Anderson starts after a pretty unfortunate performance by Robin Lehner on the weekend. Not even down on Lehnny, every goalie has games like that (RIGHT CRAIG ANDERSON) and he’ll bounce back. Now that he’s slowly but surely put together a 16-10-7 record and as a part of 39 of the Senators points, Craig has re-established himself as the team’s starter. Games like Saturday’s show that when Anderson has an off night we can’t necessarily expect Robin Lehner to jump in there and save the day. Truth be told the season’s hanging on a balance to the point that both guys have to rise to the challenge and it’s going to fall on Andy the majority of the time. Let’s hope that he redesigns his mask is up to the task.
Former Senator for 25 minutes, Curtis McElhinney who is luckily not a human being named Sergei Bobrovsky gets the nod for the Blue J’s.
Huge, huge two points tonight…and every other night for the rest of the season so…just go out there and HAVE FUN! …but seriously win this fucking game. Enjoy the game!
Should we talk about how we are living in a Frozen Crystal Daymare or just skip tha–
HOCKEY!!!
Great choix.
Man, They (?) weren’t kidding going into the season when They (??) said it would be tougher than ever to nab a playoff spot with the new divisions and the Olympic break, huh? Eastern Conference: The Relentless Stare at the Standings Continues!
After failing to GIT-R-DONE (Trademark, WTYKY) against both Montreal and New York the Eastern Conference AGAIN has #blessed our boys in Red, White, Black, Some Sparkly Gold Trim and occasionally Off White with an opportunity to not just advance in the fight over the playoff Wild Card but potentially into a legit (and tenuous!) playoff spot. Goddamn! This season is like a video game with unlimited continues!
With some of our closest competitors ‘Lumbus (vs. LA), New Jersey (vs.St. Lou), Toronto due for a loss (Side note: TO currently riding their first 5 game winning streak IN SEVEN YEARS…god no wonder their fans are so miserable) against some tough competition, tonight could prove to be a profitable one for the Sens…that is of course if they caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare.
What? Not an unreasonable concern after Saturday’s rotten egg against the Rangers. Woof, Methot (Heyyyyyyy who I just found out is hurt)’s goal early on only made things worse. After watching them go up 1-0 less than four minutes in, I sat up straight all, “HERE we go. Ottawa’s finally going to bring it during one of these afternoon games WHERE THEY ARE ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE AT AN ADVANTAGE!!!” My bad. Whatever these things happen, after all, Pittsburgh lost 5-1 to Florida last night, so, circle of life?
Anyway, there’s stuff to talk about…tonight’s game for instance!
Please Welcome Stephane DaCostco Who’s Been Called Up To Address Ottawa’s Needs At Centre!
With Binghamton’s only winger Mark Stone suffering an injury in practice yesterday, the Senators have recalled one of their dozens of centres to fill his spot. Not saying I am mad at the recall of DaCosta, bro has been tearing up the A (really, really sorry) of late and an injury call up to reward him is not unreasonable. What’s that? He’ll be pivot to Greening and Neil on the fourth line? Okay, what is unreasonable is to expect points from him. The impression that I get is that a lot of people are extremely low on SDC as the memory of his uneventful early season shot is apparently still fresh. I am definitely realistic to the fact that there likely isn’t room for him in the lineup going forward but I don’t think I’m ready to give up on the guy entirely. Actually, looking back at his numbers, I’m pretty impressed that he finished with a +1 considering how brutally bad the Sens were out of the gate. Anyway, he went back down and kept a point per game pace with the B-Sens. Good on him, hope he does well and if it’s a showcase for a trade well…let’s hope he helps the Sens and himself.
Turns out Paul MacLean is a man of principles but even he has his limits.
What am I talking about? Well, if a player from the team YOU coach was having sex with YOUR wife would you let them play? This is clearly what’s been going behind the scenes. What else could explain signing a player to 3 year contract only to play him in 6 more games than Matt Kassian? Either way, an injury to Marc Methot in practice yesterday has forced Coach to put the philanderer back into the lineup. He’ll play on the 3rd pairing with Eric Gryba. So we’re all caught up on our defensive 3rd pairing news.
What’s next? Let’s see here, Ah, *puts on tiny reading glasses* “Talk About the Third Line”… *Takes off tiny reading glasses, shuffles through papers, puts tiny reading glasses back on* Oh, okay, Smith-Spezza-Condra…….mmhmm…yeah that sounds like something that would happen.
Is that maybe the weirdest line in a season of weird lines? A defensive minded, physical centre, a point per game play making first line centre and a penalty killer. Okay, Smith and Condra may not be a couple of Johnny Muplighters but they are pretty competent linemates. Also, they are at home on third line. My focus is on this question: Is there any excuse for Jason Spezza to not fucking shred his competition tonight? Presuming he faces the 3rd pairing at some points he’ll be deking his way past John Erskine and Connor Carrick (Side note: Congrats on your 11th NHL career game tonight, Brometheus!). I don’t know, some sources are reporting this is the second line (Ed note: Perhaps even weirder to have that as your 2nd line?) but I’m thinking MacLean rolls his lines and this Spezza combo is a 2B. Is it too much to expect that if he even gets a sniff of that bottom pairing of Erskine-Carrick that he should make it look like a powerplay? No some disrespect to the Caps but this is a guy, a team captain, whom I’ve seen get assigned Sidney Crosby in multiple playoff series (with less than sexy results but I digress!). It’s easy to say here that the mighty have fallen but with the emergence of Turris and the steady play of Zibanejad the idea of Spezza playing in the bottom six presents him an opportunity to skate circles (OR WHO KNOWS WHAT SHAPE(s)!) around lesser players. The price tag for such an opportunity however…is…let’s talk about something else!
Please See National Geographic Photo Above Before Reading
After what I feel, frankly, were two turds against Montreal and New York, Craig Anderson gets the start again tonight for some reason. I don’t know who MacLean is trying to get in the head of more here, Andy or Lehner. Look, I’m not going to pretend that I’ve already forgotten the Anderson just helped Ottawa through its strongest stretch of the season but has anyone else felt like he’s had that shaky look to him the past couple of games? I really hope Paul MacLean’s apparent policy of “right the good ship Anderson at all costs” pays off tonight. And hey if all these Anderson starts contribute to Lehner playing angry down the line. I am INTO it.
Let’s calmly and quietly discuss tonight’s match up.
Hey, Ottawa has stopped playing like microwaved used garbage bags and pointed their ship toward the sunny shores of winning more games than losing! They are now a mere two games over .500 and you know what you Lucky Duckies? That’s, pathetically, enough to be in the post-season hunt in the Eastern conference! Only two points separates their 11th spot from Philadelphia’s 7th place. Which is nice.
Here’s the bad news, 1 point is the difference between 11th and 13th place. Eeep. It is awesome that Ottawa’s been winning but thanks to frankly a blown opportunity in December the Sens have to just keep going strong all the way up to the Olympic break. Also, a lot of other teams have to do very poorly…which Ottawa can’t really control…which is….LET’S MOVE ON.
Fathers Lock Up Your Sacrificial Goats Robin Lehner is Starting Tonight!
Remember this guy? He’s back! Tonight will be his first game of 2014(!) and a lot’s changed since Lehner’s last start, which was a disappointing 5-0 blowout at the hands of the Bruins. As a result of that asskicking, Anderson got the nod for all 6 of Ottawa’s games since and won 5 of them and still managed to help get the team to overtime in his only loss.
Here’s an interesting thing: How bad was Anderson early on? He’s gone 6-0-1 in his last 7 starts with a 2.11 GAA and .932 save percentage which vastly improved his record to 15-9-5. Lehner has a losing record of 5-9-3 and STILL has a better goals against average AND save percentage on the year than Andy…by a pretty fair margin too! What am I trying to say? I guess that it’s been a rough ride for both goalies so far this year…also LEHNER IS GOOD! I think the greater challenge was on Anderson to turn his record around too. Some solid spot duty from Robin could see his record level out. The goaltender typically gets the most blame for a loss despite the fact there is only so much they can control in the game but of course they are also very often central pieces of a victory. There’s no doubt that there rests upon Lehner a lot of pressure to be a star tonight for the Sens.
Minnesota has a goaltender named Darcy Kuemper which is the funniest name since Matt Puempel. I have no idea if he’s starting tonight, THANKS FOR READING!
Milestone Night?
(Disclaimer: I am never going to get tired of making fun of Dany Heatley…no, not even years and years later).
With his HOTTT play of late Dany Heatley looks to jump ahead of offensive dynamo Zack Smith in goal scoring.
Sure the guy you’re supposed to compare Heatley to is Michalek (who still has more points than him despite being maybe the most disappointing player on the Ottawa roster this season) but wow, that production drop off is getting positively Cheechooian™ at this point. Still hasn’t hit the double digits in goals more than halfway through the season. This is a guy who’s worst season in Ottawa was 39 goals! Imagine that trade never happened? In a cash strapped situation like Ottawa’s in now it would be more depressing than that awful summer where he requested that trade and everything seemed to be going wrong for the Sens. If Heatley was still here and potentially neck and neck in scoring with a role player like Smith who makes less than $2MM? We’d be wishing he’d request a trade. Michalek’s been pretty lukewarm overall for Ottawa as a whole but we never had those 50 goal glory days with him so it doesn’t burn quite as bad if he doesn’t do that well. I think Heater’d be our Scott Gomez if he was still here. He scored the fugliest goal last time the Wild and Sens met. Let’s uhhh hope he doesn’t do that again…oh and if Zack Smith could score that would be amazing for this dumb scoring race I just made up.
Busted Stuff
Taking advantage of opportunities has not exactly been Ottawa’s strong suit so far this season but they REALLY need to capitalize on a depleted Minnesota roster. There are still some very good players in their lineup but missing from tonight’s game are Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and Josh Harding.
Ottawa has a rare injury as Chris Neil remains day to day with a pulled hammy. I don’t hate Neil but bro can take his time coming back if only to extend Mark Stone’s call up. I’ve really enjoyed watching Stoner do his thing, he’s been a real spark. Goal aside, I don’t know what the kids been eating (I’ll put money on chicken parm) but his call up has been much stronger last year’s which is very encouraging for a few reasons perhaps the biggest being the DEARTH of scoring right wingers on the team aside from Bobby Ryan. Get well wheneverish, Chris Neil!
Speaking of Ryan, not at all unhappy with his game of late but you gotta feel pretty bad that his drop off in goal scoring has coincided almost perfectly with his US Olympic roster snub. Not saying those things are connected but if he doesn’t start scoring soon, out come the questions about it day after day until he can turn it around and no one wants that. Ryan’s due for a big game, let’s hope it’s tonight.
These are two hot teams looking to you know…not lose the game (NARRATIVE!). Even one point tonight would make for a very solid road trip. A win for Ottawa, however, would definitely mean a lot in terms of making a statement that things could really pick up for the latter half of the season. It starts with playing well in front of Lehner.
Enjoy the game and be sure to check out the latest episode of the the Scotchcast if you have yet to! Song about my life:
Welcome To Your Karlsson Years 