The Ottawa Senators…are proud to select……from the Moncton Wildcats of the United Federation of Planets of Quebec League….Mister…Sulu
There’s not much to say about tonight’s game other than:
I’m not usually one to point fingers at the officials at any given time in a playoff series. The game is chaotic, and the officiating reflects a dynamic environment–which is a polite way of saying that the officiating is usually pretty terrible for everyone. Until the time the league gets its head out of its ass and seriously considers implementing a coach’s challenge or tells officials they are empowered and encouraged to review more than just goals, we’re going to end up with missed penalties or a flagrantly disproportionate number of calls. Ottawa’s been the beneficiary before, including Zibanejad’s borderline kicked-in goal against Montreal in the first round. That could have gone either way.
Generally, I accept this. It’s as if at random times during the game they release a live panther onto the ice, and it could maul anyone. Penalties are handed out with frustratingly opaque logic. Trying to fix it is tantamount to trying to fix a fundamental randomness in the universe. I’d rather buckle up and enjoy the ride, hoping that my favorite team comes out on top.
Up until now, I have also accepted some truth to the notion that the more penalized team is more penalized because they’re usually the less skilled / slower team and thus are more likely to find themselves resorting to clutching and grabbing, interference, or roughing in order to level the playing field. After the first round win in Montreal, it must have been especially clear that Ottawa’s game against skilled teams is to play on the edge. Ottawa is living firmly in that grey zone, the place where teams with generational skill and league max salaries don’t have to go.
Last night I thought to myself that Ottawa’s game plan has become exceedingly clear to both the Pens and the officials. The Pens have the skill to just wait everything out; they might lose the odd game, but they don’t need to get creative to win a series. Their veterans are being patient, and Cooke is going about his business. It’s almost as if they’re already thinking about Boston. Meanwhile, Ottawa has to get its hands dirty to have a chance in this series, and the officials know it. We’re getting sun burnt by their spotlight right now. But is that really an excuse?
Ottawa is the most penalized team in the 2013 playoffs, having found themselves shorthanded 40 times in just nine games, or 4.44 per game. Last year’s most penalized team in the playoffs was the New Jersey Devils, with 82 penalties in 24 games. That’s 3.42 penalties per game, a full penalty less. In 2010-2011 it was Vancouver with 3.96 per game. Philadelphia was the most penalized the two years before that, but they weren’t even close. I had to go all the way back to 2007-2008 to find another team as penalized as Ottawa this year–Detroit had 98 in 22, or 4.45 penalties per game that year. Before that was Anaheim, with a staggering 5.76 per game. There are other teams with slightly higher penalties-per-game averages (Nashville in 2006-2007), but their early exits couldn’t be blamed on penalties (Nashville had a 93.3% PK that year and lost in the first round in five.)
(note: for this I’m looking at “times shorthanded” on nhl.com, not necessarily total penalty minutes.)
What does this mean? Well, surprisingly, far from the most penalized teams being the worst / most overmatched, in recent years the most penalized teams have gone the furthest or won it all. New Jersey, Vancouver and Philly made the Finals. Detroit and Anaheim won the Cup. This seems to imply that being very penalized in the playoffs doesn’t necessarily lead to an unfair loss, or that these teams were so good that they could overcome the excessive burden of being on the PK so much.
For Ottawa, maybe this means we can’t blame penalties for our losses, either because they don’t impact the game that much or because we’re legitimately not as good as the contending teams of years past, who could take those penalties in stride.
You could point to penalties last night, but they don’t tell the whole story. In what amounts to a must-win game, on home ice, with all of the momentum on their side, Ottawa takes a minor penalty 1:12 in. This was blatant interference by Sergei Gonchar, one of the team’s key veterans, who found himself out of position and took the body on James Neal rather than give him a lane to the net. Far from that being Gonchar’s biggest sin in a game where he finished -4, Michalek actually scored shorthanded on the ensuing PK. Gonchar’s lack of toughness was a much bigger problem, and was particularly evident on Dupuis’ shorthanded goal, when Gonchar had him in front of the net and Dupuis’ easily got his shot away anyway. I don’t know if Gonchar was trying to avoid a penalty, but if so, that fear burnt him and the team.
Later, players like Smith, Greening, Zibanejad and Neil, whose games involve at least an element of physical toughness and agitation, could be seen obviously pulling back, not taking the body, trying to play the Penguins at their own game. At this point they have no idea if playing tough means going back to the penalty box. And instead of being unafraid of that and sticking to their game plan, Ottawa has been thoroughly thrown off; if Ottawa has any hope of getting back in this series, they need to get back to their I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude. If it means taking a penalty, then so be it.
The officials didn’t give this game to the Pens–Ottawa was up 2-1 and gave the Pens a breakaway one minute into the second period, then Anderson coughed up a brutal rebound 40 seconds later, and just like that, Ottawa is in the hole again. They never recovered. Tellingly, the Senators didn’t receive a penalty in the second period; when they had to tie it up, the officials let them play. Ottawa is getting killed in this series because the bottom has fallen out on their unreal goaltending; their Norris trophy defenceman is clearly not 100%; they’re playing against a team with $13MM more salary than them, with generational talent; and in what amounts to the most important game of their season–and possibly Alfie’s last ever in Ottawa–they didn’t show up.
“This is Kung Fu not foot dancing!”
I once upon a time had this phrase screamed at me on a regular basis by a firm but fair Chinese man who could literally kill you several ways with his bare hands. (Don’t let the yelling dissuade you btw, I highly recommend you take up Kung Fu. It gets you in terrific shape and they teach you how to severely injure a human attacker in countless ways. Keep fit and have fun and learn to maim!) What was I talking about? Oh yeah, don’t try to rob me if you like your elbow not broken, baby cousin.
I mean…I want to yell at you for a second, “This is sporting games not fairy tales!” What I mean by that is, I, like you, have followed the Ottawa Senators through their playoff journeys since 1996-97. You, fetching reader, know that these nearly two decades of post season play have been filled with dizzying highs and crushing lows. I’ve found it important to appreciate those highs when they happen. A lot of them have been happening this year. A lot.
There was an article on The Ottawa Senators Chirping Page recently about playoff memories that really I enjoyed. I feel very similar to Chirpston (assuming that’s the editor’s name) in that we’re not even two rounds in and have been already been given so many new memories that no one can ever take away no matter what happens.
Am I saying I don’t believe that the Senators can take this thing to the promised land? What? No, or course I’m not saying that. If you read these things…oh wait…k, since this is the first time you’ve read our website here’s this: WELCOME! and also this: I go into each frigging game hoping Ottawa will win. I’m merely saying this has been pretty special so far.
It’s reminded me of how Ottawa’s first playoff win over the Devils in 97-98 means more to me than when they won the President’s Trophy and went to the conference final in 02-03. Or how Alfie’s goal to lift the team to the Cup Final has greater significance than anything that happened in all five games of that Final series combined.
Do I want to see Alfie get handed the GD cup this year? More than anything…but in true Alfie fashion so far he’s the one giving us all the memories. I’ve said it many times but again: We are witnessing the dawn of a new era of Senators playoff hockey and it could not feel more exciting.
And now I want to talk about the dangers of using Q tips…OH SHIT THE GAME!
Contery Placed Firmly on Back
I think having Jason Spezza’s back back really did wonders for this line up. First off, can we talk about how gracefully this guy plays? Such grace! I really missed that, the grace. Aside from not quite having the steam to backcheck effectively, Spezza looked pretty damn good for a guy who hasn’t played since January and was dropped into Conference Semi-Final pace.
Perhaps the biggest contribution Spezza makes is bumping Kyle Turris down to the second line. After watching a (short) season of him in Spezza’s shoes it’s pretty evident that Turris’ home is on the second trio. No lack of rispeck for Turris’ family meant here. Dude led the team in points and helped them make the post season for the second straight year but it’s as clear as something that’s clear that Turris thrives when he doesn’t have to play on the top line game after game. Pittsburgh is a weird example though as they have two first line centres but I digress: WELCOME BACK JASON SPEZZA.
Pretty good to see Spezz take a hard hit and not head straight for the dressing room. Well, well stay well soon we want you to remain welllllll!
Speaking of being well
Chris Neil will not miss tonight’s game after getting knocked out of game 3 with what looked like a pretty nasty shoulder injury.
Neil is a very divisive player in Ottawa. I for one think he’s at his best in the playoffs. He hasn’t remained in the league for 10 seasons and dressed in nearly 100 playoff games because he’s bad at his job. With 21 hits so far this series my only hope is he’s not being too much of a hero and is healthy enough to continue to throw them because that’s what he does. There are some that think hits are an irrelevant stat. That’s fine that you don’t pay close attention to hockey. No judgements. I KIIIIIIIID!!! But for real, against a team as old or as structurally sound as Pittsburgh, you have to wear them down and open them up. Sure, he doesn’t have hands. I get it. His job isn’t that. His job is to get the opposition off balance and create space for those who do IMLOOKINGATYOUJAKOBSILFVERBERGORWHOEVZ to get in a position to use their hands. Yes, Neil takes penalties. It’s the price of his game. When a goalie screws up the price is a goal against, when Neil screws up he takes a penalty.
You: Where you going with this one?
Me: Uhh, right!
If Neil can’t lay those hits tonight I don’t know how he helps the team. We’re going to have a guy who can skate fast, not really bury chances and…take penalties. I’m going to be watching him closely tonight.
In the words of our own Steven: “Tomas Vokoun: NOT. THAT. GOOD.”
Have you ever drank beers and watched a game with Steven? C’est le meilleur.
Anyway, as I pointed out before the series even started. I’m not going to pretend a guy who looks like Phil Collins (tbh) and was Washington’s 3rd string goalie a little over a year ago is some kind of world beater because he came in to relieve the totally inconsistent Marc Andre Fleury and beat the Islanders twice playing behind the Eastern Conference Champs. No. Vokoun is a very good NHL goalie. Like all goalies he has his weak points and in the last two games you’re really seeing Ottawa expose his weak glove side and inability to control rebounds. This series is proving the Greening Theory. You drive hard on this guy, youre going to see results eventually. Get tough, go glove and even this series.
You’re Not Even Working Anyway, Just Keep Reading…
Great to see bounce back games from Karlsson, Anderson, and a sweet, sweet set up from Michalek. Bounce back games aren’t everything though. Ottawa is still in a very desperate situation here. They lose this one on home ice and they are seriously on the ropes. Let’s hope MacLean can continue to work that Fortress SBP magic tonight. As amazing as that game 3 victory was it’s now in the sweet, sweet playoff memories satchel and a loss tonight would mean Ottawa having to win every game after this one. No one wants to see the team have to get that pesky.
Enjoy the game, you lovers!
GO SENS GO!!!!!!
For those of us who have been watching the Ottawa Senators play for years, you can sense something different in the air. There’s a greater sense of pride over this team, and it’s not just the unexpected playoff appearances, the emergence of a superstar defenseman, or the affable identity Paul MacLean has brought to the team. It’s the fact that for maybe the first time ever, we don’t give a damn what other markets think of us.
Go back to the early to mid-2000s: Ottawa had a veritable All-Star team, replete with two Norris-worthy defencemen, scoring leaders all over the lineup, and solid if unspectacular goaltending. Jacques Martin coached what had been a league-wide joke to regular season credibility. And every year in the playoffs Ottawa ran headlong into a team that was, supposedly, less skilled, and were manhandled. There was a sense back then that this wasn’t just bad puck luck–Ottawa’s stars were off their game.
How did that happen? Well, playing what amounts to all road games thanks to your barn being filled with Toronto fans and media with Leaf-colored glasses might contribute some small bit. But more to the point, it was that Ottawa was trying to win at a large market game. We could beat up on lesser teams when the games didn’t matter, but when the eyes of the country turned to us we were shrinking violets. We didn’t just want to beat the Leafs–we wanted to be loved by Leafs fans.
What we didn’t realize back then, and seem to realize now, is that even if Ottawa won back-to-back-to-back-to-back Cups, we’ll never have the respect or the credibility enjoyed by large markets. You didn’t think they could hate you now, did you? But they hate you.
The larger numbers in those markets feed revenue; that revenue feeds media. That media feeds the perception of credibility. The desire to be liked leads to everyone and their brother following the cool kids’ team. That’s how you end up with newspaper stories like this one: the gutsy, hard-working, underdog Senators, the sole remaining Canadian team in the playoffs after big budget busts like Toronto and Montreal and Vancouver choke hard, don’t even get a little bit of love. They get a reminder that they will never, ever be seen as credible in the eyes of the large markets. (Never mind that the article simultaneously acknowledges that Toronto is seen as smug while smugly deriding it’s smaller cousin by saying the city–that’s right, not the team, but the city itself–is a city envied by nobody.)
That’s why the #pesky moniker means so much. The subtext here isn’t that we’re annoying (though we are, thanks). It’s that we acknowledge that Ottawa isn’t the romantic choice for generations of people whose fathers grew up following one of the original six franchises. I’d wager there are more people in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver rooting for the Pens in this series. And you know what? It’s time we embrace that. We shouldn’t want it any other way.
It’s time for Ottawa to fully embrace, and feed off of, its status as a hated franchise. It’s not just the sort of team Leafs fans, and possible Sabres fans, can hate–we want all of the league’s hate. We can take it. We’ll feed off of it. It’ll make the victories that much sweeter.
As these Sens have shown, it doesn’t matter if we’re down a goal and down a man with less than a minute to go–they’ll eat your hate.
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.
So yeah, I watched that Boston-Toronto game last night. A lot of people did. Not just hockey fans, but people I know who never watch hockey. My mother called me during that third period, right after Bergeron’s tying goal, to ask why this was such a big deal. Apparently, even with her limited access to social media, her computer was blowing up. I had text messages from people I haven’t spoken to in months. I spent about three hours just reading Twitter. Last night was an event. It doesn’t matter where your allegiances lie. Sometimes you just have to recognize when something is important to a lot of people.
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?
*Super cool turntable scratching* Hey now youre a cool guy it’s the playoffs get paiiiiiiiid (we get paid so much $$$$$$$$$$ to write this!)
Well, the big bad Pengus are coming to town SOON! At the time of this writing tickets are going on sale in 32 minutes and there’s no schedule up on the team’s official website. IT’S A VERY ORGANIZED TIME TO BE ALIVE!
Okay, I’d like to preface this, as I always do, by taking an impressive leather bound book off of this custom built mahogany shelf and opening it to the case of The People vs. Horse Races. Pretty much every pundit is going to pick the Penguins to take this one because ‘nem Penjins b more better.’ Okay, awesome. A couple of weeks ago I heard some hockey analysts discussing if Toronto would manage to steal even one win from stalwart Boston and despite being stomped in a couple of games it’s anyone’s series with the Bruins looking like the ones on their heels. Now, admittedly, I don’t like Toronto, a little too “I hate everything about them” for my taste, but I must say, that match up is as cut and dried on paper as Ottawa-Pittsburgh, and when you compare paper to reality I don’t know why the New York Rangers don’t win the Stanley Cup every year. All that stuff said, if Ottawa were the underdogs last series they are some sort of undersloth this time around.
The last series was quite helpful to Ottawa in that the plucky Islanders exposed the speed issues that Pittsburgh has as a team. Especially now with Latendresse riding the pine, speed is not something that Ottawa lacks themselves. It’s rough to see Weapon X Erik Karlsson operating at “normal” speed but there still things about his game that remain strong like, I don’t know, his ability to deke out an entire fucking team or his patience and ability to hang onto the puck. To me this series is going to fall largely on the shoulders of the youthful exuberance: the Zibanejads, Silfverbergs Pageaus and Conachers. Tall order (sorry Cory, JGP) for a bunch of rookies, you bet, but with Pittsburgh clocking in as the NHL’s oldest team (29.5 avg. age) and Ottawa the youngest (avg. age 26) it would be foolish not to think that MacLean will be using sprightliness as a strategy. If you have wheels, use them.
While on the subject of age, it will also be on Ottawa to make this a very, very grueling experience for The Old Man Iginalas of the world. Ottawa has the tools to punish in Neil, Smith, Cowen, Gryba, Methot and for the love of god I hope Greening. Even Phillips is a pretty tough customer when it’s post season time. The greatest challenge of course is that Pittsburgh boasts some of the world’s most talented forwards…which is uhh nice for them.
This series will, as every hockey game ever has, come down to goaltending.
I feel it important to point out that the Islanders did not exactly get world class goaltending in their series. Evgeni Nabokov (the Alexei Kovalev of goaltenders if you ask me) gave up a putrid 24 goals in 6 games. I’m very much hoping we get a little bit better of a performance from Craig Anderson. Also, speaking of goaltending, I would like you to please put on your rant proof goggles now:
Why u heff be mad is just Tomas Vokoun! I love how going into the series the storyline as you mentioned above is all, “Oh no how will we survive now that Pittsburgh’s #1 overall pick, Stanley Cup winning, Olympic Gold Medalist, former all star goaltender has been benched and we have to face Mighty Tomas Vokoun! He who was the Washington Capitals 3rd string goalie LAST YEAR and was acquired for a seventh round draft pick! He who previous to this series rocked a 3 and 8 playoff record on the defense-first Predators. Am I the only one who forgot this guy was even in the NHL when Pittsburgh traded for him last year?
Goaltenders being the strange beasts they are I must admit, there’s nothing to say Vokoun isn’t capable of Jaroslav Halaking them to the promised land. It could happen. Pittsburgh is playing better in front of him. It just seems funny to me that not even a week after watching a team that “has trouble scoring” positively break Carey Price and then capable backup Peter Budaj’s respective spirits I’m not going act like Pittsburgh’s goaltending problems are in the past because Vokoun beat the Islanders twice.
What do you think shitty Jerry Seinfeld joke-device?
“What is the deal with Jason Spezza?” *canned laughter* *canned throwing a chair at my head*
One minute you have MacLean saying “He still a long way(s) away” the next you go on the Sens website and the top story is “SPEZZA PRACTICES!!!” What’s a girl to do? Spezza is a whole mess of questions. The most obvious is, “How ready is he?” Others include, “Even if 100% healthy can he just step in and play playoff level hockey after not playing since January?” or “If Spezza comes back this team suddenly has a ton of talented centres…who moves where?” Seems like the more we know the less we know with this here caper. Only one way to get to the bottom of it.
BUT THEN JAMES HAS TO GO AND BE ALL:
Maybe it’s just that I threw out my back and have spent the last couple of days in bed watching Game of Thrones and hockey, but the two things are starting to conflate in my head and I feel the need to spend a few minutes making a pompous salute to these Habs that Ottawa dispatched last night.
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
Welcome To Your Karlsson Years 