Sorry for the short post last night folks. Didnt have a chance to get to a computer until now.
The Senators had all kinds of chances to grab momentum in this game and just couldnt seem to pull away when they needed to. Having two goals called back in the third really looked like it would do the Senators in but they were able to pull through and grab that much needed extra point.
Jason Spezza showed just how important he is to this team. The power play looked much better last night and a lot of that had to do with #19. Spezza assisted on both regulation goals and scored the winner in OT. Here's hoping thats only a sign of things to come from Jason.
I know we keep hearing that Spezza and Kovalev wont work because they both play a "puck-possesion" game but they really seem to have something out there. Might be worth trying them out together on a more regular basis.
All the talk after the game was about the huge hit by Chris Neil...
What really confused me were the comments by Zenon Konopka. The former 67 said he thinks the league should look at the hit that knocked Hedman out of the game saying that the "timing" was similar to the OHL hit. Not really sure what he meant by that but if thats not a clean hit then I don't know what is.
Konopka is a guy who plays the game the game on the edge and should know a good hit when he sees one. Sure it sucks that it was your teammate but the Bolts tough guy has to know that was just a good ol' fashion hockey hit. Plain and simple...
The Senators are off today but continue their homestand tomorrow against the Devils. New Jersey has been playing good hockey this year and should be a pretty good challenge for the Senators. Jersey is 7-0-0 on the road this season.
52 comments:
FIRRRRSSSSST
devils are gaana get pwned sat night.
glad to see spezza grab a 3 pt night, and zenon should shut his mouth when talking about dirty hits and such, pot, kettle, guess what? yer both black
Anyone who sticks up to steve downie has not right to question a hit. The fact tampa gave that pos a chance to play in the league should automatically exclude them from complaining about hit, especially clean ones since they likely don;t know the difference.
The Sens will have a tough game tomorrow night but will come out with a win. I agree with the previous posting, Zenon should stay quiet about the Neil hit on Hedman. It was not dirty. I will be at Scotiabank Place tomorrow night to see the Sens win. Go Sens Go!!!
Konopka is a tough guy and its a tough guys job to stick up for his teammaters, not be the voice of reason.
Two years ago, Neiler said a similarly stupid comment after Mark Bell caught Alfie with a clean open ice hit.
I was watching the game last night at Marshys and had an interesting thought. A couple guys were talking about Mezsaros at the bar and why Ottawa traded him and how Tampa was going to put in an offer sheet. Talking about how it was a good deal and we got back Kuba, Picard and San Jose's first.
I just sort of blurted out, yeah it was a decent deal, but if we let the offer sheet happen we would've had the #2 overall pick not to mention their 2nd and 3rd rounder as well.
For some reason I never realized how close we were to have the 2nd and 9th overall picks in last years draft. I started thinking about the combos of players we couldve drafted.... Duchene and Cowen, Hedman Cowen, Hedman MSP etc...
Ottawa is just destroying all the rookies and sophomores this year with big clean hits! Loves it
Come back soon A-Train!
Yan Denis is starting in goal tonight for the NJD so that means Brodeur tomorrow night for the Sens. Brodeur's great and all but We all want to see the boys light up the lamp. Here's hoping for another big effort and a good look and consideration for the Olympic hopefuls Spezza and Fisher.
Prediction Ottawa win 5-3
The Neil hit definitely raised my eyebrows because of the distance he travelled with the intention of hitting Hedman. Not technically an illegal hit, but definitely questionable.
Come on Sens fans, it can't be that hard to be objective.
James
Tampa couldn't provide an offer sheet because they had already traded away their 3rd round pick to Pittsburgh for the exclusive negotiating rights to Ryan Malone.
It wasn't a case of Ottawa not letting the offer sheet happen, it was a question of Tampa not being able to make a deal with Pittsburgh to get the 3rd round pick back.
Great game : not sure why they keep playing Shanonn or even Cheechoo, I would like to see guys like Ruutu and Donovan move up to a top line, or even play for that matter. would anyone know why ? I know why Cheechoo is there but he should stay on the 4th line. but I dont see what they see in Shanonn?
Last nights game just shows how important Spezza is to this team and how he makes the other players on the ice with him that much better!
I hope the Sens come out tomorrow with a strong effort and put a bunch behind Marty!
GO SENS GO!
good win
michalek has destructive speed...WOW
kovalev...please get just half serious man, thats more than good enough for a guy with your skill.
however, i still dont agree with clouston's line combos. just seem weird.
i get the feel that there is some substantial untapped potential in the lineup still. which is ofcourse a great sign, given the great record to start the season. obviously if kovalev just got a little more interested in carrying the puck deeper in the zone sometimes, it would be perfect.
lets hope they can light it up against Brodeur.
p.s. WTF is wrong with refs against the senators..give me a friggin break. its a complete sham out there. hell if it was upto them, they did call even obvious legal goals back that the senators score. THAT GAME WAS OVER IN REGULATION. STUPID REFS GAVE TAMPA THE EXTRA POINT.!!!
and people questioning neil's hit. please stop
just because Hedman fell like a stupid pylon doesn't automatically mean Neil's hit was questionable. the puck got dumped. Neil's job is to chase the puck. Hedman had the puck. so Neil's job description defines that as TAKE THE PUCK FROM HEDMAN. does that require separating Hedman from the puck? YES. does separating Hedman from the puck require a hit? YES. does it have to be a legal hit? YES. was it a legal hit? SURE AS HELL YES.
is hedman a stupid pylon who is deer-in-headlights in the NHL? RIGHT NOW YES.
all of us who watch hockey, can admit that there are more vicious more legal hits, that defenseman take and survive than the one Neil dished to Hedman. if anyone saw Stephane Robidas get pwned and pwned again by Calgary wednesday night, they would know.
yes, hits to the head should be absolutely disallowed, shoulder, elbow, whichever way it is, should not be allowed. but lets not get carried away with it.
MMC,
I have to disagree with you. Neil came off the bench and was doing his job of forcing the play. Thing is, Nittymaki f'ed up the dump in and practically fed Hedman a suicide pass because he left the puck stuck on the boards instead of pulling it off and that's why Hedman bobbled it. Neil didn't jump, he used his shoulder and the hit wasn't to the head. In my books, it was cleaner the the A-Train hit on Stralman.
Back to what SC said. I would have to agree. Spezza and Kovalev could do some real damage. I thought this from the beginning why not put them together and see what they can do. We all know they both have 30-40 goal potential. Hell Spezza could reach 50 if he really wanted to. And Michalek could just come along for the ride and help Spezza with the defense since we know like a certain other idiot that is no longer here Kovalev doesn't do defense.
That leaves Fisher and Alfie together. With either Foligno or Cheechoo. Regin to play with anyone from Neil, Foligno, Shannon, Cheechoo, Winchester, Donovan etc. And Kelly and Ruutu to play with likely either Neil or Donovan.
Anyway anyone have any idea as to how well or bad Karlsson has been doing in AHL? Also what would be most likely thing to happen once Volch returns. Will they send Lee back down, keep him in and send either Campoli or Picard out. Or take him out as the 7th guy.
I can understand why the tampa player didnt like the hit. Whenever you are on the receiving end of a big hit where a player gets injured you never like it. To be perfectly honest, if one of our players got run like that at least half of you (myself included) would be calling it a "dirty hit".
I mean wasn't it a couple of years ago when Colby Armstrong laid a near identical hit on Dean Mcammond which caused a concussion? Every Ottawa Senator's fan was calling foul there.
Its amazing how much your opinion can differ simply by the shoes you're standing in.
My understanding of the rules of hockey is the team with a delayed penalty call against them has to get CONTROL of the puck for a whistle, the lightning player barely made contact with the puck, then fell before Kuba rifled it home with a sick backhand. Definately no control there, Sens should have one this in regulation, but on the other hand it was nice to see them show some grit.
Bob Mackenzie always goes against the grain of ppl thinking hits were clean if he thinks they were in the grey area for him to say Neils hit was a perfect hit says alot.
I agree with posts questioning why Shannon is being played - but I guess with Cheechoo falling back to the 3rd and 4th lines - Clouston is having a problem filling that hole - I think that Foligno and Regin have the skills and speed to play on the first two units - would be nice to see
Fisher- Regin - Foligno
The defense looks shakey without Volchenkov - Lee and Phillips don't seem to be reading well off of each other - Lee seems to be improving but slowly - it will be a true test of the D with NJ in town
If Neil hit is dirty, might as well eliminate hitting from hockey as a whole... no one can hit anymore, and everytime there is a big hit, people question it. Dirty hits are OBVIOUS, but clean hits are even more obvious. It was so perfect, but because of the hit coming from Neil, naysayers will automatically say it was dirty... get a grip, I f*ckin love hockey!
Allan, I know they didn't have they're 3rd rounder at the time because of the Malone deal, but they were in talks to reacquire it from Pittsburgh. Instead of letting that happen, Ottawa and Tampa negotiated the trade that finally happened.
It was just something I hadn't realized how close Ottawa was to having the #2 pick.
I was actually very impressed with Kovalev. He almost had a couple goals.
The Kuba non-goal call was correct in that the refs ALWAYS blow play dead with that sort of "control". Totally agree that it's wrong by the letter of the rule but that's how it's always called. Frustrating for sure but can't blame the refs on that one.
What needs to happen is that the cometition committee needs to review that rule in the off season and look at changing it. Something black and white instead of a grey area of "control". Maybe the puck has to cross the red line or something. Not sure what the right answer is, but the current rule calls for ref judgement and those kind of rules are always problems.
Kovalev is FINE people. For those who say he doesn't play defence, watch a game live and follow him. He plays like a guy in his late 30s - he picks his spots. Would he be better if he played like Fisher? Maybe, maybe not. I'd personally rather see him have lots of energy left late in the year and hopefully in the playoffs when he can turn it on - rather than be exhausted.
On the subject of the Neil hit, it was clean by current NHL standards - no question there. Even the TB broadcast had it as the "check of the night" so clearly they didn't think it was dirty.
So many factors here:
- Hedman is their prized golden boy - if it had been a 5/6 guy would they have minded as much?
- Hedman is 6 foot 6 so he's no "boy"
- Neil has a reputation (deserved or not) of questionable hits - if the hit had come from Fisher would the reaction have been the same?
- If this kind of hit happened in the OHL then I'd be more concerned - still a clean hit but an OHL guy isn't going to be able to take a hit as well as Hedman (though Hedz didn't look too smooth there) nor be as big as Hedman
- To me, this hit does come close to the category McKenzie was writing about yesterday - the forward has so much speed that he might never have gotten before the lockout - does the NHL need to look at that? Probably. Was Neil's hit one that might bring a penalty under whatever new rules they come up with to account for the added speed in the game? Proably not, but it's close.
- Lastly, I do think that Neil was aware of where Hedman was and had zero intention of putting him at real risk of injury. His hit was pretty close to parallel to the end boards when he could have hit him into the boards if he wanted to.
Clean hit - let's move on.
Great Hit! Neil may well have won the game for us. The crowd woke up and we got "3" goals after the hit!
It's just Konopka sticking up for his teammate. Volchenkov had a hit on Bogosian that more resembled the Liambis hit than last night's did. Konopka just tried to use Neil's reputation to make the situation sound worse than it was.
Hit was clean and Hedman was caught making a rookie mistake - keeping his head down.
According to the NHL rulebook, the play was a charging penalty. The contact was close to being late, but probably ok. But that play has been allowed for decades now. NHL's biggest problem is the disconnect between the written rules and the way the game is officiated.
That and the 10 soon-to-be bankrupt franchises.
James
My point is that we were only theoretically close - Tampa had been in negotiations with Pittsburgh about the 3rd pick but Pittsburgh told them they weren't interested in anything Tampa had to offer. Once it became clear that Tampa weren't able to put together an offer sheet the trade that actually happened was brought to the table.
James Ray, while Allen is correct that Tampa didn't have they're 3rd rounder. Toronto wanted Kessell and they didn't have they're 3rd rounder so they made a trade to re-acquire it from Chicago. Boston negotiated 2 first rounders and a Second out of the deal. While Murray obtained Kuba and Campoli(by trading San Jose Draft pick aquired from Tampa)The fact of the matter is Murray missed out on a great opportunity(1-2 and even if it came from a later draft year would have been a steal for Mezaros). The Sens would have been a have been an even weaker team last year without Kuba, but they would have replenished the farm system going forward. Who knows we could have had Mat Duchene with our draft pick (the Sens would have fallen a few places without Kuba) and Hedmen with Tampa's.
Hax -
I recall a season or two ago when I believe Volchenkov had control of the puck on a delayed call against the Senators. Lost control and there was no whistle. Goal.
It seems lately that if it's close, call goes against Ottawa. There, no more discretion.
Konopka also said that he didn't think that the hit on Fanelli was wrong and that he would have done the same thing as that is what they are taught to do and that is to finish the hit. So how can he say Neil's hit was dirty???
I was really happy for Spezza. He played an amazing game, and topped it all off with a clutch goal. Spezza is truly a leader on this club. On a different note, I must say that I am disappointed with Kovalev's play thus far, and especially tonight. Kovalev seems to constantly bobbling the puck, and many times on the PP when we were entering the zone, Kovalev would softly tap the puck in or be totally indifferent if the puck was stolen from him. I hope that for the sake of the team my observations are wrong, or that he was just having an off night.
Otherwise, great game for the team. Even though the bolts are struggling, they seem to give alot of teams a good run for their money.
GO SENS GO!
I wouldn't mind seeing Spezz, Kovy and Cheech on a line. I think Spezz and kovy could do the work and cheech has been known to hit mesh 50+ times at one time. That would leave Alfy, Fish and Mich which would be an awesome speedy trio with Alfy doing most of the 'skilled' work and Fish and Mich giving 110%.
Just a thought/opinion
I think it is safe to say that with Kuba last year, Tampa would have been a few points better and not finished 2nd last overall so we can't compare the decision to trade for Kuba over the draft pick for Hedman. Kuba has brought some great stability to the defence even thou he seems to play a light game for a big guy ---still years ahead of Mezaros and his defensive zone turnovers.
Konopka a tough guy? Since when?
I can't believe that guy made it to the NHL.
Don't worry Sens fans its rumor but the great Cherry will be talking bout the OHL and hits on Saturday nite.Don't be surprised to hear him rag on Neils hit simply because he loves to jab at the Sens. if Pokahonsky did it he would be sending him flowers for a date, can't wait to hear his rant.
wow....tsn is really atrocious
the video clip they have on spezza breaking out on his first game back last night has small clips of Clouston's post-practice conference interspersed with Spezza talking about his recently ended goal drought.
THE FUNNY THING IS: that if you listen to the whole audio of clouston's post practice press conference, all the things that TSN shows him as saying for Spezza about "veteran player" and hitting post and stuff....IT WAS ACTUALLY IN ANSWER TO A QUESTION ABOUT KOVALEV!!
and tsn cut out the question part. and interspersed Clouston's answer with Spezza's answers and made it look like Clouston was talking about spezza.
what idiots.
Robert Lehner has Swine Flu...
Just an update on our goalie prospect.
Neil's hit was clean. Even Hedman says it was, and how he holds no grudge.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=505112
if you say that without kuba we woiuld have been a few spots higher in draft, then wouldnt it also be that they would have been lower? we might have ended up as the top three pick and them with the bottom ten pick
Good deductive work HQ, that's hysterical. I saw that piece on the web and wondered why Clouston was referring to Spezza as a veteran player. I mean they're all getting older, but veteran? you have to let TSN know that we know!!
haha anon @ 9:35 p.m.
i hope that glitch by tsn doesn't prompt kovalev to start talking to the russian media in russian haha
although, it just shows how neglected every canadian team is this side of the Toronto Maple Leafs. the amount of attention the leafs and their lousy losing record, their AHL calibre players get is mind boggling. I think sidney crosby being canada's current premier player and athlete gets far distant less attention than the crappy leafs. and thats saying something.
Next up the NJ Devils for their 8th road win. Ottawa fans are in for a shocker when they realize how inferior their team really is against a powerhouse eastern conference team.
I think Spezza could arguably be seen as a veteran if you consider 1) his personnal achievements 2)his number of years in the league and on the Sens (7) and 3)his role on the team.
Too bad about ROBIN Lehner if it is indeed true...
A comment about Kovalev. Go to a game and see him live before making all of these critical comments. He does some magical stuff. He totally controls the power play on the side board. The pass he made to Fisher to score the goal against Tampa was magical. Not very many players can do that in the league. A team needs someone like him. The Sens are still adjusting to his skills.
Interesting challenge today against the Devils.
Hey SC,
Have you heard anything on the Forsberg front and that if the Sens will have interest if he comes to the NHL.
Just curious, because Spector has on his site that Garrioch (I know not very credible) said that Sens would attempt to sign Forsberg were he to come back, but I guess the Sens always have interest in bringing a higher profile Sweed to play alongside Alfie
Looks like the Sens are keeping an eye on Forsberg!
http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/columnists/bruce_garrioch/2009/11/06/11665361.html
I doubt he would sign here over the other teams interested but man would that be sweet! Have you heard anything about this Chirp?
Also according to the link Winchester might get to play tonight and Cheechoo sit, ouch! If this is true I can almost garuntee Cheech will be bought out at the end of the year.
Finally, anyone going to the Bingo game tomorrow at SBP?? If so, chirp or anyone else, could you post the lines for Bingo?
Mat, I'll give you two out of 3. Spez has never won anything at any level though (By winning I mean Olympic Gold, Stanley Cup, the important stuff )
He does have experience and is maturing, perhaps he'll win a Cup here in the near future! :-)
As for the Devils...they may be a better TEAM but Brodeur cracks in this building. Doesn't Brodeur have a losing, or at best .500 playoff record against us?
Sens 4 Devils 3 book it.
anon@12:27.
I looked up shocker on Urban Dictionary - and I must say this is one time i might not mind if the Sens lose.
Leclairs numbers .898 save% and 2.66 GA. While I think he has looked good this year, that save percentage is terrible.
Wow powerhouse eastern confrence team..could it be? Unlike tweenies who post late friday nite cause bad acne and facebook failed to get them a date again make them believe we care what they post. Nope we don't...i think we have a good chance of winning over NJ if the Sens keep it simple and watch turnovers. Super goalie Martin has a crap SV% this year thus far and i suspect CheeChoo will finally bust the egg.
Go sens GO!!!!
Anon 10:24:
I see your point about the achievements (Olympic gold, Stanley Cup).
I'm giving him credit for consistantly finding himself amongst the point leaders in the league and being selected to participate in installements of Team Canada (5x).
But I realize that that means nothing for many...
Anywone else pumped about a three game week next week, the following week and then a 4 game week!?! The schedule has sucked balls so far but finally the hockey season begins!
Post a Comment