For the Oilers, this was their first game back at home after an extended road trip and it showed. They were sloppy from the drop of the puck and handed Ottawa a steady dose of odd man rushes. Greening opened the scoring and Daugavins sniped just nine seconds later to give Ottawa a 2-0 lead, both goals coming off the rush. Ottawa never looked back.
Gotta give credit to Craig Anderson though.
He wasn't tested a whole lot but made some big saves in the opening five minutes and kept the game scoreless. He doesn't make those early stops and this could have been a very different hockey game. Same can not be said for Nikolai Khabibulin who was yanked after giving up three in the opening frame.
Jason Spezza picked up a couple of assists to hit 19 points on the season. He won a draw clean, late in the first period to set up Michalek for his 12th of the season, just one shy of the league lead.
Bobby Butler got the ball rolling with a couple in Calgary on Tuesday but you have to love the play of each member of the team's fourth line. They were strong again in this one and MacLean has really shown confidence in those three. Konopka and Winchester both scored in this one and Butler had an assist.
It was a pretty strange goal from Jesse Winchester to break a personal 42 game scoring drought. After missing an empty net on Tuesday, Winchester found himself in alone on a breakaway but thought the play had been blown dead. He slowed up, took a quick look back only to realize the play was still live. To his credit, he regained focus and made a great shot over the glove of Devan Dubnyk.
For the third straight outing, Ottawa put together a near perfect road game.
They have been breaking out of their own end cleanly, looking after their own end, burying their chances and getting big saves from Craig Anderson. The Sens are playing with a ton of confidence right now and are being rewarded for their hardwork over this most recent stretch.
Ottawa now has a couple days off before closing out their West Coast road trip against the Stanley Cup Finalists Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.
Erik Karlsson is an absolute stud this kid deserves to not only make the All-Star game but start.
I actually dropped my center ice and ordered game center live, and i have to say it was a good choice. I'm able to select audio feeds, check stats, watch multiple games all in good quality hd. No more will i listen to clueless homer commentators or my dogs attack the tv from a pet commercial as there is a pause fof break instead of commercials. Also won't have to deal with watching crappy sd games on cbc. If i lived in ottawa i'd find a way to be at every game, but for $18 a month i can't go wrong. I setup my ps3, android tablet and iphone easily by just logging in.
Can't wait to goto ottawa again for our yearly anivrsary trip to see the sens play at scotiabank place, this year will be delayed because we want to skate on the rideau canal.
Cheers.
Btw this was for all those who were asking, i'll keep u posted on my internet bill, i have 2mps service and its a great picture.
Special mention to Karlsson who was phenomenal tonight. When he had the puck on his stick it was pure magic. That being said, Daug and Winchester also deserve special mention too (though with a game like this it is hard to just pick a couple of people as the entire team showed up). What a great team effort.
Big test coming up on Sunday when we face the Canucks.
GO SENS GO!
What a perfect night.
3-1 on that so called "season ending" road trip.
Show yourselves now and MAYBE we'll allow you back on the ban wagon.
Forget fail for nail, I want the Division!!!
Go Sens Go!!!!!!
Wasn't it Elliott with the 12 game winning streak here in Ottawa? Don't forget that streak was surrounded by like 50 losses. LOL.
We're much better off with Anderson.
Personally I'm thrilled Elliott is thriving in St Louis but it's impossible to know if he would be putting up the same numbers here. Maybe a change is scenery is exactly what he needed to take his game to that next level, and for the sake of my fantasy team I hope he continues to play like this. Just be grateful we have Anderson, who may not be the second coming of Roy, but has certainly proved to be a very dependable net minder and has been able to steal some games for us.
Please don't start with this... Everyone is entitled to their opinions, just leave it at that...
We all know who 383 is targeting, but Smash_88, is correct in letting sleeping dogs lay down eh ??
And who would you offer?
I would expect Edmonton to ask for someone with NHL experience (30+ games)
traded for
Martin Havlat 1g 7a
combined they have 20 pts
Milan Michalek 12g 7a
really brings a smile to my face
Now that MM9 is healthy that trade looks pretty good
Oilers reporter for HockeyBuzz says the Referees beat the Oilers, and Edmonton should have won easily had the game been called properly.... lol Dumbass
So still in a playoff spot, and not far off at all for the Division lead. No surprise to me. 2nd in the NHL in goals too (thats a little bit of a surprise I admit) It's really good we are winning these games because all other teams have games in hand and with 3 games in the next 11 days teams could have caught up fast and we could have slipped pretty quick. Be nice to at least get 3 points out of the next 2 games.
Even though we are winning and have the 3rd best PP in the league it's really tough not seeing Alfie out there with Spezz when on the PP. And IMO Butler should have at leaast been given a shift on the PP last night. I would say he earned it. Oh and Blads isn't going to get any better in the press box this is getting ridiculous.
Looks like the game was over in the first 10 minutes!! lol
I called the shaky bit but damn thats bad for him...Oh well now off to Vancouver to face Lu or Schneider?
Weird to say I hope its Lu, lol, struggling bad...
He really is unbelievable. His play in his own end has gotten remarkably better, and it's obvious that whenever he's on the ice, the opposition is keying on him...and he still dominates.
He's going to put up 20+ goals in the near future with that cannon.
1. Most underrated Senator of all-time:
2. Most overrated?
3. Most heart?
4. Toughest?
5. Most entertaining?
6. All-time favourite Senator?
7. Most painful Sens memory?
8. Best Senators memory?
1. Chris Kelly/Mike Comrie
2. Brian Lee/Andrej Meszaros
3. Chris Neil/Mike Fisher
4. Zdeno Chara
5. Marian Hossa
6. Marty Havlat
7. Friesens's goal with just over 2 mins left in 03 conference final. Honorable mention to Pominvilles walk around Emery & Pascal Dupuis's GWG thanks to CC's dumbass coaching. (Game 7 against the Leafs goes without saying)
8. Alfie's Conference winning GWG & Fisher's goal to force game 7 against the Leafs before Patty's collapse. Honorable mention to the Big Rig forcing game 7 against the Devils
Could sit here all day praising Karlsson, kid is just MAGNIFICIENT! Please don't get hurt EK
Because Norm MacIver's record for points by a Senators defensemen in a season REALLY needs to get broken, like yesterday....
Very True 383
many were proclaiming 1 win on this road trip, after 5 straight losses (they will go nameless for now).
I replied that we would get at least 2 wins, but did not want to mention which games, and agreed it would be a very difficult road trip for any team.
I am overjoyed to be wrong, and hope we win the next 2, going from a discussion of being out of the playoffs, to perhaps the division leaders!
Screw the FAILFORNAIL campaign, I love this team
This team is incredibly enjoyable to watch... I could not go to sleep, as they kept me peeled to my screen.
Keep it up Sens!!!
Good for Elliott. He was a backup goalie that had to live through the Pascal Leclaire and Cory Clouston debacle. I'm pretty confident that if he was playing with the Sens this year as a backup and with the way this coaching staff treats the players, the Sens would have had the best goalie tandem in the NHL.
Most underrated Senator of all-time? Lalime
Most overrated?
Most heart? Alfredson
Toughest? Peluso
Most entertaining? Havlat
All-time favourite Senator? Spezza
Most painful Sens memory? Friesen's goal in 2003
Best Senators memory? Yashin to Duchene past Hasek - onto the playoffs!
this team right now is rolling all four lines, and each one of them can strike, leaving it very difficult fo opposing teams to key on one line, which helps out the first two lines.
And the D last night, other than the first 10 minutes was fantastic.
Lee was excellent, he is a wonderful skater for a big boy, he finishes his checks, and is growing confidence with every shift. He and Cowen can easily be our future shut downe D-men.
Karlsson is exceeding my expectations, he has learned that speed beats size any day, and is using that in our own end.
They try to dump it in on his side, he used to slow down to prepare for contact, now he speeds up and calmly walks out with it. Love it!
And Kuba, is making me eat my words, I was a huge "sit Kuba" supporter, wanting him out at any cost.
He is playing very well in our own end, and playing well with Karlsson.
Kuba please keep proving me wrong
Yay for King Karlsson, he's back on number 1 with assists tied with Daniel Sedin.
Any update on the Brassard situation?
Vote4Alfie
He is the difference right now, and this road trip is an example of what strong goaltending can do.
He kept us in the first 10 minutes yesterday, and gave us enough time and confidence to counterattack and bury a couple, and in effect take the young oilers out of the game.
Does that sound familiar, it should b/c that had been us for the past few years.
We could dominate a whole period, and then have a team conterattack and go up by a couple of goals, and in effect put us out of the game.
I have been saying for years, a strong goalie on this team will build confidence, and turn many games from a sure loss to a win.
Dare I say, a young team, with good coaching, and strong tending squeak into the playoffs, no one would want to play the Sens in the first round...sorry getting ahead of myself :)
I've been thinking the same thing, imagine a big second line center that can get the puck for alfie or foligno this team would look pretty decent, right now if that second line can produce it will take pressure off that first line.
Go sens GO
Vote4Alfie
I don't know for sure if this is the reason for his dominance in the last few games but it could be part of the reason.
GO SENS GO!
I didnt watch the game but didnt Khabibulin let in 3 in 7 shots, of those 2 in the first 2 shots in the game?
How did Anderson keep us in it when we we're up 2-0 before the 10min mark???
Sens didn't have any shots on net for a large part of the 1st period.
Easily... he made 4-5 point blank saves, early before the 10 min mark, that would have normally gone in, and put us back a couple of goals had they gone in.
Last year, 2 early goals would have easily sunk us for the rest of the game, surely leading to a loss.
Early saves of mistakes, builds confidence in your players, Anderson is doing this for us.
That was the first shot.
Since you said that you did not see all or most of the game,
Oilers were all over our Sens at start of the game, and Anderson robbed shooters at least 4-5 times, which if he had not, we would be down 2-0 in first minutes of this game.
He was a wall facing many Oiler shots, while puck was in Ottawa's end till Sens got 2 quick goals, and deflated the whole Oiler team.
Jack you don't have to wait. The SENS are helping to build an outdoor rink in front of city hall with artificial ice
Bang on Snoops!
Oh that would explain alot!! lol
I read that as well. Not only does this writer claim that the refs decided the game, but he also says that he was not at all impressed with the sens game. What a Joke. Accept the loss buddy.
Now lets beat Vancouver.
i'm sure you'll find the same sort of complaint on every team's blog somewhere in the season
we won, they lost, move on. People who continuously bleat about poor refs and it being unfair on their particular team (whoever that team is)are childishly laughable. There is no grand conspiracy, it's not by design that games are called differently it's inconsistency borne out of incompetency. It all evens it's self out.
The Oilers will get a game in a couple of weeks that is strongly called in their favour and this blogger on HB won't mention it whatsoever.
I'm sticking to my 2-3 year rebuild prediction, but that may be conservative.
A quick look on nhl.com stats has us third worst in PP to SH differential... no wonder PIT is leading the league at the momemt... they are +27!!!
Tm GP PP SH Diff
DAL 17 58 83 -25
WPG 19 68 92 -24
OTT 20 67 87 -20
NSH 18 64 74 -10
MTL 19 72 81 -9
BOS 17 61 69 -8
STL 18 57 63 -6
TBL 18 66 72 -6
ANA 19 74 79 -5
EDM 18 69 74 -5
NJD 17 59 63 -4
NYI 16 53 57 -4
PHX 17 57 58 -1
COL 19 64 64 0
MIN 19 72 72 0
PHI 18 86 86 0
CGY 17 62 61 1
SJS 16 57 56 1
WSH 17 65 64 1
NYR 16 67 65 2
TOR 19 73 70 3
BUF 18 71 67 4
LAK 19 79 75 4
VAN 19 86 77 9
DET 17 73 63 10
CAR 19 87 75 12
CBJ 18 80 64 16
CHI 19 71 55 16
FLA 18 72 51 21
PIT 19 85 58 27
His contract is INSANELY long! but it would completely solve our need for a legit 2nd line c for at least 4 years. So I can't resist.
Regin, Wiercioch, and Petersson (Silf will be here next year)
For
JC
I'd love to get Carter, but I don't think the trade you are proposing is close to getting it done.
i don't think he would come here either but at least he can probably see the light out from the ottawa ass, whereas in columbus he's so far inside that all he sees is colon.
Well as many people point out,
OTTAWA IS 3 PTS FROM THE DIV!!! WAAAHAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!
Daugavins and Greening have been a very nice surprise this year. I can't believe how accurate and fast their wrist shots are. Definitely great complimentary pieces to the other talents on this team.
I just hope Kuba can keep this up long enough to get good trade value. Mac seems to have found his comfort zone in terms of on ice situations and ice time, and it can only help.
Let's keep this win streak going. GO SENS GO!!!
1 point from the the division...4 points from the conference!
@ The Apostle : Your response made my day dude. THAT was a hilarious! (and largely true btw ... )