The Washington Capitals dropped an overtime decision to the Hurricanes and the Leafs fell at the hands of the Bruins to give the Sens a little more cushion (8 points) over the pack of teams pursuing the final playoff position.
The bad news is the 6th place Devils and 5th place Flyers each picked up two points of their own.
The Senators struck first in this one as Sergei Gonchar finished off a text book cycle play. The goal, set up by Greening, was Gonchar's first in 43 games. The Sens were able to stretch their lead to two after Greening found himself wide open in front of Dwayne Roloson. Just 53 seconds after that, Kyle Turris beat Roloson to give the Senators a three goal cushion.
Much like in Florida on Sunday, the Sens were guilty of letting their foot off the gas in the second period. Ryan Shannon scored early in the middle frame and Tim Wallace cut the lead to one moments later.
With Tampa Bay controlling all the momentum, Colin Greening went toe to toe with Keith Aulie in one hell of a tilt, giving Greening the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Aulie may have got the decision but he also ended up with an extra two minutes. Erik Karlsson scored his 16th of the year and slowed the Tampa momentum.
In the third, Erik Karlsson was called for tripping and the league's leading goal scorer made the Sens pay as Stamkos beat Bishop high over the glove for his 48th of the season and giving Tampa Bay life in the process. After a questionable goalie interference call on Stamkos, Milan Michalek buried his 30th of the season.
Michalek would add two more into the empty net to cement a 7-3 win for the Senators.
Ottawa now returns home to take on the East leading Rangers on Thursday night at Scotiabank Place.
- During the second intermission, Ian Mendes spoke with Tim Murray. He mentioned that while Lehner was disappointed to be returning to Bingo the organization let him know he could be back up at any time. Murray also mentioned that they would like to have Zibanejad return to North America once his SEL season is done in early April. Murray did not seem overly concerned about the possibility of burning a yea on Mika's entry level contract should they decide to insert him into the NHL line up.
- Tim Murray also mentioned that they are looking at the NCAA free agent class. The Sens will continue to chase the "top guys" and if they can add a player to improve organizational depth, they will. Will try to chase down the names of some of the potential targets tomorrow.
See what happens when you take Butler off and put Greening back on the 1st line? He excels.
Not lovin' Karlsson's propensity to slash under frustration.
Karlsson would not be denied tonight.
Nice hat trick for Michalek even if it was a couple of empty netters, racking up the goals.
Nice goal by Gonchar and good game by Kuba.
Spezza was PLUS 4 but had no points !
I like that's he's showing another dimension to his game. If he takes stupid penalties continually at the wrong time that's one thing but playing with a bit of a mean streak is fine by me.....
As for Matt Gilroy, I do like him as a hockey player. He's a good puck mover and is very offensive minded, but I don't think he's what the Sens really need going forward. He hasn't really fit in yet and I'd like to see Murray spend the money to get a more polished defensive minded guy.
Also, Kuba played a very underrated game. He was crisp all night. It's kind of weird seeing him do so well :S
Broken nose.
Agreed. If they were willing to burn a year off his contract they would have just kept him in the NHL.
I don't want to see them get 1st pick.
Imagine what? We might be in like 4th place... Maybe in the divisional lead. I'm kinda glad we are where we are in the standings... Keeps us honest.
NAAAAAAA !
Let them FAIL FOR NAIL.
Another enigmatic Rooskie in Montreal will be big fun.
Great game...Lightnin g were all over Spezza a karlsson tonight in a big shut-down way....good to see the rest of the team step up and make them pay for that. I thought Boucher was going to have a stroke on the bench.
GSG. Lets light up Lundy and the Rangers on Thursday!
If it wasn't for high scoring in bunches, this season would probably be a stinker.
That surprised me. Subjectively, I felt that things were strong but the numbers say the opposite.
If they don't finish 6th or have strong offense in the first round, it could be short playoffs....
Not true. He was sent to the SEL because they believed he'd play a lot more minutes there instead of 3rd line minutes in Ottawa. If they had known he wouldn't get top line minutes there they might have kept him here. Had little to do with burning year.
As Tim Murray said, if they want him to play in the NHL the fact that it burns a year will not likely factor in the decision. In fact, it could be a good motivator to the player.
Can't recall who it was but didn't BM intentionally burn a year of some guy's deal a few years back just to keep him happy?
Nobody better than Alfie to learn that from though so I trust he'll get there. If he can learn to not let it get to him when other teams target him (Spezza too for that matter) he's that much more dangerous. Guys like Smith will help settle any scores that need settling after Karlsson gives us a 2 or 3 goal cushion.
Kid will be fine.
Maybe if we hadn't had a few of those blowouts and tough games early on, we wouldn't have matured and developed the team chemistry and way of play that we possess now.
We could have been just another 11th spot team fighting to stay afloat.. Impossible to say for sure, but know what I mean?
All around good game by everyone tonight. 30,31,and 32, for 9mm. I know two were empty netters but should fire him up to up his stats further in the remainder of the season, and the snipe did have Heatley-esque qualities of when he was quality.
A few thoughts...
Gordie Howe hatty for Zack Smith... Beauty!
Nice info montage of Klinkhammer between periods.
Does Roloson ever hold on to his stick?
Fcus on the present and into the playoffs, he's been fine and has a hella good +21 rating, is that so bad?
Great game to have before a big match up against the Rangers.
I also find it incredible to hear Kuba get some props around here. I agree he had a bad year last year and given our depth on D, thought he would be gone by now, but man were we wrong. Give BM the credit, ONCE AGAIN, for doing, what has turned out to be, the right thing. Now we sign Kuba to a one year contract and have both he and Gonchar playing for a new contract. Whether they want to stay with the Sens or not, we'll be sure to get some strong play out of them.
Go Sens Go
Greening with the Gordie Howe
Michalek with the hat trick
Smith shutting down Stamkos
Turris with another good 200' game & adding a nice goal
He wasn't that good at all in my opinion. Two short side goals and not goals that should go in. You can see that he is a good goaltender and that he settled down a little bit in the third, but no way did he match Lehner. Bishop had a relatively easy night.
Bishop will have a white mask (ala Darth Gerber) on Thursday when he starts vs NYR.
It was Greening with the Gordie Howe.
There's plenty of skill there and while he was pretty shaky I think he's going to be strong. Not sure if he's going to steal the #1 job any time soon, but I think he's a good pick-up if nothing else.
Stamkos goal was just a great shot. Wrong guy to leave wide open. On the Wallace goal I think Bishop got caught too deep in his net. Chalk that up to nerves a little bit maybe.
I had pointed out to a friend that for that big of a goalie, it looked like he was playing pretty small... Definitely wasn't playing his angles as good as he could of..
Ah well it's the first game, i'm sure he was nervous and all in all he wasn't that bad...
On to Bishop. A lot of hype, and now we had a chance to see him. I have to say, he did have those 2 short side goals against, for such a big guy you would think he'd have those. But, in his defense he's now playing with the big boys and will have to expect those shots more often, something he didn't have to worry about as much in the AHL. I think he got the jitters out, which is a good thing and the whole team did rally around him, which is what I expected would happen. I think Bishop will have a better game Thursday because he tends to work better when facing a lot of rubber, according to his AHL stats. I'm sure NY will pepper him, more than TB did.
@darthsens911 - I agree, he should have his mask done by now, or at least white or black in prep for a new design. However, he was plugged right into Bingo's lineup and played 3 of 4 games before coming up and playing with us. I expect he'll have something done soon, or it's already in the works on a new helmet. I'm keeping my eyes out for it.
It's one game for Bishop and he was nervous. Looked better in the third and was solid. Let's give him some time before running him out of town.
Tampa made a push, and we did not fall apart in this push.
Bishop was nervous in his first start, but he was really warming up in this game, and we will find out just how good
he is, vs the top team in the NHL on Thursday night in Ottawa.
Relly glad that Coach MacLean, went back to the line combinations that have strong chemistry !!
Bring on the Rangers !!
Lol.. that's what I meant not sure how Smith's name got typed there.
Once he practices in the NHL for a while and gets used to the quality shooters he'll get better at making himself look big and going down early and even making saves on high shots when on his knees.
I thought he played a very good game. Didn't give up that "bad" goal. He made a few really clutch saves. One I remember most is when we had that awful line change and one of their defencemen just happened to have an eternity to glide in and snipe one but no, big Ben stopped it AND inhaled the rebound. On top of all that...did you people see his puck handling. The guy was making tape to tape passes that we're like 30 40 feet long. I was very impressed with that. I dont think our team has ever had a goalie who can do that.
Bottom line is this guy is very tough to score on and will only get better while playing/practic ing day in and day out with quality NHLers.
Hahah thats a slap in the face, here you go Mr, Softie, you had a better PPG avg than anyone in the SEL but here is the Gentlemanly award for being a pussy!
Agreed, although I still think Lehner looked better in net, Bishop is definitely the better puck-handler - very confident and poised, unlike Lehner who seemed to panic everytime he was playing the puck and often put himself and his D in trouble by not making the right play.
won't complain, we have 2 kids who seem they can take over from Andy in the very near future.
good to be a Sens fan these days...Suck it Laffs!!
Terrible I guess, they thought bringing Carlyle would fix things immediately, wrong! I mean Randy is a good coach and all but the players they have are just not responding right now. All apart from Kessel, Lupul...the goalies have been shitting the bed all year, too funny!
So would you consider these winners of the Lady Byng soft?
Martin St.Louis
Pavel Datsyuk
Brad Richards
Alex Mogilny
Ron Francis
Joe Sakic
Wayne Gretzky
Paul Kariya
Ummmmm, with St.Louis being the exception....YES!
Maybe you should ask yourself, have you ever seen one of those guys, St.Louis exempt, throw a hit on someone!! LOL
I think my grandma is more physical than those guys.
LOL, sure it wasn't the trophy for most skill, most points, goals etc. but not everyone has to play a rough/dirty game to be a good hockey player.
Just a small sample size but past Lady Bing winners include
Martin St. Louis won it twice
Pavel Datsyuk 4 times
Brad Richard
Alexander Mogilny
Ron Francis x3
Joe Sakic
Pavol Demitra
Paul Kariya
now I am not saying he is going to be any of these players but winning an award like that does not make you a pussy, you just play a clean skill game.
congrats to him
lol Pez beat me too it
Kelly Zajac, C, Senior, Union College- brother is Travis NJ he leads his team in points slick player
Dan DeKeyser, D 6'3 200 pounds hard shot great foot work
Sophomore, Western Michigan University
Brian Flynn, C 17 goals 28 assits 33 games ..pure scorer
Senior, University of Maine
Andrej Sustr - 6'8 218 defencemen
I don't know about you, but the last thing I worry about with that group of players is if they can hit...
I 100% agree. The main task of a goalie is to give his team a chance to win and in his first game Bishop did that against a powerful TB offense. Improvments can be made for sure, but overall I thought it was a positive effort.
It's only his first game as a Senator!
He was really warming up in this game, like I said in an earlier post.
His biggest test will be on Thursday in Ottawa vs the Rangers.
I still believe that Lehner is the better all around goalie,
so let's see how he fares after 4-5 games>
Any update on when Anderson might start a game ??
According to my sources, haha love saying that...
He cant even hold the full weight of a stick yet, gradually adding more weight but its still a ways away until he returns and thats not even taking shots to the blocker either.
Thanks Tookie,
I guess we should not rush him, but let him recover 100%
and let Bishop - Lehner compete longer !
It was Butler a few years ago I believe. Did they also do the same for Winchester?
I would think so, no need to rush him, we got 2 great kids and must play them to see where they are at. For once the goalie situation is looking bright in Ottawa.
Your source was the broadcast last night. They showed a clip of him in the morning practice skating around and he was holding the nub of a sick, they mentioned that they would slowly be making the stick longer in his hands.
@ riceroni,
It was 2 weeks ago tonite that Anderson played the role of a chef!
Judging from what he is doing now, it might be another 2 weeks before he starts any game .
We will need him at 100% for the playoffs, so we still should show patience in his recovery .
There are days that I get a kick out of your intelligent but abrasive banter.
Then there are days like today where I have to wonder if you are retarded...
Sorry, I was taking a shot at Tookie not you Snoopy. Ya, I think slowly is the way to get Anderson back as well. Let him heal fully instead of rushing back and risking further damage.
everyone is gushing about DeKeyser...
I see what you did there. Hahaha.
I think we learned our lesson dabbling with American college kids...
No more please...
I dont agree with Cherry most of the time but he's on to something, draft Ontario born players! or keep building the swedish meatball machine!
Why stop?? It doesn't cost the Sens anything!!! The more lines you have in the water, better the odds of reeling in a big fish no??
Is he the 6'2 170lbs D from U of Michigan?
I agree about the college players, but I dont mind them signing them, as long as Murray is clear with his intentions with "organizational depth" enough with the signing them and trying to insert them immediately. sign them and treat them as prospects
As for Cherry I love this feud with Burke. Burke says Ontario born players play big against TO so Cherry says well you have none, Burke responds saying he has drafted more Ontario born players than any other team in past 5 years
Thats nice, but thats not Cherry's point. His point is all the Free agent signings and trading that Burke does, not drafting lol
the joy of being an outsider for leafs
No Idea, it was a lame attempt at a joke/play on words...gushing about dekeyser...
It didnt cost us anything? how about 1 way contracts to Butler, Condra & Winchester ...thats what it cost us.
the thought of the sens doing well in the playoffs does that to me
I was talking to one of my friends tonight and I mentioned Dan DeKeyser because I knew they went to HS together. He mentioned how he was showing him and his other friends voicemails from Stevie Y and company. I was on LGW just browsing and I noticed this quote below and it's spot on what I heard from one of my friends. So my guess is there is some validity behind Detroit and Tampa Bay being the front runners.
also, my buddy is dating Dan's sister and told me that she said that the Wings are frontrunners and are close to a deal. Also the Lightning is a high possibility with Yzerman being on of his favorite players as a kid...
A 21-22 year old at 170lbs.....no thx the Wings can have him!
LMAO! That was the post of the day... Hats off to you Apostle
It didnt cost us anything? how about 1 way contracts to Butler, Condra & Winchester ...thats what it cost us.
Condra was drafted by the sens.
I think Winchester has done a decent job for the sens, Butler was a decent enough gamble, but it hasn't worked out for us.
the problem I see with the undrafted college kids is that a whole bunch of teams scramble for them and that raises expectations which are rarely met.
FYI Condra was a draft pick...
Who cares about the 1 way, trust me if we had better options then Butler or Winchester right now theere 1 way would not prevent us from getting rid of them.
The Cardinal whom you work for , will reprimand you severely for that remark Mr.Apostle ...haha !!
Did you spend a lot of time with her as a child? That would explain a lot...
I pray for you that his last name is not Borgia....
Except that if Mika stayed in the NHL, he wouldn't develop as well. He wouldn't be playing top 6 minutes. He wouldn't be playing every game. If he would've stayed, he would be like Lee. ON and OFF.
Well so much for that idea, he didnt play top 6 in the SEL neither. And he didnt dominate or show any kind of improvement over his peers.
I do agree he shouldnt be in the NHL yet and not next year either. These kids have to play GAMES in the minors before being thrust into the NHL limelight!
i actually disagree with this. I don't think him going back to Sweden had anything to do with not burning a year off his contract as opposed to him going back and developing his game more. In Sweden he'd get much more ice time than in Ottawa. He only had 1 assist in 9 games, fair or not he's expected to put more points up. Now that he's put in another year of development, I'm sure the Murray's wouldn't have a problem putting him in the lineup to see what he can do.
Any further update on Phillips and O'Brien ??
Will we know who plays and who will not play in game vs the Rangers on Thursday in Ottawa ??
Agreed don't rush the guy. I'd rather finish 8th with Anderson 100% than 5th with him possibly re-injuring himself and being out for playoff games.
Not that Lehner playing over Anderson necessarily means we drop that much in the standings.
Might change but currently Phillips is doubtful for Thursday with Carkner drawing in.
We'll have to wait till after practice but Phillips is not expected to play tomorrow. O'Brien's injury is minor so he could go.
(from twitter)
Lehner in goal and they're playing the marlies.
have you ever watched Datsyuk play? You really should.
Thanks to Hax and Chirp for the updates !
Mine came from Ian Mendes on twitter (forgot to credit him):
Ian Mendes @ian_mendes
Only lineup change I would expect for Sens vs NYR on Thursday is Matt Carkner coming in for Chris Phillips (broken nose).
There is a CBC article that indicates the Sens are interested in Andrej Sustr. Don't know much about him but what a big pairing that would be with him and Cowen.
Who is more angry?
Leaf fans hoping for playoff push?
Leaf MGMT hoping for playoff push?
Fantasy owners who are starting playoffs next week lol?
Coincidence Lupul goes down to injury just 2 games into Carlyle era? I think not!
Nothing to worry about I'm sure but hopefully they're not feeling the bruises from the extra attention they've gotten lately - cause that's not going to stop anytime soon and they'll need to play (and practice) through it.
No point now in lingering around 9th-12th!
Game over. #BSens win 2-0. @RobinLehner made 22 saves for their first shutout of the season. Goals scored by @TheBoroCop and @ccows.
Good work Lehner - seems to have kept the fire he found when up with the big club!
Clearly you don't see the big picture, rather relying on his stats. He's been an impact player for a team that is on the verge of getting demoted onto a second tier swedish league if they don't come up top 2 in the relegation series.
If he was playing with silfverberg, I'm pretty sure he would be racking up a lot more points.
I would not recommend holding your breath. I'd expect Carkner to start if Phillips can't go or isn't cleared.
Agreed. I think the constant new "flavor of the week" thing we have going on keeps guys like Greening and Butler etc working hard (mostly).
At the end of last year it was all Butler.
Then the start of this year it was Greening.
Then Daugavins took the spotlight.
Then O'Brien was the new favorite.
Now Klinkhammer.
All these guys know (or should know) that pretty much the hardest working guy will get the ice time.
A little info on some NCAA prospects for this year.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion/2012/03/us-college-hockey-free-agent-season-revs-up.html
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/13844/top_collegiate_free_agents_drawing_nhl_interest/
MacLean should not go with Carkner, but rather Borowiecki
who played real well, a few weeks ago .
Also, O'Brien should be a go, and Konopka should come out .
Smith should replace Butler and centre the 4th line.
We have to go with our best to compete with these Rangers.