Exactly the start the Sens were looking for on this three game West Coast swing.
For Butler, it has been an ugly start to the season. He started on the top line in camp but inconsistent play saw him fall all the way to the fourth line. Well it was that fourth line that ended being instrumental in the Sens win tonight. MacLean did not hesitate to ice a trio of Butler, Winchester and Konopka in the final frame.
The slump buster came on a great individual effort as Butler made a quick move on Giordano and beat Kiprosoff high on the glove side. You could just see the relief on his face as the red light turned on for the first time.
Much like Toronto the other night, this was an excellent road effort by MacLean's group.
They continued to have success on the penalty kill, killing off all six Flames power plays. Although part of the credit has to go to a Calgary power play that was as ugly as any I have seen this season. Building off a strong effort in Toronto, Craig Anderson was extremely solid, turning aside 38 of 39 shots on his way to a second star performance. He has really rebounded well since getting pulled early in Buffalo three starts ago. The only one that got by him came on a puck handling error late in the second period.
The other Sens goal came from Captain Daniel Alfredsson, as he also beat Kipper high on the glove side. The first goal for Alfredsson since his return from a concussion. Don't forget to VoteAlfie!
Tonight's victory was the first for Ottawa in Calgary since 2003 and brings the Senators back to .500 on the season. They have racked up 19 points on the season and pull into 8th place in the Eastern Conference.
Ottawa has now won back to back road games and head to Edmonton for a Thursday night tilt with the high-flying Edmonton Oilers. Should be a fun game to watch.
I hope Anderson continues to play the way he did; he held us in there on several occasions. I thought the Sens played well for the most part. Hope the PP gets going again.
p.s. Sens are too good to FAIL for NAIL.
Winchester is going to be shaking his head all night.
great game, two more points.
King Karlsson gets his assist.
Kubey Doo leads the team in ice time tonight and is now PLUS ONE for the season.
We're at 19 points now. Shootout loss to the Sabres gave us a one pointer.
Kuba has definitely been a pleasant surprise. He seems to be really thriving under the new coaching staff! Hey, I've got no complaints!
Fixed! Now can I please go to bed? :)
Sleep well Senschirp, you deserve it! Thanks for all that you do! We sens fans wouldn't be the same without you!
One guy who didn't get any props tonight was Chris Phillips. If you've watched some of the defensive plays he made again tonight you can see he's back to his usual self that we've seen in the past. He's been rock solid and a staple on the back-end. Those who think that having Big Rig was a bad move should slap themselves. 3.1 mil for a guy like that is a steal.
For goodness sake, Jay Boomboombustmee ster makes 6.7.
Go Sens Go!
Sometimes its better to keep you mouth shut and have people think you a fool, than open it up and remove all doubt.
This team has a crazy amount of young talent with even more coming within the next two years. Pair that with our our cap space to get a couple top ufa's and we will be scary good by 2014.
Maybe Murray could offer Burke a course on how to do a rebuild.
I don't normally pay much attention to these things but how does Giordano get 2nd star of the game? He was made to look pretty pedestrian by Butler twice and was a -1 for the game.
This is what has been missing since the days when Murray was behind the bench.
This puts the Sens at a wear & tear disadvantage against every team they play.
2-1 on the "mid-evil" road trip!!!
Eat shit you negative Nancy's!!!
Go Sens Go!!!
Wow. Did Butler look really good. Almost had 3, maybe even 4 goals.
Spezza looked good even though he got nothing on the board.
And Anderson was stellar.
Good to see!
Great to see that Bobby Bottle Service broke out of his slump. Hopefully that third period will give him the confidence to return to the fine form he was in last season.
From what I saw in the first two periods, Alfie and Spezza looked pretty damn good. Spezza looked much better than we've seen him play in he last handful of games and aside from that one cross-ice turnover at the Calgary blueline he played a pretty smart game, and even then he was on his horse to get back and try to break up the play off of that turnover.
Good win... Maybe we're looking at another 6 game win streak?
Haha funny you say that not even halfway through the road trip, you really think we're winning more than 2 games? I predicted 1 and we have 2, oh wow, what a mistake! LOL
The fact is Anderson stood on his head vs Calgary, if not for him we lose that game, props to him for stealing a win!
The 1 win I had predicted, I had it vs Calgary...
Next up the Oilers, a much more talented team than the Flames, Vancouver and Pittsburgh, Jets (@ SBP), then Washington...
Butler, what can you say, this kid has been dying to prove everyone wrong. I've been pretty down on him lately but those were 2 nice goals at clutch times in the game, GO SENS GO!
Oh, and the Leafs are finally coming back down to earth, currently sitting in 6th now, not 2nd/3rd :)
"Next up the Oilers, a much more talented team than the Flames, Vancouver and Pittsburgh, Jets (@ SBP), then Washington..."
Yikes.
I want even talking about you, but thanks for showing everyone what an ego maniac you are....
And for the record when you are wrong in the future, just admit itlike a grown up
Senschirp, any word on the ignore feature?????
Also, is it just me or does anyone else still think its chris kelly when you see the #22 flying down the ice?
Smith is turning out to be a great 2 way player, especially with his scoring and PK duties.
Condra #22, is a young version of Chris Kelly !!
I think #23 daugivins is doing a great job, he too is a great chris kelly replacement.
Hee Hee, EEYORE will always think that he's the only jackass on the farm.
That's what Johne & I have been saying... and getting crapped on...