After a dramatic win over one division rival last night, the Ottawa Senators will look for more of the same against the Northeast leading Boston Bruins.
The Bruins, last year’s Stanley Cup Champs, have picked up right where they left off. They have been among the league's best and pose an extremely difficult task for the Sens in a back to back situation.
The good news is the Bruins also played last night. They blanked the LA Kings and moved to 7-2-1 record in their last ten. Even more impressive is the Bruins +38 goal differential which is tops in the league. By comparison, the Sens are a -13. Ottawa will have to at their best, especially with Tim Thomas expected to get the start for the Bruins.
For Ottawa, the list of walking wounded has obviously added a significant name this morning. The Sens will need some other players to step up and contribute on offence. There is no immediate indication how long Michalek will be out for but he is being classified as day to day. MacLean stressed the team will now have to follow the league’s protocol on concussions.
Michalek joins Sergei Gonchar and Filip Kuba as players that will sit this one out. Bobby Butler will draw back in for the Sens. The Sens held an optional skate this morning so here is my best guess at how the Sens will line up.
Greening-Spezza-Alfredsson
Regin-Foligno-Butler
Condra-Smith-Neil
Daugavins-Winchester-Konopka
Cowen-Karlsson
Phillips-Rundblad
Lee-Carkner
Craig Anderson gets the start in goal and will debut his new heritage mask. Still plenty of good seats left for this one so why not take a trip down to Scotiabank Place tonight! Contact Mike McCarthy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details.
MacLean on Michalek: "I don't think it's going to ruin his year, much like the other major injuries he's had in the past."
Like I said in the previous discussion, its getting pretty serious. Poor guy, hope he isn't out long term but I also dont think they should rush him either.
If after knee surgery he bounced back with 19 goals... I can't wait to see him come back after this!!
As for the bruins... I think I will be holding my breath and closing my eyes a lot tonight.
I'm praying for you Anderson!!
GO SENS GO!
I think that's the best scenario as well... Butler won't have a better chance to showcase he's capable... none of the forwards will!
Forward combos are the best solution with Michalek out and day to day !
The defense pairings in Cowen- Karlsson
and Phillips - Rundblad are OK
but Lee- Carkner is scary , since both are Right Hand shooters !
I would rather have Phillips - Carkner,
and Rundblad - Lee
Or Phillips - Lee
and Rundblad - Carkner
I remeber very well a game last year ,where Lee was at Left Side defense, and puck came towards him near the boards, and a player blew by him and scored a goal.
Lee was then scratched for 25 games in a row !
There is absolutely noreason reason to rush him or anyone back
Lets get a top 3 pick
The "Daug" goes back to the Bingo Line...Condra misses him...
Alfie stays with Foligno...
Spezza doesn't mind Neil up with him (especially vs Boston) for a half game or so then give Butts his shot...
#7 gets nothing but the PP.
Andy, cover the bottom of the net a la King Hendrick, I think we got a shot tonight!
We're not in the hunt for a top 3 pick.
We're in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Get used to it.
Get better soon MM9. That Rocket Richard Trophy will look nice on your mantle.
Go Sens!
I'm happy to see Alfie thrown on Spezza's right wing in Milan's absence. When Spezza has Butler and Greening as his linemates that line is invisible.
Side note - Great to see Mark Stone made team Canada (although I don't think there was much doubt as he leads the WHL in scoring). Go Canada Go!
@ AFM,
Lee- Carkner combo is not the best choice in my estimation !!
Personally, I would healthy scratch Rundblad, and use Cowen for double duty !!
Then what do you think is the best choice? I think both Lee and Carkner played solid games last night and will be able to handle the challenge tonight. The Phillips- Rundblad pairing is the real scary one.
@ AFM,
See my edited post above !!
Cowen looks to be not the beast that Chara is but a comparable BIG shutdown/mobile dman that has some offensive flair. Rare to find and Thank God he's on our blueline.
So you would only dress 5 defenseman?! What if one of them gets injured? Then we're stuck With 4 dmen! That would be the ultimate insult to Rundblad to only dress 5 defenseman haha I know he's played poorly lately but come on man.... Terrible terrible idea, I hope you weren't serious.
I would assume that Milan is out for at least a week with the concussion, so that would mean at least 2 games if not mnore.
So you would only dress 5 defenseman?! What if one of them gets injured? Then we're stuck With 4 dmen! That would be the ultimate insult to Rundblad to only dress 5 defenseman haha I know he's played poorly lately but come on man.... Terrible terrible idea, I hope you weren't serious.[/quote
@ AFM,
Actually, I would reconsider that option , and keep him in the lineup, but use him only during Power Play, and PK .
That's a good question and I've wondered the same thing. I guess part of the issue is likely the anonymity of the site although at this point, I really don't think that's much of an issue.
That and I think they dont want people smarter than them.....ya know, make them look bad...
Chirp's answer is definitely the political answer, even though I agree, it shouldn't matter...Tookie 's is more bang on...stuff like that is why I usually don't read any newspapers...us ual bunch of crap/hack journalism.
Maybe with sens underground closing down at the end of this season they will ask Dave to step up and fill the gap.
I think they should ask Yost. Although he'd probably promise to provide an opinion and then bail out at the last second.
Wow, great game by the Sens, after a slow start shot wise. They really poured it on and deserved that win last night. I'm just floored by the amount of concussions we are seeing these days and how much time player's require to be off the ice. Think back a few years, I'm sure players experienced the same type of injuries, yet they were never diagnosed as being this serious. It makes me wonder just how many hall of famers and ex stars played through these injuries and if it's been a cause of problems after they left the game? Just think of how many people Steven's leveled coming through the center ice over the blue line, ouch!!!
Agreed. This site is a place where I can share my opinion and also hear from a solid base of Sens fans that represent a pretty good cross-section of the types of fans that are out there.
You all come here for your Sens fix but so do I.
Eeeee. I often wonder if Yost reads the comment section on this site. Guess we'll find out. :)
Kidding aside, I understand why Yost made the decision he did.
lol, bravo.
Maybe he would have been freaked out by having his name associated with a site where the rumours occasionally happened.
To be honest Chirp I don't think Yost would have added that much. The "Tom says" segment works perfectly and there are enough opinions floating around here on a daily basis.
We get the info we get from you and the comment suggestions provide a lively and polarised debate.
I think maybe a guest blogger from time to time if they have something that is different would be great, but if things aint broke why fix them?
am sure it was definitely valid, mind you, some of the other bloggers over there are pretty putrid, the islanders blogger and the oilers blogger are probably two of the most sad excuses for bloggers I ever seen, seems like sometimes they are just there to incite controversy, like the Sean Avery of the blogging world, but just my opinion. lol.
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Talked about it a little bit in the comment section of last post. Very deserving considering the start he has had this season. Sounds like he had a strong camp too.
unlike Betty White... I am not on the twitter or the crackbook either lol
There's not enough bubble wrap in the world for a head that big... :)
Yea that is definitely something I want to add. Would look good on the home page and in the right hand column. Consider it "in the works".
He's making simular mistakes to rundblad at times and it makes you think that runblad is trying to play like him.
Karlsson wandering too much, him and foligno colide and cough up the puck and a goal. Michalek and karlsson collide [i think michalek seen him too late and tried to avoid hitting karlsson taking injury in the process].
Look at our d on the ot winner, and karlssons comment after.... spezza had ourbacks... not worried about the double d pinch... c'mon karlsson your better than this and your priority is defence first... have some responsibility.
Go sens!
Sweet! agreed.
He's got a good stick and plays the man pretty well but poor decisions with the puck keep putting him in tough spots. I think that will get better as he adjusts to the speed of the NHL game.
WTF is with all the concussions!?!
For sure! I'm not very familiar with the Swedish game, but to me it looks like he expects to have a couple seconds more time... It may be the ice size too...
With Gonchar out it is as if Karlsson thinks all the breakouts have to come from him and that every pass has to be a killer pass.
He needs to calm down a little and realise that sometimes the best play is the easy play.
I love the confidence that both Karlsson and Rundblad have but it needs to be tempered every so often. Same with Spezza, although at least EK and DB have the impetuosity of youth as an excuse.
Id do it this why vs Boston
This line up would be better dont wanna see a complete blow out do you ....
Regin-Spezza-Alfredsson
Folingo- Smith-Greening
Condra-Winnie-Neil
Daugavins-Konopka-Butler
Cowen-Karlsson
Phillips-Rundblad
Lee-Carkner
Happy he made the team. Now we will get a good look at how much his skating has improved when he is playing against the best players from other countries...
Dont think skating is a issue if he made Team Canada ..
I think Karlsson is giving a long leash. You don't want to subdue his creativity. That's what makes him very good... but also can hurt the team at times. He will get better defensively..we just have to give him time.
for me its more ignorance than resistance john, I am usually up on technology, but for cell phones, I have no desire to own an android, blackberry or iphone ever (or any cell phone to be honest), and I associate twitter with those devices, thefore the boycott, plus I get fed any valuable twitter information from one of my work colleagues on important days like deadline day and FA day.
No.. I guess not. BUT he has been criticized quite a bit on this site regarding his poor skating.
Agreed... I'm concerned he might bite off is own tongue. He can't keep his mouth shut and his tongue in it, whenever he has the puck.
I say 3-2 Boston, our bottom 6 will get us both goals while their top 6 gets them all 3 goals.
3-1 or 2-0 Boston...Thomas always has our number.
Have you predicted a single Sens victory this season? You are possibly right about tonight, but every single post you share is some how negatively tainted to the Sens... you must not be a happy fan this year.
I'm gonna predict a 3-2 (SO) Sens victory because I'm an unrealistically optimistic Sens "fan" (and happy to be so!)
Fan - noun
an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.: a Senators fan;
Not sure I'd call you a "fan". You are more like the guy who sees a car crashed into a tree and says "he should probably have avoided hitting that tree... but I honestly expected him to do it... and if you look back at my posts, I predicted it... therefore I am smarter than you".
GO SENS GO
Predictions are for gypsies.
Fan - noun
an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.: a Senators fan;
Sure, I'm an admirer of hockey and that makes me a fan, LOL, shoots himself down in his own post, lol.
that made me laugh so much that milk came down my nose - which is weird because I wasn't drinking milk at the time
Being an admirer of hockey does not make you a senators fan... it makes you a hockey fan - there is a difference. As a "hockey fan", I'm not sure why you hang out on a senators blog.
I didn't realize I needed to explain it to you like you were a child... I guess I gave you too much credit. I do apologize for that.
But I am truly happy to hear that you are an admirer of something... good for you!
I'd like to see how much of an impact it is on Boston when Chara is out.
Not this crap again...sigh...
Anyways...back to game day talk..
Our biggest task tonight is Tim F'ing Thomas...
With Rask getting the shutout last night, Thomas is going to be on the top of his game since he cant be outdone by Rask...Add to that, Thomas loves playing us in our own building which makes our task even tougher. Hope Andy is as solid in net as he was last night..He's been standing on his head the past couple of games..hope he continues to have solid showings..
Your own words, you've outdone yourself once again, LOL...
By your own words, you say I'm not, then post a definition which clearly says I am...
And I'm the child, LOL.
You Sir deserve an ENCORE!! cant wait to see what you come up wiht next!
maybe Tooks is just too much of a perfectionist.
Point taken. Last thing I want to do is become as negative as Tookie.
I miss the days a few years back when everyone would say Tim Thomas was too eratic, undisciplined to be a regular NHL goalie. He could have great games and horrific games. Nowadays, he's much more settled and doesn't make as many of the comical miscues he used to...
Highly doubtful, we can only speculate as it wont happen for atleast another 3-4 years.
I think a nice simple game tonight will do. Go to the net hard, get the D to throw everything AND the kitchen sink at Thomas, dig harder... no fancy schmancy tonight!
GO SENS GO
Just drop the Filatov crap, it was a huge mistake, he was never going to fit in with this hard working team. PM didnt like him, we all knew this would happen, well, atleast I did...
He's gone and wont come back, move on.
Will be interesting to see if the sens are as physical with Thomas as they were with Miller.
Speaking of which... what did everyone think of Greening's beat down of Erhoff?
I hope Andy turns into a Tim Thomas by year 3 or 4...
He has been pretty decent this year except for a couple of games..His numbers aren't so much an indication of his play but an indication of the rookie defense in front of him..He could have even had a couple of SOs to his record this year if it wasn't for him shooting himself in the foot with plays behind the net...All that being said ..you can see improvements in his game and confidence building even with the shady D...
Ai yai Captain Know it all! :)
Thomas I think can hold his own more... that being said, I hope Foligno accidentally backs into him a few times
4-1 or 5-2 bruins .. Thomas has a career 20-8-2 record, 1.95 goals against average and .936 save percentage in 30 career games vs. the Senators 6 shutouts
Has Anderson ever been in a goalie fight? Not sure the sens can hang with the bruins if it turns into a brawl... but it's been a while since we've had a good old goalie fight. Ahhhh... I miss Emery. He was always ready to go.
Are you mad? have you not met Mr. Lucic or Mr. Horton, Foligno will get killed if he touched Thomas.
We are icing Konopka, Carks, Neiler and Smithy ...
I dont think Foley will be in tooo much trouble...I also dont think Foley will stay away from Thomas just cause Lucic and Horton are on the ice...Wouldnt mind seeing a Foley marchand fight though...
Well as a strategic move its great, they lose their best D-man and we lose a grinder.
As for the beat down, Greening I knew could hold his own but Ehrhoff gave him all he could handle, we're talking about Ehrhoff here, lol, wasnt the clear beatdown it should have been.
Oh and its spelled Ehrhoff, but you probably knew that...
felt like throwing a question out there and seeing what a group of true NHL fans thought about the matter. This afternoon the carolina hurricanes announced that both Skinner and Pitkanen have concussions. With the long list of concussed: Crosby, Letang, Michalek, Pitkanen, Giroux, etc... Has this really become a serious problem in the game? Or is it just that teams are being overly cautious, and as soon as a player has a headache, we declare it a concussion?
What are your thoughts?
Sens did lose the last couple of games to the Bruins.. BUT they did get 3 goals by Thomas... that's more than they normally do..
Konopka is a punching bag, he and Thornton will go at it I bet and Konopka will once again grab jersey and hold on for dear life!
Foley and Marchand would be hilarious, I would hope Foley wins that, could be embarrassing losing to a midget!
Its gonna be physical and I believe we have a better bottom 6 but they have a much better top 6. I would say D is slight edge to Boston even with Chara out and Goalie goes to Boston, so does coaching. We need a miracle!
I hope you have more luck convincing everyone than I did. I just don't get why people can't let this go.
Miracles have happened in the past...
i remember us scoring 5 goals in the third period against them a year or two ago..Not sure if it was thomas in net though...Also, the miraculous win against the bruins has been a long time coming...
Anyways, dont really care about the win or loss tonight..just want an exciting game liek the past couple..
Aww man, wish it was 7 already....Love having back to back games...
Hey, thanks for the spelling correction... any feedback on my grammar? What about my choice of font? Was that ok?
Is he a centerman or winger, and will he be eligible to play top line in Ottawa next year?
listed as rw. Propably play 3rd line rw for canada
That's going to be a stacked team.
I seen a twitter update 2days ago thats where mark stone would play but i dont see it happening. Im thinking top six for sure because scheifele and strome need some finishers on thier wings.
Also - The TSN announcers are annoying tonight.
Leading point scorer - Out with concussion.
Best player in the game - Out with concussion.
Rookie of the year - Out with concussion.
Alfie - Missed time with concussion.
What the ass.
Hopefully we have another good start to this period and continue to go hard to the net like we were in the first 10 minutes of the first period, not the latter ten.
However, I must say that Rundblad is actually making better defensive decisions so far. Keep it up kid
This must be purely speculation on your part !!
Of course it is..Hence the "I wonder"
And whilst i type... ALFIE!!!
Of course it is..Hence the "I wonder"
And whilst i type... ALFIE!!!
Crap ..my bad.. i shouldve put the I before wonder...
Might be a good thing he didn't get a hold of Mcquaid
watching the tsn panel and man aaron ward is a douchedbag
Puempel - Zibanejad - Stone
Prince - Pageau - Silfverberg
Foligno - Smith - Neil
Free Filatov.
I dream of the day that I read in the newspaper that Sens fans assault obnoxious fans from {enter team name here}.
So many idiots in this city.
Oh no...you said the F word...
tookie is gonna be maaaad..
1. turnovers again...whats new?
2. anderson not playing upto his snuff, i think two weak goals.
What happened to the RSA, er, I mean, RSU?
Man Rundblad is bad on the turnovers. He'll adjust in time, this is his first year afterall. He'll mould into a Shea Weber in 3 years hopefully. Minus that salary of course.
I agree... I believe Murray should be the GM that rebuilds the team through the draft. But when the time comes to sign the free agents to put us over the top I think someone else should be charged with the job. A very similar situation occurred in Anaheim when Murray was there... Murray drafted the core (Getzlaf, Perry, Penner, etc), and another GM (Burke), singed the proper finishing pieces to compliment. Too often a single GM is given credit for "building a team" when often is is the work of two or three GMs over a time span. This is likely realistic for us, as Murray is nearing the end of his career and probably will consider retirement around the time the key free agent pieces for our push need to be added.
i can understand your logic with Anderson but he's the first legit starter we've had in some time and more importantly, you lose complete credibility with the rest of your rambling.
Gonchar has been a high end quarterback for a long long time.
Chris Phillips signing wasn't great but certainly wasnt a result of a breakout year.
Lee was a great signing, he's played himself back into at least being an asset?
I'm guessing the habs fans set you free?
Chris Phillips signing wasn't great but certainly wasnt a result of a breakout year.
Lee was a great signing, he's played himself back into at least being an asset?
I'm guessing the habs fans set you free?
Kovalev? Gerber? Kuba?
Since when is RNH out with a concussion?
I think he meant last seasons rookie of the year Skinner..
Did the Bruins even try? It looked too easy.
Oh well that pick will help!
Yes the Bruins tried.
Yes the pick will help any one, not just the Senators.
No, we won't care about what you have to say.
Kovalev? Gerber? Kuba?
Again, not sure how kovalev qualifies as coming off a breakout year or gerber who lost his job to ward or kuba who if you havent noticed was playing as a top two until his last injury
not sure how kovalev qualifies as coming off a breakout year or gerber who lost his job to ward or kuba who if you havent noticed was playing as a top two until his last injury
Kovalev was a mercurial talent his whole career, Gerber had just lost his starting job to a kid, and Kuba has been terrible and injury prone, save for a few games this year. Gonchar has helped the powerplay, but is not worth the money or term and Phillips has been awful for over 2 years now, but was retained. Meanwhile, 50 goals scorers are demanding out f town because of Murrays poor decision on coaching hires (whole other story), and we were trading away first round picks for Chris Campoli.... Thank god heatley nixed the original deal with Edmonton for Penner or wed really be up shit creek. Murray has a lackluster trade/signing/h iring record, and that is a fact. His saving grace has been his drafting ability, which at this point, is most important for us as a rebuilding club.
Phillips was already with the team. He wasn't fresh off the market from another team? The mistake was resigning him. And we both know Anderson's claim to fame was that stint in 2010 in the playoffs. If you think he's the one at the end of his 3 year contract hoisting the Cup in the air you're sadly mistaken.
Please. I would rather watch any of the games from this year's squad than the product on the ice for most of last year. At least there is passion. Expect bad nights. Expect bad losses. If you cannot take that as part of the package then you should join all the other bandwagon Canuck fans that showed up earlier in the week.
This is still my team and I will continue to cheer because I am a Sens fan.
GO SENS GO!
Fuck guys its Boston, they have lost what 2 times in almost 20 games....did you REALLY think a young rebuilding, projected to be last place team(looks more like bottom 5now) was going to win
Gave them a pretty good run actually. Outplayed them for most of the game. Just got out goaltended.
100% agree. Playing the SC champs, top scorer out, top 2 defensemen out, yet we "suck" and the rebuild should be blown up and ship DR7 and KK65 to bingo where they would rot.
Are we winning the cup this year: No.
Can we make the playoffs? Possibly
Are we a year ahead in the rebuild plan? YES.
I actually read some guy say that after 30 games, Rundblad should be at his prime...WTF??!? !
Off topic has anything with the site changed in the last week or two....seems to run much slower on my phone.
Are we winning the cup this year: No.
Can we make the playoffs? Possibly
Are we a year ahead in the rebuild plan? YES.
I actually read some guy say that after 30 games, Rundblad should be at his prime...WTF??!?!
@ conservativeHippie
Well stated there my friend !!
Most of the whiners on this board are young and impatient.
Excluding maybe the 2 blowout games early in the season, this team has shown passion and resilience for most of the games.
Young whippersnappers on SensChirp, expect them to never lose, and when they do lose, these same young fans want to blow up the whole team ??
Get yourself a life, and roll with the good and the bad !!
I'm pretty sure a lot of those Bruin fans jumped on their bandwagon in June.
It's call a re-build. Lots of young players, lots of mistakes. Expect more of this.
As for Anderson -- he is in tough.
When the D in front of you consists of -- a guy on the downside of his career (Phillips) a tough D who should be the 6th D on this team (Carkner) - a young D who has been out of the lineup more than in the past couple of years (Lee) and two 20 yrs olds & a 21 yr old... I'm not surprised there are a lot of breakaways. Not too many goalies will stop Bergeron like that. The goal that stunk for me was #5..
McLean is the right coach who will have the patience and teach these young players. The goal for this season was to develop the talent. If they made the playoffs, great for them. But they are not winning any playoff rounds or the Stanley Cup. Sorry to burst some of the 'bubbles' on this site.