Montreal 4 Ottawa 2

THE GOOD:

Yet again, the penalty killing. While the powerplay remains ass (more on that soon, trust me), the penalty killers continue to bail out the Sens when they take thoughtless infractions. In particular, Anton Volchenkov, Chris Kelly, and Mike Fisher.

The return of Peter Schaefer. He wasn’t as effective as he is when he’s playing his best, but you saw the value in having #27 back in the line-up. He was his usual great self along the boards, showed no signs of a sore hip when he was throwing checks, and was good on the forecheck.

THE BAD:

The powerplay. At this point, criticizing the Sens’ PP is beyond redundant. It’s a complete clusterfuck. What was the one goal that Ottawa scored tonight? A puck thrown at the net. Why don’t they seem to realize these are the goals they need to start getting to get themselves out of this funk? Stop being blinded by your own individuals talents. Yes, you’re terrific players, but these cutesy highlight reel plays, with tic-tac-toe passing, are not effective. They haven’t been all season. Maybe it’s a good idea to cease attempting them? Bryan Murray needs to send a message and, for an entire powerplay, give some ice time to Denis Hamel, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil, and more to Mike Fisher, because at least with know with those guys, this nonsense won’t occur. They may not score, but it won’t be because of hubris. Let the big guns watch from the bench. Oh, and another shortie scored against. Wonderful.

A lack of confidence. Ottawa is a team that, when things are rolling, boy are they ever. During that terrific three game romp of the Devils and then the Leafs twice, they looked like one of the best clubs in the league. They’re back, we thought. Boston was a bit of a reality check and tonight was the splash of water in the face we needed to realize, this team has a lot of issues. They can’t play from behind, for one. That was theme that reared it’s head at various points last season but is especially prevalent now. If they can score the first goal then all’s well, but this team cannot face adversity, it seems. Is it because they lack the character to dust themselves off after being knocked down?

Bad defensive zone coverage. It was common to see a Canadiens skater open and free throughout the game. On two of the Habs’ goals, a player was left all alone. Jacques Martin is rolling over in his grave. He died from seeing these games, you see.

Key players taking shifts off. Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza all had points in the game, and in some cases more than a few, where they looked to be coasting. This cannot happen. As cliché as it may be, this team’s best players need to be their best players. The 8-1 win over the Devils saw Heatley and Spezza in particular do all the little things well. Those things were ignored far too often tonight.

Taking early penalties. Going into Montreal is never an easy task. Even when the Habs are not playing especially well, the Bell Centre is a difficult place to get two points in. Ottawa has, historically, been pretty inconsistent when traveling to La Belle Province, and this season, so far, has been no different. The shootout win from a few weeks saw Ottawa play well but fall apart in the end. This game saw them play with little life for 50 minutes, score a goal, get back into the game, but ultimately fall short. And I believe it all stemmed from those first 5 or so minutes, when Ottawa took two very unnecessary penalties. Right away, Montreal had the momentum and, with the exception of a shift here or there, controlled the game the rest of the way through. Penalties are going to happen. Players are still adjusting to the new rules. But the ones that they got whistled for, a stupid holding penalty by Chris Phillips and then a really sloppy hooking penalty by Daniel Alfredsson six seconds after the Senators killed off the first one.

Denis Hamel only playing 3:33. If a team is struggling to score, is it not wise to throw a guy who scored over 50 in the AHL last season on the ice every now and then to see what he can accomplish? Shit, even Brian McGratton played more. Let’s remember that Hamel scored in the last Sens-Habs game, with a goal that’s just the kind they need right now: hard work and a big second effort. Hamel got one shift in the third period.

THE OPPOSITION:

The Saturday night shootout game between the Habs and Leafs was a treat to watch as a fan with no significant rooting interest, but truth be told, the Habs were badly outplayed and were lucky to get the single point. They rebounded well.

The big talk in Montreal, with that relentless media, was Alexei Kovalev being moved to center so Sergei Samsonov could play on the second line with Kovalev and another Russian, Alexander Perezhogin. Even Guy Lafleur chimed in with his thoughts on the high paid Ruskies. It was only one game, but I thought they played real well. In fact, both the Russian line and Saku Koivu’s group had strong games, with Chris Higgins being the best Canadiens skater.

As well, the much heralded freshman, Guillaume Latendresse actually looked liked the guy the French media has made him out to be. Without question, the best game I’ve seen of his thus far. Very physical, good speed in both ends, and generated some offensive spurts.

And how long before Montreal has a true, genuine goaltending controversy? David Aebischer wasn’t tested on a major level, however, he answered the bell when called upon.

UP NEXT:

The Sens don't play until Saturday night, when the defending Cup champs come to town. Carolina isn't exactly firing on all cylinders either, with a 5-5-2 record and having allowed 45 goals in 12 games. Has Cam Ward come back to Earth? Will be and Cristobol Huet fight it out for the 2006 Jim Carey Award? Last season, the games between the Sens and Canes were real barnburners, however, last season seems like an eternity ago for both clubs.

I haven't decided if having three days between games is a good thing or not for the struggling Senators. Clearly, there are some serious things that need to be worked on. Will three days of hard practice fix things?

Boston 2 Ottawa 1

THE GOOD:

Martin Gerber. Even in defeat, I thought this was the Swiss netminder’s best game of the season. He’s been burned by some poor performances by the team in front of him so far, and on this night, with an often blasé skating group not helping him a lot, Gerber bailed them out more than once. More than anything else, Gerber looked confident, which has been the theme for Senators coming out of slumps thus far this year. Spezza and Heatley turned their games around when they started playing with buoyancy and that was certainly the case here. Gerber wasn’t fighting the puck, looked calm and cool throughout, controlled his rebounds very well, and was even good handling the puck, something I never thought possible a few weeks ago. It’s a shame the Sens couldn’t pull out the two points to give Gerber something to hang his hat on. Let’s just hope the defeat doesn’t deflate Gerber and instead he’s able to carry it over into his next start. If he does, the Sens sport two very confident goaltenders, which is a good problem to have.

Chris Phillips. His play fell off a little in the third, which I suspect was partly due to Philly tiring with all the minutes he was logging, however, overall, the Big Rig turned out a strong game. How much of that was because he wanted to play well against his defence partner of four years, Zdeno Chara, who knows. It’s not as if the uber-determined Phillips needed extra motivation (and if he did, I’d hope it would come when he found out Wade Redden was playing), but whatever it was, it worked. He was very effective in his own end, laying checks as well as taking them in order to make the right play, as well as breaking up many rushes from the Bruins.

The penalty killing. Yeah, they allowed a goal, the game winner no less, but they were able to neutralize the Bruins for most of the games and were effective on the whole. They should have never been on the ice in the last five minutes with the game tied.

Anton Volchenkov. Another solid, albeit unspectacular outing from the A-Train. Very responsible defensively, good physical presence, and never caught out of position, which is more than you can say for the majority of the Senator rearguards.

The intensity in the first period. A fight between Chris Neil and Wade Brookbank (what’s that about Neil not fighting other fighters?), a near fight between Chara and Brian McGratton (smart bait by Gratts), and tons of hitting made me think the game would be electric. It didn’t last. Neither team came out with that same energy in the second period, unfortunately, and the quality of the game fell significantly. But for 20 minutes, it was quite good.

The Toronto-Montreal game. Even with a rooting interest in the Sens-Bruins game, I found myself turning into RDS to catch the Habs-Leafs contest more and more as the night went on. What a finish.

THE BAD:

Another uneven effort. Perhaps Ottawa came in overconfident and figured they could take it easy and still get the W against a struggling Boston team. Maybe those three consecutive blowout wins inflated their heads a little too much. Whatever it was, the Sens as a team definitely didn't come to play for the full 60 minutes, and the result reflects that. This isn’t to say they played poorly. But it was a flat, uninterested team that took the ice and, with the exception of a shift here or there, that attitude remained throughout, and only got worse as the game aged. They didn’t play with the same jump, they weren’t going the extra mile to win the battles along the boards, and the passing was sloppy. The play in their own end was also a problem, especially in the second half of the contest. Lazy attempts to clear the zone, which are about the most frustrating to me as a fan (I'm sure my neighbors hear me yell "JUST GET IT OUT!" a dozen times every other night and think strange thoughts), were far too prevelant.

The powerplay. The Senators did notch one goal with the man advantage (a five-on-three), but overall, their play in that position was not good. Wade Redden has taken a lot of criticism for his lack of offensive production thus far but his importance to this team, especially in this area, was blatantly obvious when you saw how poor the Sens defencemen were on the powerplay. They had a difficult time keeping the puck in the end and a lot of the passes, whether they be from D to D or to a forward on the wing, were not good. Boston came into the game with one of the worst penalty killing records in the league thus far and Ottawa was not able to exploit it. They even got a second five-on-three in the third period for nearly 90 seconds, and could not get anything out of it. And if you want to look for a turning point in the game, that’s as good a place to start. The Bruins already had the momentum, having just scored two minutes earlier, and the jolt they got from killing those penalties really lit a fire under them.

Undisciplined play. If Jacques Martin was still coaching this team, some players would be getting an earful on the plane trip home. Chris Neil in particular took two very bad, ill-timed penalties in the last five minutes of the game. The second, with less than two minutes left. was a questionable call, and it barely looked like interference to me, but Neil should know better than to even tempt fate at that point in the game. Especially when the previous penalty he took resulted in Boston taking the 2-1 lead.

Andrej Meszaros. This was one of those nights when the Slovakian defenceman looked his age. A very poor performance. Many mental errors both with the puck and positionally. You could count these kind of games from the kid on two hands last year, which for a 20-year-old rookie d-man was pretty remarkable. I suspect we won’t see too many this season that resemble this one.

Giving up odd man rushes. I realize that much of the reason the offence had exploded in the previous three games was because the defence was getting involved in the fun, often joining the rush. But you have to pick your spots. The Sens must’ve allowed half a dozen odd man rushes, including three in the first period, and almost all of them came from a defenceman overextending himself offensively, leaving the team prone. Thankfully, none of them ended in the Bruins lighting the lamp, mostly because Martin Gerber saved the day (on one of them Jason Spezza of all people backchecked hard and broke up a pass), but maybe they need to get burned on one of them to learn their lesson. I would think that after the first couple they’d get the message but alas they kept playing with fire, asking to be burnt. If they do this against a better team, it’ll happen.

Tom Preissing. He’ll get the goat status due to the turnover that resulted in P.J. Axelsson tying the game, but even beyond that, he struggled. With Wade Redden out, you’d think Preissing would get an increased role, but he only played 13 minutes, and much of that was logged on the powerplay, where he didn’t play particularly well. He’s really having trouble finding his role on this team, especially with Joe Corvo back and playing so well (Corvo, in contrast, played 29 minutes, the most on the team). Preissing’s had a couple good games but on the whole hasn’t made the impact I expected. If Christoph Schubert has a few really good games Preissing might find himself in the press box unless he steps it up.

The ice. You’d think a hockey city like Beantown would have a resident ice guru who made sure the rink’s surface was sound. Pucks were bouncing all night long, for both teams.

THE OPPOSITION:

Like most Ottawa-Boston games, this one was a slow, often uninteresting game, and much of the reason was because that’s how the Bruins, who dictated the pace for the majority of the game, wanted it. It seemed as if they were biding their time, waiting for the chance to score and then take over offensively. Don’t get me wrong, they had their chances, and more than Ottawa, but they knew they couldn’t run and gun with the Sens and therefore played a more consecutive game.

The one guy who didn’t get that memo was Phil Kessel, who was, hands down, the best player on either team. I’d seen the rookie in one other game this season, and came away remarkably unimpressed, but he won me over here. He literally took the Bruins on his back in the second period, when the pendulum shifted for good in their favor, generating the majority of their good chances and generally serving as the catalyst for their attack. If Patrice Bergeron had actually come to play, they could have really been a dangerous combination.

The other guy I watched closely, like most of you did as well I’m sure, was big Chara. All eyes were on how he’d fare against his old team and I thought he had a strong game. He wasn’t dominating, but he certainly made his presence felt, both in his own end by throwing his weight around in the corners, as well as by scoring the game winner. I think he’ll get more up for when he comes back to Ottawa next month, his first visit back in the nation’s capital as a Bruin.

UP NEXT:

Montreal on Tuesday. Both clubs should be anxious to get the win, with the Habs losing in tonight’s barnburner at the Molson Centre. While they lost, and were clearly outplayed by a determined Leafs team, they’re still having a solid season thus far and if Sergei Samsonov is truly back, and the two goals tonight weren’t an aberration, then Ottawa might be in some trouble because he’s a gamebreaker. On their side, the Sens have to be hoping both Peter Schaefer and Redden will be back. The early word is that Schaefer will be ready but with these hip injuries it’s tough to pinpoint a hard return date, and Redden’s lower body injury is apparently the same groin that bugged him earlier in the season, meaning it might be another game before he’s ready.

Ottawa 7 Toronto 2

THE GOOD:

Going hard to the net. Whether it was Dany Heatley or Chris Neil or Patrick Eaves or Chris Kelly, Ottawa forwards didn’t waste any time with the fancy shit, instead rushing right towards Andrew Raycroft and making his life miserable. The majority of the goals scored came from hard work around the net.

Smart play with a lead. It was pretty well over going into the third, with Ottawa up by four goals, but I was fearful Ottawa would get lazy and the Leafs would net a couple to come away with some momentum, leaving the Sens deflated in the final frame. That didn’t occur, which shows the maturity of this team, because even the team last year was prone to that quite often. No dumb passes, good effort in both ends of the ice, and a strong forecheck maintained throughout ensured the Leafs had zero chance of making a game of it again. Hell, they were even blocking shots with a five goal lead. That’s commitment.

Joe Corvo. When the Sens signed Corvo, I knew so little about what he brought to the table I had to solicit thoughts from Kings fans. I knew his name and some stats, but his game as a player was a mystery to me. So to say I was skeptical when Ottawa threw over $10 million on his lap would be an understatement. Thus far, I’m glad to be wrong. Since coming back from the injury, Corvo has been a tremendous surprise. He’s really completely turned the defence core around. On this night he racked up a career high five points, and those stats are in fact indicative of how good a game he had, in both ends of the ice. He was physical, he joined the rush and created offence, and in his own end was very responsible. And what a shot.

Dany Heatley & Jason Spezza. Considering they had a combined eight points, including a hat trick from Heatley, it’s fair to say they had a good game, but once again, their dominance extended beyond the numbers. When the pair started the season struggling, they were justifiably criticized by fans and media alike not just for their lack of offensive production but also all of the little things they were doing horribly wrong. Almost everyone of those little things have been rectified, and shockingly enough, their scoring has turned around. Coincidence? I doubt it. Spezza isn’t turning the puck over with as much ease. The handful of dangerous passes he made last night followed Jason at the very least surveying the situation. Heatley is finishing his checks and in his own end committing himself 100%. Spezza is battling hard in one on one puck battles. This really does show that those same little things are what contributes to big success.

Ray Emery. He wasn’t forced to be spectacular, obviously, but he made the timely saves when called upon and played with a lot of poise and confidence.

Darcy Tucker getting his just desserts. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Anton Volchenkov’s open-ice shoulder smash looked to knock the life out of Darcy, as he wasn’t much of a factor from that point on.

The PK. Continues to be the backbone of Ottawa’s success, even when the powerplay isn’t firing on all cylinders. They pressured Toronto’s dangerous point men Kaberle and McCabe, who once again weren’t nearly the impact players they usually are, and even generated a handful of decent scoring chances down a man.

Chris Neil. With his six hits, he takes over the NHL lead in that category. I’m sure Leafs players were cursing his name after each one, which is what he’s best at.

THE BAD:

Daniel Alfredsson’s finish. He hit two posts, so perhaps a Mulligan should be given to the captain, but he still does not have that January scoring touch just yet, and it looks to be effecting his confidence.

Finishing without Wade Redden & Chris Phillips. Are the Senators incapable of ending a game with their six defencemen healthy? Both left with lower body injuries, and that’s all that’s known at this point.

Magnetic goalposts. Ottawa hit at least four in the second period (a fifth one looked to occur, but could have just missed). Meaning, that explosive second period could have been even more ugly for the Leafs had they not gotten some luck with the steel.

THE OPPOSITION:

Going into the game, I didn’t buy all the hype about this one getting out of hand and ugly because I figured in order for that to happen, the score would have to be lopsided and I didn’t see that occurring. I thought it would be a hard hitting, entertaining game that would be too close for either team to decide to take liberties with the other. For a while, I was looking correct. Then Ottawa blew it open and the Leafs, for the second straight game, had no response.

Which brings me to the same question I had after Tuesday night’s game: who are the 2006 Toronto Maple Leafs? Do you have an idea? I sure don’t. They were very much in the game in the first period, as it could have gone either way, and for much of the second gave as much as they received in the way of scoring chances. When Jeff O’Neill scored to make it 3-2, I thought, here we go. Yet once Joe Corvo restored the two goal lead, the Leafs seemed to collectively fold their tents, and this time, no one even decided to go down with a fight.

If I’m a Leafs fan, I’m yearning for Pat Quinn. At least his clubs would fight until the end.

Andrew Raycroft got lit up for seven goals, but he had no help from his defence, and if one were to make a list of those responsible for this defeat, he wouldn’t even chart. The blueline was terrible, again, with the big guns Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle struggling badly for the second straight night. They need help badly.

And up front, the guys who need to play well didn’t. As mentioned earlier, Tucker had the fight knocked out of him early. The top line of Kyle Wellwood-Mats Sundin-Alex Steen had a few strong shifts, especially in the first period, but they faded quietly. Sundin in particular looked to have thrown in the towel. Was he just frustrated with all this losing? In the third, when the Leafs needed to show some sign of life, he resembled the rest of his teammates by having no response. I’d be concerned about that.

UP NEXT:

The Boston Bruins on Saturday night. It’s our first look at the revamped B’s, who are in the midst of a slump that has some of their previously enthused fans wondering if their expectations were set too high. It will be strange, but fun, to see the Sens play against Zdeno Chara. I wonder how much it’ll hurt him to crush his former teammates, who I’m sure are still pals of his, in the corners, or in front of the net. Coming off a loss last night to the Habs, in heartbreaking fashion, you know they’ll be itching for the two points.

Ottawa 6 Toronto 2

THE GOOD:

The big guns. It started in Saturday night’s blowout victory over the Devils, and thankfully carried over into tonight’s game. In addition to putting up points, both Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza had strong all around games. Spezza’s turnovers have been reduced tremendously, and when he did make the occasional drop pass, he figured it wise to at the very least look back to ensure the person receiving the puck was wearing the same sweater as he. Both men displayed an impressive defensive commitment as well, playing as hard in their own as they did in the opposition’s. A great example of this was how Dany Heatley basically saved a goal, as Mats Sundin had Martin Gerber down and out on a wrap-around in the second period, yet it was Heater who stuck with him and got a sick on Mats’ to block any shot attempt. And while he didn’t have as significant a game offensively, Daniel Alfredsson did all the little things right. He was good in transition, moved the puck well, and was a big reason the penalty killing was so good. This kind of effort from Ottawa’s best three players will pay dividends down the road.

Mike Fisher & Chris Neil. What a game from both men. Neil has probably been the Senators most reliable forward this season, which is remarkable in itself when you realize how far he’s come as a player. It wasn’t that long ago that Neil was used sparingly in a four line role, mostly filling the job of enforcer for the club. Now, he’s on the ice in key moments, often. And Mike Fisher was on fire. While officially it says he logged 17 minutes, it sure seemed like 30 to me. Every time I blinked Fisher was on the ice rushing the puck up the ice. How many scoring chances were generated strictly by Fisher? Half a dozen? He was in mid-season form, and needed to be.

Joe Corvo & Chris Phillips as a defence pair. Redden and Corvo was a nice duo in theory, as was Andrej Meszaros and Phillips, but it just wasn’t working. Credit to Bryan Murray for noticing this and making an adjustment. Redden and Meszaros had an average game, with shifts ranging from awful to excellent, but Corvo and Philly were steady throughout. They seemed to have a natural chemistry and had no difficultly finding each other on the ice.

Some powerplay goals. The PP is still very poor, and needs a ton of work, but some goals scored with a man advantage is a start.

The penalty killing. The Leafs didn’t do themselves any favors with their poor execution on the powerplay, as they just didn’t have it tonight, however, the Sens made it difficult for them. Ottawa clogged the neutral zone, making it extremely hard for them to penetrate the zone, let alone sustain some pressure.

Defence joining the rush. This was what we were told to expect when Joe Corvo was signed and Tom Preissing was acquired in the Martin Havlat trade. I like it.

THE BAD:

Complacency. Ottawa owned the Leafs in the first frame. The 3-0 score was flattering to the Buds as they were outplayed in every facet of the game. However, the Sens did not keep the foot on the gas pedal, playing quite poorly in the second period, allowing the Leafs to get back in the game ever so slightly. On the one hand, I’m glad they did, because it would have been a very dull two or so hours if they hadn’t, but it reminded me too much of the infamous FLU game between these teams.

Martin Gerber in the third period. I was getting flashbacks of Patrick Lalime, and it sure seemed like the Leafs were too based on how often they were firing the puck from any and every angle. Gerber had a decent enough game overall but was not very reassuring at various points and has pretty much established himself as the worst puckhandling netminder in franchise history. And considering we’ve had both Lalime AND Hasek, that’s saying a lot.

Losing Anton Volchenkov. The severity of the injury remains a mystery at this point, but it sure would be a shame for the A-Train to go down when he’s playing his best hockey in forever.

Darcy Tucker gooning Patrick Eaves. A dirty act that even the most diehard Leaf Nation members must have a hard time defending. Tucker’s vagina hurt because his team was down and went after a kid who doesn’t fight. What big balls he has.

THE OPPOSITION:

The Leafs remain an enigma to me. Does anyone know which team will take the ice each game, because I sure don’t, and I’ve seen more of their games this season than I haven’t. There are some old faithfuls, as Mats Sundin came to play as always and the aforementioned asshole Tucker who was his usually pesty self . But where was Kyle Wellwood? Mike Peca?

Don’t get me wrong, there were spurts where they were all over Ottawa, and points in the game when they were dictating the pace of the game, however, these moments could not be sustained for extended periods, and truth be told, most of them occurred as much because of Ottawa’s poor play as it Toronto’s good.

Their defence is in big trouble, and I’m not sold on the idea that it’s solely because they’re without Pavol Kubina, though there can be no disputing the fact it hurts. Are Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe burnt out or was this just an off night for the pair of workhorse rearguards? That was one of the worst games I’ve seen Kaberle, who is usually their one reliable blueliner, play in many years. Not only was he not a factor, even on the powerplay where he and McCabe shine brightest, but he routinely hurt his team in his own end.

And I hate to say I told you so, but holy fuck does Hal Gill suck. I believe I said as much when he was signed but too many of you were won over by size, overlooking the fact the guy really can’t play. It pained me to see Brendan Bell struggle because I’m a big fan of his. Ian White was the lone defenceman who didn’t embarrass himself. I become more impressed with his game each time I see him play.

Thursday night, the Leafs need to come out with a much better effort if they want to quiet the whispers that they’re an inconsistent bunch.

UP NEXT:

These same Leafs. You know their pride will kick in and they’ll come more prepared Thursday night. The last time Ottawa beat them up on home ice, they did much worse in response. It looks like Ray Emery will get the nod for the Senators. I have no opinion on that one way or another.