-Ottawa overcome a 1-0 deficit in the final 30 seconds of the game to beat the Penguins 2-1 in double overtime.  Craig Anderson made 49 saves for the win, while Daniel Alfredsson (short-handed off a fantastic feed from Milan Michalek) and Colin Greening scored for Ottawa.  The game was markedly more physical than the previous two, and featured the awful officiating we all expect (Eric Furlatt and Stephen Walkom on this occasion).  It was a mixed bag from Erik Karlsson, who was solid in regulation, but then turnover-happy overtime.  There was more great play from Erik Condra, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Greening (and a tip of the hat to Andre Benoit who was instrumental on the game winning goal).  Jason Spezza did not play much (18:40) and his most notable moment for me was being run over by Craig Adams.  Chris Neil was injured on a hit from Brooks Orpik, but whether he will miss any action or not remains unknown (speculation is a shoulder injury).  Cory Conacher played the least of any Sen (13:22) with Mika Zibanejad not far ahead of him.  Here’s the boxscore.  Ryan Classic‘s overview of the game is solid, although he doesn’t reference that the ticky-tack call on Niskanen was a make-up call for the absurd Chris Phillips penalty.  Alan Muir offers some thoughts on the game where he emphasizes Anderson‘s play and some Pittsburgh mistakes.  Scott Burnside balances Penguin failure with the Senators doggedness.

-Daniel Alfredsson talked about the game:

It doesn’t always work out, but we always believe we can do it. That’s a good feeling to have. With a minute and half to go we get a penalty and it doesn’t look good, but we know we have some skill, we made some good passes and found an opening and it gives us a chance to win. We’re right back in it.

-Scott had the scoring chances in game two 10/23.

-Sylvain St-Laurent wonders if playoff performances will assure Pageau and Benoit roster spots in Ottawa next season.  I think the former is a lock, but I’m not sure that Benoit has the same kind of guarantee.

-Mark Parisi added to his Michalek-Bad column by saying Erik Karlsson, Cory Conacher, and Jakob Silfverberg are struggling–two out of three ain’t bad.  Silfverberg has been fine this series, albeit his usual linemates (Zibanejad and Conacher) have struggled and that might lead to Parisi’s impression (for Paul Maclean’s two cents I’d point to Silfverberg‘s third highest ice time among forwards last night).

-Jared Crozier explores the possibilities of a conspiracy against the Sens in regards to the officiating:

 I hate thinking that the league might secretly favor one team advancing instead of another and that they might have some secret directive.  I don’t think they do, but games like this make my opinion waver.

This idea can be pretty easy to gravitate too (like when Dan O’Halloran rolled his eyes at Karlsson after getting high-sticked by Malkin in game two), and comments by the lamentable Adam Proteau don’t help (I’m not sure how Adam thinks fans would have “definitive proof” of officials colluding–that’s the kind of thing journalists are supposed to look into).  Would the league prefer Sidney Crosby to move on to the next round over small-market Ottawa?  Sure.  Is there a directive from the league to make that happen?  Of course not, the league isn’t that stupid.  Are the officials aware of what makes the most sense for the league?  Absolutely.  Does it impact the calls they make?  I don’t see how anyone could answer that question.  Rather than look for conspiracies I’ve always preferred simply saying the officiating is awful.  Calls get ignored on both sides and the complete lack of consistency makes it almost impossible to determine if there is favouritism or not.

-Speaking of Proteau (link above), even he thinks the officiating this playoff year has been awful (similar comments were made last year as well), but offers no solution for it.

-Jason Spezza talked about his back surgery:

It got to the point [last year] where I couldn’t go out to dinner with the guys, I’d eat standing up. I slept on the floor. I’d start on the bed and wind up on the floor. Those were pretty dark times. Toward the end of last year, I felt a bit of stuff. But it was manageable. I played over in Switzerland and it was manageable. For whatever reason, one or two games into the season, it flared up. I wasn’t messing around with it. I took a cortisone shot and it didn’t do anything. When you take a cortisone shot and it doesn’t work, you know it’s time for surgery. It was an instant relief. The nerve pain goes away almost instantly. Then there’s a whole bunch of weakness that follows because they cut through the muscles. I knew what to expect. The surgeon warned me ahead of time that this might shut me down for the year. Fortunately for me, the team has played for so long and given me a chance to get back. It’s better than before I had surgery, but it’s going to take awhile before I feel 100%. At no point did I think that my year was over. Mentally, I had to keep feeling me like I could play. That’s gotten me to where I was feeling better and could ramp up my rehab to the point where I can now play. It’s not very fun being the first guy at the rink and the first guy to leave … not being around the guys, not getting the stimulation of playing. The first time I went on the ice to shoot pucks, I felt like a kid again. Once you have back problems, they never really leave you. It’s kind of a daily grind. I’ve done exercises every day for the last six years. My wife doesn’t like when I have to sit on the floor and stretch instead of sitting on the couch with her. I wouldn’t wish back pain on my worst enemy.

-I wonder if anyone still thinks the Sens miss Matt Carkner and Zenon Konopka–maybe Jeremy Milks, who was sure the team was much worse without them.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 20, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-Ottawa dropped to 0-2 in their series against Pittsburgh after a spirited 4-3 loss.  Craig Anderson looked average in allowing 3 goals (18 saves), but Robin Lehner ultimately took the loss despite 17 saves.  Kyle Turris, Colin Greening, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for Ottawa.  The Penguins enjoyed a significant edge in powerplays (six to two), and the game winner game just after the end of a dumb Chris Neil infraction, but ultimately the officiating (while bad) wasn’t the determining factor in the game.  It was a rough night for Mika Zibanejad (who only played 7:52 TOI and -2), as well as for Erik Karlsson who spent most of the second period benched (15:37 TOI and -2).  On the positive side the Condra-Pageau-Greening line continues to be excellent and I thought Turris was solid as well.  Jared Cowen continues to have problems down low in his own end, but Marc Methot and Sergei Gonchar were the best among the defenders.  Here’s the boxscore.

-Erik Karlsson was left searching for answers after the game:

We finished pretty strong, but we started poorly. Some of the blame is on me. I’m struggling a little bit. I don’t really know [if my problems are a result of injury or fatigue]. I don’t think I have the answer to that myself. I just have to find a way to figure my body out and obviously I’m not feeling the same way as I’m used to. It started bad and I just couldn’t get it going.

-There seems to be no goaltending debate amongst the blogging community (eg Mark Parisi), which surprises me given the other roster debates that go on paired with Anderson‘s lacklustre results against Pittsburgh all season.  Everyone wants to stay the course and if Andy blows another one maybe put in Lehner for clean-up duty when the team is down 0-3.  It seems counterintuitive to me–go with one or the other–as I don’t like the “safe” play.  With this kind of team MacLean should swing for the fences whatever he does (his comments after the fact give no indication he’s going to make a change).

-The big news is that Jason Spezza will play in game three (presumably putting Guillaume Latendresse back in the pressbox), but I wonder if he’s going to be like the Karlsson (a shadow of his pre-injury form) or not.  Regardless, he creates match-up problems for Pittsburgh and improves the Sens special teams and faceoffs (among other things).  Chris (and Travis Yost) speculates that Zibanejad will be moved to the wing.

-Kerry Fraser wants officials to have discretion with the delay of game penalty when the puck is shot over the glass, which I think is a terrible idea.  I want refs to have less decisions to make, not more–consistency is the goal.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 18, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a Comment

-Two lineup changes for the Sens tonight: Andre Benoit steps in for the injured Eric Gryba, while Guillaume Latendresse replaces powerplay specialist Matt Kassian.

-Graeme Nichols takes a look at the game tonight and talks about the underlying statistics that illustrate the Sens weren’t as behind the Pens in game one as the score would indicate.  He believes the inclusion of Latendresse is meant to help the second unit powerplay–certainly, unless his play warrants it, Guillaume won’t get much more ice time than Kassian did.  The switch to Benoit from Gryba is that of grit to skill; I also think Benoit will be a little more reliable in his own end as both Gryba and Cowen struggled in their own zone.  Nichols quotes Chris Phillips and Daniel Alfredsson who talked about the emphasis on controlling the play (possessing the puck) more.

-Cory Conacher talked about his approach to every game:

I like to be in those dirty areas. I like to kind of [tick] off some of their players and get in their heads, and the fans obviously take note of that sometimes. It’s all fun for me and hopefully I can continue to do that.

Paul MacLean has liked what he’s seen:

We’ve been very pleased with his evolution. He was a good player when we got him. As advertised, he’s a very competitive person and his heart is bigger than his size a lot of times. But at the same time, he’s very competitive and he works hard to score goals and he goes to the dirty areas to have an opportunity to score, and those are the things that we like about him. And those are things that we continue to need to see from him, and I thought he was in there and competitive and battled at the net last night, and we need more people that’ll do that.

-Penguins coach Dany Bylsma is a big fan of Paul MacLean’s and believes he deserves to be named coach of the year:

He deserves it.  You talk about last year with his team, coming into an Ottawa Senators team that he didn’t know what to expect or where they would be at, he did a great job last year. But this year, different challenges for his team and his group, and they dealt with some injuries and still [were] consistently a good hockey team without some of their key guys and with some of their key guys. I would have cast a vote for him.

-If there’s one thing we can count on when it comes to opinion pieces on the Sens, it’s Jeremy Milks telling us the solution to Ottawa’s problems is to get physical.  Jeremy says the Sens need to emulate the Flyers of last year who were very physical.  The fact that Philadelphia had no difficulty putting the puck in the net doesn’t make the comparison particularly apt to me (nor did the Penguins have an alternative to replace Marc-Andre Fleury).  Milks also advocates playing on the edge, but not taking any penalties, which ignores how officials have called every game Ottawa has played Pittsburgh this year.  Don’t get me wrong, I agree that the Sens need to be physical because the Penguins do lose their cool, but it’s a lesser consideration when put next to goaltending and scoring.

-Stu Hackel takes a long look at the Raffi Torres suspension.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 17, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a Comment

-Ottawa opened its playoff series with their biggest loss to the Penguins this season.  Although the team held their own 5-on-5, their special teams were awful as Pittsburgh scored 2 powerplay goals and a shortie.  Craig Anderson did not have the form he did against Montreal, making 26 saves in the loss, while Colin Greening scored the only goal.  Here’s the boxscore.  Scott had the scoring chances 18/14, and however shaky Tomas Vokoun looked he only allowed one goal.  Eric Gryba was hurt in the loss and while I’d normally expect Patrick Wiercioch to replace him,if he still isn’t healthy enough to go presumably Andre Benoit will join the lineup (or perhaps even Mark Borowiecki, whose best NHL game was against the Penguins).

-The Raaymaker had a hard time coming up with positives from the game, but he liked Sergei Gonchar and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, while dumping on Anderson, Jared Cowen, and Eric Gryba.  He also doesn’t like Milan Michalek because he didn’t put up points last night.

-Scott Burnside see’s some positives for Ottawa in the loss:

In fact, one of the interesting things about this series — the fourth time the teams have met in the postseason since the 2007 playoffs — is that the Senators resemble a slightly less developed, less refined version of the Penguins themselves. The Senators move the puck quickly and smartly out of their zone and are patient with the puck in the offensive zone. If they lack the finish of the Penguins, it is a function of a lack of raw skill and experience as opposed to will or understanding. The differences, then, separating these two teams in this series-opening game were subtle, the kinds of differences that almost always separate the teams that can take a first-round series victory and build on it, and those that cannot.

-Stu Hackel jumps in with a late series preview and also thinks the Sens have a great powerplay.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 15, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-As expected Tomas Vokoun will start for the Penguins tonight.

-Adnan takes a look at the line combinations, but ignores the third game of the season series so it’s a small sample size.  He believes Karlsson and Methot will match up against Crosby, while Gonchar and Phillips or Cowen will line up against Malkin.  He thinks Turris will face Crosby.  He also adds:

Crosby may be a douchebag, but he is a very talented one.

Succinct and to the point.

-Dave Molinari looks at the match-up, but clearly did not watch the Sens series against the Habs because he thinks their powerplay was “lethal”; he picks the Penguins in six.

-Scott Burnside also wasn’t watching Ottawa’s series (he also thinks their powerplay is good), but his look at the series is more well-rounded.  He picks the Pens in six.

-The Hockey News predicts the Pens in seven, giving Pittsburgh the edge in offense and special teams, but Ottawa the edge in defense and goaltending.

-Ian Mendes offers up a variety of Sens-Pens trivia, the most interesting of which is that all of the coaches in the second round have won Stanley Cups (six as coaches, two as assistant coaches).

-Marc Methot talks about how difficult it is to target star players physically:

They’re good for a reason. They don’t put themselves in vulnerable positions where they’ll get hit. It’s going to be tough. The biggest thing is to stay tight in our own end and not get running around in our own end where they thrive.

-Nichols looks at Bryan Murray failing to earn a nomination as the top GM for the year:

Bryan Murray’s omission is the kind of result that instinctively channels the inner-fanboy in most fans, but it’s worth remembering that this exercise to evaluate or recognize a GM’s accomplishments for one season’s work is ridiculously inane. This isn’t the freshman fifteen when the months of binge drinking, eating fast food and cafeteria catch up to student in short order. It takes years before the true efforts of a GM can be grasped and properly evaluated.

All very true and yet another reason why awards are rarely indicative of anything.

-Bobby Kelly doesn’t want the Sens to have the “Canada’s Team” label, because he doesn’t think the idea is very serious (it isn’t).  What it is (potentially) is good marketing, and if that creates a few more Sens fans I’m fine with it.

-Last night the Leafs choked away a three-goal lead in the third to lose to Boston in overtime, establishing a new playoff record for failure.  It has been a funny series to watch, as the Bruins have not looked good while the Leafs primary problem seemed to be between the pipes.  Given how much talent Toronto has donated to Boston over the years it makes you wonder how different things would be if there was better management in Leafland.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 14, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-Here’s my preview of the second round series against Pittsburgh, which will begin tomorrow (Tuesday).

-Allan Muir picks the Pens in seven, echoing the points above and below (focussing primarily on Pittsburgh’s goaltending).

-The Raaymaker gave me a heart attack by suggesting Chris Phillips will be the main guy shutting down Sidney Crosby:

Despite Phillips‘ coverage, Crosby‘s lit up the Sens in the regular season (6G, 19A in 24GP), and it’s only been worse in the post-season: He’s got 27P (10G, 17A) in 15 career playoff games against Ottawa–far above his career points-per-game average.

He may be right about the match-up, but I doubt Paul MacLean wants it exclusively.  A healthy Erik Karlsson is the only Sens blueliner who can keep up with his speed and I’d rather have Marc Methot on Crosby duty.

-James and Varada discuss with the match-up with James suggesting the Pittsburgh-Ottawa match-up is on par with the Boston-Toronto series, which I just don’t see at all.  Varada suggests agitating the Penguins like Philadelphia did last year in order to have success, while James thinks a speed advantage is the Sens way to win.

-Jason Spezza did not join the Sens as they travelled to Pittsburgh, so will miss at least game one.

-Some quotes from Daniel Alfredsson, Karlsson, and Paul MacLean about the upcoming match-up:

You can’t come down (the ice) and know that he’s [Tomas Vokoun] going to butterfly every time [like Marc-Andre Fleury]. He’s going to do different things all the time. You’ve almost got to make him think that you think that I think what he thinks all the time. Does that make sense? I don’t know.

And

Even though they have a great team, if you just work hard and the right way you’re going to give yourself a chance.

And

How do we match up against them? We’re going to have to see. They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason so we’re going to have to be ready to work. One thing I’ve learned from the Stanley Cup playoffs is that they play the games and a lot can happen. A lot of times what’s supposed to happen doesn’t happen. We just have to get ourselves prepared as best we can and give ourselves a good effort.

-Jared Cowen talked about the match-up:

There’s so much to worry about over there. They have quite a bit of firepower. I think we have the perfect style of play to combat that. Obviously we showed that against Montreal against their top players so I don’t think we should have too much difference in our game plan in terms of shutting them down. The Islanders play kind of similar to how we play with the kind of lineup they have and I think if we can simulate that, but maybe have more success in the O-zone. They have three lines that could be a first line on a lot of other teams. The core of their team has been playing together for a while so they’re very familiar, they’ve been to the final a couple of times so it’s not like they’re inexperienced and talented, they’re experienced AND talented. They’ve got a lot of facets to their game and everyone here has to play their best to match that. We have experienced guys in different ways but not in the same way that they are.

-Mark Parisi needs to rename his ups and downs column to “Michalek Bad”, since that’s pretty much all he’s said the last couple of weeks.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 13, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a Comment