–The Ottawa Sun‘s Bruce Garrioch adds his voice to those in the local media beating the drum for retribution against the Rangers after the Wolski hit on Alfredsson (link)
-In The Ottawa Sun‘s “Digital Faceoff” (link) Garrioch wants to throw the rebuild out the window to make the playoffs, “Perhaps you guys will remember the interview with Eugene Melnyk before the season where he said if Bryan wanted to bulk up at the deadline for playoff help, he would do it. Who wants to finish out of the playoffs? I can tell you the fans here would be OK with sidelining all the rebuild stuff if this team has a shot at the post-season.”
-In another Garrioch article (link) he includes a good quote from Paul MacLean about the play of the team’s veteran blueliners, “I think he’s just trying to be Chris Phillips and not trying to be Chris Phillips and David Rundblad, Chris Phillips and Jared Cowen. Filip (Kuba), Sergei (Gonchar) and (Phillips) were maybe trying to do too much at the beginning of the year with the partners they had, but they’ve settled in and just been themselves.”
–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Wayne Scanlan writes about goaltending around the NHL (link) and includes some interesting comments from Craig Anderson, “[Back-ups] usually they get thrown in when the team’s down 3-0 halfway through the first, they end up playing 50 minutes and have a shutout, right? Having 25 saves on the night – looks really good on their stats. Then the next game he gives up one or two, and suddenly he’s only given up two goals in nearly two games, and 50 shots later he’s got a great save percentage.”
–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Ken Warren writes about Filip Kuba‘s early season performance (link), with the big blueliner saying, “Coming back wasn’t easy. I just wasn’t there. After my back surgery and then I (rehabilitated) all summer, and then the leg and everything and I missed a lot of time. I wasn’t up to speed with the game. It took me more than I thought it would to get back. I think we had a pretty good couple of months at the end of the season and felt better, I thought at that point, I was playing the way I wanted to play.”
-Rob Brodie writes about Zack Smith‘s early season success (link), with Smith saying, “I’ve got a lot more confidence, especially after playing in Binghamton in the playoffs last year. I got to play a more offensive role and I’ve come up here and it feels like the coach has more confidence in me. Our line has created chances 5-on-5, and me and Condra have been able to create chances shorthanded.”
-Joy Lindsay writes about Nikita Filatov‘s return to Binghamton (link), with Filatov saying, “Yeah, I kind of expected it. Especially when I figured out I’m gonna play … I started to play like five, six minutes per game, I just kind of understood, it’s not my role there. So, basically, probably, they think I’m not ready yet to try for more. I played not much there, but anyway it was good experience, and I was there, so now just here again, so just gonna keep working.” And “I just was trying to focus more on the defensive. I’m pretty happy with the way it went.” And “I kind of helped them last time, and it’s fun. It’s a pleasure to help these guys. It’s a good group of guys, great coach, so I’m just going to try to do everything I can, and the biggest part will hopefully be getting goals.” Kleinendorst said, “I think for sure (it’s good for him to be back). He wouldn’t be here (if it wasn’t). It’s all of us working together. That’s the one thing Paul has been real good about. When the guys get sent down, there’s dialogue, there’s a conversation just so we’re all on the same page. I think that Nikita knows that we’re all behind him, we’re all pulling for him, and this is all for his development. This is not punishment. This is for us as an organization to try to create something that we know is there. With Filly, it’s nothing more than he has to be competitive every night and he’s got to be good without the puck. Once he gets those two things, we know what his skill set is.”
-Joy Lindsay has posted quotes from Mark Borowiecki and Robin Lehner (link), with the former saying, “We’re not playing bad hockey; it’s just one mistake here and there. They’re usually mentally errors. It’s not because we’re not working. It’s not because we’re not trying. We’re all working our hardest. It’s just we have to work smarter, and it starts with focus between the ears.” Lehner adds, “Everywhere on the ice, we have stuff that we can do better, including me. It’s still pretty early. We have to try to start finishing now, and take some wins.”
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