Ottawa 4, Carolina 3

Ottawa beat the struggling Hurricanes tonight in a game that they did not play particularly well in.  Craig Anderson was good (not great) in rebounding from his disappointing start against Pittsburgh.  Bobby Butler continues to sit in the dog house playing under 7:00 (just above Zenon Konopka).  For the box score go here link.  Here’s a look at the goals:
1. Spezza (Gonchar, Karlsson)
Spezza walks around Tim Gleason and out waits Cam Ward
2. Carolina, Dwyer
Scores from an impossible angle; a bad goal given up by Anderson
3. Spezza (Gonchar, Karlsson) (pp)
Great cross-ice pass from Gonchar gives Spezza the open net
4. Rundblad (Butler, Konopka) (pp)
Konopka creates the turnover and Rundblad‘s point shot deflects in off Pitkanen
5. Carolina, Staal
Phillips loses his man in front (Staal) who scores off the rebound
6. Smith (Daugavins, Kuba)
Smith scores on a scrambled play off a nice pass from Daugavins
7. Carolina, Ponikarovsky (pp)
Daugavins turns the puck over and in the scramble in front Phillips goes for the body and not the puck and Ponikarovsky cashes in

Players who impressed:
Erik Karlsson – picked up a pair of assists and was strong defensively
Sergei Gonchar – almost as good as Karlsson in all respects
Zack Smith – another strong 200-foot game that included a goal

Players who struggled:
Chris Phillips – made key mistakes that resulted in two goals against

No one else struggled particularly, but Jason Spezza lead the team in turnovers.  On the positive side, David Rundblad scored his first NHL goal and kept the defensive mistakes to a minimum.

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November 27, 2011
Categories: Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Senators News: November 27th; Binghamton 2, Wilkes-Barre 3

-Here’s the Penguin response to Nick Foligno‘s criticism of Sidney Crosby elbowing him in the head: Crosby said exactly what I expected, denying it was an elbow (link), while Dan Bylsma waxed rhapsodically about everything except the elbow (link)–tacitly accepting it by not denying it, “the score 5-1 and intentionally going into our goalie, he can expect more than Sidney Crosby coming at him and talking to him during the game.”  If I accept Bylsma at his word, then other teams can elbow his players in the head if they go after their goaltenders.  Crosby‘s denial is ridiculous–anyone watching the replay can see him throwing an elbow.  The only point Foligno raised was hypocrisy and Bylsma ignored it and Crosby simply lied.  I don’t expect the story to linger, but it was interesting to see how Crosby dealt with criticism.

-The Senators have kept their promise to Nikita Filatov, calling him up to Ottawa and sending Stephane Da Costa down to Binghamton.  Just like the last time he was recalled Filatov has played three games in three nights and was hit in the head in his last game (by Robert Bortuzzo).  The Ottawa Citizen‘s Ken Warren can’t resist adding his own storyline to things by saying Filatov has looked “uninspired for the most part” (link), a sentiment echoed by no one in the organisation.

-Along with Filatov, David Rundblad returns to the lineup while Brian Lee sits

–Craig Anderson talks about improving after Friday night’s struggles, “You want to get back on that horse. You want to go out there and give the guys that confidence boost. Make that  save for them and give them a good game” (link).

-In The Ottawa Citizen‘s Ken Warren article above he talks about Paul MacLean going down the failed road of trying Jesse Winchester as a scoring center.  I like Winchester, but he’s not an offensively talented player at the NHL-level.

Binghamton lost 3-2 to Wilkes-Barre, with David Dziruzynski and Josh Godfrey scoring their first goals of the season and Andre Petersson extending his point streak to four games.  I didn’t see the game so I’m reliant on reports on it (for the box score go here link, for Joy Lindsay’s game summary go here link).

November 27, 2011
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment