–The Ottawa Sun‘s Bruce Garrioch writes about last night’s win (link), with Daniel Alfredsson saying “It wasn’t one of our best games, but it was nice after a long road trip to come home and win right away. It’s huge. They’re a stingy team. They’re good defensively and being down a goal partway through the third, it’s nice to win the way we did.”
–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Ken Warren’s write-up about the game (link) includes Paul MacLean’s comments about the win, “The goalie played real good in the second period and gave us an opportunity to be tied going into the third period and the team took charge in the third period. I thought the play of the Zack Smith line was outstanding all night long. They did a good job against the (Steven) Stamkos group and they came up with a couple of big goals, as well.”
-Ian Mendes Tweets (link) that Ottawa’s has now won three times in regulation when trailing in 3rd period–as many as they’ve had in last three seasons combined (via the Elias Sports Bureau)
-TSN’s power rankings (link) have Ottawa 21st (just like everyone else)
-Joy Lindsay Tweets Binghamton’s lines at practice (link): Klinkhammer-Da Costa-Petersson, Hoffman-Grant-Armstrong, Gratchev-Bartlett-Cannone, Cowick-Hamilton-Lessard; Borowiecki-Carkner, Wiercioch-Gryba, Raymond-Schira.
With NHL realignment approved (26 of 30 team’s voted for the change; for a visual go here link), everyone is weighing in with their opinions:
–The Hockey News‘ Ken Campbell likes the plan (link), “But we still have no idea whether there’s a possibility of two teams from the east or two teams from the west meeting in the Stanley Cup final because, in true NHL fashion, the board deferred that crucial detail until later. We do know the top four teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs and will spend the first two rounds deciding which of those four will move on to the two semifinals. What we don’t know is which format the playoffs will take after that. We have no idea whether the league will pit the winners of Conference A and B – which make up the western teams – and C and D – which make up the eastern teams – in the semifinals. Or will there be some kind of geographical crossover in the semis that could conceivably result in two eastern- or two western-based teams playing for the Stanley Cup?”
-ESPN’s Scott Burnside has nothing but praise for the change (link), as does Sportsnet‘s Mark Spector (link) and The Edmonton Sun‘s Terry Jones joins the chorus of praise (link)
-TSN’s Bob McKenzie does have questions about realignment, but has yet to put those views into a column. From what’s reported his major objection relates to what happened in the old six division set-up the NHL had in the 1980s, when good teams would miss the playoffs because they were in a strong division. This is a definite possibility. On the other hand I do think the change will help rivalries, but I can’t help but recall the complaints about the post-lockout format that also put a heavy emphasis on divisional play (8 games versus division opponents, for 32 of 82 games). There are admittedly more teams in realignment (so 5 or 6 against each, for 30-32 of 82 games), but I wonder if we’ll hear the same exasperation in the media after a few years that there isn’t enough variety at the arena.
eyeonthesens 