–Daniel Alfredsson summed up the team’s home stand, “Overall, the (homestand) was disappointing, but the positive is in the last few games we’ve played pretty good,” said Alfredsson, who is on the verge of his 13th 20-goal campaign. The last two we got three-out-of-four points. That’s something to build on. We can’t look back. The way we have to look at it is that one point is better than none.” The points are what counts, but I’m also encouraged that the Sens are starting to score again, with 7 goals over the last two games. If the various players who’ve been ice cold start to warm-up it will make for a fun stretch run.
–Craig Anderson blames himself for the overtime goal, “I’ve got to be better on my rebound control, that’s the bottom line. I can’t leave my D-men hanging there and leaving garbage around the net, so that’s on me.” I’m happy to hear Anderson taking the blame, even though Milan Michalek should have been there on the back-check. I made the point earlier in the season that Anderson needs to stop making excuses (eg link) and as the games have marched on he’s started to embrace taking responsibility.
–Lyle Richardson writes about the quiet trade market, “there aren’t many teams currently considered sellers. Only the Columbus Blue Jackets, the worst team in the league, are in that category, with the Edmonton Oilers close to joining them. The reason there is so few sellers is due to the standings in both conferences, where the race for the final playoff berths remains close. As a result, the GMs of those respective teams aren’t ready yet to give up on their playoff chances and go into sell mode. With buyers far outnumbering sellers, there’s not much available talent to choose from. Another potential factor is concern over what will be contained in the next collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA is set to expire in September, which is surely making GMs leery of taking on too much salary before knowing how the next CBA will affect their payrolls. Over the next couple of weeks, some of those teams jockeying for the final playoffs berths in each conference should fall further out of contention, thus putting more sellers into the market. But if things remain tight, don’t be surprised if this year’s deadline is a dud.” There will be trades (with teams overpaying for mediocre talent), but possibly far fewer than in years past.
-Binghamton blew three one-goal leads and Robin Lehner made 44-saves (including 21 in the third period) in their loss to the conference leading Sea Dogs last night. Mike Hoffman, Stephane Da Costa, and David Dziurzynski scored. Craig Schira, Rob Klinkhammer, and Corey Locke were a team-worst -2 (Schira is now -17 for the season). Here’s the box score and Joy Lindsay’s game summary.
-Elmira won 3-2 last night, with Brian Stewart earning the win and Corey Cowick held off the score sheet (despite leading the team with six shots on goal). Louie Caporusso did not play.
eyeonthesens 