Senators News: February 16th

–Don Brennan writes that the Sens are 5-0-1 when their fathers are with them.

–Daniel Alfredsson talks about hitting 20 goals, “Not knowing how things were going to go coming into this year, I knew if I could stay healthy I could get to 20. It feels good. Hopefully, I can keep pushing and who knows, maybe even flirt with 30.”

–Joy Lindsay reports that Mark Parrish, Tim Conboy, Stephane Da Costa and David Dziurzynski will be in the lineup for Binghamton’s game on Friday.  The lines today were: Dziurzynski-Locke-Parrish, Klinkhammer-Da Costa-Downing, Hoffman-Cannone-Petersson, Grant-Hamilton-Bartlett/Lessard; Borowiecki-Gryba, Henningson-Conboy, Wiercioch-Godfrey, Raymond-Schira.  Robin Lehner is expected to start.

–Joy writes about the return of Patrick Wiercioch to the lineup after his horrific throat injury.  Kurt Kleinendorst said, “Initially, I had no idea how serious it was. Then after the period, when I got word of the seriousness of it, obviously I was very concerned. The thing is, when you spend the time we spend with each other, when you get to know these guys the way we get to know our players, we care a lot about each and every one of them. You don’t want anything bad to happen to any of them in any way, so obviously that was a concerning moment for me. When I went over to see him at the hospital, that was a concerning moment for me. But I was assured at the time that everything was going to be OK. We weren’t allowed to visit him. The coaches, they kept us updated. Every morning, they were giving us updates, telling us he was going to be all right, he was going to play again and everything was going to be OK, so that was always nice to hear.”

-For those keen on Rick Nash trade-mania, Lyle Richardson sums up the latest rumours, none of which include Ottawa.

-ISS has updated their rankings (click link for the last update; I’ve listed their previous ranking in brackets where applicable):
1. Yakupov, Nail, LW 10/6/93 L 5.10.5 189 Sarnia OHL (2)
2. Grigorenko, Mikhail, RW 5/16/94 L 6.03.25 200 Québec QMJHL (1)
3. Forsberg, Filip, RW 8/13/94 R 6.01 176 Leksands SweAl
4. Trouba, Jacob, RD 2/26/94 R 6.02 196 USA Under-18 NTDP
5. Murray, Ryan, LD 9/27/93 L 6.00.5 201 Everett WHL
6. Dumba, Matt, RD 7/25/94 R 5.11.75 183 Red Deer WHL
7. Gaunce, Brendan, C 3/25/94 L 6.02 215 Belleville OHL
8. Rielly, Morgan, LD 3/9/94 L 5.11.5 190 Moose Jaw WHL
9. Ceci, Cody, RD 12/21/93 R 6.02.5 207 Ottawa OHL (11)
10. Reinhart, Griffin, LD 1/24/94 L 6.03.75 207 Edmonton WHL (9)
11. Collberg, Sebastian, RW 2/23/94 R 5.11 Vastra SweJE (12)
12. Maatta, Olli, LD 8/22/94 L 6.01.5 202 London OHL (10)
13. Finn, Matthew, LD 2/24/94 L 6.00.25 195 Guelph OHL (17)
14. Skjei, Brady, LD 3/26/1994 L 6.03 203 USA Under-18 NTDP (20)
15. Aberg, Pontus, LW 9/23/93 R 5.11 187 Djurgarden SweE (14)
16. Galchenyuk, Alexander, RW 2/12/94 L 6.00.5 198 Sarnia OHL (18)
17. Koekkoek, Slater, LD 2/18/94 L 6.02 184 Peterborough OHL (15)
18. Pouliot, Derrick, D 1/16/94 L 5.11.25 186 Portland WHL (21)
19. Faksa, Radek, LW 1/9/94 L 6.03 202 Kitchener OHL
20. Girgensons, Zemgus, F 1/5/94 L 6.01.25 201 Dubuque USHL (24)
21. Dalton Thrower, D, 12/20/93 R 5.11.00 179 Saskatoon WHL (NR)
22. Bystrom, Ludvig, LD 7/29/94 L 6.00.75 208 Modo SweE (30)
23. Maidens, Jarrod, C 3/4/94 L 6.00.5 178 Owen Sound OHL (16)
24. Hertl, Tomas, LW 11/12/93 L 6.02 198 pounds Slavia CzeE (22)
25. Matteau, Stefan, LW 2/23/94 L 6.01 210 USA Under-18 NTDP (23)
26. Matheson, Mike, LD 2/27/94 L 6.01.25 180 Dubuque USHL (25)
27. Sissons, Colton, C/R 11/5/93 L 6.01 189 Kelowna WHL (26)
28. Kerdiles, Nicholas, C/L 1/11/94 L, 6.01.5 200 USA Under-18 NTDP (27)
29. Athanasiou, Andreas, C 8/6/94 L 6.00 179 London OHL (13)
30. Mike Winther, C 9/7/94 R 5.11.00 170 Prince Albert WHL (NR)

Falling out of the top-thirty: Thomas Wilson (28) and Anton Slepyshev (29)

February 16, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, NHL Draft, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

Ottawa at the Sixty-Game Mark

The Sens are now sixty-games into the season (for the previous ten-game segment go link).  Ottawa went 3-5-2, earning 8 points (a 7 point drop from their previous torrid pace).  They are 2nd in their division (unchanged), 7th in the conference (down from 5th), and 11th in the overall standings (down from 9th).  They are 5th in goals for (up from 6th), 28th in goals against (down from 27th), 13th in powerplay percentage (up from 17th), 17th on the penalty kill (up from 19th).  They are 13th in 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio (0.99), down from 10th; they are 15th in the league in faceoffs (no change); they are 30th in shots allowed (down from 29th) and 9th in shots-for (up from 11th).

Here’s a quick snapshot of player’s stats over the last ten games, although with TOI and faceoffs I’ve simply indicated if the numbers have changed significantly (INJ=games missed due to injury, SCR=scratched):
Jason Spezza 10-5-8-13 +2 TOI 19:55 FO% 54.4
Daniel Alfredsson 10-5-2-7 +2 TOI 18:32
Erik Karlsson 10-3-4-7 +3 TOI 25:24
Milan Michalek 10-2-5-7 +2 TOI 19:28
Bobby Butler 7-1-5-6 +2 TOI 11:26 SCR 3
Filip Kuba 10-1-4-5 +2 TOI 23:31
Sergei Gonchar 10-0-4-4 -4 TOI 22:29
Chris Phillips 10-2-1-3 Even TOI 18:45
Erik Condra 10-0-3-3 +1 TOI 14:46
Nick Foligno 10-0-3-3 -6 TOI 14:52
Chris Neil 10-1-1-2 -3 TOI 13:17
Kaspars Daugavins 10-1-1-2 Even TOI 11:32 (TOI decreasing)
Zack Smith 10-1-1-2 -1 TOI 14:51 FO% 47.6
Brian Lee 4-0-2-2 +1 TOI 14:40 INJ 6
Colin Greening 10-1-0-1 -2 TOI 15:50 (TOI declining)
Kyle Turris 10-1-0-1 -3 TOI 16:32 FO% 45.2
Jim O’Brien 7-1-0-1 -1 TOI 9:50 FO% 50.0 (2-1-0-1 +1 AHL)
Jared Cowen 10-0-0-0 -6 TOI 19:49 (TOI increasing)
Zenon Konopka 6-0-0-0 -2 TOI 7:38 FO% 58.5 (FO% decreasing) SCR 4
Matt Carkner 5-0-0-0 -1 TOI 12:18 (TOI decreasing) SCR 5
Mark Borowiecki 1-0-0-0 -1 TOI 11:58 (5-0-1-1 -1 AHL)
Jesse Winchester (injured)
Peter Regin (injured)
Craig Anderson 2-5-2 2.93 .910 (GAA and SV decreased) pulled twice
Alex Auld 3-1-0-0 3.28 .883 (GAA and SV improved)

Over the ten games the players have been a mix of hot and cold.  A number of players are mired in horrible slumps (Turris, Cowen, Greening, etc), with Daugavins broke an 11-game pointless streak last night.  On the flip side, Butler has risen from the dead (and being scratched three straight games) and is on a 4-game point streak.  O’Brien was recalled largely because of Butler‘s struggles and has played very well in a checking role.  I wonder if he’s done enough to stay with the team, or if the return of Winchester will see him back in Binghamton.  Foligno and Cowen were -6 through the segment, while Karlsson lead the way at +3.  Alfredsson had points in the most games (6).  Anderson went all over the map with his performances (including letting in a goal from center ice and being brilliant in shutting out Tampa).  Despite a long losing streak the Sens remain in the hunt and control their own fate.

February 16, 2012
Categories: Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

Ottawa 6, Florida 2

Ottawa continued their winning ways with a win over Florida tonight.  The game was not televised so I did not see it beyond highlights.  The Sens received a great deal of depth scoring (including Jim O’Brien‘s first NHL goal and point) and dominated the scoreboard despite being outshot 44-31.  Jason Spezza lead the way with three assists.  Here is the box score and the Silver Seven‘s look at the game.  A look at the goals:
1. O’Brien (Foligno, Lee)
Picks up Foligno’s rebound and scores on a wrap-around on the empty net
2. Florida, Matthias
Beats Anderson high far side on a solo rush
3. Daugavins (Lee, Condra)
Tips in the point shot
4. Butler (Michalek, Spezza)
Tips in the beautiful Michalek pass
5. Alfredsson (Daugavins) (sh)
Scores on a breakaway
6. Michalek (Karlsson, Spezza)
A great tip-in off the Karlsson pass
7. Florida, Bergenheim (pp)
Tips in Campbell’s shot
8. Kuba (Spezza, Alfredsson) (pp)
One-timer on the back door

February 16, 2012
Categories: Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment