-The Sens talked about last night’s game, with Nick Foligno saying “It’s unfortunate he’s [Alfredsson] not in the lineup, given the circumstances, but I thought we played pretty well without him. Guys were in situations they’re probably not used to playing and I thought they did a pretty good job.”  Kyle Turris said “I’ve got to score on those.  I had an opportunity to tie it up and send it to OT. I missed the net (Monday), I won’t miss the net the next time.”

–Mike Hume points out that the trend of shots per game and scoring chances are slanting in Ottawa’s favour as the series has gone on.

-Here’s my review of Binghamton’s season.  Joy Lindsay provides a look at the goaltenders and defensemen, with the most interesting insight being that the coaches picked Eric Gryba as their top defenseman of the year.

–Kurt Kleinendorst talked about the season that was, saying “Everyone’s on the same page. The fact that this group never turned on one another, never turned on me  … those things matter. Back in February, it would have been easy for everybody to just pack it in. But that’s not what happened. Guys continued to show up every day and work hard. They showed up every night and competed. For this particular group, as young as we were without the veteran core we needed, it really wasn’t bad. To be honest, I think we overachieved.”  That’s an interesting assessment from the coach, who clearly puts the blame for Binghamton’s record on the lack of veterans (or, perhaps, healthy/the right veterans).

-Florida beat Elmira 5-4, with Brian Stewart serving as the backup and Corey Cowick, Jack Downing, and Bobby Raymond held off the scoresheet (Josh Godfrey did not play)

-Speaking of Elmira, bobbykelly mistakenly implies the Sens black aces were eligible to play for the Jackels during their playoff run, but only players who have played at least 5 ECHL games during a season are available to be sent down (which is not the case for any of the players now in Ottawa)

–Mario Lemieux has finally weighed in on his team’s behaviour, saying he’s embarrassed by the Penguins actions.

–Dale Hunter says the Bruins are going after Nicklas Backstrom‘s head; I haven’t seen enough of the series to know one way or another, but teams in general have been targeting the heads of players with concussion histories (Neal on Giroux, for one example), so I wouldn’t be surprised.

April 17, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-As reported everywhere, Carl Hagelin was suspended for three games and Matt Carkner for one.  I was surprised by the length of the suspension for Hagelin, but it’s only really a “win” for Ottawa if Alfredsson can play.  The Rangers statement following the suspension was interesting: “we are thoroughly perplexed in the ruling’s inconsistency with other supplementary discipline decisions that have been made throughout this season and during the playoffs.”  It’s absolutely accurate, although that doesn’t mean the suspensions weren’t warranted.

–Paul MacLean confirms none of the black aces are expected to play, as he’ll go to the scratches before them “We’ve considered everyone that is here, but we haven’t made any final decisions and we’ll wait to see what Alfredsson says tomorrow.”  I think the key word in that sentence is “here”, because I think Jakob Silfverberg would get the same consideration (if not more) as a Bobby Butler or Rob Klinkhammer if available.

-Speaking of Silfverberg, Brynas lost 4-3 in OT yesterday, meaning he has at least one more game to play before being available to the Sens.

–John Henkelman writes about Ottawa’s NCAA and European prospects (suggesting Chris Wideman could play some games in Binghamton this season, which may prove difficult with their season completed).  There’s nothing new here, but for those looking for a refresher it’s succinct and to the point.

-The NHL seems to have achieved what it wanted with the Penguins antics yesterday.  The officials have the powers to prevent this kind of circus from developing (see below), but no effort was made to do so by Eric Furlatt and Francois St. Laurent.  It hasn’t been that long since the previous controversy about Crosby was raging and already some of the dialogue in the media has changed, with Hockey Night in Canada actually allowing unchallenged criticism of him (via P. J. Stock).  His petulant post-game comments won’t help his image.  Michael Grange looks at the whole phenomena of retribution in this year’s playoffs and points to the two incidents that seemed to spark it: the non-suspension of Shea Weber and the lack of penalisation of Brian Boyle.  Teams feel like the NHL won’t protect or punish them, so they have to police themselves (Pierre LeBrun puts as much emphasis on the officiating, although his suggestion that in the good old days enforcers kept this nonsense from happening is laughable–go back to Grange’s article to recall what that era was like).

-The officials in the Vancouver-Los Angeles game last night demonstrated how to keep a game from getting out of control, as after Brown‘s hit on Sedin the refs (Kevin Pollock and Kelly Sutherland) started calling a lot of penalties and the circus stopped almost immediately.

-On the random side of things, during one of the TSN broadcasts last week it was brought up how many coaches came out of the 88-89 Hartford Whalers and when you look at it, it’s on verge of ridiculous: Kevin Dineen (NHL, Florida), Ron Francis (NHL, Carolina), John Anderson (NHL, Phoenix), Ulf Samuelsson (SEL, MODO), Jody Hull (OHL, Peterborough), Dean Evason (NHL, Washington), Brent Peterson (NHL, Nashville), Mark Reeds (NHL, Ottawa), Dave Tippett (NHL, Phoenix), Terry Yake (former NLA), Randy Ladouceur (NHL, Montreal), Norm Maciver (NHL, Chicago), Joel Quenneville (NHL, Chicago), Allan Tuer (former WHL), Peter Sidorkiewicz (OHL); Brian Lawton was the GM of Tampa.  That’s 15 (16 with Lawton) guys from the team!

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

-I have to wonder if the Rangers are happy with the turn the series has taken.  Tortorella made a conscious decision to play on (and over) the edge, perhaps with the expectation that Ottawa wouldn’t respond.  After the circus last night he’s got to realise that even if the Rangers win the series his team is going to be in no condition to take on a serious contender in the second round.  I’d guess if Tortorella could do it all over again he would have played a more passive, trapping style relying on counter-punching and his goaltending, ignoring all the nonsense that’s happened up to this point.  All that being said, the on-ice officials could cool the jets of the series in a hurray if they chose to end scrums after the whistle and aggressively make calls on borderline hits–that may be the message the NHL sends in game three (or it may not).

–Peter Raaymakers points out that a lot of the nonsense last night was Boyle‘s fault, “had Boyle simply answered the bell for his actions and dropped his gloves early the whole situation would have ended out better for both teams. Neither Carkner nor Dubinsky would have been kicked out of the game, and the hatchet would have been (mostly) buried. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I find it hard to fault Carkner much here. First off, this wasn’t a decision he made: Paul MacLean made this decision when he dressed his fighters. Secondly, it shouldn’t have been an issue nearly as big as it was, because Boyle should simply have matched up with Carkner. Yes, Boyle is an inexperienced fighter and Carkner is a league heavyweight, but Boyle has a height and weight advantage and could have simply tied up Carkner‘s arms until the linesmen jumped in. Done. Thirdly, he threw two glancing blows and then five body shots; this wasn’t a massacre, it was a game of pattycake. Boyle was, obviously, no worse for wear (he fought and scored later in the game), and likely took more punishing hits at other points in the game. Most importantly, consider this: Teams will do anything they can to win playoff games. That’s why Brian Boyle roughed up Erik Karlsson in the first place–he figured he’d get away with it. Unless referees clamp down and restrict things, teams will push the limits of what they’re able to do in order to gain an advantage, however slight.”  I’d go even further and say that if the officials had properly penalised Boyle or if the NHL had done something after the game, none of the enforcement would have been necessary.

-A bit of trivia: Chris Neil is the first player since 1989 to score an overtime goal and have a fighting major in a playoff game.

–Joy Lindsay Tweets the black aces called up from Binghamton: Robin Lehner, Mark Borowiecki, Eric Gryba, Patrick Wiercioch, Mike Hoffman, Andre Petersson, Stephane Da Costa, David Dziurzynski, and Mika Zibanejad.  No real surprises (except, perhaps, Dziurzynski).  Healthy players not included: Cannone, Blood, Grant, Schneider, Puempel, Schira, Cowick, Parrish, Lessard, Conboy, and McKenna.

–Joy also Tweets that Binghamton’s veterans (Conboy, Locke, McKenna, and Parrish) expressed an interest in returning to the team if the Sens wanted to retain them.  It’s an interesting sentiment since neither could expect call-ups to Ottawa if they remained.  I have no idea what management will do, but other than Mark Parrish I could see the other three retained.

-I like the TSN panel, but they missed the boat on why the playoffs have been vicious and fight-filled.  The panel made the supposition that it’s simply a trend based on the Bruins winning last year–rough and tumble is the way to go.  To my mind what’s clear is that the NHL promised to police the game this year and failed utterly–there are no serious consequences so that requires teams to fight to protect themselves.  Why wouldn’t a third or fourth-liner take out the opposition’s best player when they are only going to miss one or two games?  If the NHL doesn’t step in the next couple of days things are going to get even more ridiculous.  What continues to frustrate me is so many talking heads in the media saying it’s simply “playoff hockey”.  No it isn’t.  Stars were untouchable even in the old rough and tumble days, but that’s simply no longer the case.

–Milan Michalek‘s agent Allan Walsh is trying to get Ottawa Sun reporter Don Brennan fired after Brennan wrote this article, with Walsh saying “A parasite like Don Brennan in the Ottawa media can’t resist the urge to tear down the Senators and their top players. Brennan’s mission following the team on the road is to tear the players down. Can’t Sun Media come up with somebody better than this? Every Senators fan should rise up and be heard. Let Sun Media and the Ottawa Sun know how you feel.”  Brennan is not going to win a popularity contest with the fans and tried to laugh it off.  My take?  The article in question isn’t the worst thing Brennan has written, but the quality of Sens coverage could only improve if he were removed.

April 15, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

A rough and tumble game that featured a lot of vicious hits and plays (including Alfredsson getting knocked out by an elbow to the head from Hagelin).  There’s no replacement for Alfredsson (assuming he misses more games), but as Spezza has been completely invisible to this point a return to form from him might make up for it.  A couple of observations: why does Anderson handle the puck so much?  He’s not very good at it and turns it over as often as not; Winchester should not play on the top line.  Here’s the box score.  On the ridiculous side of things, Glenn Healy complained the final icing (which lead to the OT winner) wasn’t an icing, which is about as dumb a comment as he could have come up with.

First Period
Less than three minutes in Matt Carkner‘s night ended as he went after Boyle and got himself and Dubinsky (third man in) kicked out of the game and gave the Rangers a five-minute powerplay.  The Sens had the best chance early, but Condra couldn’t get the feed to Winchester on a 2-on-1.  Winchester had another chance on a near breakaway, but was too out of gas to attack the net and sent his shot wide.  The Sens were able to kill the major penalty allowing the Rangers only one shot.  Neil fought Boyle afterward. Gonchar promptly took a tripping penalty to put the Rangers back on the powerplay and Ottawa was doing a good job on the PK when Anderson baubled a simple shot which the Rangers recovered and then Stralman‘s point shot deflected in off Phillips.  Foligno drew a call for Ottawa’s first powerplay, which had great possession, but wasn’t able to capitalise (the best chance was foiled when Spezza decided to pass instead of shoot).  Foligno had a terrific chance in the final minute, walking in alone on Lundqvist.  Phillips took an elbowing penalty just before the period ended which resulted in Anderson‘s best save of the frame on Callahan.  Ottawa dominated the play, but generated only one good scoring chance and were behind by one.
Second Period
Anderson made a nice stop off Callahan in the back half of the Rangers powerplay.  The Sens had their first chance when the kill was over, but Karlsson missed the net from in the slot.  Ottawa got caught running around in its own zone due to a pair of Gonchar turnovers which was ended by a dumb penalty by Kuba.  The Rangers had a lot of pressure early in the powerplay, but the Sens were able to hold them off.  Michalek nearly put the puck into his own net towards the halfway mark.  The Sens then went to turnover city where they could not get out of their zone, Anderson making a brilliant save on Hagelin;  At the end of the play Alfredsson got an elbow to the head from Hagelin and went down like a shot, giving the Sens a five-minute powerplay.  The first shift of the advantage Prust elbowed Karlsson in the head but there was no call (it was hard to tell if it was intentional or not).  Karlsson took a shift off and then tied the game by banking a puck in off Del Zotto.  Ottawa had one other good chance with the advantage, but Michalek couldn’t bang in a rebound.  Richards took a penalty immediately afterward, unhappy with a Karlsson check he punched him in the face and got called for roughing, but the Sens couldn’t get a shot on goal.  The overall play was more even throughout the period.
Third Period
After a couple of scrambly minutes Gaborik hit the post.  A Winchester giveaway at the blueline resulted in Boyle beating Anderson from the slot.  Two shifts later Phillips can’t hit the empty net with Lundqvist down and out.  The Rangers hit another post close to the midway point.  Ten minutes in and Ottawa hadn’t generated an A-grade scoring chance.  The next shift there was a great scramble in front, but it was whistled down as the ref lost sight of the puck.  The Sens had steady pressure afterwards, eventually scoring on a broken play with Konopka fluttering the puck at the net and Foligno banged it in.  Turris was hurt on the play as he got drilled with a vicious crosscheck from Del Zotto (he did not miss a shift).  Anderson made a nice save after the Rangers got some zone time off a Spezza turnover.
OT
It did not last long, as frantic action in front of the net saw Neil bang in a rebound off a point shot from Cowen (this just after Greening missed sliding the puck into an open net).

Here’s a look at the goals:
1. Rangers, Stralman (pp)
A simple shot deflects off Phillips and beats Anderson five-hole
2. Karlsson (Kuba) (pp)
An innocent rush with Karlsson centering the puck from the corner and bouncing it in off Del Zotto
3. Rangers, Boyle
Winchester turns it over and Boyle simply beats Anderson from the slot
4. Foligno (Turris, Konopka)
A broken play results in Foligno banging the puck home after Konopka puts it to the net
5. Neil (Cowen, Smith)
Cowen’s shot is blocked and Neil buries the puck past a downed Lundqvist

Top-performers:
Nick Foligno – it wasn’t a Picasso, but he scored and generated offence
Erik Karlsson – despite being targeted he helped the Sens control the play and scored the first goal

Players Who Struggled:
Jason Spezza – no points in the series thus far and largely invisible (he also lead the team in turnovers)
Chris Phillips – not a great game for the big rig who deflected a puck into his own net and was on the ice for both Ranger goals

-Binghamton lost their final game of the seaseon 3-2 in overtime.  McKenna made 46 saves in the loss, while Hoffman and Puempel scored the goals.  Here’s the box score and Joy Lindsay‘s game summary.

-Elmira lost 5-0 to Florida tonight, with Brian Stewart pulled and taking the loss and Corey Cowick and Josh Godfrey pointless (Bobby Raymond had two assists for the Everblades).

April 14, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-There’s speculation that Alfredsson could be moved up to the first line for tonight’s game; Paul MacLean has generally resisted putting the big three together this season to keep his lines offensively balanced, so it will be interesting to see if that change occurs and what effect it has.  Don Brennan is beating the drum for Matt Carkner to play, but that’s nothing new.  If Carkner could skate he’d be a more appealing option.

-The local media has been whining about how terrible Ottawa was in the opener (you can find serious coverage with Michael Grange at Sportsnet or in the US media), which is absurd and John Tortorella clearly agrees, “All I know is that we’re going to have to be better.”

-Sens prospect Mark Stone Tweets that he is on his way to Ottawa.

-Binghamton won last night, with Robin Lehner making 26-saves and Mike Hoffman, Pat Cannone, and David Dziurzynski scoring the goals (both Cannone and Dziurzynski had two-point nights).  Mike Bartlett was injured in the game and Ben Blood was given a match penalty for a hit to the head, so neither will play in Binghamton’s final game.  Here’s the box score and Joy Lindsay‘s game summary.

–Joy also reports that the Sens have re-signed their affiliation agreement with Binghamton (it’s a 3-year deal).

-Elmira defeated Florida 3-1 in the first game of their playoff series.  Brian Stewart made 45-saves for the win, while Corey Cowick, Josh Godfrey, and Bobby Raymond were held off the score sheet.

-Here’s my profile of Sens prospect Fredrik Claesson.

-I watched the most the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia game last night (as should you all), in which the Penguins folded as the game progressed and Fleury could not make a save when Pittsburgh really needed it.  If the Flyers win the series it’s going to upset the applecart of many Stanley Cup predictions.  For my part I didn’t think the Flyers were healthy enough to beat Pittsburgh and while the series winner is still up in the air, I have to credit Philadelphia for having better depth than I’d imagined.

April 14, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment