-Here’s my look at the Sens 4-0 win over Florida. For those interesting here’s Scott‘s scoring chances chart (23/12 for Ottawa; my numbers had it 24/9). Daniel Alfredsson talked about the Sens struggles in the third period (link below):
We got a little bit off our game in the last six or seven minutes of the third period. We knew they were going to push hard in the third, which they did. They pinched a lot more, which gave us a little bit more trouble getting the puck out of the zone. We need to be a little bit more poised in those situations, but we did a good job of boxing out and (Anderson) made that first save on every shot, so he was huge.
–Jakob Silfverberg stated the obvious about playing with Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek:
They make it easy for me to play
-The oddest rumour about the Sens is the recent one from Andrey Osadchenko who claims the Sens are interested in signing KHL blueliner Viktor Antipin. The left-handed, 5’10. 20-year old defenseman plays for Metallurg Magnitogorsk and this is his first full season with the team (40-10-10-20). He was on the Russian silver-medal winning WJC squad and spent most of the last three seasons in the MHL (Red Line Report was the only scouting source to rank him for the 2011 draft and he was #260). I think Scott (via the link) is right to think Sergei Gonchar is part of the reason the Sens have interest given that he played with Antipin this year. It’s a puzzling possibility for me because the Sens don’t draft young Russians due to the difficulties in them leaving if sent to the minors. I have a hard time imagining the Sens could lure him over without an NHL guarantee. Antipin won’t be available until next season regardless, so if they do sign him fans won’t get a look at him until then.
-Binghamton fell 3-2 to St. John’s last night in a game I was unable to watch. Nathan Lawson made 36 saves in the loss while Mika Zibanejad and Derek Grant provided the offence. The B-Sens carried a 2-1 lead into the third, but were unable to hold it. Here’s the box score and the highlights.
-Elmira crushed Reading 5-2 yesterday with Louie Caporusso and Darren Kramer picking up two points each and Dustin Gazley nabbing a single.
-Here the latest prospect update (for players with more than 10 games played I’ve indicated where they are in scoring; for blueliners they are compared to other defensemen on the team):
CHL
Cody Ceci (OHL Ottawa/Owen Sound) 47-12-32-44 (1st)
Matt Puempel (OHL Kitchener) 30-22-8-30 (1st)
Stefan Noesen (OHL Plymouth) 29-17-9-26 (8th)
Jordan Fransoo (WHL Victoria) 40-3-9-12 (2nd)
Jakub Culek (QMJHL Cape Breton) 9-4-3-7 (10th) (injured)
Jarrod Maidens (OHL Owen Sound) (injured)
Chris Driedger (WHL Calgary) 25-9-3 2.26 .921
Francois Brassard (QMJHL Quebec) 20-14-3 2.91 .900
Allsvenskan (Swe)
Mikael Wikstrand (Mora) 33-11-11-22 (1st) WJC 6-0-4-4 (1st)
KHL
Nikita Filatov (Salavat) 38-8-11-19 (t-2nd)
NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (Ohio) – 24-9-11-20 (1st)
Jeff Costello (Notre Dame) – 16-6-9-15 (5th) (injured)
Bryce Aneloski (Nebraska-Omaha) – 23-4-11-15 (2nd)
Max McCormick (Ohio) – 24-8-5-13 (3rd)
Michael Sdao (Princeton) – 18-5-4-9 (1st)
Tim Boyle (Union) – 12-0-2-2 (t-6th)
USHL
Robbie Baillargeon (Indiana/Omaha) – 36-12-15-27 (1st)
–George Parros talked about the disappearance of the enforcer from the NHL:
More and more there are team like this, kind of going away from that [having an enforcer]. But for me, it doesn’t change my game plan. I still want to be an effective player for our team. But like I said, we’re a dying breed, it seems.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
eyeonthesens 