Senators News: February 6th

-Here are my thoughts on last night’s game and here are Paul MacLean‘s:

I thought Peter Regin was very good tonight, Stephane Da Costa played very well for us. (Erik) Karlsson, I thought, was outstanding in the game. Mark Borowiecki had his best game to this point. Patrick Wiercioch was fine. Andre Benoit was fine. The team, as a group, really showed a good work ethic and we stuck to the structure of our team. We did a better job of getting the puck to the net and getting some opportunities and playing not as tentative offensively. We’ve got to find the right guys to put on the ice after we score a goal. The experiment is not working with what we’re doing. The shifts right after goals, for and against, are always real important and the last two (games), we get the lead and then within 20 or 30 seconds, they’ve got the game tied up, so we’ve got to do a much better job of being focussed at those times in the games. Those are big shifts that we can maintain momentum or give momentum back.

It’s interesting who MacLean singled out beyond the obvious (Karlsson and Regin): young players for the most part (Da Costa and Borowiecki barely played in last night’s game).  MacLean has a strong tendency to stroke his young players in the media (much like Luke Richardson does in Binghamton), which is all to the good.  Speaking of Regin, he had this to say:

Of course, it has been awhile. I had high expectations for myself coming into this season. It has been a long time and maybe the timing has been a little off and it took a more time than I was hoping or expecting.

–Scott had the scoring chances 14-10 for Ottawa.

-Binghamton plays Adirondack (18-22-3) tonight; the Phantoms are lead by Danny Syvret (22 points) and backstopped by Scott Munroe (9-11-0 2.65 .913).

-Elmira plays Reading (31-11-5) tonight; Reading is lead by Yannick Tifu (43 points) and backstopped by Philipp Grubauer (19-5-1 2.30 .912).

–Stu Hackel takes a look at the early surprises this season; there’s nothing Ottawa-related here, but it’s worth checking out.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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February 6, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Ottawa 4 Buffalo 3

Ottawa beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 last night in entertaining fashion.  The Sens piled up a 4-1 lead midway through, but loose play made for a dramatically close finish.  Here’s the boxscore.

Game Notes
-It was back to the usual random officiating this evening; it had no major impact on the game
–Da Costa struggled early, but overall played decently in very limited ice time (a team low 6:56; Mark Borowiecki was the only player who appeared for less than 10 minutes)
-Does anyone fall more than Mika Zibanejad?  He made some great plays tonight, but virtually every shift he was off his feet
–Peter Regin may have finally found his confidence as he picked up a couple of assists and started to shoot the puck more
–Marc Methot had the hit on the night, slamming Vanek into the boards in the first period
-Although he only wound up with one assist Kyle Turris was excellent
-It seems to go without saying these days, but Erik Karlsson was dominant

The Goals
1. Karlsson (Turris, Michalek) (pp)
Shoots a soft shot through a screen
2. Buffalo, Ennis
Phillips attempts (and fails) to block a shot and Neil doesn’t collapse to cover for him, leaving Ennis wide open to cash in the rebound
3. Phillips (Regin)
Simple shot simply goes through Enroth
4. Alfredsson (Zibanejad)
Great turnover by Zibanejad who sets up Alfredsson in the slot
5. Neil (Regin, Smith)
Regin makes a great pass to a wide open Neil in the slot
6. Buffalo, Leopold
Leopold gets lost in coverage and tips the puck in
7. Buffalo, Pominville
The goal was initially waived off; the puck bounced off Pominville’s ankle

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 6, 2013
Categories: Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment