-As the Sens gear up to play game four against the Habs tonight there is a buoyant mood in the capital.  What would the reaction be if Montreal tied things up?  Looking period by period the Habs have been the better team overall, so will that trend continue, or was the third period of game three a watershed moment allowing the Sens barrel through Montreal?  It remains to be seen, but so far the main story of the series is that Craig Anderson is outplaying Carey Price.

–Nichols offers a brief overview of the series and talks about how gratifying it is to have the tougher team after the Sens series’ against Toronto back in the day.

–Wayne Scanlan wonders if Michel Therrien can keep his emotions in check.

–Sean Gentille is upset that Rene Bourque was not suspended for his elbow to Cory Conacher.  He’s right of course, but I never doubted that the league would do nothing about it–the rulings have always been inconsistent and arbitrary.  Ken Campbell is also upset, writing:

The referees, who seem intent on removing any punitive measures for crosschecks to the back and have, generally speaking, been atrocious in this playoff, should be embarrassed. The NHL should be embarrassed that director of player safety Brendan Shanahan has become the most-scrutinized person and the biggest star of these playoffs.

He’s right as well, but it’s not going to change how the league operates (there is even more criticism from Travis Yost).  The only time the league cracks down in terms of punishment is if something attracts attention outside the NHL bubble–then there is handwringing and promises of change, but nothing actually changes.  It’s the sad state of things, but it is how it is.  I’d also keep in mind that the league isn’t happy with Eugene Melnyk’s CSI act in regards to Matt Cooke, nor does Brendan Shanahan (or Colin Campbell) deal well with criticism, so none of the negative feedback is going to benefit Ottawa.

–Bobby Kelly offers his overview of Binghamton’s playoff series with Wilkes-Barre along with a brief season recap (echoing my points from yesterday).

–Patrick Wierioch is singled out by the Hockey’s Future staff as part of their look at prospects who are exceeding expectations.  They write:

Wiercioch was invaluable to the Ottawa Senators this season. An extremely productive prospect at the NCAA and AHL levels, the 22-year-old defenseman was thrust into a prominent role when Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson went down in February with a partially severed Achilles tendon. Fortunately for all involved, Wiercioch was more than up to the task and performed admirably in his expanded role. Through 42 regular season games, he managed five goals, 14 assists, and a plus-nine rating while averaging over 15 minutes a game. With Karlsson recently returning to the lineup, Wiercioch has seen his role and ice time scaled back. He nonetheless remains an important part of the Senators future. He will be up for contract renewal at the end of the season.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 7, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Ottawa kept home ice advantage in a convincing 6-1 win over Montreal last night.  The game wasn’t blown wide open until the third period, with Ottawa ultimately outshot 34-30.  Craig Anderson was good when he had to be, while Jean-Gabriel Pageau (3), Daniel Alfredsson, Kyle Turris, and Jakob Silfverberg scored the goals.  The game was marred by chippy play (including a pair of elbows to Cory Conacher‘s head), a number of fights (all of which the Habs lost–somehow Prust did not get into a scrap, which can’t have gone over well with his coach), and general silliness as the score got out of hand.  Here’s the boxscore and Amelia L‘s play-by-play.

–Eric Engels offers a Habs perspective and he’s absolutely correct that the officials allowed the game to become as silly as it did.  He offers some criticism of various Montreal players, but I think the main problem (not specifically addressed) is that the Habs aren’t really built to play the physical style he (and others) are advocating.  Pound for pound Ottawa has the tougher team, so I think Montreal’s success has to come through speed and skill rather than grinding it out.

–Patrick Wiercioch was hurt in the game and there has been no meaningful update on his condition other than it’s a “lower body” injury.

-I’m surprised how surprised fans are that the NHL took no action in terms of supplementary discipline from last night’s game.  The league almost never suspends a player unless there is an injury, so elbows to the head of Conacher are incidental.  I realise some might have hoped that after the Andrew Ference suspension that the league had turned over a new leaf, but keep in mind the NHL has never been remotely consistent about discipline.

–Pageau became the fifth 20-year old (and under) player since 1967 to score a playoff hat trick.  Pageau has been excellent in the series, coming a long way from being the fourth-line checking center in Binghamton, but I think expectations need to be tempered for him offensively.

–Luke Richardson talked about how he pushed to keep Pageau in the AHL:

We had so many numbers because of the lockout year they struggled on whether we should keep him or send him back to an overage junior. We really liked him in training camp and exhibition games and we wanted to keep him. We pushed for that and I think it turned out. For me it was not one of the biggest surprises but one of the best decisions.

I was one of the people who thought Pageau would be returned to junior because of the numbers, but clearly the correct decision was made (Pierre LeBrun also offers some comments on the subject).

–Travis Yost wonders why Michel Therrien is making a spectacle of himself and I think it’s clear he’s doing his best to deflect attention away from his team’s performance.  I’d argue he’s been reasonably affective in moving the conversation away from the game, even if he does look a little ridiculous doing it.

-Therrien complained about MacLean’s timeout at the end of the game, but I thought the latter’s response to it was good:

I have 10 players left on my bench and I put them on the ice and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I felt bad for the referees. I brought the players back to the bench because I didn’t want to get anyone hurt. It was getting dumb enough as it was. We’re not giving them a freebie (to fight a Senators skilled player). There was already enough of that. It got a little bit stupid in the end, but that’s hockey.

–Mark Parisi offers negative assessments on Milan Michalek and Mika Zibanejad in the playoffs thus far, but provides no real basis for it.

-Given the 3-0 knockout of the Binghamton Senators their playoff performance doesn’t really warrant a separate post, so here’s a quick recap of the series against Wilkes-Barre: the B-Sens lost every game 3-2 (the first in overtime), which is about as close as it gets.  Nathan Lawson played all three games and finished with mediocre numbers (2.60 .905).  Matt Puempel was the only multi-goal scorer (2), while Mark Stone and Chris Wideman lead the team in points (3).  There were no other multi-point players, but Shane Prince, Mark Borowiecki, Stephane Da Costa, David Dziurzynski, and Fredrik Claesson also hit the scoresheet.  Hugh Jessiman was a team worst -3, while Stone, Prince, Claesson, and Wacey Hamilton were a team-best +1.

Other thoughts: it’s a compliment to his development this season that Wideman was such a contributor–it’s easy to forget he was shipped down to Elmira early in the season and was a non-factor initially when he returned to Binghamton.  It was a disappointment that Cole Schneider was not able to bring his improving offensive game into the series.  Pat Cannone ended his terrible year by taking the penalty that lost the B-Sens game three.  Tyler Eckford played so poorly that ECHLer Danny New took his spot in the final game of the series.  Neither Corey Cowick or Derek Grant were able to produce in the post-season.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 6, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-The Sens face Montreal tonight in the third game of the series.  Incredibly, it’s possible dead weight Matt Kassian will play again, while Cory Conacher slides in to replace Guillaume Latendresse and Patrick Wiercioch replaces Andre Benoit.  If Kassian plays I will be completely shocked, but the fact that he’s played at all is almost as shocking.

–Scott had the scoring chances in the last game 13/17.

–The Raaymaker wonders if Erik Karlsson‘s TOI should be reduced given his lack of conditioning and it’s pretty obvious that at least in back-to-back situations it should be.  The fact that his ice time wasn’t is an indication of the lack of confidence Paul MacLean had with Benoit who barely played in game two.

–Stu Hackel talks about the frequency of upsets in the first round of the playoffs:

During the 11 seasons since the NHL went to 30 clubs in 2001, we’ve witnessed 31  out of 88 first round series in which a team with an inferior record has taken  down an opponent that had a stronger regular season. That averages out to almost  three first-round series upsets per year.

He also talks about the increase of dangerous hits which Bob McKenzie says was encouraged by the 2011 Stanley Cup final:

I think they have to call more penalties. People are all, ‘Oh no, don’t do that.  Don’t ruin the playoffs,’ but I mean, it’s a little too loosey-goosey and I  think it started in the final [in 2011] when you saw the Boston Bruins manhandle Daniel Sedin.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 5, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Ottawa lost 3-1 last night in a game where all the scoring came in the second period.  Craig Anderson looked human in making 31 saves, while Milan Michalek scored the only goal.  Inexplicably Paul MacLean decided to dress Matt Kassian (who played more than Erik Condra), which is a rare poor decision by him.  The choice for Andre Benoit to play instead of Patrick Wiercioch is puzzling, but I’m far less critical of that.  The Sens played a mediocre first period (which was better than their awful first period in game one), then were punished for some sloppy defensive play in the second, before finishing with a listless third.  Among the forwards the best line was Zibanejad‘s.  Here’s the boxscore.

–Amelia L recaps the game and I have a pair of quibbles with her player comments: Benoit was okay, but he didn’t do enough in his limited minutes to enough to warrant special commendations; I also didn’t have a huge problem with Michalek‘s play.

–Jared Crozier has decided Sergei Gonchar is to blame for the Sens woes on the powerplay.  There’s no analysis offered other than since Karlsson is hurt the onus is on Gonchar.  It comes across as pretty simplistic and I don’t agree with it.

–Binghamton call-ups for black ace duties have been announced: Nathan Lawson, Mark Borowiecki, Cody Ceci, Stephane Da Costa, David Dziurzynski, Derek Grant, Stefan Noesen, Shane Prince, and Matt Puempel.  Absent from this list is Mark Stone, but he assuredly is included.  There are no real surprises here.

–Matt Weinstein wraps up Binghamton’s season and offers the following:

Every player that spoke to the media gave credit to their first-year coach, Luke Richardson, for keeping them together through roster upheaval and injuries.

Corey Cowick added:

Luke is everything. He is the reason why I’m probably going to get another contract with the Ottawa Senators. I can’t thank him enough for the opportunities he’s given me. He’s not far removed from playing and he can probably beat half these guys in fitness testing.

-I don’t think I mentioned Don Cherry’s ignorant comments about female sports journalists previously, but here’s a response to it from Monika Moravan.

-I have to give credit to the New York Islanders for refusing to roll over against the Penguins.  I don’t know how many more games they can win, but I was happy to see them battle back in game two.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 4, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Ottawa gave up a one-goal lead, but came from behind in the third period to beat Montreal 4-2.  The win, which included 48 saves from Craig Anderson, was overshadowed by a massive hit by Eric Gryba on Lars Eller that knocked the Danish center out.  I’ll get into that momentarily.  Erik Karlsson, Jakob Silfverberg, Marc Methot, and Guillaume Latendresse scored the goals for the Sens, who were out played for two periods before taking over in the third.  Here’s the boxscore.

-My thoughts on the Gryba hit are that it was clean, but had a terrible result (which seems the general consensus; here’s Kerry Fraser‘s take as an example).  Gryba isn’t a dirty player, he’s not even a consistently physical one.  The entire play went as badly as it could for Eller, who was hung out to dry by his teammate Diaz.  As for discipline, the NHL has no measure of consistency whatsoever in how it handles things, but injuries are punished much more commonly than anything else, so the two game suspension is no surprise.  I suspect Sens fans would be in an uproar if a clean Prust hit had the same result–it’s hard not to be outraged when your player gets hurt.  For me, I’m not that concerned with the discipline is, as the main focus should be Eller and his health.

-With Gryba out, Patrick Wiercioch will play tonight.

-A lot of the nonsense coming from the Montreal organisation today is, I think, meant to be a distraction from Carey Price‘s rough night and the Habs injury woes (besides Eller both Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta will miss tonight’s game.  Hopefully the Sens ignore the comments and focus on playing their game.

–The Raaymaker offers his view of the game and says that P. K. Subban outplayed Erik Karlsson:

I thought that on the whole, with all aspects of the game taken into consideration, P.K. outplayed EK65 in Game One. You can’t argue with results, and Karlsson had two points for a reason, and he definitely created much more offensively than Subban (especially considering Subban‘s 8:36 PP TOI), but Karlsson was highly questionable in the defensive zone. I’ll attribute that to the fact that it’s his fourth game back from a severe tendon injury, and his D-zone unreliability was mitigated by ample forward support, but it is what it is.

Raaymaker’s argument really boils down to Subban being better defensively, and Karlsson did make some uncharacteristic turnovers in his own zone and still seems to be a half-step slower than he was pre-injury.  That being said, I don’t think the distinction between the two is that clear cut.

–Worsteverything also offers a recap and among the many things he says mentions the Sens powerplay being awful.  I think one of the two was terrible, but the other created chances.

–Scott looks at the Sens scoring chances for the last quarter of the season and looks at the trends and all the Corsi and Fenwick goodness hardcore fans love.

-Binghamton’s season came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Wilkes-Barre.  Nathan Lawson made 25 saves in the loss, while Matt Puempel and Mark Borowiecki scored the goals.  Pat Cannone‘s terrible season ended appropriately, as he took the penalty that lead to the Penguins winning goal.  Here’s the boxscore.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 3, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-The Sens open up their playoff series with Montreal tonight, following lacklustre openers elsewhere in the NHL.  One note of interest is the officiating: Dan O’Rourke will be calling tonight’s game.  O’Rourke (for those who’ve forgotten) is infamous for claiming that Karlsson embellishes to draw penalties.  However upset fans are by his selection, I can assure you that whoever was calling the game there were going to be frustrations, so O’Rourke is simply the name making the mistakes tonight.

-Jason York (on The Team 1200) made an interesting point on the debate about dressing Eric Gryba and Patrick Wiercioch: the former is likely getting the nod in order to allow Chris Phillips to play the left side on the third pairing.  At least for tonight’s game, however, the point is moot as Phillips will play with Gonchar and Gryba with Cowen.

–Worsteverything offers his extended preview of the series.

–Stephan Cooper tries to break down the Sens forward lines by how they perform 5-on-5, but unfortunately it’s a bit lacking in places (Silfverberg-Zibanejad-Latendresse have rarely played together, but are assessed as if they have, while for some reason Conacher-Pageau-Condra isn’t given the same statistical breakdown that the other lines are; he also doesn’t look at who is trending in which direction).  That being said, his conclusion that the Sens will struggle to score is the same one we’ve all come too.

–Jonathan Bernier looks at the Sens and Habs grit and toughness.

–Nichols expresses his hopes for Eugene Melnyk now that he’s on Twitter.

-Binghamton must win tonight to keep their playoff hopes alive.  If Stefan Noesen is inserted into the lineup, someone like Wacey Hamilton will be scratched.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 2, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

–Travis Yost takes a look at the stats for the Sens and Habs in April and concludes both teams are in good shape heading into their series.

–Adnan expands on my look at Ottawa and Montreal’s games in the regular season.  Adnan concludes that, like most NHL coaches, Paul MacLean is more concerned with matching defence pairings against lines rather than forward groups.  He finds that Michel Therien doesn’t focus as much on the match-ups.  He suggests:

Based on games from earlier in the season, I would guess that MacLean will try to get Marc Methot and Erik Karlsson to shadow the Tomas Plekanec line and Sergei Gonchar/Jared Cowen against the Alex Galchenyuk line. Chris Phillips along with either Patrick Wiercioch or Eric Gryba will likely play against David Deshernais.

–Nichols breaks down Bryan Murray’s interview on The Team.

–Chris Lund addresses five burning questions about the Sens.

–Larry Brooks makes the bold prediction that the Sens will go all the way to the Cup final, with these thoughts on the Habs series:

Ottawa not only owns the skill and speed to match up with Montreal’s brigade, but has the toughness as evidenced in last year’s knock-down, drag-out, seven-game first round loss to the Rangers. Brandon Prust vs. Chris Neil; when first and how often? Carey Price has nothing on Craig Anderson. Should be a terrific series.

–Stan Fischler thinks the Sens will walk over Montreal:

I see the #Senators crushing #Montreal in a possible sweep

–Jared Crozier offers eleven thoughts on the Sens-Habs series because offering twelve would just be silly.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

May 1, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment