-It was an eventful weekend for Ottawa, as they beat Detroit 4-2 (boxscore and Mark Parisi‘s summary–which includes a delightful rant about how awful it is to see Chris Phillips on the powerplay), and then lost to Minnesota 4-1 (boxscore with Mark‘s summary). Robin Lehner played both games and his numbers (at least) were good in both (Travis Yost wonders what the back-to-back starts say about Paul MacLean’s opinion of Craig Anderson). I haven’t seen an update on Mark Borowiecki was elbowed by Kevin Westgarth in the Carolina game and the latter is having a phone chat with the NHL–there’s no rhyme or reason to discipline (ala the non-suspension for Jared Cowen for elbowing Pavel Datsyuk), but as Borowiecki is injured there might be a suspension.
-Speaking of Lehner, Nichols points out that Robin‘s numbers have been consistently good in the NHL since he made his first appearance.
-Nichols (link above) also delves into trade speculation, but like all such speculation this season can’t find any reasonable option that fits Ottawa’s budget (which dovetails into Bryan Murray saying the solution was going to be internal). There are rumblings on Twitter that the Del Zotto deal might happen soon, but we shall see.
–Travis (link above) casts doubt on the recent Forbes article suggesting the Sens made a ton of money last year (citing Tyler Dellow‘s attacks how Forbes comes up with numbers from last year–which he does spectacularly).
–Nichols believes Jason Spezza‘s play has to improve for the team to improve and he goes through the captain’s general struggles this season and wonders if the solution is to put Clarke MacArthur on his wing.
-Binghamton went 2-1 on the weekend, beating Adirondack 6-2 (boxscore and Jeff Ulmer‘s recap), losing to Hershey 5-2 (boxscore and Jeff‘s recap), and then beating the Bears (boxscore and Jeff‘s recap). Nathan Lawson played in the first two games, while Andrew Hammond played in the third. The team continues to score at a prodigious rate and their combination of goaltending and blue-collar defence has been fantastic thus far. It’s quite a contrast to the NHL club and I wonder if the contrast is simply the different starts they got off too or if something else is afoot.
-Elmira went 1-2 on the weekend, with Ludwig Karlsson picking up a goal and assist, Troy Rutkowski two assists (he was recalled after the first game), and Jakub Culek two goals and an assist.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
2 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
eyeonthesens 
Bingo’s success is not completely surprising.
Petersson/DaCosta/Hoffman/Prince/Pageau/Stone/Puempel/Schneider give Bingo significant firepower and versatility up front (though the general lack of size outside of Stone/Puempel suggests doubt they can translate it the NHL level).
Dizzy/Cowick/OBrien/Hamilton provide size and experience
Lawson is a proven AHL veteran well Hammond is a rookie and very hard to judge at this point.
The defence is still my main worry, Bingo does give up a lot of shots and whether they can sustain their play is still up for debate. Ceci/Claesson/Wideman/Eckford have performed to expectations but Blood/Sdao will have to improve if Bingo is to go deep into the playoffs.
The potential for firepower was there in Binghamton to start the season, but one never knows when (or if) that potential gets realised. It’s been a great start to the year for the team and a credit to both the players and the coaching staff. Agreed on the blueline–after Ceci and Wideman there’s no true puckmovers in the group. Just as an aside: I wouldn’t include Puempel on a list of players with size up front (Robinson is more like it), or Hamilton for that matter (Hambone is not a big man, nor particularly experienced). Always appreciate the thoughts and feedback–keep it coming.