–Paul MacLean was happy with 54 minutes of his team’s effort, feeling that the end of the second and beginning of the third was their primary problem last night.  He acknowledged their powerplay needs to be much better, and “We didn’t play our best. We need to play better, obviously, to win. When you lose a game, you can always be better in all areas and all zones of the rink.”  The Sens players had essentially the same message, which is in stark contrast to the sky-is-falling mentality of the press.

-There’s probably no point in correcting Allen Panzeri, but for those scoring at home Erik Karlsson stopped Prust‘s breakaway, not Chris Phillips as reported.

–Bruce Garrioch illustrates why reading about the game isn’t the same as watching the game, “The Rangers served noticed to the Senators  that the team that pays the price is going to win the series. New York used its physical force to hit just about everything wearing a white sweater.”  Garrioch leaves the impression that the Rangers were the more physical team and it’s just not true–hits were even at 37 and even without the official stats physicality was not the deciding factor of the game.

-Speaking of Garrioch, he was on Hockey Central this afternoon and according to the boys in the studio the series is over–mark it down.  Doug MacLean thinks Condra is one of Ottawa’s big bodies incidentally–something he’s repeated for awhile–which I get a kick out of.

–Joy Lindsay reports that Mika Zibanejad will not play for Binghamton this weekend due to a mix of illness and exhaustion (Garrioch reports it may be a concussion).  Robin Lehner will start tonight and both Andre Petersson and Stephane Da Costa are expected to play.

April 13, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-I wanted to include quotes from players going into tonight’s games, but you’ve heard all the cliches before.  The analysis offered in the papers has been deep and meaningful, with astonishing insight like goaltending will be important.  For my part I dive into the numbers for the series.

-Sens assistant GM Tim Murray was on The Team 1200 yesterday and said he wasn’t concerned about burning a year of Zibanejad‘s contract if they felt he could help the team win.  He also said they expect Jakob Silfverberg to join the team when the SEL playoffs are over (that could be as early as April 15th or as late as April 21st).  Nichols has the conversation transcribed for those who prefer reading it.

–Jared Crozier makes his prediction for the Sens series and see’s Ottawa winning in six.  He’s the first person I’ve seen who provides some of the performances within the regular season series between the teams.

-For those who missed it, octogenarian Bob Cole will be calling the Ottawa series, much to the chagrin of Sens fans everywhere.  My only advice: hockey is a beautiful game even with the sound off.

–Joy Lindsay reports that Wacey Hamilton and Dan Henningson‘s seasons are over due to injury.  She also interviewed Ben Blood who talked about his first two games with Binghamton, “The play is definitely faster. Guys are bigger, smarter, faster. You’ve got to be more positionally sound out there. You’ve got to support each other. But it’s also a little bit easier because all the guys are so much better. It just makes the game easier when you’re playing with better guys. I just want to be a big, physical, shutdown d-man out there. I’m just going to try to play my game, and play my game every night and every day at practice.”

–Mark Stone‘s Brandon Wheat Kings have been eliminated in the WHL playoffs, but the Sens prospect was injured in their series so I’m not sure if he’ll join the NHL club or not.

-I watched the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia game last night and was struck by how much attention the media gave the missed call that lead to Briere‘s goal (making the game 3-1 Pittsburgh).  I mention it because of how many times the media has dismissed terrible officiating by saying it’s just an excuse and the NHL has the best officials in the world.  You have to wonder why this particular play excited them so much.  That being said, if you aren’t watching this series, you should be.  In the Nashville-Detroit series, Weber should be suspended, but he won’t be.

April 12, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Here’s my playoff preview, with a more detailed look at Ottawa’s series to come.  Like most of the experts I haven’t picked many upsets (going by the overall standings I’ve only picked one in the first round; my Cup prediction takes a hit as the Bruins have reported Nathan Horton will miss the entire post-season).

–Jason Spezza talks about the upcoming series, “They’re a team that tries to play similar to how we try to play, a physical up-tempo game. We’ll try to get pucks behind them, we want to be on the offence. That makes it an easier game for us. They’re a team we’ve looked at all year and tried to play similar to, because we respect them and think they play the game the right way. We feel we play the game the right way, too so that’s why we think it can be a good series.”  Chris Phillips said, “The biggest thing, is not playing defence. Get the puck quickly and we’re moving it to a teammate, or a forward, if we have it and we’re skating out of the zone. Get to the puck first, be hard on them and make good plays.”

-TSN’s playoff preview show was last night and it was a welcome relief after the nonsense of Sportsnet‘s preview on the weekend.  Like most prognosticators the panel favoured Pittsburgh to win the Cup.

-Sens bloggers are taking their kick at the cat for predictions, with The Silver Seven dragging it out as much as possible with articles separated by position.  Unfortunately, there’s not much statistical information used to back up what’s said and their opinions are all over the map, so I can’t recommend the series.  Neither 6th Sens nor Senshot have posted their previews yet, while Jeremy Milks at Black Aces has only written about John Tortorella.  Sens Chirp offers his opinion, but there’s no data behind it, just his gut feel.  Travis Yost spent a few minutes looking at the numbers and includes something I hadn’t read before–Ottawa has a career winning record against Lundqvist (11-12-2).  Normally there’s not much stock in career numbers against a team, but some of the Senators core has been around as long as the Ranger goaltender.

–Sports Illustrated and TSN‘s power rankings are out with Ottawa 14th and 10th (Pittsburgh is 1st in both).  Adrian Dater writes, “A preseason poll of the league’s pundits probably would have found about five  percent of them predicting that this team would make the playoffs. But here are  the Senators, thanks to solid coaching by Paul MacLean, great years from Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza, and some strong goaltending from Craig Anderson. This  team is big and it can skate, but it’s probably not deep enough for a deep  playoff run.”

–Joy Lindsay Tweets Binghamton’s lines at practice: Dziurzynski-Cannone-Petersson, Hoffman-Zibanejad-Downing, Schneider-Da Costa-Parrish, Puempel-Grant-Bartlett/Lessard; Borowiecki-Schira, Blood-Conboy, Wiercioch-Gryba.

–Jeremy Roenick is another commentator who calls the Penguins whiners (if you watch the Sportsnet intro video for the story, critics of Crosby and Malkin are called whiners by the host–classy!).

April 11, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Like everyone else I made pre-season predictions and it’s time to look at how I did.  I kept my prognostication to the Eastern Conference (with publications cited alongside me, McK=McKeens, THN=The Hockey News), with their actual positions in bold:

1. Washington (McK 1st, THN 1st, TSN 1st) 8th
2. Boston (McK 4th, THN 3rd, TSN 3rd) 2nd
3. Philadelphia (McK 8th, THN 4th, TSN 4th) 5th
4. Pittsburgh (McK 3rd, THN 2nd, TSN 2nd) 4th
5. Buffalo (McK 2nd, THN 6th, TSN 6th) 9th
6. Tampa Bay (McK 6th, THN 5th, TSN 5th) 10th
7. Montreal (McK 5th, THN 9th, TSN 8th) 15th
8. New York Rangers (McK 7th, THN 7th, TSN 7th) 1st
9. Carolina (McK 11th, THN 10th, TSN 11th) 12th
10. New Jersey (McK 10th, THN 12th, TSN 9th) 6th
11. Toronto (McK 9th, THN 8th, TSN 10th) 13th
12. Winnipeg (McK 14th, THN 13th, TSN 12th) 11th
13. Ottawa (McK 15th, THN 15th, TSN 15th) 8th
14. New York Islanders (McK 11th, THN 11th, TSN 13th) 14th
15. Florida (McK 13th, THN 14th, TSN 14th) 3rd

So I was exactly right with three of my predictions (Boston, Pittsburgh, and the Islanders), and picked 5 of 8 playoff teams.  My biggest error was the Florida Panthers.  How does that compare to the publications?  Here’s the breakdown (exact/playoff teams):
Eye on the Sens 3/5
TSN 0/5
THN 0/5
McKeens 0/5

All of us only predicted five of the Eastern playoff teams, each predicting Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and the New York Rangers correctly. McKeens had Florida highest at 13th, while I had Ottawa highest at 13th, and TSN picked New Jersey to be 9th.

–Katie Strang and Allen Panzeri predict the Sens will lose to the Rangers in seven, while Scott Cullen predicts the Rangers to win in six.

–Zack Smith talked about the biggest lesson learned during Binghamton’s Calder Cup run, “I learned that you have to control your emotions a lot better, too. It’s a seven-game series and you can’t get carried away.”

–ESPN‘s power rankings are out with Ottawa 16th (“Every season there’s a team that exceeds everyone’s regular-season expectations, and the playoffs come as a nice bonus. That’s Ottawa this year; there were few better stories in the NHL. Now the Senators need to prove they’re not just happy to be here. That they’re still hungry to prove more“).

-Elmira won 4-2 last night to eliminate Reading and move on to the next series.  Brian Stewart got the win, while Corey Cowick scored twice and Jack Downing picked up an assist.

-Prospect updates for those still playing (their position in team scoring is noted in brackets, defence compared to defence):
CHL
Stefan Noesen (C/RW, Plymouth, OHL) 6-7-7-14 (1st) (injured; Plymouth trails Saginaw 2-1)
Shane Prince (C/LW, Ottawa 67s, OHL) 8-6-4-10 (2nd) (67′s tied 1-1 with Barrie)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (RW, Chicoutimi, QMJHL) 6-2-6-8 (3rd) (Chicoutimi is tied 1-1 with Shawinigan)
Darren Kramer (C/LW, Spokane, WHL) 7-3-3-6 (4th) (Spokane is tied 1-1 with Tri-City)
Mark Stone (RW, Brandon, WHL) 7-2-4-6 (2nd) (Brandon is down 0-2 to Edmonton)
Jakub Culek (C/LW, Rimouski, QMJHL) 6-2-3-5 (8th) (Rimouski is tied 1-1 with Blainville-Boisbriand)
SEL
Jakob Silfverberg (C/RW, Brynas) 11-7-6-13 (1st) (Brynas plays Skelleftea in the finals)
Mika Zibanejad (C/RW, Djurgarden) 10-4-2-6 (3rd) (Djurgarden was relegated)
Fredrik Claesson (D, Djurgarden) 10-1-1-2 (3rd) (Djurgarden was relegated)
Allsvenskan
Marcus Sorensen (RW, Boras) 7-2-0-2 (12th) (Boras survived in relegation)

April 10, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-The Sens achieved the best possible result last night as they dropped to eighth to face the New York Rangers (beginning Thursday).  While Ottawa might have been able to beat Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins over a seven game series, it’s not something they’ve demonstrated all season.  Against the Rangers the Sens are 3-1, with their one loss a 3-2 affair in November.  Two of the three wins were against Lundqvist, so it’s not like the Sens benefitted from facing backup Biron.

–Paul MacLean talked after yesterday’s game, “It’s over now, so it’s good. We’re excited about next week and getting into the Stanley Cup playoffs, and having an opportunity there. We just sort of got through this one safe and healthy. Now we can start preparing for the Stanley Cup playoffs. We’re excited about that. Work would be the first thing we could do. If we did that, it’d make a significant difference in the outcome of the games. Be a little more mentally focused and sharp … we can’t just be giving away goals and expect to keep up. We have to get a little better focus, a little better work ethic and rely on the structure of our team to have a little success.”

–The Hockey News just can’t help themselves in dumping on Ottawa and see the Sens being swept by the Rangers.  The publication gives New York the edge in all categories (forwards, defense, goaltending, coaching, and special teams).  Just for a moment putting aside the specifics, sweeps in the first round are rare (since the lockout–so six seasons–there has only been one per year, except in  2010 when there were none and 2009 when three teams were swept), so clearly The Hockey News has no faith in the Sens whatsoever as a playoff team.

-Binghamton lost to Norfolk again last night, in a game that featured injuries to Wacey Hamilton, Dan Henningson, and Matt Puempel.  Mike McKenna made 36 saves in the loss, while Craig Schira scored the only goal.  Tim Conboy was a team worst -3; Ben Blood had his first AHL fight.  Here’s the box score and Joy Lindsay‘s game summary.  After the game Kurt Kleinendorst said, “We played really well. This was one of our best efforts of the year. It’s unfortunate. We just always find a way to lose a game, and it’s always a different guy. We played with nine forwards, relied on a few D more than others. This was two games in two nights against an elite team. Maybe we ran out of gas, but we didn’t fall apart.”

-Sens prospect Stefan Noesen broke his finger in the final game of Plymouth’s first round series and is out for their series against Kitchener

–Cap Geek has preliminary numbers for Ben Blood (0.825/14).

-The criticism of Sidney Crosby continues on the fringes of the media and within the NHL (Mike Milbury, Flyer assistant coach Craig Berube, Ranger coach John Tortorella, and now Don Cherry), and putting aside the specifics I wonder if this will impact the dismissive denial within the media that’s made Crosby immune to criticism.  With all the money invested by the NHL (and others) into Crosby‘s image it’s hard to imagine the status quo will change (here’s Larry Brooks‘ exploration of the issue), but perhaps the emergence of Steven Stamkos (or some other superstar) will permit more open discussion about him.

April 8, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

–Daniel Alfredsson doesn’t expect the game this afternoon to be full of fireworks, “I don’t think it will be an overly physical affair.”  Paul MacLean de-emphasized the importance of the game, “it’s more important to be prepared for that day. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that once Game 83 comes, it’s a whole new season. Doesn’t matter what you did before you get there. I think it’s two different seasons. Once it starts, momentum is going to go one way or the other. It’s whoever handles the momentum swings the best usually ends up winning.”  Given that there’s almost no chance the two teams will meet in the playoffs, expect a passionless no-hitter.

-I watched Binghamton’s loss last night, with the team overwhelmed during the first period and unable to generate much pressure throughout the game.  There’s a lot of individual play and very little structure in the offensive zone.  Why Tim Conboy played on the powerplay is beyond me (Binghamton was 0-5) and Ben Blood was little used in his debut.  Robin Lehner played well in the loss (making 32 saves), with the second goal bouncing in off Henningson and the third a result of terrible coverage by Patrick Wiercioch.  Jack Downing scored the team’s only goal.  Here’s the box score and Joy Lindsay‘s game summary.

–Kurt Kleinendorst talked about the loss, “You can’t fault the effort, for sure. Again, it’s just a little bit more of the same. Guys show up, make a great effort — really no passengers. (Goalie) Robin (Lehner) didn’t have to be great, but he was good. We’re certainly not pinning this one on him. Funny bounce, puck ends up in the back of the net. The team that’s winning finds a way to win, and the team that’s losing manages to lose. That [second goal] went in off of (Dan) Henningson. But we had a chance to block the shot, which you’ve got to do to find a way to win a hockey game. If we make that block, the puck never gets into the front of the net. It was a shot from a bad angle that they threw to the net, then it bounced off Henningson up in the air over Robin‘s shoulder. As well as we played, two of their three goals were preventable if we just blocked a shot.”

-Elmira won 5-2 last night to avoid elimination in the ECHL playoffs; Brian Stewart picked up the win and Corey Cowick held off the scoresheet.

April 7, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-There will be no final game drama in the NHL to decide who does or doesn’t get into the playoffs–all sixteen teams were set as of last night.  Positioning jockeying remains, but there will be a large number of meaningless contests to close out the regular season.

–Daniel Alfredsson admits it has been difficult to get excited about the last two games, “We’ve really tried to stay upbeat after the four wins and clinching the playoff spot, keeping the emotion going. It’s been tough to regroup to get the game to where we want. That game was nowhere near playoff intensity or the intensity we’re going to see next week. It’s more mental than anything. We’ll regroup, try to play a good game on Saturday and then move on.”  The truth is that it’s irrelevant if the Sens finish 7th or 8th–they will be heavy underdogs regardless, although I think they match-up better against the Rangers.  Don Brennan thinks the Sens should have been sending messages in last night’s game, but I don’t see the benefit in brawling with the Bruins in a meaningless game (unless they want to go ala Pittsburgh and try to injure players).  Save the energy and gusto for the games that matter.

–Ian Mendes Tweets that Chris Neil took a nasty spill in practice and won’t join the team in New Jersey.

-I keep hearing commentators talk in hushed tones about how Erik Karlsson is going to have to be aware that he’ll be targeted in the playoffs.  The comments always imply he’ll struggle and that he has no idea what to expect.  It’s frankly ridiculous.  He’s been targeted all season long, he’s played playoff hockey (his rookie year), and for anyone who has watched him play they can see he’s very good at avoiding being hit.  It’s frankly much ado about nothing.

–Mika Zibanejad and Fredrik Claesson‘s seasons are over with Djurgarden, which means Zibanejad will be on his way to Binghamton shortly.  Marcus Sorensen‘s season with Boras is also over.

-Here are my profiles of Sens prospects Marcus Sorensen and Bryce Aneloski.

–Denis Boucher says mental toughness is a myth, “If you don’t learn to manage your thoughts and emotions and strictly focus on being mentally tough, you’re putting yourself in a perpetual state of denial. This is not at all helpful, because you’re just trying to hide the fact that you don’t know what to do with your negative thoughts and emotions. We can’t ignore the fact that stress and negative thoughts and emotions are part of being an athlete. Trying not to think about it by being mentally tough brings us back to the White Bear Syndrome. If I say to you, “don’t think about a white bear” what are you going to do? Think about a white bear. Since it is impossible to get rid of stress, negative thoughts and emotions, why not train athletes to deal with them and take control of their brain activity?“

April 6, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment