Skate Soldier

Rome wasn't built in a day, I guess: Flyers 3, Sens 1

2008-02-29T02:58:23Z

Wellllll ... frak.

Not exactly the result we were hoping for, but it's my opinion that there are some definite positives we can take from this game. As the subject line says, Rome was not built in a day. This losing streak and general crappiness we've built up over the last several months is not going to be undone in a single game. Rather, it's a series of baby steps and that's basically all we can clam onto at this point.

Jason Spezza got the Sens' only goal on the powerplay at 6:33 of the second period from Meszaros and Stillman. The shitty thing happened immediately after the goal was scored, and while I should not claim referee bias, it's kind of difficult not to with all the calls that seem to have gone against us lately. Basically Martin Biron took exception to Spetz celebrating right in front of him and crosschecked him right in the back. In the ensuing scrum, Spezza butt-ended a Flyer while being restrained by one of the linesmen - the Philly player, I might add, was not restrained - and got tossed out of the game for his troubles.

That was essentially the turning point, and even through Fish tried his best to centre Alfie and Heater, it just was not to be. Emery let in a somewhat weak goal off a long shot by Dowd, and it all went down from there. Shots ended up at 33-38 in favour of Philadelphia. Penalties were roughly even, although it's my opinion that Biron should have been assessed at least an instigator for his role in the scrum. There's just no excuse for that kind of behaviour.

I may as well break the rest of this recap post down into positives and negatives, it seems the easiest way to organize it.

Positives

- The Senators' work ethic. It was MUCH improved over the last few games, they actually looked as though they wanted to be there and were listening to Murray. Their passes were crisp and they didn't sort of stare down at the puck when they got it like, "What the hell is this and what am I supposed to do with it?" The effort was 1000% better.

- Razor's goaltending. Yes, there was that one weak goal, but he looked sharp on the blocker side and was able to turn aside most of the Philly chances. On two out of the three goals, he didn't have a chance.

- Jason Spezza. He got kicked out of the game, and I can't help but wonder what might have transpired had be been around in the third period to kick some ass and take some names. At least goals-wise. He seems to be back on form and is a lot crisper with his passes and shots. Very nice performance.

Negatives

- The score. Clearly, we still have some work to do, because we didn't come out with the two points tonight. Our ability to hold leads - and more importantly, build on them - still appears to be diminished.

- Offensive zone penetration. No, I did not mean that to sound naughty. Not at all. XD It seemed incredibly easy for the Flyers to clear the zone and start odd-man rushes back the other way. We need to stop that, and stop it quickly. More importantly, we need to continue to work on our sustained pressure, because that's the only way we'll keep scoring.

- Reaction after the opposition scores. It seems like when the opposing team gets a goal, it really deflates the boys and they can't recover and get any chances to try and even things up a bit. To their credit they did try quite hard in the third period, I don't want to imply that the effort wasn't there. Still, I remember back when a 1-1 tie or even a 2-1 lead by the opposition meant nothing. It would be nice to get those days back.

I must remember that the Boston Bruins are back on my Christmas card list, heh. They defeated Pittsburgh by a score of 5-1 (!!!!) and managed to knock Marian Hossa out of the game in the process. Thanks, Bruins. We owe ya one! (Except really not.)

LJ, however, is definitely NOT on my list. After I pressed Post it gamely proceeded to eat my carefully-constructed recap and show me a "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" screen for my efforts. Thank goodness for Autosave.

Turnaround on horizon?

2008-02-28T21:07:31Z

Well, Sens Army, welcome to your first day AP. After Paddock.

Unless you've been vacationing on Mars, you'll know that John Paddock was fired yesterday, but I'm tossing the link up just in case. It's to the TSN story and has the bare-bones details. Basically, as so often happens in professional sports, the coach took one for the team in the most brutal sense imaginable. And really, if you think about it, it makes a certain amount of sense. Team that should not be playing shitty plays shitty. Fans get restless. Fans demand action. GM can't fire the team, so bye bye coach.

I think what intrigues me most about the whole situation is the reaction that fans of other teams have had. There were a ton of people on hockey yesterday saying that the firing seemed really sudden and unnecessary. Many were not Sens fans. Most cited the team's 15-2 start as evidence that Ottawa is really not as bad as it looks right now. But the Sens fans in the bunch, myself included, know better.

The pair of games that have been played this week are among the most horrible that I've seen my team involved in. Now, nothing will quite equal the debacle that was a 6-0 loss to the Leafs on home ice in the second game of 2006. I should claim a small bias here in that I was present at the arena for that game, and so my interpretations are coloured by the drubbing we Sens fans received at that game from the Ottawa annex of Leafs Nation. Nevertheless, the inescapable fact is that I've been a Senators fan for eleven years and I've rarely seen them play so terribly.

What fans of other teams fail to realize - and they could be forgiven for that - is that ever since that 15-2 start, the Senators have been the worst kind of inconsistent. We were on top of the Eastern Conference by a fairly wide margin thanks to our terrific start, and we were able to hand out enough defeats to enough of the league's elite teams to fool most of the people most of the time. Now, however, the chickens have come home to roost, as it were. The same issues have been plaguing us for a long time now. Poor goaltending. An off-ice circus surrounding Ray Emery and some of his antics. A defence that looks like it would really rather be somewhere else most nights. An inability to win without Alfredsson, Heatley and Spezza carrying most of the load.

So, Paddock takes the fall for all of this. Paddock basically takes the fall for the Sens being shitty, unable to pull up their socks, etc. etc. I know I'm not alone in hoping that this proves to be the final turnaround, but I'm probably also not alone in being afraid that it might not, that nothing is going to fix this. I don't know what kind of a fan I would be if I didn't believe, so I'm going to try. But it's hard. Damn, it's hard.

Murray will step behind the bench for the rest of the season and in interviews last night he said he hoped that the players were "embarrassed" by Paddock's firing, that it jarred some sense into them. I heartily agree. This should serve notice that they are in deep trouble right now, that they aren't even trying, and that they need to elevate their game. They are capable of so much more. They know it and we know it. Now it's time to start walking the talk.

I haven't done game notes for the past few games, mostly because I'm sick and tired of reporting on the same damn things: losses, poor goaltending, poor defence. If the Sens pick up their game a bit and give me cause to stop repeating myself, I may begin again. But for now, I'm going to stick to writing accounts of the games the day after. I knock myself out and sacrifice three hours of my night and for what? Another loss. Another crappy performance. Well, this isn't worth my time anymore. I'll still watch the games, because I can't do without my hockey fix. But the game notes aren't happening. At least for a little while. Sorry guys, but I need to do other things right now. Take it up with the team if you're annoyed. XD

Philly tonight. Go Sens Go.

Ottawa at Pittsburgh, February 23

2008-02-23T22:54:37Z

For some reason I have "Another One Bites the Dust" going through my head at the moment. Not sure why; it may possibly have to do with our shitty record right now or it may possibly not. How we keep blowing game after game, showing up and then going to sleep, dropping two points here, there and everywhere. But I'd be lying if I said I'm outright panicking anymore, because I'm really not. Instead I'm just kind of ... puzzled, to be quite frank. We used to be so awesome, we used to be able to hold leads, we used to play defensively and get goals from our big line and, in short, do all the little things you need to do to win games. Now, we may as well be asking the boys to split the atom or fly to Jupiter and back before supper. It's just not happening. Paddock promised on the evening news yesterday that there would be some changes - namely, splitting up the big line and possibly putting Heater on the Fisher line - but we'll see. About the one positive has been the Stillman-Vermette-Kelly line; they've been tearing up the ice as our only source of scoring in the last few games. But we need more. Waaaaay more.

Today's opponent is the Pittsburgh Penguins. How apropos considering they're one of the teams in the hunt for our Eastern Conference top spot. Both Andrew and I agree that the Penguins are highly likely to come out with all guns blazing and that if we can survive the first five minutes we'll be frakking lucky. But surviving is not thriving. We survived against Philadelphia and it was the purest form of survival imaginable. The Columbus game proved that if nothing else. We need to get back to our previous form if we have any hope of staying in first place ... which is something I've said about 305559342304 times in the last week.

FIRST PERIOD

- Injuries and the flu bug are starting to bite, sigh. McAmmond will miss today's game with the flu, and Neiler is out "indefinitely" with an ankle injury. I haven't heard any reports on his possible return yet.

- Starting goaltenders are Razor (which surprised me a little) and Ty Conklin.

- Uhh, so apparently we're not going to be able to see the beginning of the fucking game, at least not on CBC!! They haven't broken away from the stupid curling thing they have on right now, and the commentator said that "we will keep you updated on any scores"! Fucking ridiculous. I guess I'll try to follow it and take notes from the radio commentary, I mean what else can I do?

- I'd be willing to bet money that if this was a Leafs game they wouldn't be piddling around with fucking curling.

- Pittsburgh almost got it in there, someone tried the wraparound but Razor was there. Almost wide-open, though.

- The Vermette/Kelly/Stillman line is on, and they get their first chance!

- Wow, great save Razor! That sounded awesome.

- But of course, we get a penalty out of it. Why am I not surprised. *snerk* Phillips for hooking. This is not how we wanted to start, giving the third-ranked powerplay a chance like one minute in. But then, when do we EVER start out how we want?

- Yay, shorthanded shot! Awesomeness, Fish!

- Good faceoff win by Vermette.

- And predictably, they score first. What the hell is with Razor's high blocker side?? This is just frakking weird. Damn, that sounded like a weak goal. Can't say as I'm terribly surprised, again. Sykora, from Malone and Whitney. Pens lead 1-0.

- Damn, ANOTHER penalty? Okay, fine. Put another one in, why don't you. May as well bury us deep early, then at least we won't get our hopes up.

- Wow, they actually interrupted their stupid curling broadcast for five seconds to show the Pittsburgh goal. I'm shocked.

- We seem to be doing a slightly better job of killing this penalty off than the last one.

- Haha, apparently one of the linesmen doesn't have a number on the back of his sweater! WTF?

- Back to five-on-five.

- Or not! We take ANOTHER goddamned penalty, what the FUCK? Why don't the refs just make us play with one guy permanently in the box, it'd sure simplify things!

- Yikes, that was an off-the-post shot. I heard that even through the radio. And yes, it was blocker side on Razor.

- Sounds like they got another shorthanded chance, cool! It would so show those goddamned refs if we were to get a shorthanded goal.

- Phillips gets dumped in behind the net, no call of course.

- Powerplay over, amazingly enough we killed another off. Something tells me we can't keep doing this forever though.

- Shots are 4-2 in favour of the Penguins.

- Nice shot Vermy! It's that same line again, hehe.

- Oh wow, we actually get to see the game now!! Amazing!! I guess whatever stupid curling event was on is over. Thank goodness.

- WHAT A SAVE BY RAZOR!!!! OMG!!!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!! (It's awesome to see it, too. LOL.)

- I must admit it's a hell of a lot easier to take notes on this game now that I can actually see it. Before I was just sort of bullshitting my way along. XD

- Another awesome shot from Vermy!! He was fricken robbed by Conklin on that one.

- Good defensive play, boys. That's what we need to do.

- Aaaand we get another penalty. Like I said ... just stick one Ottawa guy in the box. Way more simple and definitely less time-consuming than constantly blowing the whistle all the time. The NHL may want to look at this idea. Schubert, boarding.

- Looks like we won't be getting any help from the Islanders today, either. New Jersey's leading them 4-2 without very much time to go. Y HALO THAR FOURTH PLACE.

- Good first save from Razor.

- One opportunity to get it out, and we couldn't take advantage. Sigh.

- Another penalty killed off, by the way. Somehow or other.

- Yay, Razor has new goalpads! Maybe they'll bring us good luck. Probably not, but you can always hope.

- FRAK. FRAKKING GODDAMNED GOALPOST. I HATE IT. (Er, except when it's on our side. But you know what I mean. XD)

- We had some good pressure there anyhow.

- We've actually not been playing half-bad for the last three minutes or so. Not that it's resulted in anything wonderful occurring, but still.

- Course, just our luck we've got to run into a hot goalpost and a hot goaltender. SHEESH. I actually thought that went in. Silly me, getting my hopes up.

- I'll tell you though, if we keep playing the way we did to get those chances, it won't be long before it's tied.

- We don't, though, and Razor makes yet another good save off a giveaway.

- Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. How in hell do you leave Malkin alone with the frakking puck??? You guys should thank your lucky stars Razor was there again.

- Keep trying, guys. Just keep trying. That's the only way you'll get any chances.

- Haha, way to break Ruutu's stick, Wade. Love it!

- Yet another giveaway. They take it down the ice, Razor's there, etc. etc.

- They've outshot us 15-8 this period. Somehow I'm surprised it's so close.

- One minute remaining in the first.

- We're frakking lucky it's still only 1-0, we really are. Of course it may not be so for long.

- Even Alfie's missing his passes. Ugh.

- First period over. Pens lead 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- LOL @ Razor beating Malkin to the puck! That was priceless.

- No, Vermy, blind passes do not tend to work. Unfortunately.

- Neither Spetz nor Heater nor Alfie had a shot in the first, which doesn't surprise me.

- Ooh, nice shot from Richardson!! Suddenly we're getting some nice pressure on them. For now, anyway.

- We're still not that great in our own zone, ugh.

- Well, that one I called. As soon as Armstrong came down the ice I said to Andrew, "They're going to score," and they did. For once it wasn't on Razor's blocker side, which is encouraging I suppose, but what's not is that they've got a two-goal lead and we're not playing at ALL like we want to defend our first place position. Sigh. Armstrong, from Talbot and Skuderi. Pens lead 2-0.

- What a defensive play by Commodore! Wow, that was definitely what we acquired him for, heh.

- Shots are 18-13 in favour of the Penguins.

- Commentators are damned right when they say we've got no energy. Trouble is I don't know what it's going to take to get some.

- It would be nice if we could at least break Conklin's shutout bid.

- More sloppy play in our zone, more shots for Pittsburgh. I'm not even sure I know what to say anymore.

- We're playing not to lose. As we have for the last - well, how many weeks? I can't remember now. And when you play not to lose, you're that much more likely to lose.

- Yet more giveaways. That was about five or six in a row there. Poor Razor's getting fucking shelled.

- You know, I get the feeling that a lot of teams are going to come away from playing us with the impression that they're better than they actually are. I mean, with the way we're standing the hell around, opponents basically just have to skate right through us and it's in the net. Not all teams are going to be as easy to play against, Pittsburgh. Trust me.

- Questions for the ages: where is the team that dismantled Montreal by six goals, with the big line getting 15 points? This is like Playoff Zombie Syndrome a couple of months early. Except it goes on, and on, and on ...

- Well, Razor did all he could to prevent that one. He really did. But when Alfie turns it over, you know things are quite literally fucked. Tait, from Stahl and Sydor. Pens lead 3-0.

- I keep thinking one of these days the absolute low point has to come. One of these days, we have to reach a point where things can get no worse, where the only way to go is up. But maybe there is no low point. Maybe we'll just keep plunging, falling down through the standings and out of the playoffs and down to god knows where. Maybe the Leafs will get some company.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!! WELL!!! SHUTOUT BID BUSTED!!! THANK YOU HOCKEY GODS, FOR AT LEAST THAT SMALL BIT OF DIGNITY!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! And again, it's the Kelly-Vermette-Stillman line! Sweetness!! Stillman, from Kelly and Vermette. Penguins lead 3-1.

- We got some pressure for a couple seconds to follow up, anyhow. That has to be worth something.

- Ugh, another thing to put in the You-Know-Things-Are-Fucked-When... File: the A-Train gets, well, A-Trained. Siiiiigh.

- Good shot Wade!

- Penalty call, and inevitably it's to us. May I point out that we have not had ONE SINGLE CHANCE on the powerplay? Not one single chance, people. Not one single chance! Schubert for I don't even fucking know or care what.

- We clear the puck for about five seconds, anyway.

- Penalty's over, we actually killed another one off. Put that in your pipes and smoke it, refs.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OKAY, MAYBE WE DON'T DESERVE IT, BUT WHO THE HELL CARES!!!! AND IT WAS HEATER!!!!!!! HEATER, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SIX GAMES!!!! YOU HAD TO KNOW HE'D BLOW UP SOMETIME, HAHAHAHA!!!! LOVELY GOAL!!!! Heater, from Stillman and Wade! Pens lead 3-2.

- It's not as though Pittsburgh has anything to fear from us still. It should be pretty easy for them to hold onto the lead. But dignity is worth a lot, let me tell you.

- Like I said ... pretty easy. Especially when you've got the refs on your side. This time it's Alfie in the box. Here comes Goal #4 from the Penguins, I guarantee it.

- Good clear, boys.

- HEY!!!!!!!!! GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE!!!!!!! GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE YOU FUCKING MORON REFS!!!!!! OR HAVE YOU EXPUNGED THAT RULE FROM YOUR RULEBOOKS WHERE OTTAWA IS CONCERNED????

- Somewhere in there the last minute of the period rolled around, hehe. I was too busy ranting.

- Second period over. Pens lead 3-2.

THIRD PERIOD

- Wow, that puck just rolled up the mesh on Razor. Yiiiiikes.

- And hey, we actually get our first powerplay! WTF is wrong with these refs all of a sudden? Scuderi, hooking.

- Okay guys, just try to keep it in, I guess. I know it's hard but we've just got to shoot at the net and hope to hell it goes in.

- After that first flurry of pressure we've had nothing. Sigh.

- Powerplay over, we accomplished the sum total of nothing.

- What the hell was that, Robitaille? You don't make those kinds of passes, you just don't.

- Why do they never do that? Why is it only us?

- Well, we're sure helping them defend this lead. *eyeroll*

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT DID WE ACTUALLY TIE IT?????????? DID WE???????????? DID WE?????????? IS THERE A BIGGER LEVEL THAN CAPSLOCK???????? OMGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!! I WOULD NEVER HAVE BELIEVED IT OF THEM BUT WOW, IT'S TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Heater!! Score tied 3-3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Coming back from the deficit took guts, at the very least. I have to admit that.

- Of course, the challenge now is to stop them from getting one back. Which we may not be able to do, but ... oh well. We did try.

- Thanks for that, hockey gods! Thankyouthankyouthankyou. *KISSES the post*

- Good save by Razor! Yet another squirt past the post, egads.

- Oh wow, what a set of chances! Heater was so seriously buzzing around that net, that was incredible!!

- Of course, it can't last. We can't get any sustained pressure at all, ugh.

- Come on guys, we have to play for the win if we can. No more overtime or shootout bullshit.

- Ohhhh Razor, I hate it when you do that!! Stay in the net!!!

- Frak that shot JUST missed. Seems like that's been the pattern this afternoon, unfortunately.

- Come on Spezza, the puck is just LYING there! Pick it UP!!!!

- This is actually pretty frustrating to watch, heh. I keep wanting them to get to loose pucks and win battles along the boards, and they're not doing it.

- Geez, they're right on Alfie. No wonder the second line has become the highest-scoring line lately.

- Five minutes to go, guys. Can we do anything?

- WOW, what a scramble!!! That was awesome!!

- If we hadn't given up that third goal, we'd be sitting pretty nicely right now, I have to admit. But of course we always have to do things the hard way. Preferably the hardest way.

- We can't win faceoffs for beans all of a sudden.

- Razor had no idea where that point-blank shot was. Egads.

- Dammit, Kelly, you cannot hesitate! Not if you hope to keep it in their zone!

- Last minute in the third.

- Gaaah, bad pass. I frakking hate those.

- Good defensive play, Anton! That probably kept it tied.

- Aaaand the period ends with a 3-3 tie. Overtime for the third straight game, heh.

OVERTIME

- I just hope this overtime will be more exciting than the one against Columbus. That was just brutal. Then again, Pittsburgh is a run-and-gun team, so perhaps there's hope.

- Okay guys, let's at least try to do it in overtime. It's possible, but unlikely.

- Good shot Wade! That just missed the far post.

- OMG!! If only there'd been someone on the open side!!!

- How many odd-man rushes do we have to concede??? I just ... ugh.

- Great scramble there, boys! If you could've just gotten it a bit higher it probably would have gone in!

- Well, this is definitely a more exciting overtime than the one against the Jackets! Hehehe. Guess I should be careful what I wish for.

- Good defensive play!! That was awesome.

- Can't win the faceoff. DAMN.

- Great save, Razor! Gotta love that glove hand, it's saved us on more than one occasion.

- OH. MY. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! ANOTHER FRAKKING DEBT WE OWE THAT POST!!!!! OMG!!!!

- Meszaros, what the hell was that???? Holy crap.

- Alfie, you have GOT to get those pucks!!!!!! SHEESH!!!!!!!!!

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FRAK ME SIDEWAYS WITH A BRICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT. WAS. JUST. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY JAW IS STILL SCRAPING THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONCE AGAIN ALFIE SAVES OUR BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!! Alfie, from Meszaros. Sens win 4-3 in overtime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Final score: 4-3 Sens!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Look, I'm not ashamed to admit I gave up on them, because you know what? I did. I said to Andrew in, I think, the second period: "It's not that I've lost faith. I'll never lose faith. But right now I'm just not sure if this team deserves my faith." And really, they looked like they did not. They were standing around, especially in the second period, and the third Pittsburgh goal was entirely preventable in my opinion. Everything that went wrong in this game was symptomatic of everything that's been going wrong lately. Giveaways, poor defensive play, slightly bad goaltending, lack of passion, refs being against us. All were in evidence today. But maybe, just maybe, this game is something that we can build on. I've said that before and it's ended up not being true, but hey, it has to happen sometime, right?? RIGHT??? I just hope so. I really, really, really do.

- There stars (as chosen by CBC):
#1: Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
#2: Dany Heatley, Ottawa
#3: Petr Sykora, Pittsburgh

- Next game is on Monday against (gulp) Toronto. I haven't yet decided whether I'm doing game notes because I have a class Monday night and won't be getting back until about halfway through the second period. So if notes do appear, they will likely be truncated. Talk to you all soon!

Ottawa vs. Columbus, February 21

2008-02-22T03:17:21Z

Hey everyone! Well, I'm baaaack. XD I definitely missed doing these game notes last game, but being actually at Scotiabank Place, there wasn't really any way I could post anything. Hehe. And it was certainly a great game, at least results-wise. True, Ottawa fell asleep for half the game. True, we never should have blown that 2-0 lead. True, we usually suck at shootouts and I didn't think we had a hope in hell. But nevertheless, the boys pulled it out, got the two points and kept their place atop the Eastern Conference. We've got to keep winning, though, or we could be staring at fourth place quite quickly with how close things are.

Tonight's opponent is the Columbus Blue Jackets. I always thought that was such a weird name for a hockey team. I mean, why name them after an article of clothing? Surely there had to be more creative monikers out there to award. This was before I found out about the connection to the Civil War, yes, but truth be told I still find the name sort of ... stupid. The team isn't, though. Despite being last in offense in the entire league, Columbus are no shrinking violets and have managed to beat even the likes of Detroit before. We can't be complacent, that's for sure.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Ray Emery and Pascal Leclaire (I think that's how it's spelled).

- Good kick save from Razor to start off.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!! IT'S LIKE PHILLY ALL OVER AGAIN, OMG!!!!!!!!! AND YAY, STILLMAN GETS HIS FIRST GOAL AS A SENATOR!!!!!!!! WHAT A LINE!!!!!!!!!! THIRTY-FIVE SECONDS IN, HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!! Stillman, from Kelly and Vermette. Sens lead 1-0!!!!!!!

- Wow, it seriously is Philly all over again, even though we weren't shorthanded and it came 35 seconds in as opposed to one minute. But we'll take it!

- Great hit there from Fish! That'll leave a mark on Russell.

- Y'know, it would be nice if you didn't lose the puck halfway up the ice. Just sayin'.

- Crap, Donovan's playing without a stick. What is with all these broken sticks lately???

- We're really going to the net, which is great to see. Leclaire had to be sharp there. Would've been nice if someone was there to get the deflection but oh well.

- The A-Train has pulled into the building! WOW what a hit!!

- Emery had to make a couple good saves there, yikes. Nash and Modin are fricken dangerous.

- Nice shot Phillips!

- Oh, Wade, what the frak was that? You don't want to just stand the hell around while opposition players are blazing down the ice towards your net, trust me. That's what makes people call in on those postgame shows. *sigh*

- Come on, guys, we need some sustained pressure on them. These odd-man rushes are starting to bug me.

- Okay, some nice pressure there. Sort of. Kind of.

- Great hit from Stillman, too bad it doesn't help us get possession.

- I swear they've had the damned puck more than we have, despite our lead.

- Yet another Jackets' shot. I wonder what the shot count is? Can't be much in our favour, anyway.

- Little bit of interference on Heater, huh refs?

- Wow, a giveaway that was not from us! I didn't know those existed!

- Unfortunately we can't do much with it, they're right back on us.

- I sense we're falling asleep here, and I don't like it. Uggggh.

- If I was a Columbus fan I might be just a bit pissed at the spearing call the referees missed. That looked painful for the Blue Jacket. >.>

- Keep flinging it at the net, Alfie - odds are it'll eventually go in!

- Ooh, that was a cool move from Spetz. Too bad it didn't result in a shot.

- Good save from Razor, that was a dangerous play.

- Another good save! He looked down and out there, I thought that puck was headed for the back of the net.

- Off. The. Post!!!!!!! OMG, that just sucked. We were frakking lucky.

- Why are we suddenly playing How Many Times Can We Give The Puck Away Before They Score? I reeeeally don't like that game. Please stop it, guys.

- Commentators bring up the point that no penalties have been called yet this period, with about three minutes to go. It's true and it's surprising given how physical it's been so far.

- FRAK. Neiler looks hurt and is going to the dressing room. Doesn't seem to be putting any weight on one of his legs, either. I didn't see what happened, but this does not bode well.

- And of course, we get the penalty. *facedesk* Fisher for hooking.

- Finally, a clear. Things were hairy for a minute there.

- Last minute in the first.

- Our penalty kill doesn't look all that bad so far, but we can't afford to let down our guard. It only takes one shot.

- I'd still like to see a shot count.

- Oh come on boys, don't let a goal in now! I hate when the opposition scores in the last few seconds.

- Phew. Luckily they don't.

- First period over. Sens lead 1-0!!!!

SECOND PERIOD

- As I suspected, shots in the first period were 8-6 in favour of Columbus. Still relatively close, especially given the number of odd-man rushes the Jackets seemed to have.

- Neil is confirmed not to return with a leg injury. :( I saw a replay and I guess he jammed it into the boards after missing on a hit. He sure wasn't putting much weight on it when he left, either. :(

- Gord Wilson says he watched the games Columbus played against Detroit and Toronto and the Jackets were apparently not nearly as physical against those two teams. Frakking typical. *eyeroll* No team ever wakes up until they play us, and then suddenly they're all champions. SHEESH.

- Geez, almost a breakaway for Columbus. When will these defensive breakdowns end?

- Too bad you couldn't get a shot, Wade, that would've been nice.

- Is the puck frakking glued to the Jackets' sticks??? I mean, they're sure to score sooner or later if this keeps up.

- When was the last time we got sustained pressure in the Columbus zone? I can't remember.

- You see, guys? You SEE? If you keep turning the puck over and letting them get into your zone and get chances, that's what will happen! They will score! That puck was frakking giftwrapped for Nash! Anyway, maybe that'll jar you guys into wakefulness. It's tied now, and we've got to start making some of our own luck. Nash, from Modin. Score tied 1-1.

- Good shot by Alfie on the next shift.

- Another Jackets shot chimes off the post. GEEZ, guys. We CANNOT let this keep happening!

- And yet another Columbus player skates around our whole damn team and gets a shot. Where the hell is our desire???

- PENALTY????????? Y'know refs, it'd be nice if you penalized the opposing team for committing fouls, not just us! Apparently that's just wishful thinking, though.

- Just once I'd like to see us stay awake and on our game for an entire three periods. Just once.

- Wow, an actual shot! Amazing!

- No, no, no, you are not going to beat an NHL goaltender with a halfhearted shot that sort of drifts to the side of the net. Thanks for playing though.

- I can't believe we're actually getting a powerplay! Amazing! Foote, for boarding.

- God, we can't even keep it in our zone on the fucking powerplay. What the HELL is wrong with us?

- We've got two shots so far this period. Neither were terribly dangerous or noteworthy.

- Okay, there was a shot, anyway. I suppose that's commendable.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VERMETTE AGAIN, WHAT AMAZING WORK FROM THAT LINE!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!! SOFT GOAL BUT WHO THE FUCK CARES, IT'S A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!! WE'LL TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Meszaros, from Vermette and Heater. Sens lead 2-1!!!!!!!!!!

- Okay boys, if we can wake up a bit and prevent them from scoring on the next shift, we might have something here!

- Aww, Spetz, you've gotta shoot it farther in than that. It would help to have some backup too.

- Nice shot from Fish! Leclaire gloved it, but still.

- Suddenly powerplays are coming in bunches, which is nice. Tarnstrom for hooking.

- Well, they're doing a pretty good job of keeping us out of their zone. Sigh. Guys, if we dump it in they'll just send it back out again, so what's the point?

- Ooh, a shot! Nice!

- That was CLOSE! Wow!!! Good chance!

- These guys are expert at picking it off, sheesh. I don't think we've gotten even one of those this game.

- Final minute of the second.

- I basically missed the last minute 'cause I was entering the A-Channel's Operation Barbados contest, hehe. But I don't think anything terribly earthshattering occurred.

- Second period over. Sens lead 2-1!!!!!!!!!!!

THIRD PERIOD

- We're outshooting them 14-11, which really surprised the hell out of me. It's kinda nuts that the shot count is that low.

- Can we please spend at least a little more time in the offensive zone this period? Or is that really too much to ask?

- Good save from Razor! It may be up to him to keep this game in our favour, sigh.

- Andrew: "The way they're playing, this lead won't last long. They don't do well with one-goal leads." Me: "They don't do well with two-goal leads!" Which, unfortunately, is true. Still, we do need to keep scoring if we can.

- Ooh, fight! Commodore and Boll, they're mostly shaking each other right now but Commodore's kinda pounding him, Commodore falls but gets back up, and it basically ends in a draw. Hehe, that was fun. Both will go to the box to sit for five. Wonder what caused all this in the first place?

- OH NO YOU DIDN'T BOLL. LEAVE YOUR FEET TO HIT MY WADE WILL YOU? I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE ASSHOLE.

- Okay, so usually we suck four-on-four. Hopefully that particular trend can be broken now.

- Haha wow, they actually give the puck away for once. Of course we can't take advantage of it.

- No, Heater, don't abandon the puck in the middle of the ice. The opposition tends to steal it if you do that.

- Nice shot Alfie! Just off Leclaire's pad.

- Yep, turnovers'll do that for you, every single time. Seems so easy for them to take advantage of giveaways and just stash it right in the net, and so hard for us. But hey, that's par for the course right? And lo, another lead is blown. Fedorov, from Brule and Zherdev. Score tied 2-2.

- At least the crowd's still behind them, which is nice to see.

- Wow, awesome shot from Meszaros! Of course Leclaire will probably stand on his head from here on out, but I suppose it's the thought that counts.

- Oh great, another four-on-four. We definitely suck four-on-four, so this is not a wonderful development.

- Heater, I'd complain to you about that giveaway but quite frankly I'm sooooo tired of ragging on you guys for giveaways. I do it so often and if any of my words actually sank in, you'd still be leading right now. So, forget it.

- Spetz, when you get the puck, shoot it! That's the only way you'll get a chance!

- Guys! Shoot! Shoot! SHOOT!!!!! If the ENTIRE FUCKING CROWD is SCREAMING at you to shoot, do you not think you should take their advice?? We're not as stupid as you apparently take us for, and in fact being in the stands gives us a pretty good vantage point.

- Kelly just missed on that one, wow. What a feed from Stillman!

- Apparently Montreal's in the process of pulling off yet another comeback, this time in Pittsburgh where the score is currentl 5-4 Penguins. While this makes my Hab fan boyfriend quite happy, I am considerably less enthused. Either we need to somehow win or Pittsburgh needs to somehow stave them off, or both. At this point I don't know if either will occur.

- Keep whacking those one-timers, Heater! You never know what might happen!

- Five to go in the third. Could we be looking at overtime yet again? (Only if the Jackets somehow miraculously don't score.)

- Well, Spetz almost DID miraculously score there! That would've been amazing.

- Unfortunately so did the Jackets, heh. Luckily Emery put down the left pad so it went no further.

- Shots on goal are now 22-21 in favour of Ottawa.

- OMG, that redirect was utterly perfect! Too bad there wasn't someone in front.

- Powerplay for us! Vyborny for boarding. Shut the frak up Hitchcock, that was most certainly deserved.

- Leclaire was lucky on that one. Lucky lucky lucky, I mean it went off the end of his frakking STICK.

- Ohhh, Fish, that was quite feeble. And of course they take advantage, and waste a whole whack of time in our zone. Sigh.

- Last minute in the third.

- Alfie didn't have a whole lot to shoot at there, but I guess you never know ...

- Geez, is this a carbon copy of the Philly game or what? Sheesh.

- Third period over. With the score still tied, we're headed for overtime!

OVERTIME

- Accidentally typed "Third Period" for the header instead of "Overtime." Hoo boy. It's been a long night. LOL.

- Oh sure, play keepaway with the goddamned puck Columbus, why don't you. *eyeroll* Now those are the kinds of plays that deserve delay of game penalties in my opinion.

- Wide shot by Spetz. Oh well, he tried.

- Okay, at least we got a shot on net. This is good.

- Whoops, we've got some cracked glass here. They'll pause for a moment to repair that, and give us fans some time to breathe. XD

- Glass is good to go now, so we'll drop the puck again.

- And again the Jackets are playing fucking keepaway! This is ridiculous! You can just tell they want to steal one in the shootout, which I could definitely see them doing.

- Fish, what the hell was that? Giveaways, giveaways, giveaways. SHEESH.

- Great save by Razor there! His positioning was perfect.

- Oh wow, Leclaire's name is actually spelled the way I thought it was! Random, yes, but I just saw the back of his jersey and it is in fact spelled L-E-C-L-A-I-R-E rather than L-E-C-L-E-R-C like I thought it might be. "Leclaire" was starting to look wrong, but I guess it's not.

- Yet another awful giveaway. Y'know, I'm not even going to complain about those anymore.

- DAMN, no one on the open side. I hate when that happens.

- Last minute in overtime.

- PENALTY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ooh, yes, and they're actually going to call it! Anton was literally dumped going right to the net, so it was pretty unmissable. (Then again, some stuff I felt was unmissable sailed right by the refs last game, so ... yeah.) Klesla, for hooking. It'll be four-on-three, which bodes well for us.

- Paddock's called a timeout.

- Ooh, lovely chance for Heater! That might've been our best opportunity.

- ON THE NET ALFIE!!!!! ON. THE. NET!!!!!!!

- Wow, they had some great opportunities there!! Nothing doing, though, so we'll go to the shootout.

SHOOTOUT

Ottawa Shooters
Alfie - Miss. Damn. :(
Vermette - Miss. Again, damn.

Columbus Shooters
Nash - Scores, no problem. Why am I not surprised. *eyeroll*
Zherdev - Again, scores with no problem.

- So, Jackets win. At least we get a point, right? Final score 3-2.

- Okay, what to say about this one. Well, "second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse" definitely comes to mind. We played basically the same way we did on Tuesday against Philadelphia, but unfortunately lightning often doesn't strike twice. Ken Hitchcock is a pretty brilliant coach, and he knows how to squeeze the best out of his players. You could tell in overtime that these guys were just gunning for a win in the shootout, and they got exactly what they wanted. The same old problems plagued us: giveaways, falling asleep for half the game, and bad puck luck. I worry about our ability to succeed in the long-term if this keeps up, I really do.

- Three stars (as chosen by the A-Channel):
#1: Rick Nash, Columbus
#2: Antoine Vermette, Ottawa
#3: Adam Foote, Columbus

- Next game is Saturday afternoon against Pittsburgh (gulp). I'll be back with game notes for that one. Talk to everyone soon!

Ottawa vs. New Jersey, February 16

2008-02-17T02:42:12Z

Let me set the scene for you. The time is 6:59 p.m. The place is Liz's living room. Liz relaxes on her couch under an expansive Ottawa Senators blanket, laptop nestled securely on her lap. A cat or two perch by her feet. Her boyfriend's in the kitchen, finishing off supper. The Hockey Night In Canada Theme blares from the TV screen and Liz smiles, knowing she has nothing but a night of awesome hockey to look forward to and after that, a week which she can spend however she likes, without the confines of school and work. She does, however, worry about the fortunes of her favourite hockey team, which hasn't been playing terribly consistently of late. The only thing that could make this evening more perfect, for her, would be a huge Senators win.

Yeah, I'm pretty relaxed at the moment, but that doesn't mean to say that I'm totally blasé about tonight's game. I worry about how Ottawa's been playing, I worry about their lack of consistency, I worry about their defence, I worry about their playoff hopes. In short, I worry plenty. And I hope to hell they can assuage my worries with a nice little win tonight. A nice, consistent, hard-working, plenty-of-scoring-by-the-Pizza-Line win.

Tonight's opponent is once again the New Jersey Devils, who walked away on Wednesday with a 3-2 win in overtime off a somewhat questionable goal. Anton Volchenkov was slewfooted by Brian Gionta just before the latter slid the puck into the net, a scoring chance that I'm sure had the A-Train been on his feet, he'd have stopped. But hey, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts ... you know the rest. We just have to put in a better all-around effort tonight to be sure those kinds of chances won't work against us when push comes to shove. Given recent events, I'm not sure how possible that is. But I'm a hockey fan. Eternal and sometimes foolhardy hope is an essential part of my toolkit.

FIRST PERIOD

- Lovely rendition of the national anthem by Lyndon Slewidge to start off! He's so awesome.

- Starting goaltenders are Emery and, of course, Brodeur.

- And yay, Dean Brown and Garry Galley are commentating!!

- Paddock seems to be going for toughness to begin the game, he's starting the Neil line.

- Nice first shot by Fish! Goes off Brodeur's glove.

- We've got some good pressure here, we can't quite set it up though.

- First penalty to us, what a surprise. I say that with the utmost, dripping sarcasm. Siiiigh. Kelly for tripping.

- Newsflash refs, when the offensive team is putting pressure on you don't usually give them a penalty. Just sayin'.

- CRAP I thought Volchenkov was hurt there. He took a puck off the head, but he's up and fine.

- Good clear, boys! Keep it up.

- Razor's got good rebound control there, he covered up very well.

- Another good clear!

- Just seeing a good replay of a battle along the boards which Schubie won. That's how you win hockey games, guys, by focusing on the little battles first.

- Powerplay over, that was nicely killed off.

- Too bad Kelly couldn't pick that one up coming out of the box, it just went by him.

- Come on guys, we need some sustained pressure!

- Aaaand we're not going to get it. Heh. Right now we can't seem to clear the freaking zone.

- Ever since that Devils' powerplay we haven't been able to get any pressure on them at all, let alone sustained pressure. They'll score if we keep this up!

- Hehe, nice shot there by Stillman! Donovan bowls over Brodeur immediately afterwards, I thought there might be a penalty, but there isn't.

- Ooh, fight fight!!!! Commodore and Clarkson, they're more grappling with each other than anything else, and they go down. Both will go to the boxes and sit for five minutes. Clarkson kinda tripped Commodore there, but oh well. *shrug* All's fair in hockey warfare, I guess.

- Geez, we can't win faceoffs for beans lately.

- How the hell are we letting them just walk right in like this? That's crazy. I don't think I've seen such sustained pressure by the opposition since the Buffalo game.

- I don't even want to know what the shots on goal are right now. Probably about 27-0.

- FINALLY we get it into their zone. For about five seconds. Spezza does crack off a shot though.

- And New Jersey scores. I can't say I'm surprised; I could see it coming a mile off. They got so much pressure on us in the early stages of this game that the puck going in the net is really an afterthought. Sooo I guess the Devils can just segue into their trap and the game will be over, huh? Oh well. Asham, from Mottau. Devils lead 1-0.

- You know, I should be more upset by that goal. But I'm not. I'm just ... not. I've come to expect that we're going to have to fight our way back in these games. Reverse high expectations, I suppose you'd call it?

- At least we'll get a powerplay opportunity off of that last feeble rush. Rachunek, tripping.

- Good first setup! It resulted in a shot, anyway, which is nice to see.

- There's a bit of a problem with the clock at Scotiabank Place, they reset it because it apparently was running for a little bit after the whistle was blown.

- After that initial shot we've done pretty much nothing on the powerplay. Sigh.

- Okay, I stand corrected! Good shot, Spetz! Even if Brodeur saw it all the way, it's still a shot.

- Powerplay over, we accomplished ZIP. Heh.

- Haha, a Devils guy tries to check Schubert and ends up hitting his own guy instead. That was awesome!

- Ummmm, the occasional penalty would be nice if the opposition punches us in the head, you would think! Guess not, though.

- LOL @ my boyfriend slamming his fork down in anger at the non-call and accidentally breaking his dinner plate! Referees: responsible for broken plates since 1917. XD

- It seems like this is just the same script, game after game. Opposition scores first, opposition plays the trap, Sens pack up and stop playing, Sens rally for a small flurry in the third period but don't really accomplish much. Like I said earlier, you can practically predict it.

- You get the sense New Jersey's just waiting for us to make a mistake right now.

- Oh hey, we actually won a faceoff! And we actually got a shot! YAY!!

- Another powerplay for us, this is unusual! Vishnevski pulled Heater down, he'll sit for two or less for tripping.

- We had one shot on our last powerplay. Quite frankly I'm surprised we managed even that much.

- Wow, that was a messy scramble! Puck almost went in though!

- Okay, forget about that powerplay. *snort* Why am I not surprised. Vermy was checked rather brutally, but of course, they nab him for cross-checking rather than the Devils. Biiiig surprise. We'll see a bit of four-on-four action here.

- Last minute in the first.

- I wish the Devils would give the puck away once in awhile. *grumble*

- We're not good four-on-four, or at least we haven't been for the past few games. And now New Jersey has a powerplay.

- First period over. Devils lead 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- Vermy comes out to start the second, so that's another penalty successfully killed off. Maybe our penalty kill stats can be salvaged after all.

- Paddock's mixing up the lines once again. Not terribly surprising.

- They're trapping us into fucking oblivion here. Which shouldn't surprise me, and it doesn't, but it does make me wonder how in the hell we ever managed to beat them in last year's playoffs. Then again, we were a different team.

- We seem to be winning faceoffs now, but we haven't been able to take advantage of that yet.

- Ooh, nice shot by McAmmond! Now that was a great chance!

- And another good tip by Fisher! That's what we need, the tipping plays. They're damned hard to get though.

- Well, I guess we're about done. We had some hope there, but as has been typical lately whenever we get any hope, it's automatically squashed. Too bad it had to be on such a weak goal, though, I had high hopes for Razor tonight. That was reminiscent of one of the goals Ryan Miller let in this afternoon against the Rangers. Oh, well. I guess we can pretty much give up now. Asham, from Rupp and Martin. Devils lead 2-0.

- We'll get a powerplay, at least, which might help us to break the shutout bid. Maybe. Gionta, for hooking.

- Cripes, you know things are bad when Alfie falls down on the way to his net. Sheesh.

- Yes. Things. Are. Bad. Heh. Two-on-one break the other way, luckily Razor makes the save. Will this horror show ever end?

- Another good chance from Fish! Maybe they should just keep getting the puck to him, he seems to be getting most of the shots.

- Just to show the fans that they're not above helping the Devils win even when they're already up, the refs tag Chris Neil for hooking. Here's your chance to totally put us out of our misery, New Jersey. Go ahead, it's there for the taking.

- Oh what, one penalty's not enough? You've got to add another, just to show us how truly fucked we are? Well, all right then. Phillips for holding. The Devils will most likely score here.

- Come on Devils, what are you waiting for? Put it in!

- Clear by Alfie, which is unexpected but nice.

- My goodness, someone else can actually miss the net once in awhile! Parise had it wide-open, but he shot it wide.

- There we go. The only question lingering in my mind is why in hell it took the Devils so long to score on this two-man opportunity. It wasn't really Razor's fault, which I suppose is the one saving grace. If we weren't done for by the time it was 1-0, we most definitely are now. Another two points down the drain. So long, first place, it was nice knowing you. Parise, from Gionta and Martin. Devils lead 3-0.

- Another penalty against us. I don't have the strength to even fucking object. Wade, hooking.

- The music people at Scotiabank Place are playing "We're Not Gonna Take It." Sadly, I think we are far beyond the point of saying we're not going to take it. If we weren't, we wouldn't be down 3-0 right now.

- Hell, make it 4-0, New Jersey! Why not? Our defensive record might as well look even shittier than it already does.

- Nice clear by Anton.

- I guess my writing a pregame letter at IWP half an hour before the start of the game didn't work. I wonder how early I need to write one in order to please the hockey gods? Sixty minutes? Seven hours? Eight years?

- Our penalty kill actually doesn't look half-bad at the moment. Now if only it could've shown up earlier.

- Powerplay successfully killed off, surprisingly.

- Geez, I hate it when players sort of dither in back of the net with the puck, wasting minutes on the clock and doing jack-all. Doesn't matter whether the opposition does it or we do it, I hate it just the same. Newsflash, hockey players: thirty seconds of you dancing around behind the net trying to figure out who to pass it to does not make for scintillating hockey. Really, it doesn't.

- No, Donovan, sadly you are not going to fool Brodeur with a chip shot, however clever you might think it makes you look. He's probably seen that approximately 2006694693205056 times.

- I should go to the CBC website and make a hockey mashup. I keep seeing them advertising it and it looks really fun.

- Haha, Schubie sort of crashes into Brodeur and doesn't make any attempts to avoid him. Luckily the refs are busy elsewhere, because that would have been a very legitimate penalty.

- Ooh, we've got a dustup here! Several dustups actually. Neil's beating the piss out of Asham, and yes, they go down!! That was made of so much awesomeness, hehehe. I love Neiler for trying to pump up his team and the crowd any way he can! They'll go to the box for five.

- Nice chance! Too bad it results in a Devils breakout afterwards, though.

- "Hey, and while we're at it, why don't we give Ottawa another penalty for no reason at all!" think the refs. *eyeroll* Phillips for a somewhat questionable hook.

- Refs, look. It's called fairness. If you are going to penalize Phillips for BARELY EVEN TOUCHING Elias, you HAVE to give the Devils player a call for BLATANTLY FUCKING TRIPPING VOLCHENKOV!!!!! Sheesh!!

- Good shorthanded break by Kelly, and it results in a shot!

- Wow, New Jersey finally gets a penalty. I thought they were immune there. Zubrus for hooking. We'll get some four-on-four and then a short powerplay for the Sens.

- We've had some excellent chances on the powerplay, but we can't seem to get rebounds.

- Great shot, Wade!! Love it!

- We're actually trying to put it in now, but the puck luck has totally left us (if it was even there to begin with). Too bad.

- Nice try, Heater! Just a liiiittle off.

- It's pretty much end-to-end now, which is bloody surprising. The Devils don't usually like this sort of play.

- WHOA, Brodeur had to be sharp on that one! He just got his glove on that Fisher shot.

- Somehow we're suddenly awake, which is weird but not entirely unexpected. We get down by a gigantic margin and then after half the game's gone by, suddenly seem to realize how much work we have in front of us. But by then, it's too late to come back.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR SHUTOUT BID, BRODEUR!!!!!!!!!!!! HA HA!!!!! HA HA HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! AWESOME PLAY, THE BIG LINE IS BACK ON AT LEAST FOR NOW!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!! Spezza, from Alfie. Devils lead 3-1.

- And best of all, we've kept the pressure on them after the goal. Well, kind of. New Jersey almost broke out, but not quite.

- At least that restores a bit of dignity. It's always humiliating to be shut out.

- Good series of shots, boys! I'm liking this sustained pressure.

- Last minute in the second.

- OMG, that was incredible!!!! If that goalie had been anyone other than Brodeur that puck would have been in, no problem.

- Wow, wonderful save by Razor! That was close.

- We're getting end-to-end again. Yikes.

- Oh guys, PLEASE don't let them score in the last few minutes. PLEASE?????

- Okay, no, they didn't. Phew.

- Second period over. Devils lead 3-1.

THIRD PERIOD

- Shots at the end of the second were 26-21 in favour of Ottawa, which I must admit surprised the shit out of me. I guess most of those came on that last-minute flurry to end off the period.

- The Devils have only lost two games when leading after two periods, say the commentators. So in other words our chances are pretty much zero. XD

- Nice chance from Kelly, though! Good one-timer, it caught Brodeur going the wrong way.

- We definitely look more lively to start the third. Now can someone please explain to me why it's so difficult for us to come out like this at the start of the game?? It would sure solve a lot of our problems, as would playing a full sixty minutes.

- Ooh, that was close for Stillman. It just skipped off someone's leg.

- Excellent chance, McAmmond! Too bad you missed half an open net.

- Would've been nice if they'd called cross-checking on Stillman being dumped into the net, but I'm not stupid enough to think that was an actual possibility.

- Yay, another faceoff win!

- Bugger, Spetz, you should've shot! 'Cause otherwise they'll do exactly what they did, which is to take the puck away from you. Sigh.

- Holy crap, where did Langenbrunner come from??? Eeek. That could very easily have been in if Razor wasn't there.

- Great shot Richardson! Brodeur's there, as always.

- Wow, Richardson's buzzing around the net, LOL. He very nearly had another quality scoring chance there.

- We've been getting some crazy-ass chances in this period. The difference between the third and the rest of the game is just stunning, really.

- You've gotta get it on the net, boys! Too bad it just went high.

- Ooh, too bad there wasn't someone right in front! The one time the hockey gods give us a rebound, and we've got no way of taking advantage of it. Story of our freaking LIVES.

- Seems like we've gone a long time without a whistle. My last faceoff-related comment was eight notes ago.

- Great hit, Neiler! It's nice to see us getting physical.

- Haha okay, there's a whistle! Finally. XD

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL RIGHT, WE ARE OFFICIALLY WITHIN ONE!!!!!!!!!! MORE DIGNITY RECLAIMED, YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT AN AWESOME LINE, WHAT A GREAT SHOT FROM KELLY!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRODEUR IS ACTUALLY HUMAN, AMAZINGLY ENOUGH!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!! Kelly, from Vermette and Stillman. Devils lead 3-2.

- Half of New Jersey's games have been one-goal games. Can't say I find that terribly surprising.

- OMG, what a chance for Alfie, off Heater!!

- AND OMG ANOTHER ONE!!!! That could SO SO SO easily have gone in. Holy CRAP.

- WHOA, that was an amazing chance from Heater!! One on three and he still gets a shot away! WOW!!

- Well guys, I hate to say this, but we're sort of running out of time here. As is our custom, heh. I still wouldn't discount the possibility of us tying it, but it's looking a bit unlikely.

- Good shot, Kelly!! Once again, it doesn't penetrate. That may have been our best chance at tying it.

- AWESOME defensive play, Vermy!!! OMG, I think that saved a goal against us.

- Lovely closeup of Wade, thank you muchly camera operators! XD

- The Kelly-Stillman-Vermette line has so SERIOUSLY been on fire tonight. I really hope Paddock keeps them together.

- Too fancy, Heater! You just have to dump it in and chase it, that's the only way you'll get even a teeny tiny chance.

- And get it DEEP while you're at it! Ugh.

- Surprise shot from Stillman, that would've been so nice!

- Razor's been pulled for the extra attacker, we almost immediately lose the puck. *eyeroll*

- Final minute in the third.

- Sens have called a timeout, and rightly so. This is an absolutely crucial faceoff.

- Another awesome closeup of Wade!! Wow, these camera guys must really like me. Hehehe.

- Ooh, excellent chance! Unfortunately that was probably our last one. It was quality, though.

- Just keep shooting, you never know what might happen!

- Good shot Wade!!!!!! I'd have loved it if they'd converted, but no dice.

- And, it's over. Final score: Devils 3, Sens 2.

- Well, I could pretty much cut and paste what I've written for the wrap-up note the past couple of games, but I guess I'll sum up just in case. Basically, we didn't show up for the start of the game, and against New Jersey, that is absolutely deadly. They will look to take advantage of every single mistake you make, and inevitably you will make those mistakes and the puck will end up in your net. Problem was, we just couldn't stop the bleeding enough before we started our comeback. I was ready to give up after the second goal, quite frankly, but it was the third that killed us dead. We came alive in the third, but against the Devils it's always just going to be too little too late. What I can't understand is why we can't show up right from the first puck drop. I think that, and some better goaltending and defensive coverage, would go a long way to solving many of our problems.

- Three stars (as chosen by NHL.com):
#1: Martin Brodeur, New Jersey
#2: Chris Kelly, Ottawa
#3: Aaron Asham, New Jersey

- Next game is Tuesday against Philadelphia. No games notes, as I'll be heading back out to Scotiabank Place once again. Catch everyone soon!

Ottawa at New Jersey, February 13

2008-02-14T02:43:31Z

So I wrote a post-game/pregame letter to the Sens at IWP and to be honest, I was not terribly complimentary. That's because I'm really starting to get sick of this inconsistency. One night we're great, the next night we're zombies who couldn't shoot a hockey puck to save their goddamned lives. I don't understand it and Paddock is probably even more at sea. All I know is, we're not going to be able to get away with this kind of bullshit in the playoffs. Inconsistency counts for nothing when you're competing for the Stanley Cup. Well, nothing except an early playoff exit, that is.

Tonight's opponent is the New Jersey Devils, who are coming off an impressive 6-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. I'd say that the Sens shouldn't be such pushovers, but you know what? I'm not entirely sure. After last night just about anything is possible so far as us blowing games. All I know is, we definitely can't afford to get behind by a goal. The Devils' specialty is the trap, and once they've got you down they just don't let you back up. We'll need to be sharp.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs and Brodeur.

- I have to say I disagree with Paddock's decision to start Gerbs, even though Gerbs is my hubby and I love him like there's no tomorrow. Razor didn't play badly last night, he really didn't. There was really only about one bad goal he let in, the fifth, and by then the game was well out of reach anyway. But I've made clear my views about the "win and you're in" system before, so I won't continue to harp on it. Much. XD

- Yay, first shot from Alfie!

- Come on guys, look alive. Like I said in my letter, if you get behind 1-0 you may as well pack your bags and leave, 'cause the game will be over.

- Paddock's starting the big line, interesting.

- Okay, we seem to have come out looking a bit better. We've got consistent pressure in their zone, anyway.

- Ooh, Brodeur had to make a good save there! Cool!

- Gerbs had to make a quick toe save, eek.

- Another giveaway, sigh. These giveaways should not be fricken routine, but they are.

- Well, I thought we came out better than last night, but maybe I was wrong.

- Nice steal there Schubie! You should've shot, though.

- Yay Wade, shoot that puck! Maybe the other guys will learn from your example.

- Only one shot on net so far, which was Alfie's in the first minute.

- Apparently the flight to New Jersey was pretty hairy and the team and media ended up getting in around two o'clock in the morning. Yowch! I can't imagine working a game, let alone playing one, after staying up until two in the morning.

- Haha, for a moment there I thought the arena was playing Go My Own Way from High School Musical 2. Why yes, I'm a dork. Thanks for noticing. XD

- Wow, Brodeur seems to be fighting the puck a little right now. The last two shots just barely hit him, he had no idea where they were.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NICE START GUYS, WHAT AN AWESOME START!!!!!!!! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED, I TOLD YOU YOU NEEDED TO GET A GOOD LEAD AND THIS IS GREAT!!!! FLUKE GOAL BUT HEY, WE WILL MOST CERTAINLY TAKE IT!!!!! Richardson, from Spezza and McAmmond. Sens lead 1-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Nice steal there Neiler! Too bad you couldn't get a shot away.

- Come on guys, let's NOT let them score the next shift after the goal, please?

- Wow, that puck JUST went wide!

- Paddock's split up the big line now, which is interesting. Alfie and Heater are playing with Fisher.

- Play's a little more even now, the Devils are getting some more time in our zone.

- Some nice aggressive play from Phillips, he didn't let the Jersey forward get even a sniff.

- Eek, Gerbs, watch those rebounds! It'd be nice if you didn't shoot them directly to the opposing forwards, too.

- I thought there was a penalty there - Vermy got hauled down - but of course not, it's just offside.

- Aww Schubie, plz to be keeping the puck on your stick next time? Really helps to maintain the pressure on them, y'know.

- Nice defense, Fish!

- Devils are getting more aggressive physically, we'll have to start matching them check-for-check.

- Penalty is called, and as usual it's against us. *eyeroll* Newsflash refs, we're doing a great job of losing on our own and therefore do not require additional help from you. Thanks for offering though! Volchenkov for hooking.

- Good check on Langenbrunner! Doesn't help us to get it out, but I guess it's the thought that counts.

- Vermy with a nice clear there, too bad he couldn't get a shot. XD

- We've been pretty good so far on the penalty kill, some excellent clears. That last one could've been dangerous due to a miscommunication between Gerbs and Neiler, but luckily they got that sorted out.

- Penalty over, that was a super kill.

- Now Alfie's with Stillman and Fish. Is Paddock just doing eenie-meenie-minie-moe or is there an actual method to his madness? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

- Funny, I thought the Devils had been getting good crowds, but there's sure a lot of empty seats thus far.

- Hello, it's called goaltender interference? Maybe you should, you know, call it once in a blue fucking moon? Just a thought.

- OMG, we were effing lucky on that one. That puck could so easily have been in our net.

- Good shot Fish! Could've been difficult for Brodeur, but he was there.

- I wonder what the shots on goal are. I haven't heard anything since it was 1-0 Ottawa, but surely there must have been at least some since then.

- Nice save from Gerbs there! He stuck out the trapper there and saved Chris Kelly from being punished for an embarrassing - youuuuuu guessed it - giveaway.

- Apparently that was the Devils' sixth shot on net. Not sure about us.

- Another good save from Gerbs! The fact that he's having to make all these saves means we're playing a little loose, though, which I don't like.

- Wow that was awesomeness!! Couple great shots from Alfie that almost went in!!

- An actual penalty call? For goaltender interference? Well I never, I didn't think Ottawa's opposition was capable of taking penalties ever! Parise will head to the box for two or less. Let's see if we can do something on this man advantage.

- Frak ME what a save from Gerbs!!!!!! OH. MY. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mind you it never should've happened in the first place, that was just a terrible defensive play. Ugh ugh ugh.

- First period over. Ottawa leads 1-0!

SECOND PERIOD

- The big line's been reunited as we open up the second still on the powerplay.

- Just shoot guys. Just. Shoot. As soon as the puck comes onto your stick, shoot. It's the only way you'll have a hope of scoring.

- Ooh, there's a shot! And it's by Wade too! Brodeur covers with his pad.

- Bit of a late icing call there, eh refs?

- Ooh, that puck just slid by Fish!

- Eep, they've got some pressure on us now. Cleared quickly though.

- Shots are even at eight apiece.

- Awesome chance from Spetz! He just couldn't quite get enough of his stick into that shot.

- Ohhh Heater, that wasn't so much a smart play.

- Too bad Robitaille missed, he was almost perfectly positioned to get the puck high on Brodeur.

- Wow, we get another powerplay! What is with these refs, they must be losing their collective grips. Martin for hooking.

- Amazing save by Brodeur, that puck was so seriously labeled.

- Great, Mezzy misses and now we get caught, again, shorthanded. Luckily the puck slides off Madden's stick before he can pas it.

- The point, guys, the point! That's the only way you'll get one by this guy.

- GOD this bugs me. Okay look, the opposition can give the puck away a bazillion times and can allow rushes shorthanded and can make every single other goddamned mistake in the book, and we never score. We make ONE SINGLE MISTAKE and bam, it's in our net. Cripes on a cracker, I am so sick of this kind of thing. Langenbrunner, from Elias. Score tied at 1.

- Okay guys, I guess we can go catatonic for a period or so before suddenly realizing - too late - that we need to pick up our play. If anyone needs me, I'll be snoring away in the corner.

- Couple of nice saves from Gerbs, after yet another odd-man rush conceded.

- Whoa, we've got a little dust-up in the slot. Neil's squaring off with someone or other. There'll probably be some penalties off of this.

- Predictably, it winds up as a Devils powerplay, with Neil getting a double roughing call. Guess the refs have come back to their senses, why am I not surprised. Knowing our luck they'll score, too.

- Or maybe the refs haven't come back to their senses, who knows. We now get an even-up call, though, and we'll see a bit of four-on-four. The penalty itself was marginal at best, but enough of those calls have not gone our way lately for me to accept it gladly.

- Y HALO THAR BUFFALO GAME ALL OVER AGAIN. We can't fucking do anything right lately. I guess that's it, the Devils will just clamp down like I said they would and we'll never come back. Fine, whatever. Like I said, me = over there sleeping in a corner. See you guys. Rachunek, from Parise and Elias. Devils lead 2-1.

- A tiny bit of weak pressure here, but New Jersey takes it immediately.

- LOOK REFS, WE GET THE GODDAMNED MESSAGE, OKAY? WE ARE NOT DESTINED TO WIN. THAT'S FINE. THERE IS NO NEED TO PENALIZE US JUST TO DRIVE THE POINT HOME. WE. GET. IT. OKAY?????????? GEEZ. Gerber for delay of game (puck over glass).

- I estimate 7.7 seconds before New Jersey scores, personally.

- Oh wow, an actual clear! Amazing! /sarcasm

- Devils have three shots and they haven't scored, I wonder what the hell's wrong with them?

- Great save by Gerbs, or should I say, great series of saves. He looked a bit clumsy to end off, but oh well. The puck stayed out, which is what counts. The defense needs to play well in front of the net, Gerbs can't do it all by himself.

- A little hooking there, huh refs? ... Oh wait, it was committed against an Ottawa player. Never mind.

- Yep, guys, Brodeur will do that to you. You think you've scored, and then he'll pull off a spectacular save that tells you you actually don't have a hope in hell. See guys, this is why I warned you about getting down by a goal! But oh no, you didn't listen. Sigh.

- Yikes, Gerbs had to make two quick saves there.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG HOW IN THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?????? SO WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT, THAT WAS JUST AWESOME!!!!!! OH. MY. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD GOING ROBITAILLE, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE SCORING LATELY BUT WHO CARES!!! Robitaille, from Schubert. Score tied 2-2!!!!!!!!!

- Aaaaand we're in trouble again, guess when? Almost immediately after we've scored! Knowing our luck, I'd be shocked if they don't score.

- Things going from bad to worse, we get penalized yet again. Commodore, holding. Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse, basically. They'll score, no problem.

- Phew, I honestly thought they were going to score there. Luckily they didn't.

- Oh, almost!!! Great chance off Stillman's stick.

- Second period over. Score tied 2-2.

THIRD PERIOD

- Nice shot by McAmmond to start the period.

- Egads, that was a close one.

- Fish, it'd be nice if you didn't follow the poor examples set by your teammates and start giving the puck away. Ugh.

- We've got another slight dustup here, not sure what exactly the problem is. Nothing comes of it though.

- That was an interesting offside call. LOL.

- This period's been kind of boring so far, truth be told, hence my lack of notes. Both teams seem really concerned about making any kind of mistake that could lead to a goal. Knowing us, of course, we'll be the ones to make the first mistake, though.

- Eek, we almost do. Vermy nearly gave it away, but recovered it just in time.

- Another near-giveaway. UGH.

- The game seems to be opening up just a bit, there's more end-to-end play.

- Attention to detail, guys, come on. And cut out those goddamned giveaways.

- Sloppiness SO does not cut it!! UGH!!!

- Yet another penalty against us. *yawn* Heatley, high-sticking.

- We've played eight minutes of this period so far and there's been one shot on goal. ONE! That's nuts!

- Good first clear!

- And a good second clear! We're not doing too badly so far, but it only takes one shot.

- Penalty killed off, we actually didn't do half bad on that.

- Ooh that shot just went wide! Nice tip from Spetz.

- Cripes, we can't clear the zone for beans.

- Awesome shot Fish!! That almost went in.

- Keep it in guys, please please please keep it in!

- Oh, not quite. At least it's icing.

- Egads, that was a quick pad save from Gerbs.

- Powerplay #4959403231234506065402302 for the Devils. Whatever.

- We haven't cleared it yet. Means they'll probably score.

- Oh no wait, Gionta will go for hooking Phillips! Awesome! Finally some refs with brains. XD We'll get some four-on-four.

- Although, hopefully we can do better four-on-four than we did last time. Probably not, though.

- Or not. They've got pretty much continuous pressure on us now.

- Someone should SO seriously inspect the Devils' dressing room for the glue they're using to attach the puck to their sticks. SHEESH.

- Finally we get it out, and we actually get a few shots on them.

- We've got a powerplay now, but you'd never know it.

- Good shot Mezzy!

- What a save by Brodeur off the draw! Awesome faceoff win by Spetz, he passed it to Alfie and that was just a bullet to the net! Amazing!

- At least Heater shot instead of passing, which hasn't been the norm tonight.

- I'd love for us to get a goal in the last like ... one or two minutes, but I am realistic to know it probably won't happen.

- Great shot block from Volchenkov, as usual! XD

- Excellent save by Gerbs!! OMG!!! How in the hell does Madden get into the zone so effing clean though??? UGH!! Where oh where is the defense?

- Final minute in the third.

- Check MY hubby right in the net will you Parise? Asshole.

- Third over. Score's still tied 2-2, so we head to overtime. At least we get the point.

OVERTIME

- More exploding sticks, I swear to god. Volchenkov took a shot and his just blew up, it was unreal.

- Both teams are again playing cautiously, which is interesting.

- Awesome shot from Alfie! Brodeur is there, of course.

- And predictably, a rebound given up is a rebound in the net. Ah well. It's not like I didn't think this would happen. I definitely did. But it's still damned disappointing. Like I said, at least we'll get a point. Some effing consolation. Gionta, from Langenbrunner. Devils win 3-2.

- I think the story of tonight's game was, again, our lack of offence. To our credit we did play quite a bit better than last night, but unless you score early and often against New Jersey, you're pretty much sunk. And you're not going to score early and often because of Brodeur being in the net! To our credit, we did score early, but the often sort of went right out the window as soon as they tied it and it was a struggle just to get back onto an even plane. I really did not have high hopes for overtime, and those hopes were ... what? Equaled? I don't know. Fulfilled, I guess. Anyway, we get a point, and with Montreal and Pittsburgh sneaking up on us every single little point helps. I'd love to see more offence come the next game, though. As it's against New Jersey again, I probably should just forget that idea. Heh.

- Three stars (as chosen by NHL.com):
#1: Brian Gionta, New Jersey
#2: Karel Rachunek, New Jersey
#3: Patrik Elias, New Jersey

- Next game is Saturday against these selfsame Devils, but at Scotiabank Place this time. I'll be back with game notes. Talk to everyone soon!

Eaves and Corvo to Carolina

2008-02-11T21:12:52Z

This just came over the wire at work: TSN.ca reports Patrick Eaves and Joe Corvo have been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman. Stillman is a forward with 21 goals and 25 assists in 51 games. Commodore, a defenceman, has three goals and nine assists and 74 penalty minutes. Both were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents as of July 1.

My first reaction to this was to go, "BWUH?" though I guess I can kind of see the logic behind it. Commodore is a big guy who could easily be paired with Volchenkov for an extremely physical checking line. (Commodore's 6-foot-5, and if he's put with the A-Train that'd be more than enough to give opposing forwards nightmares.) And hey, we can always use more support for the forwards. Eaves has had some injury problems of late, and Corvo has often been derided for his poor defensive play in the offensive zone. But each has their strong points as well.

I don't know a whole lot about Commodore and Stillman other than what the stats say, but it'll be interesting to see how they end up fitting into the overall lineup. Hopefully team chemistry won't be disrupted too much, and I wouldn't put it past Alfie to stand up in the dressing room and make sure everyone's clicking with everyone else. I also wouldn't put it past Murray to make a few more deals before the February 26 trade deadline rolls around.

Team 1200 is discussing it, of course, and saying that another possible deal could see Nikolai Khabibulin coming to town in exchange for a goalie and/or a couple of picks (and perhaps Vermette as well, though I've only seen that particular rumour quoted in one or two places). They now have some cap room to at least entertain those ideas with Corvo's and Eaves's salary gone. I guess we'll have to see. I wouldn't mind getting Khabibulin, necessarily, but I'm not sure how I feel about giving up Vermette. And don't even TALK about Wade being part of any such deals. Heh.

Murray will apparently be holding a press conference in about twenty minutes to address the precise details of the trade; if I can I will edit this post at that time with any additional details. For now I have to go write this up for our website. :)

Other Sens news? Mike Fisher left practice early today nursing what's described as "an ongoing groin injury," but Murray says he will be okay to play tomorrow. Emery will start against the Buffalo Sabres. And Jason Spezza's six-point performance last week, including his first career hat trick, has earned him the NHL's First Star of the Week. Congrats, Spetz!

As far as Richard Zednik's condition goes, he underwent emergency surgery last night and is resting comfortably this afternoon. He's still in the intensive care unit, but his condition is stable and by all accounts he'll be all right. Apparently the skate just missed cutting his jugular vein, and it severed his carotid artery completely. Get well soon, Richard. You're still in my thoughts.

Aaand I guess I'll be saying goodbye to this icon. Heh.

Scary stuff

2008-02-11T01:34:57Z

I just saw one of the scariest things I think I've ever witnessed: Richard Zednik being taken off the ice after taking a skate directly to his neck. It was totally a freak accident but that does not make it any less frightening. I've never seen so much blood. Zednik has been taken to the hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. The entire arena just fell completely silent and Rick Jeannerette was almost crying right on air.

My thoughts are with Zednik. I'm not by nature a religious person, but if you are, you may wish to toss in an extra prayer for him tonight.

I'll edit if I hear more.

edit: MSG Buffalo says the outlook is good, condition is serious but stable and he is expected to make it through the night. That's a credit to the arena medical staff, who attended to him immediately and managed to get him stable before he left for hospital.

Ottawa vs. Montreal, February 9

2008-02-10T02:48:40Z

First off, HAPPY HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA, EVERYBODY!!!! How did I celebrate, you may ask? Well, I'm not the athletic type and I never have been, so no street hockey for me. After morning chores and lunch I curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and watched first Rangers/Philadelphia and then Toronto/Detroit. Might not sound too exciting to some, but to me, it was an absolutely perfect way to spend the afternoon. Wish I could do it every single day. XD

And what about tonight's game? Well, once again we face the Montreal Canadiens, and once again a divisional and conference title could potentially be on the line. The good news for us though is that we'll have our big line of Alfie, Heater and Spetz back together for the first time in ... to be perfectly honest, what seems like forever. Hopefully they can provide a bit of a spark of offence as we try to get the first goal and not play so horribly defensively. In keeping with Paddock's "win and you're in" policy, Ray Emery draws the start after his victory against Florida on Thursday. Let's see if he can win again tonight.

FIRST PERIOD

- Before the game, CBC's little pre-game clip show had pictures of all the players intercut with pics of them as kids. Chris Neil was so adorably cute! LOL. XD

- Don Cherry was escorted into the rink in Winkler, Manitoba, under police escort. The hell? Was this done just because he's a big supporter of police/military, or did he receive a threat or something? Heh.

- Anyway, they sure awarded him a lot of fanfare, it's like the fricken prime minister came to visit. Holy crap.

- Haha, four Don Cherry impersonators are on the ice with him.

- Oh, now he's got to drop the ceremonial puck. Brother, they're really milking this for all it's worth.

- And finally, Sens coming out onto the ice! Hey Wade, Alfie, Spetz! Awesome to see all you guys back together! XD

- Commentator says it's probably about 60-40 between Sens and Habs fans, which sounds a lot like what it was when Andrew and I last went.

- And we get a ceremonial faceoff here too, on account of there's some anniversary of Canada winning gold in Olympic hockey.

- Good old Lyndon Slewidge, I love his anthem. I wonder if they'll pull out the Canadian flag and pass it around the arena again? I think they said it was the 48th.

- Oh wow, look at that! Instead they've got a gigantic flag on the ice, being held up by minor hockey players. That is so cool!

- Damn but it's refreshing to hear Dean Brown and Garry Galley commentating on CBC instead of the Cole/Neal team.

- Starting goaltenders are Razor, as I mentioned, and Cristobal Huet.

- Okay guys, I think if we can avoid giving up a goal or a powerplay chance within the first five minutes, we'll be in good shape. Heh.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OKAY I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT US NOT SCORING QUICKLY, HEE!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! AND GUESS WHO, IT'S SPETZ AND ALFIE, CONNECTING AGAIN!!!!!!!! DAMN THAT WAS FAST, I LOVE THIS!!!!!! WOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spezza, from Volchenkov. Sens lead 1-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Well! That's definitely the start we were looking for! Let's see if we can keep it up.

- See Spetz, that's what can happen when you win faceoffs! Isn't it awesome?

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL, I DID NOT EVEN SEE that!!!!!!!!!!!! BAD GOALTENDING BY HUET BUT KNOW WHAT WE WILL SO FUCKING TAKE IT BECAUSE SO OFTEN WE'VE BEEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THESE BREAKS AND I JUST GAAAAAHH, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spezza, from Heater and Alfredsson. Sens lead 2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Don't forget to focus on your defence, guys! But clean defence, we really really really don't need to be visiting the penalty box any more than absolutely necessary tonight.

- Oh wow, and another awesome chance! If McAmmond could've gotten his stick on it that puck was in.

- Dean Brown was quoting Paddock as saying he wanted a "quick start." It's impossible to deny that he's gotten that.

- Haha, crowd is taunting Huet. I love it. XD

- And hey, you know what, even if this quick start doesn't result in a positive overall result, I can still be happy now if I want. Sens fans have had precious little to celebrate lately, so we've gotta draw on the small moments.

- Nice first save Razor!

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU EVER NEEDED ANY PROOF OF HOW AWESOME OUR BIG LINE IS HERE IT IS, RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALFIE SPEZZA HEATLEY THERE IS NOTHING BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!! Alfie, from Spezza and Corvo. Sens lead 3-0!!!!!!!!!!!

- Crowd is doing the "Alfie, Alfie, Alfie" chant! Love, love, love, love, LOVE it!!!!

- Right, as awesome as this big lead is, we really need to guard against falling asleep for the rest of the game. I know it's hard, but still. That's my one worry, I guess.

- Holy crap, AMAZING save by Razor!!! Amazing!

- Forgot to mention that somewhere in there Montreal switched from Huet to Carey Price in goal. I can ... kind of understand why. Heh.

- HOLY CRAP OFF THE POST!!!!!! Higgins went in basically on a breakaway and hit the post!

- Guys, please don't play so fricken loose on defence! This is exactly what I was talking about!

- GOD, Razor's keeping us in this right now! Get it out guys!!!!!

- Hello, what's the big deal with getting it out? OUT. OF. THE. ZONE!!!! I mean, do you want them to fricken score? UGH.

- Yeah, Montreal's definitely not resting on their laurels. We need to be really careful.

- Okay, somehow Montreal gets a penalty out of that, I'm not exactly sure how. Anyway, we'll take it! Kostopoulos, for slashing.

- Not much pressure on the powerplay so far, ugh.

- Come on guys, less passing, more shooting! That's the only way you score!

- Penalty over, we had a few shots but nothing more.

- Yet another pileup around Razor, Montreal had a bunch more pressure on us. One of these days you have to know they'll score.

- We really need to get more intensity back into our game here. We've done exactly what I was afraid we'd do, go back to fricken sleep. >.>

- Come on, I mean, we got up 3-0 somehow, can't we just keep doing what we were doing to score those three goals?

- Greeeeat, Montreal gets their first powerplay. Ugh ugh ugh. Fisher for slashing. Habs goal most likely coming up here.

- Crap, we can't get it the fuck out! Come on, guys!

- I give the hell up, we are NEVER going to clear this puck!

- Fina-fucking-LY!!! Our penalty kill was exhausted, but luckily we were able to get it out and get them some much-needed rest.

- Penalty miraculously over, I'm just amazed they didn't score on that.

- A little tripping there, eh refs?

- Goddamned giveaways, I'm telling you. We really need to somehow work on those.

- Another tripping call that went unpunished. Sigh.

- We're still kind of half-asleep here, even though they're not getting as much pressure on us as they were. We reeeeally need to pick it up in the second though.

- Yikes, big hit! I think I felt that all the way over here in my apartment! XD

- I swear, every time the opposition changes their goaltender, somehow we seem to falter. It's a weird pattern, but a pattern nonetheless. That's definitely happened tonight.

- Emery had to make a quick save there, heh.

- Garry Galley just referred to the "Ottawa Canadiens." Hehe, maybe I should take back what I said

- Final minute of play in the first.

- Guys, it would be nice if we could just clamp down for the rest of this period. Or maybe even score, who knows.

- Gaaaah, that was a missed pass.

- Eeeegads, that was just over Begin's stick.

- First period over. Sens lead 3-0!!!!!

SECOND PERIOD

- Apparently Spezza's scoring two goals in a minute is a team record. Cool!

- Well, we sure don't start the period off very fucking well. *eyeroll* Alfie for tripping, Montreal goal coming right up.

- Haha we actually get a shorthanded shot, amazingly enough.

- They gave it away though, and we get another shorthanded shot! What the hell's going on here?

- Uhhh refs, that should've been offside, methinks.

- Another clear! Wow!

- I must admit, this is a little different from the Habs' first powerplay, where they basically spent the whole two minutes in our zone. This can only be construed as a good thing. Still ... it only takes one shot.

- Another powerplay miraculously over. What's wrong with Montreal? LOL.

- Nice shot Heater! That just went wide.

- Hey, some actual pressure! 'Twas short-lived, but still.

- Good shot by Spetz. It was a low-percentage play though.

- OMG, WHAT A SAVE RAZOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT. WAS. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

- Schubie, it might be a good idea to keep the puck on your stick when you're given it instead of giving it away.

- No McAmmond, you can't do it all by yourself. Nice try though.

- HELLO, TRIPPING????????? Shit, that's at least the third or fourth tripping call the refs have missed tonight.

- We're certainly giving the Habs more than their fair share of chances, even though they haven't had as many as in the first. It may only be a matter of time before they score at this rate.

- Great coverup by Razor.

- Ohh, Spetz, we need to not give Montreal powerplays, remember? Again that matter of time thing sort of comes in here. The Habs have to score one of these times, right? It may as well be now, let's just get it over with. Richardson, interference.

- Good first clear, guys!

- Another clear, after a Montreal shot.

- We almost got it there, but not quite. Almost doesn't clear the puck, boys.

- Hey, another shorthanded shot! Why ever not.

- Holy shit, that was fricken close! I thought that puck was headed in for sure.

- Wow, that was a break. Brisebois just couldn't hold it in.

- Eeeeeegads, stupid stupid giveaway by Vermy. Luckily Razor has his back.

- Yet another penalty killed off! You get the sense we're playing with fire, though.

- Hehe, way to elude that big hit! That was awesome.

- Good chance from Alfie! We got a bit of pressure on them, but as usual it's short-lived.

- Excellent defensive coverage there, for once! We definitely need more of that.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES YES YES OMG WHAT A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS SO FRICKEN WHAT WE NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE JUST NEEDED THAT LIKE WHOA, WE WERE NOT AT ALL COMFORTABLE EVEN WITH THE THREE GOAL LEAD BUT THEN HEATER SAVES OUR BACON AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!! Heater from guess who, Spezza and Alfie! Sens lead 4-0!!!!!!!!!!!

- Good to know our cycle game is somewhat back to its old self. We had the puck in their end for at least a minute there.

- Surely to goodness that last goal has to deflate Montreal at least a little bit. I mean, the Habs have outshot us 21-6 this period, yet have zero goals to show for it. They must wonder what the hell they have to do.

- Haha, way to take out both the Montreal player and the linesman, Fish. XD That was awesome.

- Nice redirect by Alfie on a Richardson shot! Price covers up.

- Aww Schubie, you should've shot! You were in perfect position, anyway.

- Ooh and powerplay to us for once! Brisebois for holding.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THE HATS COME STREAMING DOWN AS SPEZZA GETS HIS FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST HOW AWESOME SAUCE IS THIS??????? NO CHANCE FOR CAREY PRICE THAT WAS JUST AMAZING!!!!!!!! Spezza, from Heater and Alfie. Sens lead 5-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Ice girls have to come out to clean up all the hats on the ice, hehehe.

- Well Habs, it's called payback. Deal with it. XD

- Our cycling game really seems to be back to its old self, which is interesting.

- Ohhhh Neiler, that wasn't a great play. Giveaways = bad, remember?

- Another good chance by Kelly, it just went off Price's leg.

- OMG that was a nice fricken play, pity it didn't work.

- Y'know, it's nice to see the opposition giving the puck away a bunch of times for once, as opposed to us doing it.

- Nice shot Robitaille!

- Good to know Razor's still on his game even though we're up by a pretty large margin. He covers up well there.

- Okay, that was a bit sloppy there guys. We still need to be careful in the defensive zone.

- I'm not liking the numerous miscues by the Donovan/Vermy pairing in this period. That's like the third or fourth one. >.>

- Hey, tripping! TRIPPING!!! Holy shit, fifth tripping call the refs have missed.

- Whoops, we've got a bit of a scrum here! Came off yet another penalty call on us. I'm not quite sure what they all went nuts over, but whatever. Fish for slashing, which was the original call, and Neil for roughing. This puts us down two men for two minutes, UGH. I absolutely positively guarantee Montreal will get at least one goal here, if not two. Bye-bye shutout.

- Haha, a fricken shorthanded chance! Alfie was hooked (yes, refs, note the emphasis on hooked) and couldn't get a shot away though.

- Another clear! Cool!

- Last minute in the second.

- OMG, Kostitsyn hit the post. I was sure that was going in.

- Great delay by Kelly!

- Yep, I knew it. I just knew it. I knew they were going to score, and am not at all surprised. It's a little annoying that it had to come within the last few seconds, but whatever. *shrug* At least the two-man advantage is over. Kostitsyn, from his brother Sergei Kostitsyn, and Price. Sens lead 5-1.

- Oh thanks, refs, thanks for fucking ignoring all the fucking tripping calls in the WORLD that have been committed against us and going for the teensiest, tiniest little tap on the Montreal player. Knowing our luck Montreal will score yet again. *eyeroll* Well, at least the referees will be happy. I'm glad someone will be.

- HEY, PENALTY!!!!!!!!!!! PENALTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FISHER WAS PULLED DOWN AND IF WE'RE GOING TO BE PUT ON THE BOX WITH TWO FUCKING MEN DOWN YOU HAD BETTER BELIEVE MONTREAL DESERVES A PENALTY FOR THAT!!!! Proof if I've ever fucking seen it that the refs want Montreal to get back in the game. Jaaaaaysus Christ.

- Second period over. Ottawa leads 5-1.

THIRD PERIOD

- Okay, so we start off this period once again with a two-man disadvantage, which is quickly killed off. It was only thirteen seconds, after all.

- We still have a powerplay to kill, though. Sigh.

- Holy shit, off the post!!! That was the third time Montreal has hit the post this game.

- Finally, a clear. That was entirely too nerve-wracking.

- All I can say is, the next powerplay better fucking come to us. The bias the last few games is just astonishing.

- Powerplay killed off, but we still can't get it out.

- Okay there, finally.

- OMG, Vermy just missed that! He's fricken snakebitten.

- THANK YOU REFS. At last a bit of justice for our poor, powerplay-starved souls. Brisebois for hooking.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALFIE AND THE BIG LINE AGAIN!!!!!!! AWESOMENESS AWESOMENESS AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!! THIS POWERPLAY IS FRICKEN HOT, OMG!!!!!!!! THAT IS AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!!!!!!!!! Alfie, from Heater and Spetz, I bet you guessed that! Sens lead 6-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Hopefully that'll pretty much salt this one away. Well, it better - as Andrew pointed out, if we blow this, we don't deserve to win. LOL.

- I almost wish had a ticket to the game tonight, I could get free pizza for lunch tomorrow if I was. XD

- Speaking of Andrew, my poor boyfriend has been taking it in the chops tonight, hehehe. He's a Habs fan, although he typically does a pretty good job of hiding it when we watch games featuring other teams. Tonight, though, I've been hopping up off the couch and cheering loudly at every Sens goal, then proceeding to jump back on the couch and tackle him. That makes six times now, and Andrew looks pretty ruffled at the moment. It's all in good fun though, and we both know it. XD

- LMAO THE CROWD IS SINGING THE "OLE, OLE" SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaha if anything could put the wraps on this perfect night it's that, let me tell you.

- Nice almost-shot by Fisher! Too bad the puck hopped off his stick at the last moment.

- We're still giving the puck away, despite our gigantic lead. I guess some things never change. *sigh*

- Careful, Razor! I really really really hate it when they go behind the net like that. Ugh.

- Okay good, he's still making the good saves! Nice glove shoot-out there.

- Wow, that pass just went wide! Too bad there wasn't someone stationed on the open side.

- Couple of good hits there guys! Excellent defensive coverage too.

- Ohhhhhh Mezzy, you lost that one. Bleecchhh.

- Holy crap, off the post again! That's like how many fricken posts have they hit tonight??? Sheesh. No puck luck whatsoever. Usually that happens to us.

- No penalty, of course. Why am I not surprised.

- Haha wow, Corvo had a hell of a chance there. He just couldn't quite convert.

- Woot, penalty against Montreal! Streit for cross-checking.

- Unsurprisingly, Paddock doesn't put the big line out for this powerplay. In a 6-1 game, there really shouldn't be any need to.

- Egads, quick little shorthanded chance there. Razor gathers it up into his pads and doesn't allow a rebound.

- Nice one-timer by Meszaros there!

- According to Dean Brown Montreal has hit four posts tonight. I figured it had to be a relatively high number. Andrew says it feels like they've hit at least twenty.

- Penalty's over, we did have a few chances on that powerplay.

- Yikes, Brisebois got all of that shot! Emery was there though.

- Haha wow, Fish almost had that one! He waited just a liiiittle too long.

- LOL just seeing the replay on that last play, Neiler actually stepped on the puck.

- I guess we're not immune from taking penalties, even though I have no idea why the refs think they can have Montreal claw their way back into this game. Really, guys, it's not going to happen, I hate to break it to you. Foligno, using broken stick.

- I hate to say this, but Montreal's probably due for another powerplay goal. I wouldn't be surprised.

- Nice save there Razor! That could've been a tough one, the shooter was right in the slot. But there isn't even a rebound.

- Hey there hubby on the bench! Looking hot and awesome as always. XD Gerbs probably won't get the start for a little while, though. I guess he and I will just have to live with the disappointment. We can comfort each other. LOL.

- Back to even-strength, with another penalty successfully killed.

- Good shot from Foligno, that could very well have gone in.

- We've got a bit of a brawl here! Foligno hit Brisebois and Brisebois went after him, and then everybody jumped in to defend everybody else. Awesomeness.

- LMAO @ Wade going after Kostitsyn! He's just punching the living shit out of him, haha.

- FUCK YOU FOR PUNCHING MY WADE AFTER THE FIGHT WAS OVER, YOU ASSHOLE. I KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE.

- That might just be a third man in call, actually. We'll have to see when they get back from commercial break.

- We've got two Ottawa guys in the box, one Montreal player in the Habs' box and Lapierre gone right to the locker room. Refs are still sorting it out.

- The penalties: Kostitsyn for roughing, Bouillon roughing and a game misconduct, Lapierre a ten-minute misconduct and roughing, Redden for roughing and Foligno for roughing. Even strength play, with no powerplays.

- Eek, Alfie whiffed on that one a bit. He makes up for it by not losing the puck while being hooked, though.

- Good chance at the side of the net! Price knocks it down.

- Another nice chance, this one for Neil! I think Paddock is just trying to rest the big line, and at this point, why wouldn't he? They certainly don't owe us anything. XD

- WHOA, what a hit! Neil just laid out Georges at centre ice, he went sprawling.

- Last minute in the third.

- Crowd is on their feet cheering - or at least, the Ottawa half of the crowd. Hehehe. The Montreal half is probably desperately wishing it was invisible. I know that's my boyfriend's current status. XD

- We're still getting pressure on them even at this late stage!

- Good last save by Price!

- And this one is complet! Final score: Ottawa 6, Montreal 1.

- Well. I certainly would never have expected this kind of a result! Going into this game I wasn't sure what to expect, other than that it would be a real battle. And for half of the game it was just that. Montreal fought and fought, even when the score was 3-0, and I would not have been at all surprised if they'd ended up popping in a couple and making it a little closer. But they just couldn't get the puck luck. Sometimes when you're already down, nothing goes right and the hole is just too big to climb out of. That was certainly the case tonight. The big line showed that it came to play just 22 seconds in, and although the Habs did try to stop them at times, their defence was just no match. Emery, as well, was a huge factor, keeping the score 3-0 and giving us a chance to run it up. In short, this was just about a perfect game, it showed how well we can play when we set our minds to it, and I hope to hell we can keep it up.

- Three stars (as selected by CBC):
#1: Jason Spezza, Ottawa
#2: Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
#3: Dany Heatley, Ottawa

- Next game is Tuesday against Buffalo. No game notes for me that night, because Andrew and I will be heading out to Scotiabank Place. Talk to everyone soon!

Ottawa vs. Florida, February 7

2008-02-08T03:11:49Z

Icon in honour of one Mr. Dany Heatley, who is returning to our lineup after an 11-game absence. And oh, how we need him. We've gone 3-8 without him, and Jason Spezza at times looks lowst on the ice without his typical scoring partner. (He looks lost without Alfie, too, but I guess you can't have everything. XD) The Sens probably couldn't need a win any more desperately than they do right now, and what better balm for our wounds than Heater? At least, that's the hope. I've got every single crossable body part crossed right now.

Tonight we return to Scotiabank Place to play the Florida Panthers, who have often been helpful in the past in breaking losing streaks. Trouble is that right now they're on a three-game winning streak, and pounded the Leafs 8-0 the other night. We can only hope that they expended the week's allocation of goals on that victory, and that they're going to go down in defeat tonight for lack of scoring. We'll see.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Ray Emery and Tomas Vokoun. And so, the "win and you're in" policy continues. Siiiiiigh.

- Okay guys, just don't get scored on in the first five minutes. That's all I ask.

- Heater receives a hearty cheer from the Scotiabank Place crowd as he steps on the ice for his first shift. Yay Heater!

- Again with the giveaways. GOOD EFFING GRIEF, that almost cost us a goal.

- Awesome first shot, Heater! As Dany does what he does absolutely best. And off a pass from Spetz too!

- Couple of good saves by Razor to start out, but it means Florida's getting pressure on us, which I definitely don't like.

- Geez, we can't pass the puck for beans. *eyeroll* Yet another pass that goes wide of its target.

- Crowd trying to pep up the team with a "Go Sens Go" chant. It's mostly board work right now, with no actual pressure.

- Hehe, nice defensive play by Gratts! Prevented an odd-man rush.

- Gaaaah I hate it when Emery goes way out of the net like that. There have been a lot of goalies lately who've done that and then gotten goals scored on them.

- We've had some half-decent chances, but nothing that I would qualify as labeled to go in the net.

- Good forechecking there, and a nice shot that almost finds thenet!

- Followed up by a sharp save from Razor off the snapshot. He eats the rebound for breakfast too.

- Hey there hubby on the bench! You're looking a little downcast, I can kind of understand why.

- Come on guys, find the fricken puck. It's like half the time you don't even know where it is.

- Wade, you know, I'd really like you to stop giving the puck to the opposition like that. You wouldn't believe the crap I've had to listen to about you on the call-in shows, I'm really sick of it. Maybe if you played just a little better, they'd stop.

- Good couple shots there guys! Keep it up!

- Whee, they focused on Wade for about thirty seconds as he skated around! Yep, I definitely love the A-Channel camera people. XD

- Oh sure, leave the fricken puck right there for the opposition to collect. Splendid idea, that. *eyeroll*

- Cripes, are the Panthers really this perfect? I keep waiting for them to make a mistake, just ONE mistake. I'm still waiting. >.>

- We seem to be playing very patiently and safely, a sort of back-to-basics style. That's what you do to get out of losing streaks, you just play it simple. That's what we have, by and large, not been doing of late.

- Nice shot by Heater! If it had been an inch further it would've gone in.

- Razor is just not giving up any rebounds tonight, which is awesome. It's a lot tougher to score if you're not getting rebounds.

- Mike Fisher was named Molson's Player of the Month for January. Congratulations Fish! A $1000 donation will be made to Roger's House in his honour. ^_^

- Ugggghhh, first penalty goes to us as usual. Kelly for tripping.

- OMG, what an awesome shorthanded chance! I was so so so sure we were going to score there.

- Yet another giveaway, and yet another time it costs us. These goddamned giveaways, we're never going to win games while we keep giving the puck away like that. Instead, we're just going to keep giving up goals and losing. I'm just so tired of it, you know? I'm tired of the forwards putting in a nice effort and getting some shots, and it all being undone by one tiny little shot. UGH. Booth unassisted. Panthers lead 1-0.

- Then again, when you've got a shorthanded 2-on-1 and you can't hit the net ... well, you've got issues.

- It's so fucking discouraging. We can't win when we score the first goal and we can't win when we're scored upon first. Basically we can't win no matter fucking what. Still, it would be nice if we didn't have to fight our way back from a goal down game after game after game. *eyeroll*

- Florida's outshot us 14-4. I guess they deserve their 1-0 lead.

- Oh sure, the Panthers can do whatever the fuck they want, hooking us to high hell, and never get penalized. Yeah. Thanks for effing nothing, refs.

- And see this game, it's not been for a lack of trying. It really has not. It's almost like the hockey gods are against us for whatever reason. We can't get powerplays, we can't get shots, we can't seem to do anything and whenever the opposition shoots the puck even remotely in the direction of our net, it ends up in the net. IDEFK.

- Last minute in the first.

- In the past I would have said it'd be nice to get a goal in the last few seconds of the period, but I'm now realistic enough to know that won't happen.

- Sure enough, nope.

- First period over. Panthers lead 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- A little hooking there, huh refs? HUH?

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 FINALLY A GIVEAWAY FROM THE PANTHERS, FINALLY THEY MAKE A FUCKING MISTAKE, FINALLY HEATER SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!! WELCOME BACK HEATER, WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!!! WE MISSED YOU, OMG WE MISSED YOU SO EFFING MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heater, from Wade and Spetz. Score tied 1-1!!!!!!

- Now don't let them score right away guys, come on. We need to take some momentum from this.

- Whoa, nice chance by Spetz there!

- If anything, that goal proves what can happen if you just throw the puck at the net. Good things happen!

- Come on guys, momentum! We've got to take advantage of this! Heater's trying his absolute best here!

- ACK!!! Razor, if you're going to leave the net to play the puck, please don't freaking fall on your way back! Sheesh!

- Awesome pressure, boys! Perfect shift from the fourth line, they just kept flinging it at the net. Memo to the rest of the guys: that is what you've got to do! Fling it at THE NET!!!! GOOD STUFF HAPPENS!!

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG SCHUBIE YOU JUST FIRED IT RIGHT AT THE NET AND OMG IT WENT IN!!!!!!!!! FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY WE ARE GETTING THE FUCKING BREAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINA-FUCKING-LY!!!!!!!! THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! SOFT GOAL ON VOKOUN BUT WHO THE FUCK CARES WE WILL SO TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Schubie, unassisted. Sens lead 2-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Okay guys, now I realize that asking you to keep the puck on your sticks is kind of like asking an egg to grow hair, but TRY, okay? PLEASE???? We've got to concentrate on defense like never before if we want to keep this lead and build on it.

- We've outshot Florida 6-2 to this point, woot!

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HEATLEY AND SPEZZA IS THERE A BETTER FUCKING PAIR IN THIS ENTIRE LEAGUE I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND WADE OMG WHAT A PLAY I SO LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT AN AWESOME BACK DOOR PLAY!!!!!!!!! NO CHANCE THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Corvo, from Spezza and Heatley. Sens lead 3-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- I realize that the copious exclamation points indicate I may be overreacting slightly to this, but I've had precious little to celebrate for the past four or five games. LOL. XD

- Hmm, perhaps me writing a pregame letter at IWP precipitated this run of good luck? I haven't been doing that lately. I guess you never know.

- Good steal, Spetz, pity you couldn't keep it.

- Robitaille was just the wrong side of that rebound, otherwise he could've tipped it in!

- Wow, commentators are actually praising Wade! I think he's had an awesome game, but I typically wear blinders where he's concerned. Good to have my opinion confirmed by a mostly impartial party. XD

- Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the refs want to take us down a couple of pegs. True, that was a legitimate trip by Anton, but ... still. Ugh. I can be annoyed if I want. XD

- C'mon guys, we need a really good penalty kill here. I mean really good.

- Good first couple of clears, let's keep it up.

- I guess we'd just better keep scoring, because we can't fucking kill penalties to save our goddamned lives. It would be really nice if we could get a powerplay once in a blue moon, maybe we might be able to capitalize the way Florida has been. It just seems like in the last few games we can't fricken buy a goddamned powerplay. Anyway ... Florida scores, McLean from Jokinen and Zednik. Sens lead 3-2.

- Another giveaway. I'm sensing a pattern here - we're scored on, we start giving the puck away. Sigh.

- Why. Just, why.

- Why?

- WHY??????????????????????????????????

- WHY MUST WE HAVE HOPE CONTINUALLY FUCKING SNATCHED FROM US? WHY EVERY TIME SOMETHING POSITIVE HAPPENS MUST THE OPPOSITION FIND A WAY TO TAKE IT FROM US? I JUST DO NOT FUCKING UNDERSTAND AND I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF THIS. SO. FUCKING. SICK. I GET MY HOPES UP AND THEN WHAT THE FUCK IS IT FOR, I'M ONLY HOPING SO OUR OPPONENT CAN TAKE MORE PLEASURE IN GLEEFULLY ENDING THAT HOPE. FINE. I WON'T HOPE ANYMORE THEN. SEE IF I FUCKING CARE.

- Trouble is, I do care. Heh. Sometimes I think I care too much.

- For the record: Florida score, Horton from Campbell and Kreps. Score tied 3-3.

- Well, that kills us somewhat, I guess. Defensive zone breakdowns are just ... ugh. That's what's fucking killing us here.

- You know, the other thing that bugs me is that we have been putting pressure on them

- And lo, we get another penalty. Colour me un-fucking-surprised. Well Florida, here you go, 4-3 lead coming right up. Hope you enjoy it. The only thing you won't get to enjoy is me getting my hopes dashed. 'Cause you know what? I haven't got any hopes anymore. Thanks to you.

- What? A Florida player is getting a ... penalty? Say it ain't so! I mean, really, say it ain't so! Our opponents never get penalties, never! /sarcasm

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DO NOT FUCKING BELIEVE IT, IS THIS ACTUALLY A RESTORATION OF HOPE???? IS THIS ACTUALLY ANOTHER GOAL FOR US??? OMG YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ALMOST DON'T BELIEVE IT BUT YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Phillips, from Fisher and Volchenkov. Sens lead 4-3!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Okay guys, know what? WE. HAVE. GOT. TO. STOP. THEM. FROM. SCORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OKAY??????? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Ohhhhh god that just went wide!! OMG!!!

- We had a 28 second powerplay, and had a couple of good chances on it too.

- Haha, see, this time I wasn't hoping, Florida! Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah nyahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! You didn't snatch hope from me this time! :P IMO they should've called a penalty on the guy who cross-checked Wade, but meh. Guess that's why I'm not a ref. Anyway, Jokinen, from Bouwmeester and Zednik. Score tied once again 4-4.

- Well let's see, in the first period there were barely any goals, and in this period there have been six. And there's still eight minutes left. I wonder what it'll be by the end of the period? 12-11?

- Eek, Booth is down and looks injured. Commentators think the puck may have ridden up his stick and whacked him in the teeth. He looks okay though.

- Hokay, I guess we're being penalized now for what the puck does, huh? Greeeeat. Makes me wonder when the fuck we're ever going to get a break. Never, at this rate. Panthers on the powerplay, 5-4 lead for them coming up.

- Wow, we actually cleared the puck! Amazing!

- We've actually had a good penalty kill so far. I'm kind of surprised.

- Penalty over, we killed one off! Yay!

- Panthers didn't even get a shot on goal, which is encouraging.

- Holy crap, we were lucky there. Phillips saved that puck from being put into our open net.

- Last minute of play in the second.

- Once again they've got pressure on us. We used to have an awesome defence, we sure don't anymore though. *sigh*

- Toronto was leading Montreal 3-1 last time Andrew and I checked. So maybe even if we lose, Montreal will also lose and they won't take over first.

- Second period over. Score tied 4-4.

THIRD PERIOD

- We don't seem to have come out very confident this period, I don't like this.

- Ooh, an actual powerplay for us! Finally some things are starting to go our way.

- Well, sort of. Heh. We do get a couple of shots, but overall not much accomplished.

- Ohhh, Vermyyyyy. >.> I really hate it when you do that. Grrrrr.

- The good news from the Toronto game: Toronto will most probably win, meaning that the Habs' threat is staved off for another day. Phew!

- Okay, we've got some semi-good pressure here, I'm liking this!

- And wow, talk about feast or famine! All of a sudden the powerplays are coming like gangbusters. Amazing!

- Uggghhh, guys! We've got to get it actually in their zone if we want a chance!

- Damn, still couldn't keep it in.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HEATER AGAIN, HEATER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO MISTAKE ON THE TWO REBOUNDS, HEATER I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heatley, from Wade and Spetz. Sens lead 5-4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Okay, so we probably won't hang on, but I can bask in the glory for a few minutes, right? XD

- Play it cool, guys. Let's try and keep this lead for as long as we can.

- Can we please try to keep it in their end as much as possible? They can't score if it's in their end!

- Nice shot there Fish! Vokoun had to be sharp.

- Wow, yet another powerplay for us! Feast or famine I'm telling you, feast or famine! This is literally making up for all the powerplays we didn't get in the past few games. Weird!

- Ooh, excellent chance!

- Well, that's the end of that, I guess. *sigh* I guess it was too fucking good to be true, all these man advantages. Fish for a quite questionable holding call (in my opinion, anyway).

- A little tripping there, eh refs? No call, of course.

- We really need to keep in mind that there's a hell of a lot more ice available with 4-on-4. So far we're playing prudently, but you never know.

- Panthers' penalty over, they're now on the powerplay. And playing like it.

- It would be awfully nice if we can get it out. Our lead is probably not long for this world, alas.

- Back to even strength! Phew.

- Couple shots from Wade there, awesome! *smishes him*

- OMG, what an amazing series of chances! I was almost sure they were going to score there. Certainly not for a lack of hard work.

- Five minutes left in the period.

- They can't score if we're in their end! So as long as we keep it there, they won't get any chances.

- OH. MY. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A SAVE FROM RAZOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- McAmmond, enough with the giveaways! Have you been taking lessons from Vermy? LOL.

- Another amazing save from Razor. He's fricken keeping us in this right now.

- Y'know guys, it'd be awfully nice if we could win a few faceoffs. That's been hurting us in the defensive zone of late.

- Nope, still couldn't win the fricken faceoff. Ugh.

- Three goddamned mistakes. Come on, guys! This is so not the way to hold a lead.

- Yay, a couple of shots!

- That shot just went wide, OMG!

- Ninety seconds, can we actually hold onto this lead?

- Holeeeeeeee crap!!!!! Razor you are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- AND YES!!!!!!!!!!! WE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Final score: Ottawa 5, Florida 4!

- Well, what to say about this one (besides "Please pass the heart medicine!")? LOL. It was up, it was down, hopes were dashed, hopes were restored ... what a roller coaster. This really was a consummate hockey game, with no better example of how the game can jerk you around and play you for a fool. I was certainly played for a fool a few times, when I got so excited only to get so upset a few moments later. (That is, until I completely closed off my emotions and resolved not to freak out anymore. XD) The difference in this game was, obviously, Dany Heatley. Without Heater, two of the goals could not have happened, and he and Spezza were connecting like the tag team we know they are tonight. The team seemed to rally around him in the third period and then just never looked back. Razor also returned to form, with a number of game-saving saves. Moral of the story: we can't live without our big line and our awesome goalie. XD

- Three stars:
#1: Dany Heatley, Ottawa
#2: Jason Spezza, Ottawa
#3: Richard Zednik, Florida

- Next game is Saturday against Montreal. I'll be back with game notes - see y'all then!

Ottawa at Montreal, February 5

2008-02-06T03:10:58Z

Well, it hasn't been a fun few days here in Hockey Country, that's for damned sure. Recriminations and open criticism are flying. Fans are flooding the postgame and call-in shows on the Team 1200 with vitriol, complaining about how the Sens aren't winning and how they need to put in a better effort. Goaltending and defense are in question, and teammates are getting into fights at practice. To make matters worse, Alfie and Heater still aren't quite ready to lace up their skates. Sounds like a recipe for a really bad situation, with the only remedy being a lengthy winning streak. Or so it would seem.

Tonight's game, therefore, is vitally important. A win will go a long way towards reestablishing the confidence fans used to feel in the players and the confidence the players used to feel in themselves. But it won't be easy. We're playing the Montreal Canadiens, who haven't exactly been shrinking violets. After a shitty start to the season, they're coming on ... and are just three points behind us for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. In short, we've got to win - or risk losing our supremacy as Eastern leaders.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs (yay hubby!) and Cristobal Huet.

- Both teams seem to be playing it a bit cautiously to start out with. The way I figure it, if we don't get scored on in the first five minutes we'll be in pretty good shape.

- Well hey, we've actually got some good pressure on them! I like this.

- Egads, check that. They come right back down the ice and are getting some on us in return.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WELL NOW, THIS IS THE TEAM WE KNOW!!! CAPITALIZE ON MISTAKES, BOYS, THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO!! DON'T LET UP ON THEM, JUST KEEP GUNNING FOR IT!!! AND IN THE FIRST FEW MINUTES TOO!!! YAYNESS!!!!!! Kelly from Vermette. Sens lead 1-0!!!!!!

- I must admit, it's a nice switch to score in the first five minutes of a game, as opposed to being scored on. XD

- Predictably, the first penalty goes against us. Why am I not surprised? Volchenkov, hooking. Montreal's powerplay is ranked number one in the league, so they'll probably score right off.

- No, we actually clear! Yay!

- The whistle is blown for some mysterious reason, there wasn't a penalty or an icing or anything. Commentators are yakking away about something else, so they aren't able to shed any light on it. Whatever.

- Damn, one lost faceoff to our name. I wish we could work on that.

- They had some real pressure there, egads. Thankfully we manage to get it out, I'm honestly not sure how because it looked like we had all ends covered.

- Penalty over after some pretty hairy moments. Yiiiiikes. I can't believe we actually killed that off, more power to us!

- Wow, Gerbs looks really good tonight. Not just saying that, either, he made a nice couple of coverup saves.

- Good play, Wade! Glad I can say that after the debacle of the other night.

- Nice shot Mezzy! That just went wide.

- Followed up by more pressure from Fish after another giveaway. I like this!

- We definitely seem to be playing a bit better so far. There aren't as many passengers as there were against the Leafs.

- Awesome check, Anton! That's what we need.

- Too bad about that stick, Schubert, you could've gotten a nice shot if it hadn't exploded on you.

- Montreal seems to be turning the puck over a bit. At least two of our rushes have come from turnovers.

- Egads that puck JUST skittered through the crease! Close one.

- Awesome defensive play on the breakaway! He'll probably get penalized for it, but that's one example of something that could be considered a "good" penalty, i.e. Richardson likely saved a goal there.

- Yep, I was right. And Montreal's vaunted powerplay goes to work yet again with Richardson going to the box for holding. I wonder, how many more chances can we allow them before we get burned?

- Nice clear! Oh and AWESOME shorthanded chance!! Too bad Neil couldn't get a straight shot and had to resort to the wraparound.

- Well, ask question, get answer, I guess. My second-to-last point asked how many more chances we can give them ... and apparently, none. I have to admit I was pretty much expecting that, though, so it's not really a big deal. At least it means the Canadiens' powerplay is over. Kostitsyn, from Plekanec and Kovalev. Score tied 1-1.

- Just seeing a replay on the shorthanded goal - if only Vermy had lifted it over Huet, we probaly could've made it 2-0.

- Ugggghh, another bad giveaway. I really really really wish we could eliminate those.

- Another mistake. *sigh* Gerbs does look pretty sharp, though. The lone goal was by no means his fault.

- Come on, guys, don't fricken panic. Just try and play your game.

- Geez, we just can't compete with these guys. There's just no way. We're not hitting their big line, we're not being physical, we're giving them waaaay too much room to maneuver. And when that happens, the puck winds up in the back of the net and all the momentum we got from scoring first flies out the window. Oh well. Can't say I didn't expect it. Plekanec from Kostitsyn and Kovalev. Montreal leads 2-1.

- Makes me wonder what would happen if the Canadiens lost two-thirds of their big line. They probably wouldn't be able to compete nearly as well.

- We've been outshot 12-6 so far. Unsurprising.

- Wow, an actual giveaway by Montreal. Amazing. We do get a shot out of it, though nothing else.

- Come on guys, start hitting! You won't get anywhere if you don't hit them!

- Too many passes. On the rare occasions we've got pressure on them we just need to shoot.

- Last minute of play in the first.

- Hopefully they won't score in the last minute. That's really deflating, when it happens.

- GAAAAAHHH GERBS, DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT!!!! I know you like to go behind the net to play the puck sometimes but when you do, just make sure there's an Ottawa defender standing there to actually pass the puck to! Aaaaaaagggghhh! That could so easily have been a goal, it's frightening.

- I swear, guys, what the hell is this! You almost let in a goal and then you forget how to play defense? Sheesh!

- First period over. Habs lead 2-1.

SECOND PERIOD

- In the intermission I checked NHL.com to update my scoring record and realized that lately, every time I've looked at that site, Ottawa's been behind in one game or another. Sigh. I really wish that just for once, I could look at the scoreboard and see them winning. >.>

- *puts on her broken-record hat* Stop with the giveaways, guys. Please, for the love of all that is awesome and good in this world. *takes off broken-record hat*

- HIT KOVALEV!!! DON'T JUST STAND THERE LIKE A BUNCH OF FUCKING STATUES!!! ERRRGHHH!

- Nice jam chance by Foligno, anyway, once we get it back in their zone.

- Doesn't last long, though, they come right back down the ice for another shot. Luckily Gerbs is there.

- Okay, third Montreal goal coming up here. I guarantee it. Kelly's in the box for tripping. Anyone want to take bets on how long it'll take for the Habs to score? My guess is fifty seconds, we'll see if I'm right.

- We've had a couple clears so far, which is nice to see.

- You know what I'd like to see, and what I haven't seen for four and a half periods now? An Ottawa powerplay. I guess there must be some rule enacted by the league that says teams playing the Ottawa Senators are not to be assessed penalties any longer. I sure didn't hear about it, but whatever. The refs just seem to sit on their whistles whenever fouls against Senators players are committed.

- Well, I wasn't right about the fifty-second thing. They could still score in the next ten, though.

- Penalty actually over without a Montreal goal. Amazing!

- Ohhh, Schubert, you're supposed to help prevent giveaways, not make them. Sigh.

- I swear, we can't even penetrate the goddamned zone for five seconds at a time. How are we going to get an equalizer at this rate?

- Anton, how come you've been missing so many of your checks lately? You're one of the few guys who's actually trying to hit, and yet ... a lot of the time you miss. What's going on?

- WHY. DID. YOU. NOT. FREAKING. SHOOT??????????? THEN YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN THE REBOUND!!!!!!!! AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!

- Question: why is it that every time we miss one of our chances, Montreal just barrels the fuck down the ice and puts it in our net, no problem? Why is it so easy for them to do that, and so hard for us? Why can we do nothing and they can do everything? I guess because they deserve to be in first place, and we don't. Kostitsyn, unassisted. Montreal leads 3-1.

- Once again, I concede you guys the game. You've gotten the big lead. We've tried, but it just hasn't been enough. We're done. Have fun winning. Have fun playing Washington in the first round of the playoffs, too! Better you than us.

- As tired as I am of witnessing losses by my team, I'm also getting used to it. Which is a terrible thing to say, but it's true.

- Oh, Wade, Wade, Wade. Another bad defensive play. :(

- Oh hey, why not make it 4-1? That's probably precisely what they'll do, given that they're on the powerplay yet again.

- Yep. Fucking psychic, what did I tell you? I say make it 4-1 and that's precisely what they do. These guys seem to score every time you even say the word powerplay. We're officially done, why not just keep piling it on. Score every minute for all I care! We'd lost as soon as the score was made 2-1. Kovalev from Streit, and Montreal seals the game with a 4-1 lead.

- At least Toronto's losing too, to the tune of 4-0. That's my one consolation.

- Fucking Habs fans, taunting my hubby. (And yes, I'm allowed to say that because when Montreal isn't playing Ottawa, I'm actually somewhat of a Habs fan. Hehe.)

- I can't believe there are still eight minutes left in the second period. I don't know if I can stand to watch the third, which would be a first for me. Flipping the channel on my team, I mean.

- Nice little drive there by Robitaille. I didn't think he'd score though, and he didn't.

- Geez, you know things are bad when even Phillips starts giving it away.

- Since when did the Habs become so proficient at mental telepathy?

- What? WHAT? Did ... did I ... did I hear that correctly, an actual living, breathing ... powerplay? For Ottawa? That ref's going to be fired for sure, for violating the sacrosanct Sens-must-never-be-given-a-man-advantage rule. Smolinski actually goes off for delay of game, puck over glass.

- Come on, guys, show a little bit of intensity! At least TRY to take advantage of this opportunity, because you sure don't get them that often.

- There is seriously not enough facepalming in the WORLD for the state of our powerplay right now. We can't even get the fuck out of our own ZONE.

- Damn that powerplay was short. Why are their advantages so long and ours so short?

- Oh, so the ONE good shot we get in like FOREVER is just snatched the hell away from us by a superhuman goaltender? Come ON, hockey gods. Even you guys aren't THAT fucking cruel.

- Just out of curiosity I wonder what the shots are. Probably something like fifty bajillion to six in favour of Montreal.

- At this point we just seem to be playing like we've lost all hope. That's partly why it's so damned difficult to watch.

- We're trying a little harder now, and getting a few shots on net. Maybe sometime once in a blue moon one of them might go in. Or maybe not.

- Final minute of the second.

- HEY, PENALTY!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS HOOKING AND YOU FUCKING REFS SO FUCKING KNOW IT!!!!

- YES!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!! THANK FUCKING YOU!!!!!!!!!! Maybe we can be just a bit better on this powerplay, or maybe not. Kostopoulos for hooking.

- Geez, can we even win a FACEOFF? Apparently not.

- Get a shot. Just one shot. Just one. Just one. That's all I ask.

- Yes, we actually got a shot!! Thank you, hockey gods!!

- Oh sure, just fall the fuck down, why don't you, and turn the puck over. Sheesh.

- Second period over, thank fuck. Habs lead 4-1.

THIRD PERIOD

- Well, it didn't take them long to get their first shot of the period on us. Gerbs is there though.

- I'd forgotten we were actually on the powerplay for a few seconds to start off the period. Not that we actually did anything with it, of course.

- Ooh, some nice shots there! If the puck hadn't been bouncing so much we probably could've put it in. And Kelly had to go on the wraparound again, which didn't help.

- We appear to be playing with a little more intensity than in the second period. Maybe we figure that now there's such a huge score, we've got nothing to lose?

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES, A BIT OF DIGNITY RESTORED!!!!! OHH, YES, CAPITALIZING ON A BAD LINE CHANGE ROCKS SO HARD!!!!!!!!! AND CORVO, YOU DID SOMETHING GOOD FOR ONCE!!!!!!! YAYNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Robitaille, from Corvo. Habs now lead 4-2.

- Hehe, one of the commentators said that Montreal now has to start thinking about Sunday, when they blew a three-goal lead against the Rangers. I doubt something like that would happen again, particularly not twice in as many games. But we'll see, I guess.

- Good shot, Wade!

- Excellent steal for Neil, followed up by a couple of awesome hits for him and Volchenkov. It's great to see them getting physical again!

- We've definitely been getting more shots this period. Which can only be construed as a good thing!

- What is with these exploding sticks? That's the second one that's just randomly blown up for Ottawa tonight. Perhaps the stick manufacturers are using a cheaper glue or something.

- This is interesting, Montreal's been assessed another penalty! Maybe our momentum can help us capitalize a little more than we did on our previous man advantages. Bouillon for delay of game (puck over glass).

- Nifty move from Corvo to get the puck to Wade, unfortunately his shot was blocked by Begin.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IT IS OFFICIALLY A ONE-GOAL GAME AND ON THE POWERPLAY TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE FIND THE OPPORTUNITY AND WE JUST TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT AND IT'S IN THEIR NET!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Corvo, from Spezza. Habs lead 4-3.

- You've gotta think that Montreal's starting to wonder about their ability to hold leads, especially after what happened Sunday.

- All of a sudden everything's going our way, OMG!! We've got yet another powerplay, and all the momentum has shifted to our side! Koivu, for hooking.

- Too bad he couldn't get the rebound, otherwise that would've been in.

- Ooh, what a chance! Huet just covers up.

- We've got a bit of a dustup here, everyone's kind of going at each other. Nothing really comes of it though, except Begin and Neil go to the penalty box for roughing. We'll keep our powerplay though.

- No, Spetz, you can't do it all by yourself, unfortunately.

- Powerplay over. We definitely got some decent chances on that one.

- Shot count is 7-1 in our favour, wow!

- Great shift for Donovan, he did absolutely everything there to get it into their zone.

- Excellent chance for Foligno! He tried the jam play, but it didn't quite work. At least we're hunting for another goal, and hopefully making Montreal look over their shoulders just a little bit.

- Holy crap, they've got the pressure right back on us and that shot JUST missed.

- Come on, hit them! Don't let this positive momentum evaporate!

- Yowch, that looked painful. Kovalev gets hit right in the face with the puck.

- Overall shots are 27-24 in favour of Ottawa, which is a nice recovery from the second.

- Why can't we get it out all of a sudden? Let's keep trying here, come on.

- GREAT chance! Oh wow, that was so close to going in. I'm starting to be afraid that close is all we'll get tonight.

- Time's running out; five minutes left in the third.

- WHAT A SAVE FROM GERBS!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Incredible!!!!

- Ohh Mezzy, you almost gave it away. Egads.

- Guys, if we want the equalizer we've got to get it in their zone. Really, we do.

- Ohhhhhhhhh, that was JUST out of Fisher's reach! SO close!

- Montreal's in full protection mode now, you can tell they desperately want to hang on to the lead.

- Wade, what the hell was that? We really don't need it in our zone any more than absolutely necessary.

- Gerber's been pulled.

- Last minute in the third.

- Haha, he missed the empty net. That was awesome.

- Come on guys, one last rush, one last shot, one last chance. Please!

- Oh. My. GOD!!!!!!! That was amazingly awesome!!! Everyone was just collapsing around the net and the puck was almost in there, but it just couldn't quite get in where it needed to be. Maybe that was our one last chance.

- Paddock's called a timeout.

- One last shot? Please please please PLEASE???

- Okay, not going to happen. Although we almost had a chance! Almost!

- 'Tis over. Final score: Montreal 4, Ottawa 3.

- The scoreboard says one thing, but quite frankly, the third period says another. For the first half of the first period, we seemed like our old selves. We scored first, we seemed to have the momentum ... and then, everything just collapsed. But I think we can take a lot of positives from this game, not least of which that we were able to score two unanswered goals to pull within one and throw a mighty scare into Montreal. What's more, we played like I know we can play. We had the pressure on them and if a few more of the bounces had gone our way, we might well be celebrating a victory right now. In short, I think this game is really something we can build on. If we can carry this momentum and this style of play into the Florida game, we stand an excellent chance of winning.

- Three stars (as selected by Sportsnet):
#1: Tomas Plekanec, Montreal
#2: Alex Kovalev, Montreal
#3: Joe Corvo, Ottawa

- Next game is Thursday against the Florida Panthers. I'll be back with game notes and possibly more analysis before that time.

Send in the clowns

2008-02-04T19:34:52Z

I'm not a fan of the word "circus."

To me, that word implies that everything is going wrong, that folks are tossing chairs in the dressing room, that the GM is searching through the collective bargaining agreement for that clause that says definitively he can't fire the whole team, and wondering if there's a possible way he can have it repealed. That, to me, is a circus.

And while I don't think we've quite reached that point yet, it would be foolish to deny that things aren't going well at the moment. Our loss on Saturday to what basically amounted to the Toronto Marlies team is not sitting well with Sens Army. Actually no, let me correct that: the loss itself isn't what's bothering people, it's the way the Sens lost. There is a difference. If you play your ass off for sixty minutes and fling the puck at the net like your life depends on it, and if your defense and goaltender do everything humanly possible to prevent the opposing team from scoring and you still lose, that is infinitely more justifiable than simply not bothering to show up in the first place. What happened on Saturday night was not technically a game, because for a game to happen, two teams have to show up. The Toronto Maple Leafs did that. The Ottawa Senators did not.

I don't want to call out the whole team here, because there were undeniably a few players who gave it their all. The forwards, to the extent that they were able to penetrate the offensive zone, got some excellent chances. Nick Foligno and Dean McAmmond in particular turned in solid efforts, and Mike Fisher was his usual never-say-die self. We could use more never-say-die guys on that team in my opinion. Ray Emery could only be faulted on one of the goals, and although he still needs to work on his rebound control, that's more a matter of semantics than anything else. When the most help your defence can offer you is to just sort of stand and wave vaguely at the puck as it sails past them, you should be congratulated for only letting in the four goals that you did.

Now, as with the forwards, there were passengers and there were drivers on defense. (Why do I suddenly feel as though I'm trapped in a Volkswagen commercial?) Anton Volchenkov would show up to play hockey even if a nuclear war broke out, and he was his usual self against Toronto, flinging himself in front of shots and smashing Leafs into next Thursday. The bad news? He was, er, the only member of the defence to do so. And when you've only got one guy skating, hitting and blocking shots, you are not going to win hockey games. Plain and simple. It wasn't Chris Phillips's fault that he got the flu. But where were Joe Corvo, Luke Richardson, Randy Robitaille, and even Wade? Christoph Schubert gets a free pass here because thanks to refing that sucked donkey balls and laughed about it, he couldn't even breathe on a Leaf player without getting penalized for it.

Where do we go from here? I'm not sure, but I hope to hell it's up. According to TSN.ca, the Senators held a 40-minute closed door meeting before practice today, so maybe that will help to iron out some of those bugaboos and convince the passengers that they'd best start chipping in. Unconfirmed reports say that Neil sparred with Emery again and that even Wade and Neil got into a bit of a spat, but I'm not going to comment on those until I see a reliable source talking about it. TSN had nothing, nor did Sportsnet, nor did Team 1200.

On the injury front, Alfie and Heater skated today but both will probably miss tomorrow's game against the Montreal Canadiens. Eaves also skated for the first time since injuring his neck on January 29th. So those are all encouraging signs. Alfie may even be ready for Saturday against Montreal (we play them in a home-and-home series, and given that they're only three points behind us, those games are doubly important).

Martin Gerber is to start in net tomorrow. I love my hubby, but on the other hand, I've got a rant inside me just bursting free about how Emery needs the playing time if he's ever going to get any better. I don't agree with this "win and you're in" policy Paddock seems to be adhering to and in the long run I think it can only damage the confidence of both goaltenders. But that's a discussion for another day.

Oh, and apparently some team called the New York Giants beat some other team called the New England Patriots to win a contest known as the SuperBowl. From what I saw of it - and as a non-football fan, this was mostly limited to peering out from behind my laptop's screen every half hour as my boyfriend watched the game - the Giants were full value for their victory. Especially considering they were not even expected to have a sniff in the first place. And so, to them, I offer my heartfelt congratulations. Good job, guys.

Ottawa at Toronto, February 2

2008-02-03T02:39:13Z

Okay, no more sacrificing of dignity. XD From this point forward, it's game on. Also, I love love LOVE this icon.

I've pretty much said everything there is to say regarding my feelings about this game in this post, so I won't regurgitate all that. Suffice it to say, I want them to win and will be most upset and annoyed if they don't. The Battle of Ontario is truly a battle, in absolutely every single sense of the word. Let us hope we come out the victors tonight.

I don't need to tell you that tonight's opponent is the Toronto Maple Leafs. The circus surrounding the Leafs has calmed somewhat in the past few days, though the Mats Sundin trade rumours simply refuse to die. Cliff Fletcher has been keeping his cards pretty close to his chest on that point, so no one is quite sure what he intends. The Leafs need to keep winning, though, if they have any chance of gaining the last playoff spot. And we need to keep winning if we have any hope of keeping top spot in the Eastern Conference. It's also a pride issue. If we don't win, we'll lose out on not only points, but our confidence and our ability to say that we rule Ontario. The Leafs face the identical possibility.

FIRST PERIOD

- The game is somewhat delayed in starting by a lengthy ceremony to honour the men and women of the Canadian Forces, since it's Canadian Forces Appreciation Night. It's waaaay more glitzy than it was in Ottawa, let me tell you. But apparently more than 2000 season ticket holders gave up their seats so that members of the Canadian Forces could attend the game. That's very admirable of them. :)

- One good thing about Alfie not playing tonight - the Leafs fans won't be able to boo him! HA!

- Starting goaltenders are Razor and Vesa Toskala.

- Cool fact: the Senators were the first team to hold Canadian Forces Appreciation Night. Now, five out of the six Canadian teams do it.

- Okay, we're finally off! LOL. It just seemed like awhile to puck drop.

- We seem to have come out looking sharp, or at least more determined than against Boston.

- Egads, Razor, watch it! I hate when they go behind the net like that.

- First shot for us, taken by Kelly.

- Hee, the commentators are already making wisecracks about the Leafs. I love it. XD

- Damn, apparently Chris Phillips isn't playing due to the flu. UGH, this does not bode well. Toronto does have eight regulars out of the lineup, though.

- Well, at least Toronto hasn't scored in the first thirty seconds. Haha.

- Good couple of saves from Razor!

- Eeeek, that rebound was handled a bit clumsily. I held my breath there.

- Damnit, guys, any breakout has to start with us actually getting the puck out of the stupid zone! GRAWR!!

- Leafs have had the balance of the play so far. I don't like this.

- Aww, Vermy! Plz to not be giving it right to the opposition, kthx.

- Frakking giveaways, I hate them. SO. MUCH.

- We still haven't been able to get a breakout going, at least not much. I think Kelly has the most shots of any Ottawa player, which is ... well, kinda worrisome to be honest.

- Just to make things even more wonderful, the first penalty will go to us. Sigh. Fisher for hooking.

- Good first clear!

- Let us enumerate the statistics: the Leafs have no powerplay goals in their last five games. Mike Fisher, possibly our best penalty killer, is in the box. Phillips is out. So with all that added up, Toronto's pretty much assured a goal.

- Another good clear. They'll bring it right back, of course.

- We haven't looked bad so far, but it only takes one shot.

- Interesting that Spezza's out killing penalties! That's a new role for him.

- Penalty over, that was nicely killed off!

- First bit of pressure on them, finally! We even get a couple of shots, which rocks.

- Okay, play looks slightly more even now. Sort of.

- Oh, defence, defence, defence. GodDAMNit. Just a miscommunication by the defence, and a giveaway right to a Leafs player. The only good thing that can be taken from this is that Emery had absolutely no chance on that shot. He could not be faulted in the slightest. But still, that doesn't excuse the fact that we can't seem to score first to save our fricken lives. UGH. Moore, from Devereaux. Leafs lead 1-0.

- Okay guys, I guess there's nothing to be done but ... regroup. If we can.

- How many shots have we had thus far? It can't be very many.

- Okay, Gord Wilson just answered my question. We've had two shots thus far. TWO. And both from a long range with very little chance of actually accomplishing anything. I think we may be in trouble.

- LOL @ the commentators pulling every negative statistic they possibly can out of their arses. I think they're trying to cheer us up. XD

- Hello, penalty? I guess we're back in fluffy happy rainbow bunny referee land. Too bad nobody told me.

- Yep ... apparently so. You know, it would be nice if the refs actually called the game EQUALLY for once instead of favouring one team over the other. I mean, if they don't call the Toronto guy on spinning Spezza to the ice, what sort of justification can they possibly fucking have for calling us out on a little tap to the guy's shoulder? I guess because we're the first place team, it's all about taking us down a peg. Well, newsflash refs: if you keep penalizing us like that we sure won't be a first place team much longer. *eyeroll*

- For the record only: Schubert for holding.

- See, I told you the Leafs were going to score on the powerplay. I told you, it was just a matter of goddamned time! Ugh, just seeing the replay ... that, admittedly, was a bad read on Razor's part. It's all about the rebounds, right? You've just got to have goaltending to stop those plays! But we've got nothing. We've got no scoring, no defense and no goaltending. Jesus Christ. Tlusty, from Stajan and Blake. Toronto leads 2-0.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG TALK ABOUT UNEXPECTEDNESS THAT HAS TO TAKE THE CAKE!!! HOLY CRAP THAT PUCK BOUNCED WEIRDLY!!! WHO THE HELL CARES WE WILL SO SO SO SO TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!! TAKE THAT LEAFS FANS, HAHAHA!!!!!! On our third shot of the game, too, that's fricken weird. Oh well! Foligno, from Robitaille and Meszaros. Toronto leads 2-1.

- Like I said, that was only our third shot of the game. Oh, brother.

- Haha, the crowd is virtually silent right now.

- At least we're fighting for it in the offensive zone. Well, sort of. We lose it immediately but it's the thought that counts, I guess.

- HELLO, HOLDING?????????????????????? JESUS H. CHRIST.

- HOLY FUCKING SHIT. HOLY FUCKING GODDAMNED SHIT. CHRIS NEIL GETS FUCKING TACKLED WITH A REF LOOKING RIGHT THE HELL AT HIM AND DOES THE REF DO ANYTHING? NO! NO HE DOES NOT, HE JUST FUCKING STANDS THERE LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED! PROOF IF I HAVE EVER SEEN IT THAT THEY ARE INCON-FUCKING-SISTENT.

- Heeey, some nice pressure we're getting here! Showing flashes of our old brilliance.

- Last minute of play in the first. Is it just me or was this period really fricken short?

- C'mon guys, just keep it up! Keep it in, you'll make magic!

- Aww, Wade, that was too bad. Blecchh.

- Uhh Fish, you might want to remember to take the puck with you when you're breaking out of the zone. Just a suggestion.

- First period over. Leafs lead 2-1.

SECOND PERIOD

- Egads, we got lucky there. Yet another giveaway, but the puck just skipped over Stajan's stick. Phew!

- Nice shot Vermy! Right into Toskala's pads, but still.

- Paddock's juggling his lines again, he must not be too pleased with the first period effort. I think the majority of Sens Army shares that assessment.

- It would be nice if we could win a faceoff once in awhile.

- That shot was a bit weak, but at least it was a shot.

- Terrific, yet another penalty to us. Why am I not fricken surprised. Meszaros for high-sticking.

- Gord Wilson: "You'd think the next penalty would have to go to Ottawa." Yes, Gord, you would think. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong, because this is fluffy happy rainbow bunny referee land, where all penalties go automatically to Ottawa's opposition.

- Yay, we actually won a draw!

- Fat lot of good it did us though, we didn't clear it out. Sigh.

- Goddamnit, I really don't like this. We couldn't clear immediately. I've got a bad feeling.

- HELLO, HOOKI- aww, what the fuck is the point. Doesn't matter how much I complain about it, it's not actually going to change anything.

- Two good clears there, great job guys!

- Yiiikes, that puck just trickled through the crease.

- How does these things even happen to us??? HOW do we wind up being so unfavourably viewed by the refs? HOW?? Christ on a cracker. But then, it's McCreary. Colour me unsurprised. The Leafs get a 5-on-3, on which they will probably score if history tells us anything. Corvo for hooking.

- *snerk* We actually won a faceoff, but of course the ref declares the draw illegal so he drops the puck again. Siiiiiiiigh.

- Two-man advantage over. Wow, the Leafs actually didn't score.

- We still have to kill off a substantial powerplay, though.

- Vermyyyy, when the puck comes to you you really should clear it out! Please???

- FINALLY we clear it. That was nerve-wracking.

- WHY. CAN. WE. NOT. EVEN. FUCKING. BREATHE. ON. A. LEAFS. PLAYER. WITHOUT. GETTING. FUCKING. PENALIZED?????????????????????????????????????????????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JESUS H. CHRIST ON A GODDAMNED BICYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- McCreary wants us to lose. That's the only explanation I can muster. That's two five-on-threes in less than three minutes he's given them, and we have not had a SINGLE powerplay opportunity. Not ONE. And Meszaros took his second penalty of the period, for boarding.

- We actually killed another five-on-three while I was ranting, amazingly enough.

- OMG it would have been SO awesome if Kelly had scored on that shorthanded break. Show up those stupid refs.

- We've been outshot 17-7 so far. Which is really not terribly surprising given we've had to play basically the whole period down one or two men. Why doesn't McCreary just say we have to play the entire period with one player in the box, it would sure simplify things.

- LMFAO OH DEAN BROWN!!!!!! "We're back to even strength for the first time in four years." HAVE I MENTIONED LATELY HOW MUCH I FRICKEN LOVE OUR COMMENTATORS???? XDDDDDDD

- Gord's still giggling away in the background. I love it.

- CROSSCHECK MY WADE WILL YOU? COME A LITTLE CLOSER BELAK AND DO THAT, YOU ASSHOLE.

- Come on guys, try and do something here. I know it's hard, with all these penalties, but just try. Please???

- ANOTHER Ottawa penalty. I just ... I just ... I just DON'T. EVEN. FUCKING. KNOW. REALLY. Meszaros for the THIRD time, tripping.

- Good first clear!

- They'll probably score, though. I mean, the law of averages, they have to at some point.

- You know what I'd love to see right now? You know what I would absolutely adore, and will therefore probably not happen? If we got a shorthanded goal.

- Oh come ON, guys, if you're going down the ice on a 3-on-1 you really ought to get a shot. Just sayin'.

- Yet another penalty killed off. Holy shit.

- It'd be nice if we could put some pressure on them like we did to end off the first period. At least get some decent shots, anyway. I wonder if we can do that without taking a bunch more penalties?

- Well, right now we can't even get out of our fricken zone. Ugh.

- Really, at this point Razor is the reason it's only 2-1. He's been keeping us in this one and I give full credit to him for so doing. The rest of the team sure hasn't shown up.

- When was the last time we even got a shot? I'm not sure.

- God, what the hell does it take to get the puck away from these idiots? SHEESH.

- Wow, we got an actual shot! A-fucking-mazing! Yeah, it's an easy one for Toskala to stop, but at least we got a shot. AT LEAST WE GOT A SHOT.

- Hey, another shot! Would've been nice if that had snuck in.

- More giveaways. I sound like such a broken record.

- Hello, backup? Wade actually gets into the offensive zone but has no backup to pass the puck to! This is ridiculous.

- Ooh, sparkling chance for Spetz there! Too bad he was hauled down.

- Last minute in the second.

- Leafs are just playing rope-a-dope, acting like they don't have a thing to worry about.

- Nice shot, Foligno. He could've gotten a better one had he not been blatantly hooked down. No penalty of course.

- Good try, Schubie. You just couldn't get it away before the expiration of the period.

- Second period over. Leafs lead 2-1.

THIRD PERIOD

- Uggghhh, do we really have to go back to this suckfest? LOL. I just don't know if I can bear seeing my team shot down in flames like this. Especially against the LEAFS.

- With Montreal's win today, and their game tomorrow against the Rangers, Tuesday's game has never looked so important. Particularly if we don't win tonight.

- Good couple of saves by Razor. He's been the one bright spot tonight.

- Ooh, an actual shot! Awesomeness.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMFG I DON'T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS HAHAHAHAHAHAHA WAY TO SHOW THOSE GODDAMNED REFS AND GODDAMNED LEAFS, SHOW YOU CAN RISE ABOVE ADVERSITY AND SHOW THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY SHOW THE FUCK UP ONCE IN AWHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!! OMG I CHEERED SOOOOO FRICKEN LOUD, I SCARED MY CAT OUT OF HIS WITS!!!!!!! WHEE! Neil from McAmmond and Robitaille. Score tied 2-2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Okay guys, let's get another one!! Why not eh?

- Fish is apparently in the dressing room after blowing a tire twice. Commentators think he just needs his skates sharpened. I hope that's all it is.

- Come on guys, let's actually capitalize on this momentum here.

- Get ready Razor, here comes a shot!

- Actually no, we got it out. Sweet.

- No flow, we're playing pretty choppily at the moment. As we have throughout the game.

- Aww, Spetz, stop with the giveaways and/or dangerous passes, mmkay?

- Too many passes, all you've got to do is shoot. Just shoot. Just shoot.

- See there you go, that's what happens when you actually shoot! Wasn't a goal, but was a damned fine chance.

- Waaaaaaaaaade. Holy FRAK. That's NOT going to get them to ease up on you on the call-in shows, it really really isn't. People already criticize you enough, and you can imagine that's going to multiply by fifty bajillion tonight. Ugh. I try and defend you to the best of my ability, but somehow you manage to mess the fuck up anyway. I'll keep defending you, you'll be my guy to the end of my days, but ... it would be nice if you could occasionally actually justify my hope and faith in you. I only say that because I love you. Coliacovo, from Earl and Moore. Toronto leads 3-2.

- I guess, like the Boston game, we've just been fated to lose this one. Try as we might, it's not to be. I really don't see us getting another goal.

- Guys, you have killed me dead. Literally. SO dead. I had some hope, and then to just snatch it away like that? To get me thinking that we might start to not actually suck in this game, and then just to give it all away on a silver platter? IDEFK.

- Fish is back from his skate repair. That can only be construed as good news.

- Great chance from Corvo! Bad angle, though. But he came close.

- Whelp, we're back to being totally, completely and implicitly outplayed. That third goal really took a lot of steam out of

- Guys, there is such thing as a breakout. Amazingly enough.

- That pretty much does it. We surrender. Take the game, Toronto. Take it. You've earned it just by virtue of showing the fuck up, which is apparently more than we can possibly do. This makes two straight games, two straight games in which our brains have been totally in the Twilight Zone. Even Alfie's absence cannot excuse this. There's something wrong here, something wrong when you've had no powerplays and your goalie keeps you in for three periods and you're in first place and your opposition has EIGHT REGULARS MISSING and you STILL can't fucking pull out a win. Really. There is something seriously fucking wrong. I just wish to hell I knew what it was.

- For the record only, Toronto scored. I think I'll just crawl back to fandom, nice, safe, fandom, which can never disappoint me by losing and where I control everything including the score. Yes. Sounds like a plan.

- Seriously: I'll never abandon hockey, LOL. I couldn't survive without it. But nights like this ... well, sometimes a person thinks about it. Heh.

- It's a sign of how shitty things have gone that Volchenkov aims to hit Tucker and totally misses, instead almost concussing himself. Sigh.

- We're going through the motions now, if we weren't before.

- If Montreal wins tomorrow afternoon and then we lose to them on Tuesday, we will officially be knocked off our place atop the Eastern Conference and Northeast Division. And to be absolutely, completely, totally frank, I can't see as how we deserve to keep first place after the last two debacles. Hey, I'm frank because I care. XD

- Wow, an actual shot. Incredible.

- Another good opportunity, surprisingly enough, but Toskala's there. Probably his best save of the night, although he has not exactly been tested.

- I've pretty much given up, as you can probably tell. I apologize that the game notes for the last five minutes

- Gord Wilson is commenting on Ottawa's lack of passion, how we have really not shown that we care at all about the result tonight. I completely agree. There hasn't been one fight, one incidence of players yipping at each other, one demonstration that this isn't a Toronto/Phoenix game. Whatever happened to the Battle of Ontario? Maybe they've forgotten they're

- Final minute of play. Excuse me whilst I scurry off and find some fail macros.

- Finally the nightmare is over. The end couldn't come soon enough IMO. Final score: Leafs 4, Sens 2. Which really fucking flatters Ottawa IMO.

- Usually at this point I launch into a summary of the game, an explanation of why things worked out the way they did and sometimes even a yay or a nay to one or two things that happened during the game. This time, however, there is absolutely nothing I can justifiably or adequately concot. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is an informative pictorial diagram:

- Three stars (as chosen by CBC):
#1: Jason Blake, Toronto
#2: Dominic Moore, Toronto
#3: Robbie Earl, Toronto

- Next game is Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. I'll be back with game notes, see y'all then.

A pregame plea

2008-02-02T23:53:58Z

There's about a half hour to go until game time as I type this. CBC News's Saturday Report is just winding down, and soon the dulcet tones of Scotiabank Hockey Tonight will fill my apartment. In light of the fact that we are playing our provincial rivals tonight, and of the additional fact that we stunk like overcooked cabbage against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, I decided the time was ripe to issue a very public plea to my boys. And what more public forum could there be than my journal?

Tonight we play the Toronto Maple Leafs. I will make no bones about it: I hate the Leafs. There is no other hockey team that makes my blood boil more than Toronto. There is no other team that I pray more to the hockey gods to beat. When I see "Toronto Maple Leafs" on the schedule I have an urge to start tossing furniture around. I wouldn't hope for them if they were the last hockey team left on Earth. I tune into Hockey Night In Canada when the Leafs are playing specifically to see them lose. Etc., etc. I hate them. That's all you need to know.

The last time we played the Leafs, my worst fears came true as we were beaten 3-0. Not even a single measley goal. I don't remember anything about how we played or which players showed up and which didn't. That's because in the end, the score is all that stands up. The score is what I remember, the score is what depresses me, and the score is what we will need to work on tonight.

We need to fill the net. Yes, we're without Alfie and Heater, but you know what? That by itself does not make us a shitty hockey team. We've got tons of secondary possibilities. Spezza, Vermette, Fisher, McAmmond, Neil, Foligno, hell, even our defencemen! The point is that everyone needs to start stepping up. Everyone needs to start playing together, playing like a team. Playing like all the fans know they can play. Sure it's an adjustment not to have our top three playing together, but we CAN adjust. I have faith that we can because we had to do it at various points last year. It's possible. We just have to be determined, and work for it. We need goals, in abundance, and quickly.

Secondly, goaltending. The defence needs to back Razor up - and yes, it's Razor who will be strting - and Razxor himself needs to stand tall and prove that he deserves to start, game after game. At this point any goalie who can actually keep the puck out of the net is looking awesome. Ray, you can be that goalie. I know you can.

Don't be intimidated by the ACC, guys. Go in there, play a good road game and pay no attention to the haters. You can do it. You've done it a million times before. Don't make me face my Leaf fan cousin again having lost by some ridiculous score. (I'm going to stop short of saying "if you loved me, you'd win!" but believe me, it's on my mind.)

Beat the Leafs. You can do it. I KNOW it.

On a totally off-topic note, I'm just watching the Twin City Harmonizers, who won the CBC's The Hockey Song Challenge. They're pretty awesome! Definitely better than the people who won third place IMO. Check them out! I'm sure there's a link somewhere on the CBC website.

GO SENS GO!!!

Ottawa vs. Boston, January 31

2008-02-01T03:12:40Z

I can't believe it's the last day of January already. Holy cow, where on earth did this month go? Let me know if you find out, because I'm really not sure. XD There seems to have been lots of hockey played, though, some of which went great and some of which went ... well, not so great. Still, the Senators find themselves in a relatively good position, at least standings-wise. We sit comfortably atop the Eastern Conference with a nice points cushion after our most recent win against the New York Islanders. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean there aren't issues. Oh boy, there are most certainly some issues.

Tonight's opponent is the Boston Bruins, a team against whom we have had a pretty good record so far this season. Previously they've had our number for whatever reason, but we seem to have found a solution and are undefeated against them going into this game. We will, however, be facing the boys from Beantown without Mr. Everything, the Saviour, God Himself, aka Daniel Alfredsson. Alfie reaggravated a hip flexor against the Isles and will sit out tonight's game and likely Saturday's as well. The good news is that he says he won't return until the injury is 100% healed, so the odds are high that when he does draw back into the lineup, it'll be for a long time.

The other sideshow has, of course, been the Ray Emery drama, but it seemed we were able to put that aside the other night and play a pretty solid game. Let's hope that can carry through to tonight.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs (unsurprisingly but awesomely!) and Tim Thomas.

- Yeesh, they've got the pressure on us right away. Gerber's had to be sharp.

- Oh for frak's sake. This is why faceoffs are so important, guys! This is why you have to concentrate on winning them, because otherwise the opposition gets stupid quick goals against us in the first thirty stupid seconds of the game. UGH. That looked sooooo nice and easy. Kessel, from Savard. Bruins lead 1-0.

- Umm ... that looked like icing to me. Guess that's why I'm not a ref.

- We just can't seem to do anything all of a sudden. I don't think we've played a second in their zone as of yet.

- Interference, hello???? I thought you weren't supposed to just trip the guy carrying the puck. Maybe they rewrote the rulebook while I wasn't looking?

- Yikes, Mezzy got away with one there.

- Holy crap, we STILL have not gotten it the hell out. Are these guys really that good?

- Okay finally, an actual rush. Well sort of, it somehow results in a 3-on-2 the other way. BWUH?

- And another goal by Boston? Um, okay, thanks for totally not showing up tonight, Sens. CRIPES. That was just weak. UGH. Lucic, from Kobasew and Metropolit. Bruins lead 2-0.

- I'm still kind of reeling after that, suddenly they have a goddamned 2-0 lead and we haven't even gotten a shot yet. How does this kind of shit happen to us??????

- Penalty to Ottawa. Greeeeat. At this rate we'll be lucky to get out of this period behind 5-0.

- Actually no, coincidental minors are assessed. Well, okay. That's something.

- OMG, an actual SHOT! Are you kidding me? /sarcasm

- Another shot, and another! What's wrong with Boston, why aren't they getting it out?

- Hah. Yeah. I know I'm being unfair. It's just tough not to get pissy sometimes when your team is down by two fricken goals before the five-minute mark of the period is up.

- Oh sure, just give the puck away to the opposition, why don't you. Not that they really need any more advantages.

- Nice shot Wade!

- Although, it's kinda sad when you're relying on defencemen to get all the shots. LOL.

- Well, we're actually getting some good solid pressure on them now! Baby steps, guys, baby steps.

- Yowch, Richardson has a real cut on his chin/neck. Looks like he's missing a couple of teeth, too. Must be from that incident the other night. :(

- Amazing save by Thomas there! We've probably run into a hot goalie though. Just our luck.

- IDEFK. Why does EVERY puck they shoot at the net somehow magically manage to go in? And every puck we shoot overshoots the net and doesn't come anywhere close to going in? Like I said ... IDEFK. Savard unassisted. Boston leads 3-0.

- Shades of the Rangers game, honestly. Especially if it gets to be 4-0 before the period is over. At least I'm not actually at Scotiabank Place this time.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or maybe not, the refs seem to have waived it off or something, and even upon review they'll probably just call it back. That's how things have been going tonight, so I would not be at all surprised to see it disallowed.

- Just make up your goddamned minds already, spare us any hope.

- Yep. Called back. Fine, we'll take the loss, it has obviously been predestined.

- Whelp, any momentum we had has been smashed, thanks so much refs.

- OMG, the Bruins shot the puck and didn't score, what the hell is wrong with them?????

- This time, the run of foul luck cannot be blamed on me consulting NHL.com. I hadn't even been thinking of doing so before the last goal went in. So maybe it's safe for me to actually have it up in-game. Or maybe I shouldn't because it'll bring us even more crappy luck. Hmm.

- Powerplay for the Bruins. McAmmond for high-sticking. Whatever, we can't possibly be in deeper shit than we are right now.

- Whoa, that had to be a pretty high stick to get up that high on Chara! LOL.

- Good first clear.

- And a good second clear! Not bad, boys.

- At least their powerplay appears to somewhat suck. Maybe, just maybe, that will be one area of this game that won't go their way. Or maybe I'm trying to look for positives where there aren't any, I don't know.

- Well, we're actually winning some battles!

- Penalty killed off, I didn't really see any legitimate threats.

- To look on the bright side, at least we basically have nothing to lose now. We can go full-bore and try to come back, and we won't have to worry about the situation getting any worse. Quite frankly, if I were a Bruins fan I'd be a little worried right now. Even though we're playing shitty, big leads in the first period have a habit of vanishing in this day and age. We'll see.

- Just saw replays of all three Boston goals. You know it's bad when ... the opposition scores in the first thirty seconds of the game.

- We seem to have lost any jump we had before scoring that failed goal. Great.

- Haha, that guy just dodged being absolutely cold-cocked by the A-Train. Now that would've been sweet. XD

- Okay Fish, you had the right idea throwing it around the net. Too bad there was no one to actually throw it to. That's a rather crucial part of the deal.

- Now see, if you go to the net and put pressure on them, they'll take penalties! That's what you've got to do! Too bad you couldn't actually convert on that chance, but oh well, at least you get a powerplay out of it. Sobotka, for tripping.

- So far, nothing doing. Sigh.

- Nice shot! Even though it went way over the net.

- Stop with these over-the-net shots, guys, they really don't do much good.

- Good one, Mezzy! At least one of you is following my advice. XD

- I've lost count of the number of times I've said "at least" in these game notes so far.

- Powerplay over, nothing much happened.

- Three goals on seven shots, that's a pretty disgusting statistic.

- Last minute in the first.

- Not sure of the shot count but it can't be too high in our favour.

- Okay, well, it probably won't end with a 5-0 score in the first period. I hope not, anyway.

- First period over. Boston leads 3-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- Andrew and I got back to the game a little late, we were watching Toronto/Carolina (which is tied). We come back just in time to see Ottawa awarded a powerplay, Metropolit for hooking.

- Nice net crash there Spetz! The puck was lying there, if they'd cared to bat it in.

- Neil, honey, it might be a good idea to, you know, keep the puck on your stick when you go in on a rush. Just a thought.

- Waited a bit long on the shot, we've got to get it away quickly if we want to have any chance at scoring.

- Ooh, almost! Lovely shot from Kelly.

- Haha, way to trip over your own net, Thomas. XD

- Hey, gloved effing pass! He got away with one there.

- Powerplay over. We just couldn't get positioning on that last faceoff, so it got cleared down the ice.

- Savard is gloving it like crazy, holy crap. Second time tonight he's done it according to the commentators (and the miracle of video replay).

- OMG beautiful wrister by McGrattan!

- It seems to be one of those nights though, where every shot somehow finds a way not to go in. Sigh.

- Gratts is seriously gunning for it, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a goal! Just not tonight, because nothing is going even remotely in the direction of the Boston net.

- Ouch, that's gotta hurt. McAmmond just went head-first into the boards. Luckily he's up and seems to be okay. We don't need any more injuries!

- Good save by Gerbs, he didn't let loose a rebound there.

- Geez, how many hits does it take to get the fricken puck? Foligno had like three or four and Boston still came away with it.

- Another bunch of good saves by Gerber! Followed by a nice pair of defensive plays.

- Aww, Spetz, too fancy. You've got to keep it simple if you want it to wind up in the net.

- Cripes, what now? McAmmond takes a hooking penalty, I guess. Well, fine. Perfect opportunity for the Bruins to put the game even more out of reach than it is already. Once again my compliments to the refs.

- A few good clears there, this is semi-encouraging.

- HELLO, PENALTY????????????????? FISHER WAS FUCKING PULLED THE HELL DOWN, DOESN'T THAT QUALIFY AS TRIPPING? OR HOOKING? OR BLATANT ATTEMPT TO PREVENT THE OPPOSITION FROM GETTING A SINGLE SNIFF??? Oh wait I forgot, this is Referee Fantasy Land where all fouls are penalties except if committed against a Senators player. Do they have happy fluffy rainbow bunnies there too?

- Damn, that could've been a good rush if Mezzy hadn't put himself offside.

- I think Boston has gotten a couple shots, but not much more than that.

- Fuck that Chara, seriously. Spezza had a glorious chance. Any other defenceman wouldn't have been able to reach like that.

- Penalty over, nothing much came of it.

- Good hit there Fish! It allows McAmmond to get a nice shot.

- Yet another great shot by Spezza! He had another semi-breakaway, and on any other night it probably would've gone in. This night, it goes wide.

- Ottawa has definitely been playing better in the second but, as Andrew pointed out, the damange was already done in the first period. On any other night we might have been able to turn the extra momentum to our advantage, but not now.

- Powerplay to us, though! Hnidy for holding.

- Good early pressure on the powerplay, Boston has us pretty well-covered though.

- Just keep shooting, I guess. That's all you can do.

- Andrew's classic twist on the Forrest Gump quote: "The Sens are like a box of chocolates; you just never know what you're going to get." I have to concur, at least lately.

- Good pass Wade, too bad Spezza didn't really do anything with it.

- How in the FUCK did they miss THAT???? Is Thomas made of fucking RUBBER or something? CRIPES. WHY IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING IS IT SO HARD FOR US TO DO ANYTHING? AAAAAAAGGGHHHH.

- And I just realized in the above point that I wrote "How in the afuck did they miss that?" Apparently even my typos are incredulous tonight. How in the afuck, indeed.

- Toronto check: score is still tied 1-1. At least something's going right tonight. And as we're watching, Carolina scores! WOOT!!

- Back to ~~Depressionland~~ Ottawa. I would say we need a goal by the end of the period. Otherwise it'll be pretty much over. It's hard to come back from being down 3-0 at the best of times, but during the third period it's even tougher.

- Nice save Gerbs! He went right into the back of the net and just covered it.

- Uhh, memo to the refs: in case you haven't looked at the scoreboard lately, Boston is already ahead 3-0. Therefore, they do NOT need to be given as many opportunities as possible. In fact, if you're going to be fair, you should give us TWICE as many powerplays as you give them. But nooooooo, of course not. What can I possibly be thinking, this is fluffy-rainbow-bunny Referee Land.

- I'm only putting this down so the record is complete. We got assessed two separate penalties at opposite ends of the ice, Wade and Donovan both for hooking. This means the Bruins will have a two-minute 5-on-3.

- Just put it in, Bruins. Put us out of our goddamned misery.

- Five on three for a full two minutes, I just don't know. I'd be shocked if they didn't score.

- Good clear, guys!

- Yet another couple good clears! Amazing!

- Gimme a BREAK, you can't even let us have the nice shorthanded goal? What harm could it possibly do to let us have that one moment of shining glory? WHAT HARM COULD IT POSSIBLY FUCKING DO?

- Well whaddaya know, we actually killed it the hell off! Amazing!

- We appear to have gotten some real momentum off that, too. Whether it will translate in a goal or not is debatable.

- Egads, what a terrible giveaway. Luckily nothing came of it.

- HELLO, PENALTY???????????? *gets a fluffy happy rainbow bunny shoved in her mouth*

- Bunch of awesome saves by Gerber, he actually kept us in that one.

- Second period over. Boston still leads 3-0 and our hopes are looking dimmer and dimmer.

THIRD PERIOD

- Andrew and I were watching the Montreal and Toronto games in the intermission, and they frankly seem amazingly exciting compared to this. Boston plays such a boring style sometimes.

- Nice one-timer by Fisher! Too bad Thomas read it perfectly.

- We're trying, but this is one of those nights, I think. One of those nights where we could fling everything but the goddamned kitchen sink at them and it wouldn't do any good.

- Camera guys, why are you showing the Boston backup goaltender? Fat chance they'll avail themselves of his services, after all.

- Again, flinging 4569693330360 shots at them, but no good. No effing good.

- Spezza's on the bench rolling his eyes. I can definitely see why!

- Boston's called a timeout, bwuh? Again, not like they're in any sort of trouble or anything. Commentators are speculating it's because the Bruins have been giving us too many turnovers. Maybe they have, but they should also take into account the fact we've been doing shit-all with the puck tonight. They're not really in any danger. *sigh*

- Exhibit A: the chance we just had. *mutter mutter mutter* Richardson, if only you'd gotten it just a little more upstairs.

- Well, an actual powerplay! Kessel goes for slashing.

- Just keep flinging it at the net, I guess. What else can you do.

- Come on guys, let's stop them from clearing it as soon as they touch it. Please?

- Joe, next time you think you have the puck, make sure you actually have it, mmkay? Just a thought.

- Haha, cool giveaway there.

- Except not, because he gets it back anyway and they clear it again. Forget the damned powerplay, I guess.

- Off the post, over the crossbar, up high, shot wide - is there any other way for Lady Luck to prevent us from getting a goal? ... Wait. Don't answer that.

- Damn, if only there's been someone on the open side.

- You know, Boston has hardly played in our zone at all this period. We've gotten at least fifty gazillion chances, and they've hardly gotten a sniff. Not that they need one. It's like we've got a permanent powerplay.

- Awesome check from Neiler!

- Yet another missed chance. Is there a place you can go to buy a goal?

- Boston gets a chance there, but Gerbs clamps down.

- All of a sudden they're pressing. Not sure why they even feel they need to, they've got the game pretty much sewn up.

- C'mon guys, quit being so sloppy. We'll never get back into their zone and almost-score again if you keep giving it up in your zone.

- Great, just what we need, another injury. Schubert has apparently gone to the locker room after taking a shot off his foot. Er ... is this for that Lady Luck crack I made earlier? I didn't mean that, really!

- Another powerplay to us, not that it will make a whole lot of difference. Ward for holding the stick.

- I forgot the Skills Competition is on February 10. Andrew and I still have to decide whether we want to go. We probably will.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME????? ARE YOU REALLY ACTUALLY SAYING WE SCORED A LEGITIMATE ACTUAL GOAL? NAH, CAN'T BE!! HAHA SERIOUSLY, AWESOMENESS!!!! VERMY, YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!! Finally we've restored just a bit of dignity to iurselves, broken the shutout bid and on the powerplay to boot! Yayness!!! Vermette, apparently unassisted. Bruins lead 3-1.

- The crowd has suddenly come to life, they haven't been cheering much this game. Understandable!

- Well, does this mean we'll have some actual life to our game now? Wow!

- Juat out of curiosity I'd like to know how many shots we actually have. We've sure been peppering them this period, at least.

- Good save from Gerbs, hopefully we can hold the Bruins at three so we can attempt to claw our way back into this one.

- Come on guys, where's our momentum? For some reason we seemed to have more of it when we were down by three goals.

- Suddenly we can't seem to win a faceoff to save our lives. Sheesh.

- Considering how much difficulty we've had scoring just one goal in this game, I somehow doubt we'll get two more before the end of the game. It would take a miracle.

- Five minutes left in the third.

- Okay, next Bruin to take a run at my hubby gets his clock cleaned, seriously. Even if it's Chara.

- Ooh, too bad we couldn't capitalize on that giveaway. In fact it's turned over so much it gets sent all the way down the ice.

- Semi-shot count: the Bruins had seven shots in the first period, but for the whole rest of the game they've only managed thirteen more shots. I suspected as much.

- Aww McAmmond, you waited too long. Sigh.

- Too many guys clogging the front of the net, you'll never get a puck through there.

- Geez, what is with these pucks going all the way down the ice all of a sudden? Ugh.

- Yet another giveaway, lucky Gerbs is there.

- Gerber has been pulled for the extra attacker.

- Haha, that was a weird bounce. Luckily it's kept in.

- Puck heads for the empty net, but Spezza deflects it at the last minute. Phew.

- Last minute of play in the third.

- Come on guys, a few last rushes. Maybe we can at least eke one out.

- Damnit, Alfie, this is when we need you. :(

- Boston knocks it away and this time Kobasew makes no mistake with the empty net goal. Who else but Kobasew, the vaunted Sens killer, should put the final nail in our collective coffin. Oh well, we tried.

- Okay, let's just get this over with.

- Game over. Final score Boston 4, Ottawa 1.

- For all intents and purposes this game was over in the first ten minutes. We just came out flat, pure and simple, and the Bruins came to the rink to play. They had the pressure on us right from the opening faceoff, and we didn't get a serious sniff in their zone until very late in the first. Once they got the three goals I guess they must have figured that was pretty much all they had to do, because they sat back, trapped us into oblivion and relied on Thomas to pick up the pieces for the rest of the game. We were also hurt by bad luck. If we'd been having a good night, many of the pucks that went wide or high or off the post would have been in, no problem. But as I think I said earlier, we were just fated to lose. Pure and simple. And once fate has decided, there is sometimes very little one can to do overcome it. We couldn't, and so we wind up on the losing end of the deal tonight.

- Three stars (as chosen by Sportsnet):
#1: Tim Thomas, Boston
#2: Marc Savard, Boston
#3: Chuck Kobasew, Boston

- Next game is Saturday night against our provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'll be back with game notes as always. And I swear, if we let the Leafs go up on us 3-0 in the first five minutes I think I'll go to school on Monday with a bag over my head.

Alfie's Hip on Fritz and Razor Drama, Part Deux

2008-01-30T21:50:42Z

We may have won last night, but it's looking like that win came at a fairly significant cost. I mentioned in my game notes and my IWP postgame letter that Alfie left the game after the second period with a suspected reaggravation of his hip flexor injury. Today TSN.ca has this:

The Ottawa Senators may be without the services of Daniel Alfredsson for Thursday's game against Boston, as the captain is day-to-day with a hip injury.

Alfredsson injured his hip during the second period of Tuesday's 5-2 win over the New York Islanders. He played a few more shifts before taking himself out.

All I can say is that I hope he actually lets it heal this time, and gives it the rest that it requires. Someone mentioned on IWP last night that Alfie missing time now would be preferable to his doing it in April, when we can ill afford to be without our captain. I heartily agree.

Not much else on the Ray Emery front to report. Everybody and his brother and their dog thinks Razor is on the trading block, and I'm inclined to agree. Murray probably doesn't want to trade him, but at this point it would be difficult to make the case why he shouldn't. Damned if Bob Mackenzie isn't going to try, though. It's an interesting point of view.

Sure, they don't the need all the aggravation that he has caused and his teammates will be the first to tell Emery that, but in case you haven't noticed, there is lately an air of desperation about the Senators. They are not playing well and they are not getting good goaltending from either Martin Gerber or Emery, and if they have any hopes of being a legitimate Cup contender, one of the goalies has to step up and step up soon.

And for as much grief as Emery has caused them, the Sens aren't particular about which guy steps up, so long as one of them does because Ottawa isn't in any position to trade for a No. 1 goalie. Let's call it for what it is -- their season rests on the shoulders of Gerber and/or Emery, so as much as they might like the idea of burying Emery, don't be surprised if in short order they do exactly the opposite and start giving him more starts and a greater opportunity to get on a run.

As much as you can't argue with Mackenzie's logic, I think he's missing a crucial point: the theory that Gerbs and the rest of the team are stumbling precisely because of the distractions and uncertainty. Gerber is at his core a No. 1 goaltender, and it's possible that having Emery look over his shoulder is proving more of a distraction than he's willing to admit. The only problem is that Sens management may not be willing to take the chance that this is the case, which is why they're keeping Razor around.

Either way, I have a feeling things are going to come to a head soon - or at least before the trade deadline.

In other news:

Two teams have emerged as the clear frontrunners in the Marian Hossa Sweepstakes - the Senators and the Detroit Red Wings. Word is both have intensified efforts to land the Thrashers star since Teemu Selanne returned to the defending champion Ducks. It's also believed that whatever reason the team is giving, the Senators recalled Nick Foligno for tonight's game against the Islanders at the request of another club - possibly Atlanta - that wants to look at him as possible inclusion in a package.

To get Hossa, I'm guessing it would take Foligno, maybe an Antoine Vermette and probably a decent to first round draft pick.

Interesting stuff, although I'm going to file it purely in the "rumour" category for now. I would LOVE to see Hossa back. It just depends on the price.

Ottawa at New York Islanders, January 29

2008-01-30T02:33:23Z

Using this brand-new icon in honour of our captain, who as I mentioned in an earlier post was last week named the NHL's first star. Alfie has truly carried us on his back in the first half of the season, culminating in a seven-point performance in the last game before the All-Star break against Tampa Bay. Today's chatter, while it could have been all about the All-Star game, Paddock's coaching and what Ottawa has to do to get the train back on the rails, was instead all about Razor. *sigh* I've already expressed my thoughts on that, so I won't regurgitate all of that. Suffice it to say ... he needs to shape the hell up. NOW.

Tonight's opponent is the New York Islanders, whom we last met on a bit of an emotional letdown after our big win against the Detroit Red Wings. Now, our performance against the Lightning has to at least bolster our confidence if not outright catapult us into a situation where we can win. I just hope to hell we don't embarrass ourselves again, and that Razor's behaviour doesn't prove to be too much of a distraction.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs (yay internet hubby!) and Rick DiPietro. Hoo boy. DiPietro can be difficult to beat at the best of times, and with all the trouble we've had scoring goals ...

- They've got the pressure on us immediately, but luckily Mr. Everything (aka Alfie) clears it back out.

- We've come out sort of sluggish so far, or at least it would appear so.

- Wow, long opening shift for Alfie and Spezza. They look pretty energized from their big weekend!

- Nice shot Phillips! If only it had been a bit higher.

- Good first save from Gerbs, he covers up and allows no rebound.

- Just finished updating my last post about Razor being fined one day's salary for today's transgression. Big fat honkin' deal, huh?

- Eeeee Wade, you're shooting! That's awesome to see!

- Apparently the Isles are having some problems with the flu. Hope they don't pass said problems on to us.

- Hee, that was hilarious! DiPietro went behind the net and couldn't find anyone to take it from him so he just had to hang out there for awhile waiting for one of his teammates! Oh boy.

- OMG, amazing chance from Alfie! Too bad he was hooked on the play or he could've put that in no problem.

- Some nice pressure here! Fish, Neiler and Vermette are all buzzing around the net. I keep yelling at them that they need to go high on DiPietro, that's the only way we'll score.

- Revealing stat: the Sens have a .500 record against members of the Southeast Division this season. Quite frankly I can't say I'm surprised.

- Foligno has been called up from Binghamton to replace Bass, who's out with an ankle injury.

- What a great defensive play! I didn't see who made it, but wow!

- Excellent, first powerplay goeth to us! Depvab, for hooking.

- I don't see much so far, we've barely had any pressure and almost a minute has elapsed.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, GUESS WHO!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU SAID ALFIE YOU WOULD BE RIGHT!! We had no pressure whatsoever and then all of a sudden we get it in front of the net and whammo, it's in there!! And a powerplay goal too, which rocks!!! Awesomeness! Meszaros, from Spezza and Alfie. Sens lead 1-0!!!

- It is so important these days to get that first goal. We seem to do a hell of a lot better when we do score it, and when we don't we're forever fighting our way back into the game.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY FRICK!!!!!! ALL OF A SUDDEN WE'RE JUST POURING IT THE HELL ON, THIS IS JUST INCREDIBLE!! Phillips had a ton of ice and with Vermette and Donovan providing board support he grabbed the puck and just wired it past DiPietro. Incredible!! Phillips, from Vermette and Donovan. Sens lead 2-0!!!

- I've barely had time to finish my sentences between these goals, this is just amazing!

- Andrew thinks Alfie has a chance of getting 50 goals. Can't say as I disagree!

- Good play by Foligno, he made Satan ice the puck so that the Islanders won't be able to change on the icing call.

- Hmm, they've changed the first goal to Meszaros, with Alfie assisting. Apparently the ref asked him whether he touched the puck and he shook his head no, so they took another look at the replay and decided to switch it. I'll have to see that again - it happened so fast.

- Egads, a couple of quick shots by the Isles there. Gerbs is right there to stop them!

- Ugh, yet more giveaways. Siiiiigh.

- Those two goals were scored in the span of 36 seconds. Yikes!

- Play has slowed down a bit, both teams appear a little cautious.

- Excellent defensive play by Phillips. We've seen a few of those so far this game.

- Gerbs is handling the puck a lot more tonight, I've noticed. Maybe he's taking lessons from DiPietro? XD

- Holy crap, a pair of awesome saves by Gerbs on Comrie! And he's immediately smoked by the A-Train along the boards, haha.

- You can really tell that the Sens seem to be focusing on defense first tonight, and of what defense they're playing, they are doing extremely well at it.

- Good grief guys, get it the hell out! They're really getting some pressure on us now.

- Thank goodness, another top-notch defensive play clears it.

- Suddenly the Isles have come alive for some reason, and suddenly we're losing battles. Ugh. Come on guys, we're better than this, let's just be patient.

- Good move Alfie, he grabs it and just clears it right out again. Results in some good pressure for us now!

- I think this is probably the best New York has looked this period. The second half has certainly belonged to them.

- Aww, they just showed Alfie, Spetz and Hossa talking during the Skills Competition, it was awesome. Apparently Spezza was mic'ed during the Skills part of the weekend and was practically all over the ice talking to everybody and his dog. Hehe, that was awesome.

- Aaaaand we get our first penalty. Great. Pretty cheap penalty on the replay IMO, but I won't start harping on that. Vermette for "holding."

- Isles are coming on now, I'd be reeeeeally careful!

- Last minute of play in the first.

- Three big saves from Gerbs! He looks great tonight. (And I'm not just saying that as his wife - remember, I'm usually the most critical of him! XD)

- They haven't had much since their first little flurry.

- Oh guys, do NOT let them score in the last minute, please!

- Phew, luckily they don't.

- First period over. Sens lead 2-0!!!

SECOND PERIOD

- We begin the second with the Isles continuing on the powerplay, but only for 22 seconds. Still, New York manages to make the most of it with a couple of shots.

- Penalty over, thankfully nothing much came of it.

- We go right back with the pressure on them as Vermy comes out, and get a very good-quality chance on DiPietro.

- And whaddaya know, a powerplay chance for us comes out of it! Berard for hooking.

- Aww, Spetz, don't do that. Just ... don't. Giveaways = bad, remember?

- Ugggghhh, why does DiPietro have to be so good at puckhandling? It's like they've got a third defenceman back there or something. We haven't yet gotten into their zone with any sustained pressure because of that.

- STILL no zone time. Geez!

- God that seemed like a short powerplay. We accomplished the sum total of absolutely nothing.

- Interesting stat: the Isles outshot us 12-7 in the first, despite us actually getting the 2-0 lead. We definitely sat back a little, which has been a problem for us.

- Good play by Donovan, pity it didn't actually work.

- Finally we get some actual pressure, with a nice shot by Foligno (whose name I have the most horrible time spelling).

- Wow, DiPietro actually turned the puck over! /sarcasm Nevertheless, it allowed us to play a nice little game of keep-away in the New York zone, culminating in a shot on net. So that was good.

- What's not so good is they automatically take it down the ice and get some pressure on us. The defence is still looking pretty good though, so we get it back again.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT. A. GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!! OH. MY. FRICKEN. GOD!!!!!!! THAT WAS JUST AMAZING, THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO WORDS!!! What a PASS from Fisher, how on earth did McAmmond even see that? In-freaking-CREDIBLE. Beautiful. Utterly beautiful. McAmmond, from Fisher and Neil. Sens lead 3-0!!!!

- This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Ottawa team I remember.

- And we actually keep the pressure on them after that instead of letting them get right into our zone and score within the next minute. Awesome!

- Toronto check: the St. Louis Blues are currently leading the Leafs 2-0. Yay!

- Holy crap, we were lucky on that one. The puck JUST skittered through the crease, but if there'd been someone on the open side ... well, I don't want to think about it. Heh.

- Just seeing a replay on the last Gerbs save. WOW!!!! He was awesome on that one!

- How much more lucky can you get? Another shot just dinged right off the post.

- Come on guys, we can't rely on luck alone. We need some of that spectacular defense.

- Good shot from Kelly, even though it went high and wide.

- Donovan, sweetie, weren't you listening when I was talking to Spetz before? See above re: giveaways being bad!

- Excellent shift from the fourth line, they get a couple shots before heading off the ice. I'd love to see Gratts get a goal, but maybe that's just me. XD

- Hee, Spetz just fell over but still managed to get a stick on the puck and winged it at the net! That was priceless.

- Grawr, what kind of sticks are you using, Alfie? That's the second one that's just randomly blown up tonight.

- Nice rush up the ice by Wade! Too bad he lost the puck to Meyer.

- Have I mentioned lately that I love our commentators? (Peanut Gallery: *snort* Yes, Liz, you say that about once every post.) Well, I'll say it again: I love our commentators. XD

- We've got a little scrum here after the whistle, Gratts took exception to Schubert being hit from behind and started chirping at the Islander offender. Nothing much will come of that, however.

- What a save by DiPietro off that Alfie shot! Good 2-on-1, I was actually convinced they were going to score.

- Ohhhh, Corvo sweetie, what's wrong with you lately? Making turnovers right behind your goal is so not a smart move. You just waited a bit too long to get it out. Don't wait for the perfect play, it'll end up in the back of your own net every time. *sigh* At least Gerbs didn't really have a chance on it, no one can say it was his fault. Bergenheim, from Vasicek. Sens lead 3-1.

- Okay, let's just recover from that. We can still sew this one up, especially with how we've been playing tonight.

- I should think so too! Thank you refs!! Martinek pulls Alfie down and thankfully the referees are smart enough to call him on it. Martinek, for holding. Maybe a questionable call on the replay, however.

- Corvo, plz. to be atoning for your previous mistake? You can, you know!

- OMG, how in HELL did Spezza miss that??????? AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!

- Questions for the ages: why does our powerplay suck so much all of a sudden?

- We do get a bit of a chance there, albeit a scattered one. DiPietro makes a relatively easy save.

- Final minute of the second period.

- Powerplay over, we did ... well, pretty much nothing with that chance. We had about two good shots.

- Just seeing a replay on Spetz's chance, he missed an open fricken net! WHOA! You sure don't see Spezza miss that too often.

- Paddock's going for defense now, he obviously wants to protect this lead.

- WATCH THAT COMRIE!!! He almost broke out there.

- Second period over. Sens lead 3-1!!

THIRD PERIOD

- Semi-breakaway for Robitaille to start off the period! Too bad he couldn't convert.

- Uh-oh, where's Alfie? He's not on the ice, and the commentators say he isn't on the bench either. I don't like this too much ...

- Oooh, Sens PPV camera operators, you're definitely on my Christmas list! Lovely closeup of Gerbs there. Mmm, sweaty hubby.

- Ugggggh, that clearing attempt failed rather miserably. Look before you clear, guys! (And if there's an opposing player skirting the outside of the zone, you probably should not clear. Just an idea.)

- Apparently Alfie has a sore hip, and won't return to the game. This is definitely not such good news. Poor, poor Alfie. :(

- Come on guys, pick up the pace a little here! They've got some real pressure on us and we're sure not doing much to help ourselves.

- Forget the fancy passes, Fish! They never work! Remember Corvo's mistake that led to the Isles' goal? Do. Not. Work!!!!

- Geez, clear it the hell out! Talk about your sluggish lines. We just sucked on that one.

- Just knock it out, throw it out, do whatever the hell you need to get it away from the opposition! Gaaaaahhhhh.

- We're playing a bit too cautiously. I don't know how we're going to last the next fourteen minutes if we keep playing like this!

- And that leads to another thing we don't want: penalties. *sigh* Wade gets tagged for hooking, and in all honesty New York will just continue what it's been doing for the last four minutes, getting all kinds of pressure and shots on us.

- Of course, we can't get a clear right off the bat. Go figure.

- And go figure exactly what happens next. I could see that coming a mile and a half off. If the Islanders hadn't scored on the powerplay, they were probably going to put one in after that or in five minutes. You just knew it. It wasn't Gerbs' fault, not really, but nevertheless the facts are what they are. Berard from Satan and Comrie. Sens lead 3-2.

- Whaddaya know, we actually get a couple shots! Of course, right when we really need a goal it's going to be impossible to get one. Murphy's Law.

- It would be great if we could maybe draw a penalty. At least we're getting some offensive pressure on them now.

- See, that's the way we need to play defensively! Keep that up and you'll prevent goals!

- Eeeeegads, that could've been bad. Basically a breakaway, but Phillips took away the angle and all the Islander could do was shoot it into Gerber's pads.

- Too bad you lost that one, Neil, it could have been a legitimate chance. Maybe.

- Paddock's juggling his lines again, I guess to compensate for Alfie's absence. Hopefully we can continue to go on the attack to compensate for the cap's not being there.

- Well now, is this an actual opportunity? Looks like the Islanders are getting a penalty here! Vasicek for delay of game (puck over glass).

- Come on guys, let's actually make something of this. Let's play to win instead of play not to lose (which usually ends up with us losing anyway).

- Okay, there's one shot, can we get another?

- If only Robitaille could've taken that one off the boards, he'd have had an open net to shoot at. Where the hell are the hockey gods when you need them?

- Powerplay over. Aside from a couple shots, we had nothing. And I suddenly experience some deja-vu.

- They're forechecking the hell out of us right now. I don't like this very much.

- Yet another closeup of Darth Gerber! Apparently I'm really in these camera operators' good books. XD

- Ohhh guys, we can't let many of those in! Usually when Satan shoots it like that, he scores. It's just our good luck he didn't.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! BIG GOAL!!!!! BIG, BIG GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS JUST AWESOME, LOVED IT!!!!! We capitalize off a giveaway and just calm as you please, sweep around the net and slap it in. Awesome sauce, and could be the difference between a win and a loss at the end of the day! Fisher, from Neil. Sens lead 4-2!!!!!

- Followed instantly by some more New York pressure, but luckily nothing comes of that.

- Come on guys, we've got to keep on them! Just because we have a two-goal cushion doesn't mean we can damn well do whatever we please. We have got to focus on defense first.

- Haha sweet, I think they're listening to me! They did exactly what I told them, and got a shot to boot.

- Tough save made by Gerbs, but the important thing is he made it!

- Another defensive play by Richardson, which also probably prevented a goal.

- Get it out and keep it out, for goodness sake!!!!

- Yowch, that looked painful. The puck rode right up Richardson's stick and may have clocked him one in the face. He goes right to the locker room holding his mouth, that may have knocked out a couple teeth. Poor guy. :(

- Nice break by Kelly! He did that all on his own, which rocks.

- Okay, we look slightly better now. At least we're not giving up so many odd-man rushes.

- DiPietro's been pulled in favour of the extra attacker.

- C'mon, get it out guys! I thought we weren't in trouble, maybe we are!

- It's amazing how sometimes the puck just will not get out, no matter how much we struggle.

- Okay, there's a clear.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT FINALLY SALTS IT AWAY, THEY CAN'T BEAT US NOW!!!!!! A turnover off Vasicek's stick leads to an odd-man rush the other way, and despite the best attempts of various Islanders, Spetz makes no mistake in putting it into the back of the net. Excellent play. Spezza, from Foligno. Sens lead 5-2!!!

- Final minute of the third period.

- Both teams are playing pretty lazily, having realized it's likely over.

- Although we do get a last-minute chance, DiPietro's forced to make an excellent save.

- Hehe, now we're getting tons of pressure! This is weird.

- Clocks runs down and it is OVER!!!! Final score: Sens 5, Islanders 2.

- That was a pretty darn good game, all in all! For once I think I can actually say we played sixty whole minutes, instead of amassing a lead early on and then just sort of forgetting to play the rest of the game. I was particularly impressed with our defense-first style and how the forwards doubled back to cover the areas that were a little more questionable. Also, we didn't fold up the tent after the Islanders came within two. Instead we just bore down, coalesced as a team and played with a desperation that hasn't been seen lately. After Alfie had to leave the game the Fisher line really picked up and was probably the best line on the ice. Overall it was a very tidy win, fit to bolster our confidence and get us two more points to put in the bank

- Three stars (as chosen by Sens Pay-Per-View):
#1: Mike Fisher, Ottawa
#2: Chris Neil, Ottawa
#3: Martin Gerber, Ottawa

- Next game is Thursday against the Boston Bruins. I'm trying to get into the habit of posting more often, though, so in all likelihood will talk to everyone before then.

Emery to be Fined

2008-01-29T20:41:10Z

Oh, Ray. This is not what I needed to see upon visiting TSN.ca this afternoon for a hockey fix during my brief break at work. Your picture, screaming out at me from the front page with the news you're going to be fined by the Sens:

One day after showing up late for practice again, it was back to business for Ray Emery as the goaltender returned to the Ottawa Senators' game-day skate on Long Island.

Emery, who is expected to back up Martin Gerber against the New York Islanders, did not speak to reporters after the practice, but Senators general manager Bryan Murray said he expects to fine the 25-year-old netminder.

"Whatever the collective bargaining agreement allows us to do, we will be doing," Murray told reporters following the morning skate. "It's probably monetary at this point."

On Monday, Emery was not allowed to practice with the team after showing up four minutes late for a skate at the New York Islanders' practice facility. It was the first practice since the All-Star Game for the Senators, who face the Islanders on Tuesday night. Emery maintained he was late because he thought the practice was at Nassau Coliseum and not the practice facility.

Bryan Murray went on to say that "substantial fines" will most likely be involved here. Sounds like he and Paddock may have accepted the excuse that Ray couldn't find his way to the practice rink (or forgot where the practice was going to be held) but that this has happened one too many times to be overlooked. Quite frankly, I agree. It gives the whole team a bad image when one guy continually (not just once, but continually) shows up late and demonstrates a bad work ethic. And really, this sort of behaviour would not be tolerated for as long as it has been at any other job. If I showed up late to work ten or fifteen times without reasonable cause, proceeded to put in a half-arsed effort and then leave early, my boss would kick my ass and very possibly fire me. He'd have reason to, as well.

I also read via a friend's journal today that Spezza was apparently being encouraged not to hang around with Ray, saying that the latter had "developed some bad habits." No kidding. Now mind you, this is unconfirmed, and I want to stress that, but in light of everything else that has happened it would not surprise me.

What else is there to say except I hope to hell he gets his act together? I don't want to see Razor shipped out of town. I really, REALLY don't. Gerber is my internet hubby, and he always will be, but Ray occupies a very special place in my heart. He's sort of like a messed-up little kid at times, the kid who keeps coming home with detention notices but whom you shower with love and cuddles anyway. Maybe that's the problem - maybe we as a city and as hockey people have developed too much of a blind spot where Ray's concerned, and so we're willing to forgive a whole lot more out of him because hello, Stanley Cup Finals? No other goalie has done that for us!! And yet ... I don't know. It's tough. The whole damned situation is tough.

I'd talk about it more, but I've got to get back to work. Game notes will be up tonight as per usual.

Edited to add: TSN.ca is now reporting that Emery has been fined the maximum allowable amount under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, which amounts to one day's pay or $14,705.88. Big fat honkin' deal. Still, apparently Ray was profusely apologetic, and so perhaps this will do a little bit of good. Or maybe that's just me and my wishful thinking.

Brand New Sparklies and the All-Star Game

2008-01-29T05:07:05Z

Two concepts which, on first sight, don't seem to go together. And you're right, they don't. But I'm combining them all together in one post because I don't want to clutter up your f-lists. I'm nice like that. XD

So what does any self-respecting hockey fan do when she realizes there won't be any hockey (well, hockey that matters, anyhow) for four whole days? Why, she makes herself a hockey mood theme, of course! An Ottawa Senators mood theme to be precise. I first got the idea from lost__emotions and some folks on the IWP community, who had some beautiful mood themes to their names. I decided then that I would make one for myself at some point, and I'm happy to say that I've finally gotten my act together on that front. I spent the last few days looking for appropriate pictures and resizing them, and tonight I installed the whole thing on my journal. I also re-worked the layout, because I'd sort of gotten sick of the other one I had. I'm really proud of the mood theme, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I made it all myself!

A quick little disclaimer before we go on. I know I don't have to direct this to anyone on my friends list, so you guys can just scroll on down to the next paragraph if you like. This is for casual passersby to my journal. Let me make it quite clear: I made the mood theme for myself and myself ONLY. It, and the other graphics which will soon adorn this journal, are NOT to be taken and used by anyone else. They're look-but-don't-touch, basically. If you ask nicely and promise to credit me I may make a mood theme of your favourite team or a header for your journal. But the graphics you see displayed here are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Please do not take them. 'Cause stealing's not cool.

Okay, now we've got that out of the way, let's talk some hockey, shall we?

Even though official NHL hockey was not ongoing, it was still a pretty action-packed weekend where the League was concerned. Saturday night brought the Skills Competition, and even though my boyfriend complained it was boring, we watched it all the way through. Hey, it was fun, no matter what he says! The NHL seems to change the format every year and as a result parts of it were a bit strange or messed up, but overall I think it worked. The players certainly seemed to be having fun, I saw a bunch of them laughing and talking together. For me, the highlight of the night was seeing Alfie, Spezza and Hossa standing in a circle chatting. A bunch of media picked up on that too and speculated that he might be coming back to Ottawa, and while I'm not sure of that, it was still a ton of fun to see them together. In terms of the actual competition, my favourite part was the very first event, where the players had to work together to score points and there were a bunch of different ways to do that. I also loved the goalies trying to score, and was not all all surprised to see Roberto Lungo pop a couple in there! He got the most goals of any goalie that night.

The All-Star game itself was yesterday, and although at times it felt like a carbon copy of last year's, I really enjoyed it. It's basically the one time of year when the players get to forget about the standings and just play some hockey, and you could see from their faces that they were really enjoying doing that. Best moment? When Ilya Kovalchuk was shut out for a second time by Evegeni Nabokov, and he just fell backwards onto the ice and raised his arms in defeat. My goodness but that was awesome. You'd never see it in a regular game, and yet everyone seemed to agree that it captured perfectly the fun and sheer lack of seriousness of the night.

From a Senators standpoint, both Alfie and Spetz were held off the scoresheet, but Alfie did have the most shots on goal of any player on either side - six. Both of them seemed to be having a grand old time. Spezza seemed to work very well with Ovechkin, I noticed; at one point he shot Alex a pass that was almost an exact mirror of one he'd fired at Heater a few weeks beforehand. That's Spezza's specialty: the quick pass that allows for a goal. It's also one of the reasons he's had to adjust to being without Heatley.

Other Sens news of note? Ray Emery was late for practice again today according to TSN.ca:

Emery showed up four minutes after the team took the ice for a 4pm skate at the Farmingdale Iceworks practice facility in Long Island on Monday as the team prepares to face the Islanders Tuesday. He was then told not to join the team on the ice for practice.

"I decided we wouldn't go on the ice until 4pm and when he wasn't here, it was done with until I talk to him and talk to (Senators general manager) Bryan (Murray) or we both talk to Ray," Paddock said after practice.

Sources tell TSN that Emery maintains he was late because he thought the practice was at the Nassau Coliseum, not the Islanders' practice facility.

*tsk* Oh Razor, Razor, Razor. When are you going to shape up, sweetie? I thought Alfie gave you a talking-to and we moved beyond this whole business of missing practices and generally behaving like a bit of an arse. Sorry to say that, hun, but I love you dearly, and if I can't be honest with you, then who will? Yes, you took us to the Stanley Cup Finals last year, but you still need to work hard so that we can actually hoist that Cup. And working hard involves coming to practice on time, practicing for as long as the coach wants you on the ice (preferably even longer!) and not scowling and looking all sullen on the bench because Gerbs is in the net and you're not. Okay?

In positive news, Alfie was named the NHL's first star for the week of January 20-26! From CBC.ca:

Alfredsson's seven-point performance (four goals, three assists) during Ottawa's 8-4 win at Tampa Bay last Thursday earned him more than the weekly accolade.

It was also a career-best effort that set a franchise record and vaulted him to the lead of the NHL scoring race.

The right-winger now has 67 points (32 goals, 35 assists), one ahead of Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier, who was held scoreless during the Jan. 24 outing.

Alfredsson's seven points were the most in one game since Jan. 11, 2003, when Jaromir Jagr racked up seven points (three goals, four assists) for the Washington Capitals in a 12-2 win over the Florida Panthers.

Go Alfie!!!!! Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals was second star, and Pascal Leclaire of the Columbus Blue Jackets was third.

The Sens get back into the action tomorrow against the New York Islanders.

Ottawa at Tampa Bay, January 24

2008-01-25T03:12:50Z

Well, I think it's fair to say that a wee bit of panic is setting in, at least among some fans. Perhaps people are suddenly looking at our record and noticing we've lost five of the last six. Perhaps they've been watching the games and realizing what a poor work ethic and effort the guys have been putting forth. Perhaps expectations are so high now that any extended losing streak causes concern. But whatever the reason, there is some definite worry in the air. I was listening to the Team 1200 this morning while getting ready for class and three people called to say Paddock should be fired. Another person hinted that the goalie coach could be fired, and two more said the entire coaching staff ought to be let go. Sheesh! I mean, I'm a bit worried, I guess, but I'm not going to fricken panic. It's a little early for that still.

Tonight's opponent is Tampa Bay, those selfsame Lightning that cruised - and I do MEAN cruised - to a 2-0 victory on Saturday. We just looked terrible that game, we really did, and I think my game notes alluded to that. I only hope we can put together a better effort tonight and at the very least, score some more. Goals have been a problem for us of late. A few reports have said that Heater is progressing faster than expected with his recovery, though, and so may be back soon. We can only cross our fingers and hope to hell.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs (*smishes*) and our Saturday nemesis, Johan Holmqvist. Sigh.

- Some good early pressure from us, and I think we even got a shot there.

- Of course, they immediately nip back into our zone. Watch that Lecavalier!

- Hello, tripping??? Fish was definitely pulled down there.

- Wow, we've really got the pressure on them now! At least a few shots there.

- Aww, too bad Alfie didn't have an open shooting lane there. That would've been amazing.

- According to Jason York the Tampa arena is absolutely full of Sens fans. He went into a bar earlier today and he couldn't move for encountering people in red jerseys. I think I've already heard a few "Go Sens Go!" chants too. :)

- I say again: watch Lecavalier! I actually really wish they'd put someone on him as a shadow, maybe then he couldn't do as much damage.

- Well, we certainly seem to be putting forth more of an effort than I saw on Saturday. Of course effort doesn't always equal win - if that were true the Philly game would've been out of reach, in our favour, in the first period.

- Haha, I thought that Tampa guy was going in on a breakaway until I realized he had the puck in his skates but no stick to shoot it with! Easily broken up by Wade.

- Gaaaaah that was kind of messy. It would help if you didn't give it right to the Lightning player, Alfie. XD

- There haven't been a lot of whistles yet in this game! Strange.

- Ooh, awesome awesome shot!!!

- We're definitely playing better defensively so far, which is nice to see.

- Whoops, little scrap here, Holmqvist was bumped and Tampa took exception to that for some reason, heh. Donovan may get away with one here, we'll see if the Lightning player gets the retaliatory call.

- Nope, no penalties out of that little encounter. Five on five continues.

- Nice defensive play, Wade!

- The A-Channel's poll question asks which goalie will start in the playoffs, Gerbs or Razor. To be honest I'm not sure, I think it depends on how they each play during the rest of the season, and perhaps who comes out with the better record.

- Good grief, the refs aren't calling anything tonight. Maybe they're anxious to get this game over so they can head to their break? XD

- Ooh, Gerbs made a good save there! No rebound either, which is awesome.

- Holmqvist looks sharp, as usual. I really have no idea what the commentators are talking about when they say Tampa has no goaltending. Or maybe Holmqvist only plays well against Ottawa.

- Yet another good save by Gerbs!

- Keep shooting, just keep shooting! Holmqvist is not unbeatable, really he's not! If he were Tampa would be at the top of the conference, not us.

- Aww Spetz you definitely should not have waited! Ugh.

- Yay, Wade totally saved that situation. *smishes him*

- Whoa, that could easily have gone in. Next Tampa player who tries to bounce a puck in off my husband's head gets to meet my fist. *grumble*

- Have I mentioned lately how much I love our commentators? Well ... I do. Just in case you were wondering. XD

- Awesome shot Schubie, just keep trying!

- Another great chance, nothing doing though. I like Richardson's work ethic.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG THAT WAS SO VINTAGE ALFIE, OUR TRANSITION GAME IS BACK YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! AND ALFIE IS OFFICIALLY BACK AND WE FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY GET THE FIRST GOAL!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOT!!!!! And I see a bunch of Sens fans too! XD Alfie, from Vermette. Sens lead 1-0!!!!!!!!!!!

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! HOLY GOD I JUST BARELY FINISHED RECORDING THE FIRST ONE AND THEY PUT IT IN AGAIN!!!!!!! HAHA, OMG HOW MANY SHADES OF AWESOMENESS IS THIS!!!!!!!!!! YES VIRGINIA, HOLMQVIST IS BEATABLE!!!!!! Spezza, from Robitaille and Alfie. Sens lead 2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Haha and we're right back in there pressing again! I love it!

- That actually looked like a bit of a soft goal on Holmqvist. The Spezza goal, I mean. That's an example of a shot that, on Saturday night, he probably would have had.

- For crying out loud, when will the injuries stop? *eyeroll* Commentators say Eaves has left the game after being elbowed and hit a couple of times. He apparently didn't practice this morning, either. Just what we need, or really not. No word yet on what kind of injury it might be.

- That Spezza shot JUST went wide, whoa!!!

- Yayness, first powerplay to us! McDonald for hooking. Let's see if we can make things click for once.

- Wow, that was a rocket from Fish. Yikes!

- We had some brief pressure there, but we sort of lost control later on, which isn't so good.

- Well now, that was just an AWESOME play from Alfie! He got tripped and just automatically sent it down the ice to Holmqvist to get an extended five-on-three. St. Louis will go off for the trip.

- Couldn't win the draw, which isn't a good first sign.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST ... THERE ARE NO FRICKEN WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW BEAUTIFUL THAT WAS AND IT WAS ALFIE AGAIN, OMG!!!!! HE'S CARRYING US ON HIS BACK RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Five-on-three goal too, that rocks!! Alfie from Spezza and Meszaros. Sens lead 3-0!!!!!!

- Last minute in the first.

- We haven't had much pressure since then, Spet kind of gave it away which resulted on a rush the other way. Not so good!

- We've outshot them 14-4. Niceness!!

- First period over. Sens lead 3-0!!!!!!

SECOND PERIOD

- We start off the period with a goaltender change for the Lightning! Kari Ramo, who is fricken younger than me, is now in goal for Tampa. Heh.

- During the intermission - and I stress the intermission - I had the NHL site open with the scores, but I've now closed all windows pertaining to that. Hopefully this will pacify the bad luck monster. XD

- Commentators bring up the point that we're now charged with protecting this lead and bearing down defensively to do so. I couldn't agree more.

- Alfie's had an assist added to the Spezza goal, putting him one away from having 500 assists! Woot!!!

- This is great, we're really keeping the pressure on. So long as we do that, they can't score!

- Hehe awesome shot Wade!!

- Egads, we're in a bit of trouble now. Both Tampa shots have gone high, but I wouldn't want to take many more chances on them continuing to do so.

- Phew, good defense there from Schubie. I forgot he can play both forward and defense when needed. :)

- Yep, I figured that'd be a penalty. Neil will go off for interference.

- That looked awful, poor Ward. :( Clean check, but he looks to be in a lot of pain. I hope he's okay.

- Ward's up and okay, thank goodness.

- So now we get to test our formerly-terrific penalty kill. It sure hasn't been so in the last few games.

- And again we lose the faceoff. *sigh*

- Awesome save Gerbs!

- Okay, we sort of cleared it there. Sort of in that they get it right back in.

- Woot, yet another clear!

- That's what you've got to do guys, have three defensemen on the guy who's trying to score.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALFIE FOR THE HAT TRICK, ALFIE FOR THE HAT TRICK AND A SHORTHANDED GOAL OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS SO FRICKEN BEAUTIFUL AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! OH ALFIE HOW DO I LOVE THEE, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS!!!!!!!! Wow. Perfect tape-to-tape pass, just completely totally perfect. Alfie, from Fisher. Sens lead 4-0!!!!!!

- Hehe I see a few hats littering the ice! XD

- Tampa has a few more rushes with their powerplay, but nothing substantive.

- Aww Vermy, you should've shot! Delaying does no one any good, trust me. Unless you don't have an open shooting lane.

- The A-Train has officially pulled into the station! What a thundering hit.

- Ooh we've got some action here!!! A bunch of scraps, everyone's wrestling with everybody else, McAmmond practically tackles McDonald. That was awesome, LOL. I guess this all started when Roy took a run at Alfie, Phillips took exception to that and then suddenly everyone got in there! We'll probably see offsetting penalties here.

- Actually no, the only penalty is to Phillips for interference. Bwuh?? I thought at least a couple more roughing calls should've been made there, but whatever. Tampa to the powerplay.

- Good grief, Schubie is seriously all over the ice, he just scraped that puck out of nowhere and shot it out!

- Another excellent clear!

- Powerplay over, that was nicely killed off.

- OMG, that Tampa guy was wide fricken open!! Luckily he missed high or that would've gone in for sure.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY VERMY, YAY VERMY!!!!!!!!! YOU DEFINITELY SHOT THAT TIME AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED, IT PAID OFF IN SPADES!!! RIGHT UNDER THE CROSSBAR, AWESOME!!!! This is almost embarassing but awesome all the same! Vermy, from Alfie and WADE! Sens lead 5-0!!!!

- Fight fight fight!!! Richardson and Roy, they're whacking each other, grappling one another and have each other in a headlock! And they go down, Roy's kind of on top of Richardson, but whatever. LOL. As soon as Roy stepped on the ice Richardson wasted no time in engaging him, that was great. Both will sit for five.

- It would be so many shades of awesomeness if Gerber could get the shutout. SO SO AWESOME.

- Holy crap, yet another brawl! Well, sort of. Donovan mixes it up, sort of, with Tarnasky after the whistle. These guys are really going after each other all of a sudden.

- Uhh, okay, how ooes that work? Donovan gets the only penalty, for roughing. My impression was that it takes two to tango, but apparently not?

- Haha, what a terrible giveaway by St. Louis. Vermy almost had an open net to shoot at.

- Okay, commentators have clarified: Tarnasky actually did get a penalty as well, so we've got a bit of four-on-four going now.

- WHOA, that puck just slid by the open side of Gerbs' net, can you say dangerous?

- Gerbs, sweetie, it would be nice if you didn't let out such big rebounds sometimes. You're better about that than you used to be, but still.

- Whelp, that wasn't so nice. Why do you let in these slightly-soft goals sometimes, Gerbs, it just gives people more license to unfairly criticize you IMO. Anyway, Tampa breaks the shutout bid and restores a bit of dignity to themselves, I guess. Boyle, unassisted. Sens lead 5-1.

- Not so sure I like where this is going, as we get assessed another penalty. It was legitimate, but still. I wish we could stay out of the box. Phillips, for hooking.

- Good first clear!

- Bugger all, we couldn't get it out. Come on guys!

- There was some good defense. We still don't clear it, however.

- Okay, there we go. Phew!

- Oh frak ME, not Volchenkov again. PLEASE. How fricken costly does this lead have to be, anyway? We've already lost Eaves, how many more have to go down? Anton hasn't left the game, mind you, but the commentators described him going to the bench "in some discomfort."

- Powerplay over. There were some hairy moments, but bottom line is we killed it.

- Yowch, just seeing the replay on the hit that Anton suffered. That was rough. Usually the kind of hits he dishes out, actually!

- Tampa seem to be energized by the goal they scored, but as I pointed out to Andrew, if the Sens blow this sort of a lead, they don't deserve to win. XD

- Yikes, that wasn't cool! Lucky we got it out.

- Definitely not liking these turnovers, that's the one part of our game I wish we could work on. It's been better tonight, but still not completely nonexistant. Which is what it should be.

- Yayness, Volchenkov's back out and looks okay!

- Last minute of play in the second.

- Come on guys, defense!! We do not want them to get a goal in the last few seconds.

- Lecavlier looked like he was injured, he went into the Ottawa net a little awkwardly. He goes right to the bench.

- Second period over. Sens lead 5-1!!!!

THIRD PERIOD

- Andrew and I are a bit late getting back to the game, we were watching Toronto/Washington. Washington is leading, by the way. XD Nothing much happened here while we were gone, though.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 OMG WAS THAT ALFIE AGAIN? THAT WAS SO SO SO SO SO SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AWFUL GOAL ON THE TAMPA GOALTENDER BUT WHATEVER, WE WILL SO TAKE IT!!!!!!! AND ALFIE GETS HIS 500TH ASSIST!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAYNESS!!!!!!!!! Robitaille, from Alfie. Sens lead 6-1!!!

- The hell? Andrew and I switched back to the Toronto game just to see what happened to end it off (Washington won) and we come back and Tampa scored to make it 6-2! BWUH? We just totally missed that, I've no idea what happened or if it was a good goal or not. It must have come just a few seconds after we got ours, though, which is an old story. Anyway, Tarnasky from Lukowich. Sens lead 6-2.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA THAT WAS MADE OF SO MUCH AWESOME I CAN'T HARDLY EVEN DESCRIBE IT!!! NEILER AND MCAMMOND JUST COMBINE PERFECTLY, THAT WAS GREAT!!!!!! I LOVE IT, I JUST LOVE IT!!!!!!! McAmmond, from Neiler and Fisher. Sens lead 7-2!!!!!!

- Okay guys, Andrew and I aren't going to switch the channel, so whatever happens, we'll see it. It would be nice if you didn't let Tampa score immediately again, though.

- OH FOR LOVE OF GODDAMNED PITY. What did I tell you guys to do? NOT let them score within the next few minutes! And what do you do? You let them fucking score within the next few minutes! Jaaaaaaaysus Christ. I. Am. So. Fucking. Sick. Of. That!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! MacDonald, from Roy and Tarnasky. Sens lead 7-3.

- Let's not totally collapse defensively here, okay? I know we've got a big lead but that's sure no reason to get sloppy. *eyeroll*

- I'm sure Gerbs is going to get somewhat dumped on for the goals he's allowed in this game, even though the third goal was totally the defense's fault.

- Awesome save Gerbs!! Just as I type that last point, you come up big. Woot!!

- Gaaaahhhh, that was a tad feeble. We've got to be better than that.

- "Still lots of time in this game," says Gord Wilson. Well you know what, if we blow THIS then I think we've got more problems than anyone knows. Heh.

- Come on guys, get control! Start taking the play to them like you were for the first two periods!

- Aww, Fish, that was a nasty giveaway. I hate those.

- Shots are 23-22 in favour of Ottawa. Surprisingly close.

- Gimme a break, that was the dumbest fucking giveaway in the WORLD. Luckily Roy elects to pass instead of shoot, so nothing happens.

- Note to the bad luck hockey gods: I didn't even access the NHL scoresheet in the second period, so you've got no excuse. I cannot be blamed for whatever happens.

- Cool stat I forgot to mention earlier: Alfie now has six career hat tricks, counting tonight's.

- Anton's apparently not on the Ottawa bench, this is not so good.

- Ooh, nice shot Spetz! We're finally getting some more pressure on them.

- Holy crap, where's that Tampa goalie going? Evidently he thinks he's transformed into a defenseman or something, he was practically at centre ice to play that puck. XD

- Wow, I didn't know Tortorella was set to surpass Herb Brooks for the record of American coach coaching most games, at 507.

- Sweet chance there! That could easily have gone in.

- According to the out-of-town scoreboard Montreal is beating the Devils to the tune of 4-3, which makes Andrew and I very happy. :)

- Okay, we're looking more like we did in the first and second periods. We're getting more pressure on them, anyway.

- Yikes, careful there! That could have been bad had McAmmond actually given it away.

- Seriously what is WITH that Tampa goalie? Again he goes right out practically to centre ice to play the puck, what the heck's he playing at? LOL.

- Egads, that was a tad dangerous. Get it the hell out guys!

- Ugh. Claw, claw, claw. Why in the hell couldn't we have done this against Philly, I might ask? It sure would've been nice! And oh, Gerbs, once again you let in a soft goal. You're not helping yourself, sweetie, with those easy ones. I'll defend you as much as I can, but facts are facts. :( I also thought there should've been a penalty for Boyle knocking down Richardson, but of course not. *grumble* Boyle from Ranger and St. Louis. Sens lead 7-4.

- Don't look back, guys, just keep the pressure on. Keep it on.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!1 HAHA WAY TO RESTORE THE LEAD, GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!!!! THAT IS DEFINITELY THE WAY TO DO IT!!!!!! And oh FUCK YOU REFS, give us a goddamned break, that goal was SO good. What the hell are you reviewing? It wasn't knocked in with a high stick, I saw it on the replay and it was totally good. And yes, thankfully they make the right call. Spezza, from Meszaros and Alfie! Sens lead 8-4!!!!

- Well, you have to hope that will pretty much seal it up. I'll give Tampa credit, they certainly haven't just curled up and died, but in the end it just won't be enough.

- Good grief, defence! We really don't want to turn around and let them right back into our zone.

- Clamp down, guys. Let's just get this over with, shall we?

- Haha, another scrap!! I've no idea what exactly they're fighting over, but whatever, they're all going after each other. LOL.

- Oh, it was a hit from behind by Meszaros. He'll get penalized for it, but Gratton will also go. So no real ramifications for us.

- Most people who answered the A-Channel poll think Gerbs should start in the playoffs. YAY!!!! Nice to know some people (other than me obviously!) still believe in him!

- Hey there Razor! Chillin' like a villain on the bench, and smiling to beat the band. *grin* He apparently had an MRI done on his wrist this morning, but everything checked out.

- Both teams are just playing to tick down the remaining time on this game. Smart move.

- Last minute of play in the third.

- Eek, that was a late-ish shot. Nothing came of it for Lecavalier or St. Louis, though.

- One last rush for Tampa.

- Ooh, I hear some "Go Sens Go!" Hehehe. XD

- Also some booing from the Tampa fans, I can't imagine they'd be too pleased with their team's effort tonight.

- And it's done! Final score: Sens 8, Tampa 4.

- Well. What to say about this one? LOL. Obviously there are tons of positives to draw from this one, and let's start at the top. It's fitting that I used an Alfie icon for this game notes post, because our captain was all over the place tonight. If he gets awarded an assist on the last Sens goal, which he probably will, he'll have had a seven-point night. WOW!!! But it wasn't only Alfie who came to play tonight. The whole team showed up, and displayed a work ethic and determination that has been suspiciously lacking these last few games. They were battling hard, fighting to pucks, racing to win battles and just generally being their old selves. The defence was spectacular, and made more than a few good plays. More than a few bad ones, too, but the most important thing is that there are more good plays than bad ones, and tonight, there were. Tonight reminded me of the old Ottawa Senators, the Senators we are accustomed to seeing. I'd almost forgotten what they look like! But this is what they can do, this is what they can be if they let themselves. Hopefully it will continue!

- Three stars (as chosen by the A-Channel):
#1: Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
#2: Jason Spezza, Ottawa
#3: Mike Fisher, Ottawa

- Next game is Tuesday against the New York Islanders. I'll be back with game notes for that one. I may also do notes for the All-Star game on Sunday; I haven't quite decided though. At least until then, talk to everyone soon!

Ottawa at Florida, January 22

2008-01-23T03:12:23Z

So. Let's just put the last nightmare, er game, behind us, shall we? I could say I've rarely seen such a poorly-played game, but that's unfortunately not true - I saw one the day before on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. For that game we just completely forgot to show up. At least with the Philadelphia game, we played for about half a period or so before losing interest. That was just painful to watch, though. Just when you think it couldn't get any worse ... well, it basically did. The best I can say is that it's now over, and we can move on.

Tonight we face the other Florida team, the Panthers, and the really good news is that we'll have Alfie back in the lineup. Not that he can solve all of our problems, but he at least constitutes with Spezza two-thirds of the big line. And scoring, apparently, is definitely something we've been lacking. All I can say is, the Sens had better pull up their socks or we could be looking at a looooong losing streak.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Razor (woot!!) and Tomas Vokoun.

- Good first shot by Fish off the faceoff!

- Three-on-two rush for the Panthers now, but Razor is there. Excellent glove save to start. :)

- The broadcast booth at the Florida arena must be lower down in comparison to most, because it seems like the camera angle is from a lot closer to the ice. More like being in the second level as opposed to the third level of an arena.

- Jacques Martin on the bench, looking like the sewer recently backed up under his nose. Oh, Jacques. XD

- Another good save by Razor!

- Awesome deflection, that puck was like inches from going in!!

- Ooh, first powerplay to us! Too many men on the ice, to be served by Jokinen.

- Y halo thar Florida crowd! All ... 300 of you, maybe?

- YAY WADE, that JUST went wide!!

- Come on guys, sustained pressure. That's the only way you'll score.

- AMAZING chance by Alfie!!! WHOA!!!!!

- We've had some good shots on the powerplay, our work ethic is certainly showing through. At least for now.

- Interesting stat: Ottawa is the highest-scoring team in the NHL when it comes to 5-on-5 play.

- I really wish the commentators wouldn't start spouting statistics about how good we are against the Panthers. That seems to almost encourage ... well, crappiness. Heh.

- OH GOD PLEASE NO NOT ANTON, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!! TAKE ANYONE YOU WANT ~~except Wade~~ JUST NOT VOLCHENKOV!!!!!!!

- Good, he seems okay. I was worried there for a sec, haha.

- Another awesome shot by McAmmond! One of these has to go in sometime right? XD

- Yet another rush and another amazing shot by Bass. I swear we're doing everything but score.

- Haha, sweet, next powerplay also goes to us! Allen went after Spezza when the whistle blew, and the refs thankfully took exception to that. Allen will sit for interference for two minutes or less.

- ANOTHER chance!!! OMG!!!

- At least we're getting some actual chances on the powerplay, as opposed to standing around and looking like we don't know what the hell we're doing.

- Keep trying guys, just keep trying. Eventually one of these shots has to get through, Vokoun can't save all of them.

- Penalty over. We had the pressure on them for most of the time, despite not scoring.

- Dean Brown: "McAmmond blows a tire." LOL I love that expression waaaay too much. XD

- Yikes, there was a chance for them. That would be SO fricken unfair if they were to score after we've had all this great pressure.

- Ugh, and just as I say that ... we get penalized. *le sigh* Hopefully that's not a bad omen. Spetz for high-sticking.

- Good kill so far!

- Holy crap that was amazing!! Razor I love you!! That was a sure goal you saved there.

- Oh give me a BREAK. I guess that's the equalizer for the second penalty we took. But anyway, Schubie gets fingered for slashing, and Florida will go to the 5-on-3. And of COURSE they'll score, since we can't score on two-man advantages but opposing teams score on every 5-on-3 chance they get aganst us EVER.

- Okay good, that's killed off. There were a few hairy moments there, but a good shot block by Anton saved the day.

- Woot, good clear!

- Penalty over! Amazing, we actually killed that completely off! Sweetness.

- Yet more pressure, yet another shot that didn't go in. I'm sensing a pattern here, sigh.

- Oh give me a BREAK, you have GOT to be fucking kidding!!!! HOW in the name of everything do we get ALL the pressure in the first period, dominating COMPLETELY, and then practically the first shot the opposition gets, they SCORE? Why is it so easy for THEM and so hard for US? And it always is, there's little variation. Anyway, Panthers take an unfair and undeserved lead off a goal from Bouwmeester, assisted by Booth. Florida leads 1-0.

- Well, we've still got the pressure on them, despite that goal. Eventually something has to go in at some point, you would think.

- Final minute in the first.

- We've had 16 shots so far this period. Sixteen shots, not one of them has gone in, and Florida has the lead. Go fucking figure.

- If only that puck had bounced a certain way, that would have been in. But of course, that's not the way things have been going lately.

- Okay guys, PLEASE prevent them from scoring again before the period is up. I don't think I could take it.

- Phew. They didn't.

- First period over. Panthers lead 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- Excellent drive to start off the second! Not that it'll mean anything, but still.

- OMG IT DID!!!!!!! IT ACTUALLY ACTUALLY DID WE ACTUALLY FOR ONCE IN A PURPLE POLKA-DOTTED MOON CAPITALIZED ON AN OPPORTUNITY!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME BUT THERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh that was such an awesome drive by Neil, you would not believe it!!! And at last, we finally get the tie that is (at least) due to us. McAmmond, from Fisher. Score is tied 1-1!!!

- And for the record, I do not have NHL.com's scoresheet up. I was thinking about it, but didn't actually access it. Maybe that means something?

- Whoa, that could easily have gone in. Luckily Razor was there.

- Commentators are right, we've totally picked up from where we left off in the first period. The difference this time, of course, is that we've actually been rewarded for it.

- LOL @ the poor Florida arena entertainment person trying to pep the crowd up. Hello, what crowd?

- Unfortunately I don't think Vokoun is going to be tricked by the same play twice. Thanks for playing though Schubie!

- Good defense, Fish! Now how about the actual defense come in and back him up? Sheesh.

- Ooh, Robitaille, that was some awesome sauce!! You just have to get it a bit higher.

- WOW Fish just put on the jets there! Too bad that play didn't work, but we just have to keep trying.

- I. AM. JUST. SO. FUCKING. SICK. OF. THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY IN THE NAME OF THE GODDAMNED HOCKEY GODS DO WE HAVE TO WORK AND WORK AND WORK AND WORK AND WORK OUR GODDAMNED ASSES THE HELL OFF TO GET JUST ONE FUCKING GOAL AND THEY CAN JUST CRUISE DOWN THE GODDAMNED ICE AND FLICK IT IN AS CASUALLY AS ANYTHING?????????????? GRAWR!!!!!!!!!!!! So again we're behind the eightball, again we've got to play catchup hockey, again our best effort isn't enough against the goddamned twelfth-place team. FUCK. Glass from Horton and Cullimore. Panthers lead 2-1.

- I'm so sick of this. I'm so, so, so fucking sick of this.

- Other teams are getting better now and we're just getting worse. Why us?

- Keep shooting guys, I guess. Somehow we've got to claw our way back into this, I guess, although if there were any justice in the world, we wouldn't. Sigh.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG THANK YOU GUYS, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR RESTORING HOPE, THANK YOU FOR NOT GIVING UP, THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO TRY, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome sauce, just awesome!! That was just awesome. Neil, from Fisher and Phillips. Score is tied 2-2!!!!

- Fight fight fight!!!! Neiler and Glass, Neil's taking the absolute piss out of him but Glass is no slouch either, now they're both throwing punches, and Neil's got him on the ice!! Haha woot, that was awesome!!! Maybe he's going for a Gordie Howe hat trick, haha. Both will go to the box for five minutes.

- Great, just great, we're in trouble again. They'll probably score. That's the way things have been going, anyway.

- Ooh nice shot Wade!!

- Come on guys, you cannot allow them to get all this pressure on us because clearly, every time they do that they score. So basically we shouldn't let them in our zone at all.

- HOLY FUCK GET IT THE GODDAMNED HELL OUT!!!!!!!!! Jaaaaaaaysus Christ.

- Great. So we take another penalty. Just exactly what we need, NOT. Volchenkov for hooking.

- How come WE never get scrambles and powerplays like that?

- Haha okay, a shorthanded shot, that's cool.

- McAmmond blows another tire. XD He seems to be doing that a lot tonight.

- Goddamnit, they've got the pressure on us again. Emery makes the save.

- Another faceoff loss. Guys, you're not going to be able to kill this if you keep losing faceoffs.

- OMG, Florida missed the net, what's wrong with them????

- Whee, another couple of shorthanded shots!

- We're practically set up in the powerplay formation, except we're killing a penalty. Strange.

- Powerplay over, let me tell you it can't come soon enough.

- ANOTHER incredible save by Razor. Sheesh, what is with us?

- Good defensive play by Wade, hopefully that'll shut the hater up for tonight. XD

- Holy crap they've got Alfie so well-covered, he had no choice but to give the puck away. It's like there's ten Panthers on the ice to our five players.

- O.M.G. WHAT A SAVE BY RAZOR!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW IN THE LIVING NAME OF HELL DID HE STOP THAT????????????

- Geez, we can't seem to win a faceoff to save our lives.

- Another penalty? Well things are just going from bad to worse, aren't they. Of course Florida hasn't gotten one SINGLE penalty since the first five minutes of the first. Oh well. I'm so sick of complaining. Kelly for holding.

- Another faceoff loss. Razor's going to have to stand on his head.

- I hadn't realized Neiler left the bench after the fight, but apparently he did. Anyway, he's now back. :)

- OMG, we actually won a faceoff! The very idea!

- MEMO TO PENALTY KILL: IT MAY COME AS A COMPLETE SURPRISE BUT YOU ARE ACTUALLY NEEDED AT THE MOMENT. KTHXBYE.

- Finally a penalty to them!! Maybe the refs heard my ranting, haha. Murray for interference. We'll have four-on-four action, and then Ottawa goes to the powerplay for a bit.

- Another faceoff win! What is this world coming to?

- Oh please not another shorthanded goal, please please please!!!!

- Wade, honey, I know you had to do it to prevent a goal, but ... still. That was hardly hooking, but who the fuck am I to judge? Whatever.

- I hate this. We can't seem to stay out of the fucking box.

- ... You know what, I don't even fucking know. I don't know. If we can't beat Florida, I just ... Christ. Not using capslock, because what's the point? Florida scored. Whatever. Weiss, from Jokinen and Horton.

- Here they come again. Oh, why don't they just put a few more in, make it six or seven goals like it was on Sunday. Put us out of our fucking misery.

- Wow, an actual chance. Amazing.

- But of course, here comes Bouwmeester back. And he actually misses. Holy crap.

- They've got the powerplay now, but only for five seconds. It's still long enough to glance a shot off the crossbar and nearly in.

- Oh yeah, somewhere in there the clock ticked down to one minute remaining in the period.

- Second period over. Panthers lead 3-2.

THIRD PERIOD

- I accessed the scoresheet at NHL.com in the intermission to update my notes, feeling like at this point it really can't do much harm. Or maybe it can, I don't know. But I'm sick of relying on good or bad luck. It never works anyway.

- Got interrupted by a work call for the first part of this period, so I missed about six minutes of the game. Sigh. I had thought everyone in the office knew not to call me during hockey games, but apparently not. LOL. Anyway, I guess Florida scored again, which puts the game pretty much out of reach for us. At least the way we're playing. Sigh again.

- We're playing pretty anemically now. Sort of like the way we played on Sunday after Philly amassed their huge lead. A two-goal deficit is survivable, theoretically, but you have to make an effort. And I don't see much of an effort now.

- Cullimore got his stick literally all over Eaves, it looked like he was fucking frisking him. No call of course. Those calls never go our way.

- Haha, Razor finally gets sick of the play in his zone and goes and gets the puck out himself. I give him an A+ for effort, or I would if the puck didn't just come right back in.

- Okay you know what, this is getting fucking pathetic. FUCKING. PATHETIC. That's like how many goals we've had scored on us in the last few games? Eleven? Twelve? I think it's twelve. There was NO defense on that play. None. None at all. Campbell from Horton. Florida leads 5-2.

- I think I can conclusively say that it's over. I'll keep watching, because that's the way I am. But we're not coming back, not tonight.

- I'm telling you, if first place was determined by which teams could beat Ottawa, there would be about a three- or four-way tie for that now. We make last place look like first place.

- Again, we started out the game playing okay, in fact better than okay, but once they got a lead we just collapsed like a souffle. I'm sensing a pattern here. The same thing happened with Philadelphia.

- Apparently we've got 44 shots in this game. For Christ's sake, we should NOT need that many shots to even win.

- Haha Neil wants to fight with Matador, but the latter isn't biting. I think Neil just wants to spark the rest of his teammates somehow. Sorry Neiler, I think we're probably beyond help at the moment. The best we can do is just while away the rest of the game, try to stop the bleeding and move on. Again.

- There's about five minutes left, so maybe this nightmare will end soon. Maybe.

- I just hope Florida doesn't get a sixth goal. Losing by six goals two games in a row would be really fucking humiliating.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! Hey why not, let's at least recover a little of our dignity here!! Make them look over their shoulders a bit, make them think that there's a possibility of us coming back even though there totally isn't. I doubt they'll collapse, but it would be nice to make them question themselves a little. Fisher from Volchenkov and Phillips. Florida leads 5-3.

- Emery's been pulled.

- You'd think that goal would have motivated them, instead the stupid puck just bounces right to a Florida player. Cripes. We're not getting ANYthing.

- Commentators say there have been 86 shots in this game. HOLY. CRAP.

- Last minute of play in the third.

- Haha, sweet defensive play to prevent the empty netter.

- They tried to set up, but couldn't really do it.

- Well, we lose. Final score would be Panthers 5, Ottawa 3.

- Once again, we played a first period. And maybe half of a second. But that's about it. Why it should be so beyond us to actually play an entire game is beyond me, but I have to say I'm getting used to them losing. This is not a good thing. I should not be comfortable with losing, I should not come to expect it. But I am and I do. I'm not panicking. I barely even swear when the opposition scores. I just ... expect it. All I can say is, we need to rediscover some of that magic that allowed us to vault to the top of the Eastern Conference. Where is it? Search the hell out of me. I don't know.

- Three stars (as chosen by NHL.com):
#1: Nathan Horton, Florida
#2: Trevor Glass, Florida
#3: David Booth, Florida

- Next game is the last game before the All-Star break, and comes Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. May we have recovered from zombie disease by then. I'll be back with game notes.

Ottawa at Philadelphia, January 20

2008-01-21T02:34:59Z

Well, I've gotta say that the game last night probably constituted one of the Sens' poorest efforts of the season so far. Sure, hockey fans have a short memory, and I'm probably forgetting two or three other games, but I definitely haven't seen anything like that lately. So maybe I should amend and say there hasn't been that poor of a performance recently. Because there certainly hasn't. Even against the Islanders, in that difficult game after we played the Red Wings, you at least got the sense that we were sort of trying. Last night we just completely forgot to even show up.

Things sure don't get any easier tonight, either. We play the Philadelphia Flyers, a solid, middle-of-the-pack team that is still no slouch, and can surprise you if you're not careful. I see two interesting angles to the game. One, that Steve Downie will be playing for the first time since he knocked out poor Dean McAmmond, and that Brian McGrattan will also be playing. How long do you want to bet it'll be before those two start trading punches? XD Two, Alfie is expected to miss his second straight game with a hip flexor. We certainly didn't pick up the pace in his absence last night. Can we replicate the Carolina magic and do so tonight?

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs (YAY INTERNET HUBBY!!!!) and Antero Niittymaki, whose name I am probably butchering horribly. Forgive me, LOL.

- Ooh, we get the first shot! This is encouraging.

- Haha, Neil bumped Downie. I have a feeling he'll be getting a lot of that tonight. XD

- They've got the pressure right back

- Okay, scratch the shit out of that. *eyeroll* Another very easy play by the Flyers, and lo and behold it's in our net. Honestly, they should just start the game with us down 1-0, it would save a hell of a lot of time. Coburn, from Upshall and Hatcher. Flyers lead 1-0.

- Ooh ooh fight, Gratts and Cote!! They circle each other for awhile, Gratts is getting pounded so far but yay, he gets in a couple before falling to the ice. Haha, nice. I guess this is the culmination of a conversation in the pregame warmup between the two, they dropped the gloves just as the puck was dropped. Both will head to the box for five.

- Here's some pressure! Eh, sort of. Kind of.

- Greeeeat, let's just let things go from bad to worse here. Why not. A marginal-at-best call sends Anton to the box for tripping. Wonderful. /sarcasm

- Commentators are saying the Flyers have the top powerplay in the NHL ... that's sort of weird, I thought Montreal did. Oh well, maybe things have changed.

- Good nice clear to start it off.

- Aww, Phillips, WTF was that? You just shouldn't do stuff like that, really. :( Almost cost us a goal.

- Okay, with all the stats they're spouting off about the wonderful Flyers' powerplay, it must be only a matter of time before Philly scores. *eyeroll*

- Great defensive play there Wade!!

- Ooh, followed up by a shorthanded shot from Fish. Wasn't exactly a stellar chance, but at least it's something right?

- Yet another decent chance! Niittymaki had no idea where that puck was.

- Spetz gets dumped, no penalty of course.

- Gord Wilson brings up the point that even though we're down 1-0, we're playing a hell of a lot better than we did last night. I most definitely agree, we have more pep and seem better on defense.

- Hello, it's called interference!!! Another non-call by the refs.

- Finally! Spetz is spun around yet again, and this time the referees actually notice. Amazing. Knuble, for holding.

- Toronto check: New Jersey is still leading 3-2 with only about forty seconds left. Raycroft has been pulled in a last-ditch effort by the Leafs to try and tie it. Come on Devils, you can hang on! *crosses fingers*

- Nice pressure, guys! Especially from Wade, he has really picked up his game. And I'm not just saying that as a Wade fan, heh. XD

- Followed up by a good shot by Mezzy, and Anton who misses an open freaking net! OMG!!!

- Y'know, it would be really nice to be able to report on an Ottawa goal in these game notes. I haven't done that since Tuesday. :(

- Whelp, that's the end of that particular powerplay. *le sigh* Meszaros for holding the stick.

- WOW, that was a crazy weird bounce! The faceoff came in our zone and the puck kind of pinged off the end glass and right down the ice! Niittymaki actually had to make a really good save

- A-Channel's poll asks which Ottawa player has the most ice time so far this season, and gives a list of choices. Alfie, Spetz, Heater and Wade are among them. :)

- Surprising stat: Sens are actually outshooting Philly 6-4. I wouldn't have guessed that!

- Excellent play by Wade to get it out!

- I guess they weren't kidding when they said the Flyers have a dynamite powerplay. They do, and we find ourselves the victims of it yet again. We just cannot, cannot, cannot take penalties. Another thing we can't do is leave Hartnell wide fucking open in front of the goddamned net. Schubie, going behind the net to collect that puck was definitely the wrong thing to do, sigh. :( Hartnell, from Carter and Umberger, and suddenly we're in a two-goal hole.

- Good hit by the A-Train, knocking Kapanen into next Thursday!

- Also an excellent drive by Spetz, too bad he was cut off by the Philly defenceman. He's certainly doing everything he can.

- More bad-to-worse type news: apparently Gratts injured his right shoulder during the fight with Cote and won't return. :( I guess we won't see the hoped-for Gratts/Downie matchup, sigh.

- Dean Brown sounds like he has a cold all of a sudden.

- We're getting pressure, and shots, but none that I would really qualify as dangerous.

- Owwwww, poor Wade has a bruise on his finger. :( They just showed a closeup of it and it looks painful. Poor sweetie. *kisses it better*

- Gerbs, you're not so good at playing the puck. Sorry hun, but you're not. So you probably shouldn't try and do it when there's three Philly players behind you all looking hungrily at it. Just sayin'.

- Wow, an actual giveaway by the Flyers! Leads to an Ottawa shot, anyway, which is good.

- Last minute of play in the first.

- We've got it in their zone and are getting some pressure, this is good!

- Actual sustained pressure! This is amazing! I'm serious, we did NOT see this in the game last night at ANY point. I'd be willing to bet we got at least a couple of shots out of that one, if not more.

- Aww, Robitaille, don't throw it blindly behind the net, that never works. :(

- Fantastic shot there! Too bad it didn't go in.

- We've outshot Philly 9-8.

- First period over. Flyers lead 2-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- Wow, good start this period! We've actually had a few shots to start.

- Once again ... scratch the shit out of that. I suppose I should just refrain from making comments about how good we seem, because invariably every time I do that, I'm immediately proven wrong by the Flyers scoring. Way to make me look like an idiot, guys. It happened for a third time, and so I think I'll just shut the hell up. *mutter mutter mutter* Upshall, from Hartnell and Downie. Flyers lead 3-0.

- And it was Downie with the assist. UGH. That makes it even more insulting. *shakes fist*

- Suddenly they can do everything right, and we can do nothing. Siiiigh.

- Nice shot, Schubie!

- I'm beginning to wonder if it's bad luck for me to refer to the scores on the NHL website. I only started doing that this week, because I got sick and tired of straining my ears trying to hear who got the goals and penalties to put them into my game notes, and sometimes the commentators wouldn't say. So I went on the NHL site and pulled up their game summaries, referring to them so I could easily make notes here and spell everyone's names correctly. But ever since I started doing that, Ottawa can't seem to win a fucking game! It seems to be the same with practically anything new. That exact thing happened when I started doing game notes, I think it took about five or six games before I was actually able to record a win. I guess this is going to be the case for referring to the official scores on the NHL site, sigh.

- Fine. No hope. Philadelphia, you've communicated that quite nicely, thanks. No need to keep pouring it the hell on. I am officially deflated, I am officially only hoping for us to get a goal so we can recover just a little of our smushed dignity, but officially thinking that probably won't happen. Whatever. Umberger, from Briere and Gagne. Flyers lead 4-0.

- Four goals on ten shots. THAT is fucking terrible. It's not only Gerbs, either! It's the defence, and the forwards doing jackshit to stop Philly getting into our zone. I hate that Gerbs is always in for these games too, because that means people heap criticism on him and don't bother to look at the bigger picture. I just ... UGH.

- OMG, like two minutes went by and the Flyers didn't score!!!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEM???????

- Well, I sure haven't seen much since Philly got that fourth goal. We look really deflated, and understandably, I suppose.

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA SHUTOUT BID IS OFFICIALLY BUSTED AND I FINALLY GET TO RECORD A GOAL, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!! OKAY IT'S NOT A TYING GOAL BUT IT'S SOMETHING RIGHT, IT'S DIGNITY IS WHAT IS IS!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!! We've just gotta keep going and be patient guys, you never know, maybe we can claw our way back into this one. Let's see! Kelly, from Robitaille and WADE!!! Flyers lead 4-1!

- Followed up by some terrific pressure! Which is definitely atypical of us on shifts after a goal, but whatever! I like it!

- Oh Eaves, that was kind of bad. Open your eyes!

- Keep at it guys, you never know! You just never know! It might go in!

- Ugh, that was not so pretty, Richardson tries to take a shot and his stick explodes. Heh.

- Yay, nice save by Gerbs!

- We've actually outshot Philly 17-10. Talk about opportunistic.

- They haven't been punishing Downie much so far this game. I guess they're kind of afraid to take penalties, which I could totally see. But still.

- Quote from Alfie: "Tuesday, I think, I'll be okay." So maybe he'll be back then. In our current situation this can only be construed as good news.

- I have to admit the commentators just said something that made me feel a whole lot better about this. They brought up the point that in a situation like this, when two-thirds of the top line is missing, some adjustments are going to have to be made on any team, and it takes awhile to learn to play without those guys. Think of Detroit without Datsyuk and Zetterberg, or Tampa without St. Louis and Lecavalier, or Pittsburgh without Crosby and Malkin. All of them would have to reevaluate their game plans, and we are not really any different.

- More shots being flung at the net here! Which is a good thing, obviously. XD

- Unngghh, exactly what we did NOT need, another penalty. Especially with the Flyers' powerplay being so good. Spezza for hooking. This should mean an automatic goal for Philly.

- Still, a good shorthanded chance from Fish and McAmmond! That would've been sweet.

- Another nice try by Kelly! We're not lacking for shorthanded breaks, to be sure.

- Despite their spectacular powerplay, Philly hasn't been able to do a whole lot with this chance. I'm not sure if they've got a shot yet.

- Penalty killed off, that was great!

- Greeeeeat, yet another penalty against us. I think the refs are smelling blood here. Sigh. Vermette for slashing. It sure doesn't take much, I'm telling you. Yet another perfect opportunity for the Flyers to put this totally out of reach.

- HELLO, PENALTY???????????? IF YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING PENALIZE VERMY FOR TOUCHING THE GUY, THEN YOU'D BETTER DAMNED WELL PENALIZE THE PHILLY GUY WHO HOOKS VOLCHENKOV TO THE ICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fucking refs.

- That was a shorthanded break, too, which Anton probably could've made something out of had he not been hooked.

- Good penalty-killing from Spezza at both ends of the ice, which is encouraging to see.

- Yet another shorthanded chance! This is unreal.

- Back to even-strength. That penalty seemed awfully short-lived, which is unusual for the opposition's penalties.

- Last minute of play in the second.

- Aww, Robitaille, you've gotta shoot!

- One last rush guys, one last chance.

- It'd be super if we could get a goal in the last few minutes, I doubt it though.

- One last rush for Philly too.

- Second period over. Flyers lead 4-1.

THIRD PERIOD

- Emery's been put in for the start of the third period. Sigh. Like I said before, I really really really wish these sorts of things didn't always happen when Gerbs is in the net. :(

- Another potential foul on us that goes blatantly uncalled. You know what, I'm not even going to fucking complain anymore, I am actually sick of ragging on the refs.

- Wow, powerplay for us, for once! Carter for hooking.

- Not many chances for us so far. If we could only get some sustained puck pressure.

- Ohh, Schubie, Schubie, Schubie!! That was just ... ugh, ghastly doesn't even begin to describe it. Luckily Razor was there.

- Buuuuuuut, he wasn't there that time. Great. A shorthanded goal, doesn't that just put the icing on the cake. There goes our streak of not allowing shorthanded goals, long-lived though it was. I think we're still one of the teams that has allowed the fewest, though. Anyway, the game is definitely out of reach now if it wasn't already. Kapanen, from Gagne and Coburn. Flyers lead 5-1.

- Andrew wants to change the channel and watch the football game, I guess we'll do that for a bit. The notes may be shorter tonight because of that.

- We switch back soon enough, if only because I've wrestled the remote away from him. Haha.

- And we come back just in time to see Meszaros get a slashing penalty. Great.

- Paddock is giving Bass a chance on the penalty kill, which is interesting. I guess being down 5-1, he really doesn't have anything to lose.

- Great shot from Donovan to end off the powerplay! Unfortunately it went right over the net.

- Here's another chance to restore a little dignity, as Upshall gets fingered for hooking. At least, I hope it's a chance to restore dignity as opposed to, say, give up another shorthanded goal. Heh.

- We've got some pressure on them, anyway. I do think we're still passing a tad too much.

- Not much done there, except for a few shots. Well. It's something.

- We're basically just coasting here until the game is over, which won't take too much longer. Look ahead to the next one, and all that.

- Another penalty to us. It basically means nothing now, though. Neil, for slashing.

- This is so fucking pathetic it's funny. Andrew and I sit here laughing our arses off as Ottawa is assessed yet another penalty, Fish for tripping, to give the Flyers a 5-on-3. They'll score on this, mark my words.

- Off the post! Yikes!

- And yep, they do. Big fat surprise. I'm done being surprised/depressed/angry/whatevered at this, it's not even really worth my time anymore. We played shitty. the Flyers took advantage. Whatever.

- Last minute of play in the third period, mercifully.

- Fight fight fight fight!! Donovan and some Flyer I can't quite identify. Oh, it was Vandermeer. They trade a couple of punches, but it ends pretty quickly. As is typical of tonight, we lose that too. Sigh. Both will head to the box for five.

- Both teams are just running down the clock, as well they should.

- And now, thankfully, it's over. Final score: Flyers 6, Ottawa 1.

- Well. What the hell can one say about this one? I could drag out a boatload of negatives, I could rant about how shitty we played, I could complain about how this lack of work ethic has been a pattern lately, but you know what? I've already done all of those things over the course of this post. XD We didn't look half-bad in the first period and first half of the second, and on another night against another team we might have been able to come back and tie it, or at least stop the bleeding. But that's just not going to work against Philly. We recovered a little of our spark after scoring our lone goal, but once Philly made it 5-1 it was pretty much game over. We were just horrible after that. Plain and simple. I guess there's only one positive spin you could put on this. Well, actually there are two. One, that every team has to have a stinker or two like this over the course of the season, us included. So maybe this was just our stinker. And two, Alfie will return on Tuesday, which will hopefully perk us up. It had better.

- Three stars (as chosen by NHL.com):
#1: Simon Gagne, Philadelphia
#2: Scottie Upshall, Philadelphia
#3: Ryan Cote, Philadelphia

- Next game is Tuesday against the Florida Panthers and I hope to HELL we make a better fucking effort. Gaaaaahhh. I'll be back with game notes for that one, as always. See everyone then!

Ottawa vs. Tampa Bay, January 19

2008-01-20T02:29:19Z

All righty! Again it feels like forever since I've done game notes, I guess because the last set was posted on Tuesday. I really do miss them when I don't do them, so it's great to get back into things tonight. It was a very good game on Thursday, to boot! Carolina looked pretty ordinary, heh. I was especially glad the Sens won for all the veterans and army personnel at Scotiabank Place as part of Canadian Forces Appreciation Night. ^_^

Tonight's game pits us against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who if you may recall took us to overtime on January 5 after building up, and then blowing, a 2-0 lead. It was just a bit more exciting than I would have preferred. XD We're back playing them now at Scotiabank Place for the third of four meetings, and hopefully we can put together a bit of a better effort. The bad news now is that not only will Dany Heatley miss his fourth game, but Alfie is also expected to be out with a hip flexor. :( Luckily, the cap's injury is day-to-day, so there's a possibility he might play next week or even tomorrow.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goalies are Razor, yayness, and Johan Holmqvist for Tampa.

- Eeeeee, Wade is starting! For some reason he never seems to start when I'm at the games, so I can't stand up and cheer him. LOL. Anyway - yay!

- Good first shot! That was a quality chance.

- And they've got the pressure on us now, Razor is forced to hug the post and make his first save.

- Hey there Paddock! Funny how the guy never smiles, heh. I read a quote from someone - think it was Alfie - who said Paddock only smiles after wins, because he likes to win. Makes sense.

- And Tortorella, yapping away as usual.

- Nice pressure guys! Loved the shot by Robitaille.

- Wow, we're pretty much end to end here so far. We'll get a chance, then the Lightning get a chance, then we get a chance etc.

- Shot off the shoulder! Again Vermy's buzzing around the net.

- Holy CRAP that was close. Tampa's shot went right through Razor's legs and off the post. Yikes!

- More end to end action. This has been a really active period thus far, very few stoppages or commercial breaks.

- Ack, that was a shitty giveaway by Bass. Ugh. :(

- Resulting in quite a lot of pressure on us by Tampa. Come on guys, get it out!

- Yayness, first powerplay goes to us! Ranger for tripping. Let's see if we can capitalize.

- Not right away, apparently. Tampa gets the faceoff and immediately clears it.

- Funny camera angle on the Tampa broadcast, they're kind of looking sideways and down on the ice. I don't think I've seen that used before.

- Hello, who's got the powerplay here guys? I don't think we've had a shot yet.

- Haha okay, there's a shot! Good for you Mezzy. :)

- Too bad they couldn't get it to the guy who was standing at the open side of the net! That would have made a perfect goal.

- Penalty has expired, we had a late flurry but nothing more. Just one shot on goal.

- Grawr I hate when Razor goes behind the net like that. Although he's better at it than some other goalies I could mention. ;)

- Tampa has the worst road record in the NHL according to the commentators. Sure didn't seem like it a couple of weeks ago.

- Whoa, Razor had to be sharp on that. Another quality chance from the Lightning.

- In the ensuing commercial break the Tampa Bay network broadcasting the game advertises something called the "Friday Fishing Report." Methinks hockey isn't such a huge priority in this particular market. XD

- Shots on goal are 5-4 favouring Tampa. I can believe that.

- Grrrr, my spacebar isn't working that well all of a sudden. *smacks it* If you see any spacing typos, that's why.

- Ohhhh Spetz, you should've held onto that one! It leads to another Tampa chance.

- C'mon guys, we can be better than this! We literally have not had any sustained pressure since our powerplay ... and I can hardly even call that pressure sustained. >.>

- Spezza looks kind of lost without his usual linemates, I'm sorry to say. :(

- WHOA, another sweet save by Razor. He's totally keeping us in this right now,

- Ugh I hate these kinds of penalties. Ottawa gets called for too many men - WAY too many according to Dean Brown - and so we'll be shorthanded for the first time this game. That's such a dumb penalty to take IMO, you'd think they would know how to make a line change by now. And yeah, looking at the replay there were seven Sens on the ice! Holy shit! To be served by Neil.

- Good first clear!

- Siiiiiiiigh, that was just a tad too easy in my opinion! A simple little shot from the point gets saved and then the rebound trickles in. How in the HELL do you leave St. Louis alone in front of the net?????? Gaaaaaahhhh. At least the powerplay's over. St. Louis, from Prospal and Richards. Lightning lead 1-0.

- If I'm going to be perfectly honest, and I always try to be in these notes, I'll have to say that Tampa does deserve this lead. They have been the better team by far this period and are full value for the goal they scored. The fact that it came off a dumb penalty is just basically the icing on the fail!cake.

- Wow, here's some actual pressure! We got a few good chances off that rush.

- Last minute of play in the period.

- Aaaaand more pressure by Tampa. Heh.

- I hate when they take it and sort of linger behind the net, not carrying it out or anything. GET GOING for fuck's sake!!!

- First period over. Tampa leads 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD

- Andrew and I were a bit late switching to the game (we'd been watching the Montreal game and Coach's Corner during the intermission) but nothing much happened while we weren't paying attention, thankfully. Penguins are leading Montreal 1-0, by the way. Toronto is also leading, I believe.

- Fetching way to start off the second period, NOT. Oh Wade hun, why'd you have to do that to Lecavalier? You know he's their star, you know the refs are going to be watching him like a hawk and penalizing whoever even dares to lay a finger on him! So that high stick? Not cool. Ah well. Tampa on the powerplay with Wade in the box for high-sticking.

- Two good clears so far, we look better than we did on the other penalty. It only takes one shot though.

- OMG OMG what an AMAZING shorthanded break by Spetz and Fish!!! That was AWESOME!!!! Holmqvist had to literally DIVE in front of that shot and risk breaking his collarbone to stop that going in. LOVED that!

- Haha, followed up by more pressure! This is sweet.

- Another series of good clears, and the penalty is over. Yayness!

- Yikes, that was a dangerous play by Lecavalier. Luckily Razor was there.

- We look a little more energetic this period, which is good news.

- Commentators are talking about how quiet the building seems, crowd isn't cheering etc. That doesn't sound too good!

- Okay, here's a few nice shots. LOL @ Gratts going hard to the net.

- Poor Kelly, his stick got chopped right in half. Otherwise he could've taken a shot. :(

- Well now, this is more like it! We're actually crashing the net and trying to jam in our chances. Eventually one of those has to go in!

- Good grief, how many times do the Lightning have to ice the puck? That's at least three times in a row in the last few minutes.

- Paddock seems to be juggling his lines a bit, the guys are playing in combinations that haven't been seen before.

- Nice shot Wade!!

- We're looking kind of casual again now, not sure I like this very much.

- Uhh guys, you definitely should not be allowing the Lightning to get in on 4-on-2 breaks! Luckily that one didn't quite work.

- Vermy and Gratts race down the ice again, can't get a shot though. It looks like Gratts is really gunning for a goal! XD

- Shots on goal are 14-11 in favour of the Sens, which is good at least. Gord Wilson is right though, we need to turn up the intensity. As does the crowd; I still haven't heard much cheering!

- Goddamned giveaways, I swear. I'm getting really sick of complaining about them, LOL.

- Nooooo, Spetz, that's probably not going to work. You can't do absolutely everything yourself.

- Ohhhh, there was a sweet chance!! Wade could've gotten a goal if he hadn't been hooked to the ice.

- Yayness, the Lightning are getting penalized for that. Watvig, for tripping.

- Come on guys, just keep the pressure on them, we can do this!

- Finally, there's a "Go Sens Go!" from the crowd! I've been waiting for one of those. XD

- Haha Wade, have you transformed into a forward and not told me? That's like the third or fourth shot you've taken tonight.

- Well, except for that flurry, we haven't got much going so far. Sigh.

- Powerplay over, not much happened there.

- That was a great defensive play there, WOW!!!

- Guys, it would be SO fricken awesome if you could get a goal before the end of the period! Please??

- All the defensemen are shooting tonight, haha. First Wade and now Phillips!

- Holy crap, what the hell does it take to score on Holmqvist???? I just ... seriously, I don't know. That was a CRAZY good save. What in living breathing hell were the commentators talking about in the pregame show when they said Tampa has no goaltending?!

- It's difficult to believe at this point that the 1-0 lead has held up, but it has. That's rare in today's NHL.

- Final minute of play in the second.

- Haha, Dean Brown: "This is about as exciting as those pre-lockout matchups between New Jersey and Ottawa, huh Gord? ... Gord? Gord? You still awake?" LOL I love our commentators!!

- Um okay, did Ottawa score or didn't they? Okay, I guess not. McAmmond put his stick up like they had, though. Wishful thinking at its best. XD

- Grawr, watch Lecavalier!!! You just can't let him break away like that. Luckily Razor is there.

- Second period is over. Tampa still leads 1-0.

THIRD PERIOD

- Gaaaah, once again Andrew and I are late for the start of the third. I need to remember that not all hockey broadcasts run on CBC time. XD

- Well guys, here and now is your golden opportunity to get a nice little goal! Gratton for holding, and we'll go to the powerplay.

- Uh hello, whose powerplay is it here??? They shouldn't be able to penetrate your zone and keep it in there for like thirty seconds while you're on the man advantage!!! Sheesh!!!!

- There was an actual chance! Kind of weak, but it's something at least.

- Penalty's over. Another wasted goddamned opportunity. Sigh. There's just too many passengers tonight.

- Holy CRAP that was fucking feeble. Usually we'll have someone in front to cover that angle, but Tampa's allowed to just carry it the hell out.

- Commentators, this point is for you: THE TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING DO NOT HAVE SHITTY GOALTENDING. AT LEAST NOT TONIGHT. DID YOU SEE THAT PAD SAVE HOLMQVIST JUST MADE???? WE ARE MAKING HIM LOOK LIKE DOMINIK FUCKING HASEK.

- Another penalty to the Lightning. I swear, guys, you're not exactly getting shortchanged in terms of opportunities here! St. Louis, for high-sticking.

- Okay, at least we've kept it mostly in their end on this man advantage. Sort of.

- Penalty over, yet another wasted opportunity.

- What a shot from Eaves! Holmqvist had it, unfortunately.

- Bouncy bouncy bouncy puck. Unusual for Scotiabank Place ice!

- I honestly cannot remember the last time we lost (or even participated in) a 1-0 game. Something tells me it would have to be against New Jersey, but I really have no idea. That ought to tell you something right there!

- Ohhhh Mezzy. That would've been nice, if he could have converted on that one.

- Crowd is trying desperately to pep up the Sens. Not sure if it's working, though.

- Come ON guys. ONE GOAL. One feeble, pitiful little goal. Believe it or not that is ALL we need. We got FIVE the other night. So there is NO reason we can't do the same thing tonight. And all we need is one. ONE!!!!!!!!! Not. That. Hard!!!!!!!!!

- Though from the way they're playing it is so seriously like trying to pull teeth. I can't believe this! I can't believe that for want of one little goal we are going to lose this game! To the Tampa Bay Lightning!! GEEZ.

- There was a sort-of chance. Only sort of. My heartrate sped up for a little bit, anyway, which is more than it's done for most of this game. XD

- We're running out of time here, guys! Barely a minute left.

- Razor's been pulled for the extra attacker. So okay, maybe we won't lose 1-0. Instead we'll lose 2-0. XD

- Last minute in regulation.

- We've now called a timeout, and Emery's been put back into the net because the faceoff will be at centre ice. I'm not daring to hope.

- I guess this is what we're like without Alfie and Heatley. UGH. Hopefully we can pull up our socks for next game, which is (eep!) tomorrow.

- Emery's gone again.

- Another faceoff at centre ice. Weird.

- Fifteen seconds left, so there's theoretically lots of time. Theoretically.

- Heh, what'd I tell you. We are going to lose 2-0, instead of just 1-0. Is that more dignified? I'm not sure. Anyway, Lecavalier into an empty net, unassisted. Tampa leads 2-0.

- Whelp, that will hereby do it. We lose 2-0.

- It was just an all-around flat effort from the Sens, quite frankly. They came out flat, had some flashes of semi-brilliance in the second and then went right back to being completely and totally asleep. Like I mentioned before, there were a hell of a lot of passengers and aside from Spezza, Meszaros and a lot of the defence, no one seemed to be even trying to get a goal. All it took was a flukey little Tampa Bay goal, and that basically salted the game away. If the players hadn't been trying before, they really stopped after that. I mean yeah, they had a few chances but quite honestly? None of those chances struck me as being particularly good. Tampa was full-value for the win, believe you me. And the Sens, sadly, were full value for the loss.

- Three stars (as chosen by the Team 1200):
#1: Johan Holmqvist, Tampa Bay
#2: Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay
#3: Chris Phillips, Ottawa

- Next game is tomorrow night against the Philadelphia Flyers. I'll be back to do my game notes as usual, barring catastrophe. Hopefully we'll see a more exciting game and a better result! Talk to everyone then. ^_^

Ottawa at Washington, January 15

2008-01-16T02:38:30Z

Well, as I and pretty much everyone in this city expected, there was a definite letdown in Ottawa's last game against New York. No one thought they could keep playing at that level, especially against a team like the Islanders, and, well ... they didn't. Heh. Except for the second period, we were pretty much asleep even though Alfie did absolutely everything he could think of to save our collective asses. The fact that Heater didn't play, and that Spezza left the game midway through for precautionary reasons, didn't help matters one little bit.

The good news for tonight is that Patrick Eaves, who has been out since pretty much forever, will return to the lineup. The even better news is that Spezza will also play. The bad news? We're facing Washington, a team against whom we have traditionally had a shitty-as-hell record this season. Our last three games against them have all ended badly, with mystifying and sometimes humiliating losses. We just ... can't ... seem to get up for them. It's like Detroit and Chicago, quite honestly. Whatever the reason, I hope we can emulate Detroit and eke out a win over the Caps tonight.

FIRST PERIOD

- Starting goaltenders are Emery - yay Razor!!! - and Brent Johnson. Weird, I really thought Kolzig would start. But I guess not!

- The Caps' red jerseys are really confusing, for a second I thought Ottawa was playing in the Caps' end, heh.

- Ooh, yikes, Johnson just got hit with Neil's knee and went down. That looked painful. :( Hope he's okay.

- Good, Johnson is up and seems to be okay. I'm glad he wasn't seriously injured.

- We look relatively okay to start out, but that's obviously not a barometer of eventual success, LOL. We'll see!

- Commentators are quoting all the various stats relating to our shitty record against Washington. When taken together like that - i.e. that we have a losing record against the Caps despite outpacing them by 99 points in the standings - it's really something to contemplate.

- Gaaaahhh we're in trouble here, we can't seem to get it out. Razor looked sharp on that shot, but I'd really like us to get some sustained puck pressure.

- Ooh, sweet first shot by Eaves!

- First penalty against us, why am I not surprised. *snerk* Phillips for hooking. I hope to hell the penalties aren't as lopsided as they were against the Islanders. Otherwise I shall have to start throwing pointy things.

- Good work on the penalty kill so far, though! We've had some excellent clears.

- Wow, we are completely controlling them here, they can barely even penetrate the zone. It only takes one shot, though.

- One shot by us that almost went in! That was awesome, Alfie!

- Penalty over. I'm not sure if Washington even got a shot.

- On even strength they now have most of the pressure on us. We're not getting the puck deep enough in their end.

- GRAWR, we're in trouble again.

- I see the refs are trying again to tip the balance in favour of the opposition. *eyeroll* Alfie for hooking. Again, we're playing with fire.

- Frak you Ovechkin, you are NOT supposed to smack people like that! UGH.

- Damn we haven't had a single clear yet. I don't like this.

- Holy CRAP, what an amazing defensive play by Mezzy!

- Powerplay over, there's another one killed.

- I would say that so far, they've had the balance of the pressure. I'm not sure of the shot count but there can't be many in our favour.

- Wow, we actually got a shot! Amazing! /sarcasm

- Okay, we're hitting a bit more. For all the good it did us, they've got the pressure on us again.

- AMAZING save by Razor! He is on tonight!

- Holy shit, who the hell is the first-place team here? Ottawa certainly doesn't look like they are.

- We're playing with fire here. The way it's going I don't doubt it'll be only a matter of time before they get a goal, unless we can pick up the pace.

- Ooh, there were a couple of good chances! Johnson gave up a big rebound there, maybe that's something we can take advantage of in the future.

- Commentators say that so far the second period has been the deadliest for us against Washington. Hopefully we can reverse that trend tonight, although prospects don't look terribly promising.

- Aww Vermy, what were you thinking? That was a terrible giveaway. :(

- Oh Alfie, not you too! Razor had to be quick on the draw there. Honestly, something about the Caps seems to bring out acute zombie-itis in us.

- God, Emery's totally keeping us in this one right now.

- STOP. WITH. THE. GIVEAWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know how many times I have to tell you guys that!

- OMG, that shot just fricken missed! What a glorious chance for Fish!

- Last minute of play in the period.

- Yet another incredible save by Razor! HOLY CRAP!!!!

- Oh sure, run the fuck over my goalie, you asshole. I'll look forward to seeing him beat you up. XD Razor's no shrinking violet, after all!

- No call by the refs, of course. Why would there be?

- BWUH? How does that fucking work? I mean what the hell did Richardson even get penalized FOR? I didn't even see it! Anyway, Caps on the powerplay for some mysterious reason.

- First period over. Scoreless.

SECOND PERIOD

- I guess Richardson was nailed for roughing. Whatever, I sure didn't see it. I guess that's why my day job isn't to be an NHL referee. XD

- Frak, we're in trouble right off the faceoff. I suppose that makes sense, as they've got a powerplay, but it's still disheartening.

- Well, they don't have a powerplay anymore. *eyeroll* And once again, our decimation by the Washington Capitals, and their domination of second periods, continues. Greeeat. Razor had absolutely no chance on that shot. Green, from Kozlov and Semin. Caps lead 1-0.

- Yet another two-on-one, Razor's there this time.

- Caps are looking like a fucking Stanley Cup contender. I sure hope we don't have to meet them in the playoffs!

- This is just crazy. They literally have our complete number, we can't get anything started!

- Oh wow, an actual SHOT! You've got to be kidding me!

- What really worries me is that other teams around the league might start watching the tapes and emulating

- Nice shot by McAmmond! A garbage goal (or a goal of any sort) would rock!

- Okay, there was some sort-of good pressure. We're right back under the gun now, though.

- OMG!! AN ACTUAL PENALTY TO WASHINGTON!! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Steigel, for tripping, and we'll finally get our first powerplay.

- Couple of nice shots there! Nothing much doing though.

- Holy crap, suddenly we've gone from feast to famine here! Another penalty to the Caps, Pettinger for tripping, and we'll get a 5-on-3! Never mind we suck at 5-on-3s, but whatever. Haha.

- Okay, so we get one chance on the two-man advantage. That's pretty much it.

- Ohhhh Fish, you should've passed it! Alfie was standing open on your other side.

- At least we're getting some shots, even if they're not going in. Sucks that we need a powerplay to get any pressure though, because they're as rare as hen's teeth for us.

- Penalty expired ... as I said, we did get a few shots, which is encouraging.

- Another amazing save by Razor. It would be 5-0 right now if not for him!

- Crap, Neiler's been hit in the leg, he hobbles off. :( PLEASE not another injury!

- Okay, here's a bit of pressure!

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!! FINALLY FINALLY WE GET A SHOT AND THEN A GOAL!!!!!!!! AWESOMENESS!!!! MEZZY AND MCAMMOND I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! *SMISH* AWESOME SCREEN, GREAT SHOT!!! McAmmond, from Meszaros and Alfie. We're tied at 1!!!!!

- That seems to have energized

- GOALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, THIS IS CRAZY!!!!! AFTER DOMINATING FOR LIKE A PERIOD AND A HALF WE'RE SUDDENLY ALL OVER THEM!!!!!!!!! AND WADE GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU HUN!!!!!!!! YAYNESS!!!!!!!!!!! WADE!, from Eaves and Kelly. Sens lead 2-1!!!!!!!!!

- GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH. THERE IS NO. FRICKEN. EXCUSE. FOR. THAT. KIND. OF. A. GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! WHY IS IT THAT EVERY SINGLE FUCKING MISTAKE WE MAKE IS CAPITALIZED ON AND WE CAN'T CAPITALIZE ON A SINGLE ONE OF THEIRS??????????????? Wade, honey, why did you not pick that up????? I hate that, I just hate that, we give it away AND we let them score in the next shift after a goal. UGH. That just ... UGH UGH UGH. Semin, unassisted. Score is tied 2-2.

- I just don't even fucking know. I hate this. :(

- Neiler's back, at least. That's some good news.

- So again, we've got to fight and fight and fight to get back into this damned game. GRAWR.

- We're starting to hit them, which is a good sign, and we also look more energized than we did in the first.

- Ugh, didn't like that too much. Another giveaway leads to them getting more pressure on us.

- Whoa, excellent save by Razor! Yet again.

- You know guys, it would be really fricken awesome if we could get out of this period with at least a tie. At this point I think that's all that would be fair to ask.

- Keep shooting, just keep shooting, you never know what might happen!

- Last minute of play in the second.

- Yet another series of shots, that almost went in!

- Second period over. We're all tied up at 2.

THIRD PERIOD

- We're in trouble again. *sigh* Big surprise. Emery is standing tall, though.

- Yikes, passes like that don't often work. Luckily we're able to keep it in their zone, though.

- Haha, whoa, Johnson almost gave the puck right to Kelly! That would've been sweet. XD

- We're still losing the battles, I don't like this very much.

- Vermy hasn't been playing all that well tonight, he's made some giveaway and otherwise goofy plays. I wonder what's wrong. :(

- By the way, Carolina was leading Toronto 2-1 last time we checked. Andrew and I have been watching the Leafs game in the Ottawa intermission, purely to see if they lose again. XD

- Wow, that was cool! McAmmond VERY nearly intercepted a pass from Fisher he would have been wide open if he had gotten it.

- Yikes, that was close! Great pad save by Razor. He's really kept our asses in it tonight.

- That was off another weird play in our zone by the defense. They've been making a lot of turnovers tonight.

- Both teams seem to be playing it pretty carefully so far this period - there have been a few dangerous shots (mostly from them) but nothing like what was going on in the first couple periods. I think both are afraid of blowing it, heh.

- Ooh, bit of a dust-up here! Not sure what the problem is, commentators think it's about a late offside whistle. Either way it's funny to see Neil swearing at people, LOL.

- Commentators also brought up the point that so far Ovechkin has been silenced pretty effectively.

- Bleecchhh, another penalty to us. At least it's not as bad as last night. Vermette for tripping. Seems like we've been getting a lot of tripping penalties tonight.

- A little hooking there, eh refs? Oh right, the opposition can do no wrong. My bad.

- Weeeeeeeeell, that was pretty damned easy. We just can't do it. We just can't. No matter how hard we try, or what we do, or how much we reach to come back, it just doesn't work against this team. For-fucking-get it. I spoke too soon when I said Ovechkin hadn't score, I guess. We can't take one goddamned penalty without it coming back to bite us and yet they can take all the fucking penalties they want, devil may care. Siiiigh. Ovechkin, unassisted. Caps lead 3-2.

- At least we don't have to play them again this season. Thank goodness.

- Whoa, that was actually a half-decent chance! Yayness!

- Now we can't break out of our zone at all. Damn, they sure are good at defending their leads.

- An actual shot! Amazing!

- I won't even try to analyze this one. Just forget it. We gave the damn puck away and of course EVERY TIME we do that they will inevitably take advantage even though they've given the puck away AT LEAST five times and we haven't been able to do a thing. Why are we so bad against them, WHY? What IS it about Washington that is so intimidating? I don't know. I just don't fucking know. Semin, from Fleischmann. Caps lead 4-2.

- Another neat chance, but at this point I think you can pretty much give up. We might get another goal, but we're not going to come back, and we're not going to win.

- Comeback potential - against Washington? HA! Yeah right.

- Wow, an actual GIVEAWAY by Washington! Of course we won't score on it, what the fuck am I thinking.

- Commentators bring up the point that we've played four games in six days. It's true, we have ... maybe that's why we're looking so dispirited, I don't know.

- GRAWR, the stupid fans are taunting Emery. I hate when our goalies get taunted. :( But of course, I don't mind it when we do it to the opposition! Yes, I'm a hypocrite, guilty as charged. ;)

- Sweet pass from Spetz! In the manner of most passes we've made tonight, it doesn't connect of course.

- Oh hey, why not get another goal? Seal our coffin even deeper why don't you. Luckily they didn't actually score, but they easily could have.

- Poor Razor, he really doesn't deserve to have this loss pinned on his head. He's one of the few Sens who has actually played pretty well tonight.

- Nice tip! Too bad that didn't go in.

- Last minute of play in the third. This one can't be over fast enough.

- Oh what the hell, let's just put the captain in the box for the last minute just to make ABSOLUTELY SURE Ottawa doesn't mount a comeback, right refs? Never mind the fact that we're playing about as well as an anemic elephant. I really don't think they need to give the Caps any more advantages, they're doing just fine on their own. Alfie for high-sticking.

- OMG, Semin shot the puck and DIDN'T score!!! What on earth is wrong with him????

- Game over. What to say about this one? Well, I can't really dredge up many positives, that's for damned sure! We just came out looking unmotivated, and that translated to them getting the jump on us and us just not being able to recover from the dumb mistakes we ended up making. Including that terrible giveaway. We really need to work on our giveaway control if we're going to have any chance of future success. At one point we were leading, which is difficult to believe, and we might have been able to make something of that if only we could have tightened up defensively. We were just outworked. Plain and simple. I hope to hell we don't have to meet these clowns in the playoffs.

- Three stars:
#1: Alexander Semin, Washington
#2: Shaone Morrisonn, Washington
#3: Tom Poti, Washington

- Next game is Thursday against Carolina. No game notes for that one, since Andrew and I will be there. If I don't update again before, catch everyone on Saturday!

Ottawa vs. New York Islanders, January 13

2008-01-14T02:39:00Z

I think the big question on everyone's minds right now is: can anything equal the emotion and sheer unadulterated amazingness of last night's game?

Seriously, if you didn't get to see that game, you missed one hell of a party. Yes, the Sens won, which in and of itself is awesome sauce, but I know from being present at Scotiabank Place that it was more than that. Ottawa versus Detroit was hockey as hockey is meant to be played. It was fast, it was skilled, it was physical, and it was loud. Loud as in playoff-game loud. Lots of games don't live up to their hype, but this game was a prime example of one that actually did. I just can't say enough about it.

Given how much emotion was expended in playing and winning that game, you can't help but think there'll be a letdown. The New York Islanders are in town, and while we have a pretty good record against them overall, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't come out nearly as hot tonight. Plus, Dany Heatley suffered a separated shoulder in the game last night and is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks, breaking up the big line. :( We'll just have to go back to basics and try and grind it out, I guess.

FIRST PERIOD

- Ceremonial faceoff is by Nick Giroux, the captain of the gold-medal winning Canadian team at the World Juniors. He receives a very warm reception coming out onto the ice. :)

- Starting goaltenders are Gerbs (woot!!) and Rick DiPietro.

- As expected we've come out kinda sluggish, we had some trouble clearing our zone there.

- Hey, shot for Volchenkov!! Hehe. It almost hit Donovan in the head.

- That was an awful giveaway. Bleccchh.

- Spetz, you definitely should not have waited on that one! *cries*

- Good first save by Darth Gerber! XD

- Holy crap, watch that Satan! He's going to burn us one of these times if we're not careful.

- Aaaaand we're in trouble once again. Groan.

- Great hit Neiler! He's definitely on tonight.

- Tempo is absolutely nothing like it was last game, haha. Much slower and less exciting, but that's to be expected, obviously.

- Grawr, my laptop's keys are randomly sticking, I keep having to go back and add in letters it hasn't put in. *kicks it*

- More pressure by the Isles, sigh.

- Jesus H. Christ, not Spezza too!!!! Please please please!!!! That was a thundering hit, he'd better be okay. Alfie's talking to the guy who hit him, haha.

- Okay, Spetz is on the bench and looks okay. Heater went right to the locker room after getting hit.

- And we get our first penalty, sigh. Donovan for hooking.

- Looking good on the kill so far! We were pretty superb last night, even though we did allow a goal. But hey, it's Detroit. Heh.

- Ooh, Fish shorthanded! That was a cute little break.

- Great penalty kill! I don't think New York has had a shot as of yet. Although it looks like they may get one here.

- Actually no! Instead Kelly steals it and races right back up ice with it! He's a bit late though.

- Best chance of that powerplay actually belonged to Ottawa. XD!

- Yay, Spetz is back on the ice! This is very good news.

- I would say, despite our excellent penalty kill, that New York has had the balance of the play so far. Which is to be expected I guess.

- Good shot by Spezza!

- WHOA, awesome save by Gerbs! You rock hun. :)

- Gack, I forgot Comrie's playing for them. I liked him a lot better when he was with Ottawa, LOL.

- Whee, first powerplay for us! Fedotenko for hooking. Let's see if we can do something here, we were pretty good last night.

- Interesting, we're in the top ten in the league in both powerplay and penalty kill. That probably doesn't happen that often.

- Sweet shot Wade!

- We've had a few chances, nothing spectacular though.

- Keep shooting guys, try and get a rebound!!

- We're flinging everything but the kitchen sink at them now, seriously.

- Haha wow, Wade's right into the thick of the action, he had at least a couple of shots there if not more.

- Both Alfie and an Isles defenceman are sent off for roughing. Ottawa's still on the powerplay, and once the New York penalty is over we'll see a little four-on-four action.

- We're still keeping the pressure on them!

- Good going on the rebounds! I have a feeling that's the only way they're going to beat DiPietro, and Andrew agrees.

- Hoo boy, yet another penalty to us. That was a little marginal in my opinion, but my opinion isn't worth a bat's foreleg. LOL. Neil, for charging.

- Hopefully our penalty kill can be just as good this time. The Islanders didn't get a single shot on their last powerplay.

- Grrrrr, bouncy bouncy puck. Would've been a nice clearing attempt if it hadn't hopped over Vermy's stick.

- Isles look better on this powerplay, unfortunately, but we've still been able to clear it a couple of times.

- LOL way to leave it right in the middle of the ice for Ottawa to collect, Mr. Islander!

- Penalty's over, Neil's back out. Yet another good kill. ^_^

- Holy crap is DiPietro ever good at puck-handling. Makes Hasek look amateurish. XD

- WHOA, that was close. If it hadn't been for Gerber ...

- Haha, that was a dogpile! Schubie piles on top of like three or four other players.

- That was close!! Probably one of the best chances we've had so far.

- Yet another pileup after the whistle, Alfie doesn't look so happy with whatever happened. And OMG, he's getting another penalty, for interference! That's just weird.

- Andrew thinks that the Isles are deliberately trying to target Alfie and Spezza, either by taking them out of the play or by making them take penalties. Not sure I agree, but it's an interesting thought.

- Last minute in the first.

- Good save Gerbs!

- Ugh, we seem really shitty on faceoffs tonight, particularly as they apply to the opposition's powerplay.

- Yep, that's really not that much of a surprise. We've taken so many fricken penalties this game, it had to bite us at some point. I hate those goals in the last few seconds though. Siiiiigh. Not unexpected however. Bergeron, from Guerin. Isles lead 1-0.

- First period over. Isles hold a 1-0 lead.

SECOND PERIOD

- Wow, shot right off the opening faceoff that almost made it in! Seriously, that was within a hair's breadth of landing in the net.

- OMG, yet another great opportunity! I think they're passing too much, though.

- DiPietro's on tonight, sigh. That was a spectacular save off a shot by Neiler. Too bad.

- HUH? I thought we were getting the powerplay, but apparently that's too much to ask. *grumble* Schubert for cross-checking. The arena people obviously thought we were getting the man advantage too, they put on the powerplay music. It was cut off pretty quickly. :(

- Oh come on guys, what happened to our marvelous penalty kill? That move sucked.

- We continue to suck in the faceoff circle, too. That was what hurt us on the first Islanders goal.

- GEEZ, how in the hell are they penetrating that far into the zone? Come on guys!

- GIVE. ME. A. BREAK. Talk about blatant fucking favouritism. Richardson gets called for holding but you know what? First he had position, and second (and more important) GUERIN JUST DID THE EXACT SAME GODDAMNED THING AND IT WASN'T CALLED. FUCK YOU REFS.

- Well, New York should have no trouble scoring now, the refs have given them a nice little boost.

- WOO lovely clear!

- And the 5-on-3 comes to an end, at least.

- LOL what a terrible giveaway by DiPietro! For once he sucked at handling the puck. Too bad we couldn't put it in the empty net.

- Okay guys, we killed off that two-man advantage quite nicely, can we get some momentum off of that?

- We're running around in our zone a bit, which is not so good.

- Alfie, you need puck support, you can't do it all by yourself. Where are your linemates?

- Oh, there they are. We've got some nice puck pressure now!

- Haha scratch that, New York just takes it right back up ice.

- Another chance by the Isles, but yet again Gerbs is there to save the day. Sweet.

- Holy FUCK, I do not believe this. They're now saying Spezza won't return to the game, for precautionary reasons! AAAAGH!!! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY TEAM???? Go away, Injury Fairy, you're not wanted here. XD

- Poor, poor Alfie, he's lost both his linemates. Sucks to be him. :( Sucks to be us, too, I can't believe how depleted we're suddenly getting.

- EEEEEEEEEEEEEE WADE INTERVIEW!!!!!!!!! SPORTSNET I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! Short and sweet but still utterly awesome. Mmmm, sweaty Wade.

- Now we suddenly can't even get out of our zone. I'm not sure when we last had a legitimate shot on net.

- Gerber's fricken holding us in this one right now, heh.

- Andrew: "We're being outworked, outskated, we can't get anything going, there's an Islander waiting for us everywhere we go, we're being outskated ... face it, we're fucked." Right now I unfortunately cannot disagree.

- On the other hand, it only takes one shot. Really. One shot is all we need and we're right back into it.

- Nice shot from Alfie, though!

- OMFG, what a terrible goddamned giveaway. That was just HIDEOUS.

- That's a sign, I'll tell you, a sign that stuff isn't going right for us, when we start making mistakes like that. UGH.

- Seeing the replay on the giveaway, and I still can't believe it. It was Phillips who made the mistake! Very uncharacteristic. Thankfully Gerbs was there to cover for him.

- My computer is still leaving out random letters even when I've hit the keys. *smashes stuff*

- Another awesome chance by us! That's one thing for sure, we definitely have not lacked for quality opportunities when we can get them. We just haven't been able to do anything with them.

- FINALLY!!!! An actual Ottawa powerplay! Bergenheim for slashing. Can we actually do anything here? Please???

- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!! AND ALFIE SAVES OUR COLLECTIVE ASSES FOR THE 557TH TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP, THAT WAS INCREDIBLY AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!!! Alfie, from Wade! and Corvo. Score is tied 1-1!!!!

- Okay guys, first shift after a goal, we tend to be shitty on that, but please let's not give this up so easily.

- Haha yayness!!! Another penalty to the Islanders, Berard for cross-checking. Can we take the lead this time?

- GRAWR, apparently we can't do a goddamned thing to the Isles players, we've got to just let them cruise the fuck on by and slam the puck into our net as much as they care to, without defending at all. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAWR. And it's Wade who gets it for interference. :(

- Awesome check by Alfie!

- Crowd is doing their Alfie chant again, I love it!!! There was tons of that at the game last night, for sure! XD

- Careful guys, four-on-four can be dangerous sometimes. We've had our chances, but so have they.

- Aww, Vermy, that kind of sucked. >.>

- C'mon guys, less passing and more shooting, it's the only way you'll score.

- Thank goodness nothing came of that, I would have been so pissed if the Isles had scored there.

- Final minute of period two.

- LOL Dean Brown: "I'm not sure exactly how Ottawa's tied with New York, but they are!"

- There just ... there are just ... NO. FUCKING. WORDS. To express how angry I am at the refs. It seems like every little fucking tning we do is picked over with a fine-toothed comb, criticized and penalized, while the Islanders are allowed to do anything they please to anyone they please. I'm sick of it. I'm just sick of it.

- *snicker* The A-Train is back in business! Berard on the receiving end. XD

- Second period over. Score tied 1-1.

THIRD PERIOD

- We open the period with the Isles on the powerplay, yet again. Ottawa has had a few good clears though.

- Okay, they'll probably get two more rushes. Still one shot is all it takes.

- Surprising stat: the Isles have only generated 21 shots. Funny, it feels like more.

- Penalty over, there's another one we've successfully killed.

- Wow nice shot by Schubie! DiPietro has it, but it's the thought that counts, right? XD

- Ooh, another nice shot! DiPietro had to cover it that time, it looked quite dangerous.

- For goodness sake, when you get near the net you have to shoot! At least they're trying.

- I just don't even fucking KNOW anymore. Neil for slashing. Whatever.

- Well that sure didn't take long. *eyeroll* Thanks refs, thanks a whole fucking lot. You basically giftwrapped that goal for the Islanders. I hope you're happy with yourselves now. Bergeron, unassisted. Isles lead 2-1.

- The lack of ranting about the referees on that last call should be taken as a good indicator of my mindset right now. I'm just so done with this, I'm sick and tired of ranting about it and I shouldn't HAVE to. I've seen this so much lately, it's like the referees have a personal vendetta against Ottawa or something. Yeah, I shouldn't put it that way, but in all honesty? There have been some calls tonight that were marginal at best, and it just seems like such a pattern. I don't ... I don't even fucking KNOW anymore.

- That was easy. Waaaay easy. Why can't it ever be that easy for us to score? I just don't get it. Comrie, unassisted. Isles lead 3-1.

- I guess it's pretty much over. I mean, theoretically we could come back, but the way we've been playing does not inspire confidence.

- HEY AN OTTAWA PLAYER HIT AN ISLANDERS PLAYER, SHOULDN'T HE GET A PENALTY????????? YOU'RE NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO FUCKING BREATHE ON THE OPPOSITION ANYMORE, AFTER ALL!

- Ooh, off the post! Typical, heh.

- We're actually getting some pressure on them right now, surprisingly enough.

- HELLO????????? PENALTY????????? ROBITAILLE GOT A FUCKING STICK IN HIS FUCKING FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PENALTY??????????????????????????????

- No penalty. Of course. I forgot, these are the sainted Islanders who can do no wrong. My bad.

- Alfie takes exception to a slash on Gerbs, and for good reason: it certainly isn't going to be called by the referees. It's getting so Ottawa has to police New York, instead of the refs actually doing their jobs.

- Fedotenko is down all of a sudden, I have no clue what the hell happened. On the replay it looks like Fish caught him with an elbow. Luckily he's back up, although he is going to the locker room. I hope Fedotenko's okay.

- Wow, for once a penalty actually isn't called against us for that. To be perfectly honest, I think that's one situation that actually does deserve a penalty, especially since far less egregious stuff has been called against us tonight. The refs have also let a lot of that stuff slip past when the Isles commit it.

- There's lots of time left, yes, but I'm not sure we can do it. I hate to be so negative, but ... meh. I don't think it'll happen.

- Crowd is trying to perk up the Sens, good for them!

- Yep, we look pretty lethargic. Nothing much going on. I'm not sure when we got our last legitimate shot.

- Oh hey look, it's another Ottawa penalty. I'm about finished being surprised and pissed off, I only have a sort of slow acceptance of this shit. Schubert for boarding.

- I wouldn't be surprised if New York seizes this opportunity and scores. Hey, why not? Put it completely away.

- The crowd is still trying desperately to show its support, which is awesome. ^_^

- Penalty over, nothing was accomplished except a few more Isles shots. Good, because 4-1 would be just shameful. Heh.

- Nice shot, Robitaille! DiPietro made that look easy, but it's still good to fling as much rubber as you can at them, until the very end.

- Sens have called a timeout. Should I dare to hope? LOL.

- Gerbs will probably be pulled soon. He can't get out just yet though because we didn't win the faceoff.

- Yep, there he goes. Let's see!

- Haha whoa, that was a weird bounce! If only DiPietro hadn't been right in front of it.

- Too many passes guys, too many passes. Try to get an open shooting lane!

- Nice play Wade, to stop Guerin from getting the empty-netter!

- Last minute of play in the third.

- WHOA, that could so easily have gone in ... if the goalie had been anyone but DiPietro it would have.

- Not much time now, I'm afraid we're probably done for.

- We're still fighting though, fighting with everything we've got, which is encouraging to see!

- Yep, that's it, we lose. I'm really not surprised, after last night it must have been so hard to get up for this one. We tried, in the second period, but in the end just could not muster enough strength and determination to put the game away. The fact that they scored first hurt us as well, not to mention the fact that Spezza and Heatley, who contribute a lot of our offence, were out. And the refing? Well, I've already ranted to hell and back about that, so I won't repeat the diatribe of swearing and general anger I'd like to throw at the officials. Suffice it to say: when it was crucial, they swung the game in favour of the Isles and seemed to ignore blatant fouls against our players. It's just not fair, and this seems to happen so fricken often. Bottom line: we didn't have enough energy, we took too many penalties and the loss of our two top scorers really hurt.

- Final score: New York Islanders 3, Ottawa Senators 1.

- Three stars:
#1: Mike Comrie, New York Islanders
#2: Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
#3: Marc-Andre Bergeron, New York Islanders

- Next game is Tuesday in Washington against the Capitals, and barring catastrophe I'll be back to do notes for that one. See y'all then!