Sens at Land's End

The Sens lost. I’m very angry at them, again. However. I’ve got to say that the referees were … questionable? Three consecutive — not just consecutive, but actually overlapping — penalties against Ottawa in the second period, and not a single one against Toronto in the entire game. The final total: 6 Ottawa penalties, 0 Toronto penalties. Because the Leafs undoubtedly played a totally clean game. My ass!

I wouldn’t say most of the Sens’ penalties were undeserved. Most of them were clear penalties — notice I said most, not all — but that is not the point. The Leafs should have had at least two or three. Even Leafs fans thought it was ridiculous! Leafs fans! LEAFS FANS.

The game ended hours ago and I am still irritated. This is partly because I can’t believe the Sens have actually pissed away the huge lead they’ve had for most of the season. Montreal is now only 3 points back, which means that if the Habs win tomorrow, which they probably will, then it’s very likely that when the Sens and Habs play on Tuesday, the Habs will take over the division lead (because it’s very likely the Sens will lose) and therefore the Eastern Conference lead, and the Sens will drop to 4th place.

In the post-game interview on CBC, Cassie Campbell pointed out to Jason Spezza that the Hurricanes are the only team in the top 8 in the East who’ve allowed more goals than the Sens. Spezza did not look amused. That’s a truly terrible stat for them so I hope he took it to heart.

The Sens are on my TV … yay! It’s been three weeks since one of their games was televised out here.

Today they face the detestable Toronto Maple Leafs. I very much hope they’re going to make an effort to win here, for many reasons: I hate the Leafs and I hate losing to them; losing to them is in fact humiliating because they are so very, very bad; and the Canadiens are within 3 points of the Sens in the standings now, which is just not acceptable. It’d also just be nice to see the Sens show up.

As much as I hate the Leafs and, on principle, all their players, I feel bad for Mats Sundin right now. There’s all this talk about how he should waive his no trade clause and let the team trade him to get young players and draft picks, but he really doesn’t seem to want to leave Toronto. He’s loyal, and people are getting mad at him for it. I can understand why they’re frustrated, but it’s not fair to Sundin.

I’m so irritated with these Senators right now. Mike Fisher, Alfie, and Heater are the only players still in my good books (Alfie and Heater mostly because they are injured and did not take part in the most recent debacle).

Last night the Sens flag I have hanging in my window randomly fell down. I’m taking it as symbolic of the state of the team. The trade deadline is approaching fast, and I feel they need a goalie, a defensive defenceman, and a forward who can score a few goals. People seem to be saying the forward is the most pressing need but I totally disagree; I would go for the defenceman first, partly because I think getting a decent goalie is very unlikely and partly because they just plain need more defencemen who aren’t bordering on incompetent in their own end. They won’t need much more scoring pop if the defence improves. As much as I enjoy Antoine “Hot French Guy” Vermette, I would happily trade him away for the mythical defenceman at this point.

The sad thing is that I think they would be okay even without trades if they could just … I don’t know … find their identity as a team. They must do that within the next month, though, or it’ll be a very short post-season. And that will make me sad, especially if I end up going home to Ottawa for the summer and there are no Sens games for me to watch.