Sens at Land’s End

Pregame Remarks

I’m still not feeling well, but hopefully the Sens will come up with a performance that makes me feel better. I don’t know, though, I hear Alex Auld isn’t playing, and that other guy (note: Sens at Land’s End has taken a vow never to speak, write, or otherwise utter that individual’s name again) doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. As I recall, the Sens played what was probably their best game of last season against Carolina, beating them 6-0 (that was back in the day when that other goalie was the one being a pain in the ass). They also beat them 5-1, and lost to them 5-1 (remember Joe Corvo’s hat trick? Yeah, I’m working on blocking it out), and it was Carolina who handed the Sens their first loss of the season when they were playing so well. So … I have no idea what’s likely to happen. The Canes are coming off a 3-2 loss in Washington last night, while the Sens, of course, beat the Flyers yesterday.

Blogger Fashion Watch: Earrings (4-0-1) are go. But I’m not sure their mojo works for this particular goaltender.

It’s Michael Leighton in goal for Carolina tonight, not Cam Ward. I picked Leighton up in one of my pools to replace the injured Pascal Leclaire, which means that if the Sens score a bunch of goals tonight they’re screwing me over. I’m willing to take that hit. You see how much I care about this team?

First Period

20:00: Maybe it’s just because I’m sick and out of it, but I’m slightly disoriented by the fact that the Sens are in white and the Canes are in red. Which team am I supposed to be cheering for again?

18:00: Chris Neil tries the wraparound. It seems as though he tries that at least once per game. I know the Sens got a goal off a Neil wraparound attempt a few games ago, but I feel like maybe he should get a new move.

13:00 or so: After a TV timeout, Ian Mendes informs us that the team has been giving Christoph Schubert a hard time about his epic failure on the breakaway last night, with Jarkko Ruutu calling his move the “Signature Schubert Spinorama.” That’s what friends are for!

12:14: Jason Spezza claims to have scored, but the goal light doesn’t go on. I look forward to the replay on this one. At the next stoppage, the play is reviewed, but it’s very difficult to tell what’s happened. To me, the video isn’t conclusive enough to call it a goal, and the officials concur. Nice try, though, Spezza.

10:24: Sportsnet has the shots in the period at 8-0 for Ottawa. This is a very good stat for the Sens, in so many ways.

9:42: Anton Volchenkov takes a penalty for delay of game. This is a really unfortunate call: it’s clear Volchenkov wasn’t trying to put the puck out of play.

8:54: Dean Brown points out that both Jarkko and Tuomo Ruutu are on the ice. Ruutu vs. Ruutu … am I the only one who’d like to see them fight? The Sens have made some nice efforts to clear the puck on this penalty kill and the Canes don’t get many chances.

6:12: With the Sens on the power play, Daniel Alfredsson deflects a Filip Kuba shot to Dany Heatley, who is right in front of the net for the tip-in, but Leighton makes the save. This is the best chance of the power play for Ottawa.

1:16: The Canes are called for too many men. On the power play, Alexandre Picard makes a diving play to keep the puck in the zone. This is something I feel he and Kuba are both pretty good at. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but it seems like the Sens have improved in this area this season.

0:03: Antoine Vermette is called for holding Joe Corvo just as the period is about to end. The Canes get a shot off the faceoff, but that’s it.

First Intermission

The shots are 12-9 for Ottawa in the first … Nick Kypreos states during the intermission that he thinks the Sens probably don’t feel they can count on Auld to play long strings of games, so they really need to get the other guy going, because apparently he can carry the team through long strings of games. I question whether Kypreos has ever actually seen the other guy play … My HLOG sister Bethany informs me via the wonders of instant messaging that she’s sitting next to Bob Cole at the Montreal-Columbus game. Meanwhile, I’m here in my pyjamas, all alone. I feel so unglamourous.

Second Period

19:15: Dean and Gary Galley wish Murray Heatley a happy 60th birthday on behalf of his son. Happy birthday, papa Heater! Thanks for passing on those awesome hockey genes!

16:59: Schubert gets a penalty for tripping. Forget the ridiculous spinorama, we all know the skate to the box is his actual signature move. The Sens are able to kill the penalty.

13:43: Niclas Wallin is called for roughing after he gives Heatley a forearm to the face. Unacceptable! I don’t care if Heatley did start it by hitting Chad Larose!

11:51: This really is not much of a power play. I would describe it as “stinky.”

6:27: Mike Fisher and Alfie have a couple of near scoring chances. There’s actually some fairly frantic end-to-end action going on here! Even Jason Smith gets a shot on goal. However, nothing comes of any of it. Will anyone ever score in this game?

4:20 or so: After a TV time out, Dean and Gary talk to Canes rookie Brandon Sutter about the hit Doug Weight put on him and the resulting concussion. Sutter says he never watched video of the incident until the magnificent Luke Schenn came over to his house and made him watch it. Again, that’s what friends are for.

1:52: Fisher scores off a rebound from an Alfie shot! Fisher is on fire! Figuratively!

1:35: Neil tries the wraparound … again. Seriously, dude. It’s time to think about expanding your repertoire.

Second Intermission

I do my best to convince Bethany that the Sens really need her Jackets to send them Rick Nash to play wing with Heatzza, but she’s not buying it. She claims we have no need of another great winger because we already have some of the best ones in the league. This is true, I say, but we need more. She says I’m selfish! All I want is a fourth superstar forward for my team! I see nothing wrong with that.

Third Period

19:10: The Canes are in the Sens’ zone, and I get that sinking feeling I often get when this goalie is playing, that a one goal lead just isn’t going to be good enough.

14:30: Alfredsson and Fisher are looking very dangerous again, zooming around in the Canes’ end.

9:27: Chris Phillips gets called for interference. The Sens had been doing pretty well about not taking too many penalties lately, but this game is a bit of a step backwards in that respect.

8:54: And Carolina scores on a shot from the point. Argh!

7:36: Winchester gets a very good shot right in front of Leighton. This line, which I have christened Alfishester, continues to look great. A couple of minutes later, they’re in front of Leighton again, but do not score.

5:08: Rod Brind’amour takes a tripping penalty. Let’s hope the Sens can have a non-stinky power play this time.

3:08: The big three get a dangerous looking flurry in front of Leighton at one point, but I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call that non-stinky.

2:40: The Sens have all kinds of trouble handling the puck in front of their own net and, oh joy, Joe Corvo scores on a shot from the faceoff dot to the left of the goaltender.

1:40 or so: The good Ruutu scores a goal … but the play had been called offside before he got the shot away.

1:13: The Sens’ net is empty and they’ve got all the big guns on the ice trying for the tie. They get some pressure in the Carolina end, but when the puck comes out of the zone with four seconds to go, the game is over. There’s a bit of a scrum when the buzzer goes and a linesman wrestles Heatley to the ice. My Centre Ice feed cuts off almost right away so I’m not too sure what happens but the box score shows Heatley being called for high-sticking and roughing and Carolina’s Tim Gleason getting two for roughing at the 20 minute mark.

Postgame Thoughts

Meh. The final shots are 30-23 for Carolina. The Canes just played a better game than the Sens today. Maybe it’s a good thing the team has three days off before meeting Montreal on Tuesday. At least I benefit from Leighton’s performance, I suppose. Also, Bethany is happy: the Blue Jackets have beaten the Habs in a shootout tonight.

Random Note from Another Game: Dallas @ Anaheim

I think it’s possible the producer of this broadcast has died on the job. Instead of cutting to commercials at TV timeouts, the video and audio feed from the game continue to play and the viewer is treated to things like shots of the arena ceiling, someone humming the broadcast theme music, and a commentator yelling “What the hell’s wrong with you? Let’s get to know him!” after new Star Mark Parrish scores for Dallas. Later, he says “Are the Ducks godawful or what? From the goalline out … just rancid.” It’s excellent.

Pregame Remarks

Blogger Fashion Watch: I regret to say that I’m not feeling too well. I’ve started to develop a cold, and have stayed in bed in my pyjamas all day. Not to worry, though — I still remembered to put on my lucky Sens earrings (3-0-1) this morning.

Sportsnet reminds us that the Flyers and Sens both started the season slowly, but have recently begun to play better. They don’t need to tell me about the Flyers’ slow start: I have Martin Biron in a couple of hockey pools and he has been majorly dragging me down. He’s on my mental on notice board and just barely avoiding dead to me status right now. All goalies named Martin are a bad bet this season, apparently. Goalies named Alex, on the other hand, are doing pretty well at the moment. I have benched most of the Flyers on my fantasy teams tonight in the hopes that Auld and the Sens will continue their strong play.

In the pregame interview Ian Mendes speaks to the man who brought us all to our feet on Tuesday night: no, not Barack Obama — Mike Fisher.

Oh hey, look at that. It’s Antero Niittymaki in goal. Biron will be doing his sucking from the bench.

First Period

19:30 or so: Dean Brown and Gary Galley, calling the game for Sportsnet tonight, mock Chris Neil for falling down on the first shift of the game, saying he’s got the “semi-Bambi” going. He did look a bit like one of those TimBits players out there.

18:05: The Flyers are buzzing around the Sens’ net, but Jesse Winchester steps in and takes the puck away. He’s been playing well lately on that line with Daniel Alfredsson and Fisher.

15:19: Jason Spezza takes a shot that initially misses the net but then bounces off the boards and goes in off Antoine Vermette’s skate. The play is under review! It’s really hard to tell whether Vermette’s movement should be called a distinct kicking motion. The league rules that it was, though, and it’s no goal.

11:55: Spezza, Dany Heatley, Vermette, Filip Kuba, and Alexandre Picard have a long string short of passes going in the Flyers’ zone. The Winchester-Fisher-Alfie line had a similar period of puck possession with the same defensive pairing earlier on. It seems maybe these lines are starting to develop some chemistry. I wonder if this is what happens when players are allowed to play together in the same combinations for more than three shifts.

11:11: Anton Volchenkov has now doubled his offensive output from last season, getting a goal off a shot from the point. Volchenkov, being awesome, is clearly stepping up to fill that much talked about need for offense from the blue line. The question is: when will Jason Smith do the same?

9:18: Fisher sends the puck to Alfie right in front of the net but Niittymaki makes the save. More nice passing from the 18-12-11 line!

9:02 or so: After a TV time out, we get a funny interview with a very out of breath Winchester. When Mendes thanks him for his time, Winch grins and says something that sounds like “Aaaaaarhh.”

7:50: Vermette is taken head first into the boards in front of the Flyers’ bench by Braydon Coburn. Heatley goes in to retaliate but nothing much comes of it. Vermette gets up, looking unharmed but really pissed off and slightly shaken. “What the hell, dude?! You could have broken my face! My pretty, pretty face,” his expression seems to say. Coburn is assessed a five minute major for boarding. This type of behaviour from the Flyers is, of course, unsurprising.

8:18: Spezza passes from behind the net to Heatley, who is aaaaaaaaall alone in front. Scott Hartnell, realizing that this is a terrible situation for the Flyers, races back to try get to Heatley, but he doesn’t get there until after Heatley has buried the puck. 32 seconds in to the penalty, it’s 2-0 Sens. This is Heatley’s fifth straight game with a goal.

2:58: Heatley and Spezza get some wild chances in front of Philly’s net but they can’t quite capitalize. Spezza bangs his stick on the ice in frustration. The power play ends with no further damage. The Sens had their best chances in the first couple of minutes and the last few seconds.

First Intermission

The Sens have outshot the Flyers 12-3 in this period. I take a look at the NHL’s team stats page and, somehow, the Flyers are leading the league in goals per game while being 24th overall in shots per game. This suggests that the Sens should probably watch out. They really played well in the first, though. I’ve been feeling lately that the team is starting to come together.

Second Period

15:53: Christoph Schubert goes on a great solo rush but, in a slapstick manner, loses the puck right as he gets to the net. Mike Richards then takes Schubert out, and Schubert hits the back of his shoulders on the crossbar. He seems a little sore, but skates off on his own steam.

14:30 or so: The Flyers start to have some pressure in the Ottawa zone, but Auld and the Sens’ team defense come through.

12:42: Boo. Aaron Asham gets a goal after the Sens have some pretty bad problems trying to clear the zone. 2-1 Ottawa now.

11:46: Alfie sends the puck to the front of the net where Winchester shoots it at Niittymaki’s five-hole and … SCORES! Niittymaki seemed to have stopped it for a second but it squeaks through his pads and Winchester has his first NHL goal. He gives a big smile and gets a big cheer from the crowd. The assists go to Alfie and Fisher, and Fisher, who also assisted on the Volchenkov goal, now has four points in two games. It’s a two point night for Winchester as well.

Second Intermission

Shaun Van Allen compares Spezza’s pass to Heatley to a Gretzky pass! On seeing the replay, it really was impressive: past a Flyers’ player and under Niittymaki’s stick right to Heatley’s tape. Shots in the period were 7-6 for Philly. Notably, the Sens have yet to take a penalty in the game.

Third Period

20:00: The third period gets off to a bad start as the Flyers are threatening in front of Auld’s net. The Sens are having trouble getting control of the puck and are trapped in their own zone for most of the first two minutes of play.

13:32: Volchenkov is penalized for taking down Mike Richards and the Sens find themselves shorthanded for the first time in the game. This is no good, because the Flyers’ power play has been excellent lately.

12:24: Dean McAmmond is in on a shorthanded breakaway! He is unable to score, but man he’s fast! Afterwards, Hank McAmmond is shaking his head on the bench due to the lack of a hooking call against Kimmo Timonen, who got his stick around Dean on the play.

11:32: The penalty is killed, and it was the Sens who had the best chances. Take that, awesome Flyers’ power play!

10:23: There’s a scrum in front of the Philly net after Spezza tries to jam at a puck Niittymaki has stopped. After it’s all resolved, Hank is still shaking is head on the bench. I’m glad I’m not the referee who failed to make that call.

10:08: After back to back icing calls against the Flyers, we see a shot of Biron on the bench. Hey Biron! You’re an inadequate goaltender and your eyes make you look like a crazy person! Yeah, that’s right!

6:11: Fisher is called for tripping Scottie Upshall. Craig Hartsburg is now shaking his head but there’s no word on whether Hank has stopped. “If you’re the Flyers, you’ve gotta get one here,” says Gary.

4:11: They don’t though. The Sens kill the penalty and fend off some even strength pressure from the Flyers after it ends, too.

3:14: Alfie carries the puck into the Flyers’ zone, circles around, and passes to Fisher, who takes a hard shot that Niittymaki is able to stop. It’s a dangerous-looking chance for the Sens.

1:41: The Flyers have pulled Niittymaki for the extra man! Chris Neil sees the empty net and hits it from near centre ice. 4-1 Ottawa!

1:15: Schubert is called for tripping, and his streak of penalty-free games is over. Oh Schubert, you were doing so well. For some reason, the Flyers have pulled Niittymaki again, and Volchenkov gets a shot at the empty net. It would have been hilarious if he scored! Actually, it was still kind of hilarious.

Postgame Thoughts

Although the Flyers outshot the Sens in both the second and third periods, the final shots in the game were 25-18 for Ottawa, thanks to that 12-3 margin in the first. Uncle Ben finally appears to have line combinations he’s satisfied with, and it seems clear that sticking with these combinations is paying off as the players are starting to gel with each other. The second line in particular has looked really excellent, and they’re even showing up on the scoresheet now! Offensively, things are just generally going better. Defensively, the team hasn’t given up more than two goals (shootout goals don’t count) in any of their last five games.

Things are definitely looking up.

I missed most of the first period due to school obligations and then used commercial breaks and stoppages to follow the results of the US election, so I don’t have detailed thoughts about this one. I found it a very satisfying game, though, as I suppose many overtime wins are. I thought the Sens played quite well. They outshot the Caps in each period, and 44-27 overall. Alex Auld continued to look solid in goal: no very nervous moments, even with Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin on the ice. Auld is now one of only three goalies in the league with a goals against average under 2.00 (the others being Ryan Miller and Tim Thomas).

Both Ottawa goals had me cheering at my TV. Mike Fisher’s pass up to Dany Heatley was pretty enough on its own, but Heatley’s breakaway goal was a thriller. I’ll just take a moment here to bring back the DHARMA (Dany Heatley Appreciation: Recognizing Moments of Awesomeness) Initiative and give Heatley some praise. I always think of him as not being very good on breakaways and then once in a while he pulls out one of these –

– as if to punish me for doubting him. This “strategy” of having Heatley or Spezza go in on net after serving a penalty is working out pretty well so far.

And speaking of people who’ve been doubted lately, how sweet was it to see Mike Fisher finally pick up his first points of the season? Every single other player on the team except Jason Smith had at least a point before last night. The look of relief on Fisher’s face after he picked up an assist on Heatley’s goal gave me a big smile. As for his overtime winner, I think this photo from the gallery on the Sens’ official site says it all:

Politically-Themed Matchup. As two United States Senators wait to find out which of them will take the reigns in their country’s capital this evening, our Ottawa Senators will take on the Washington Capitals in a battle for capital supremacy. Is it possible that the NHL scheduled this matchup of capital city teams for today on purpose? I’m not sure the schedulers have that much foresight.

In case you’d forgotten, the Caps pretty much manhandled the Sens every time they played last season. Let us review:

• November 8, 2007: the struggling Caps, who had lost 10 of their previous 12 games, hand the still surging Sens only their second loss of the season, beating them 4-1. Hockey fans everywhere wonder if perhaps the Sens forgot there was a game.
• December 29, 2007: in what can only be described as an intense goaltenders’ duel, the Caps take out the Sens 8-6. Alexander Ovechkin scores four goals.
• January 1, 2008: the Sens come out to a 2-0 lead before giving up five — yes, five — consecutive Washington goals. But hey, at least they kept Ovechkin from scoring. Woo frickin’ hoo.
• January 15, 2008: the Caps finish the slaughter with a 4-2 win and Sens fans rejoice at the thought of never having to see this team again. Until tonight!

Excellent.

Bye Bye, Little Russian Guy. The Sens got rid of a headache yesterday, dealing Russian prospect Alexander Nikulin to Phoenix for defenseman Drew Fata. Nikulin had threatened to return to Russia if he was not traded, which makes it somewhat amazing that the Coyotes were willing to take him at all.

Welcome Back, Alex. After missing the team’s last two games due to a trip home to Russia to visit his sick grandfather, Ovechkin will make his return to the Caps’ lineup tonight. Lucky, lucky Sens! Ovechkin hadn’t exactly been on fire before leaving: he had five points in eight games, and is tied for 157th in the league in scoring. Which just means he has work to do.

Welcome Back, Alex II. Alex Auld will once again start for the Sens tonight. Auld is among the league leaders in both goals against average (2.15 – fifth) and save percentage (.931 – fourth).

Statistical Roundup. We all know the Sens’ record is not exactly stellar at this point. They are below .500 and in the bottom ten in the league standings. They are also last in the Northeast division. But I was perusing the stat pages at NHL.com the other day and I noticed a few promising numbers:

• Ottawa’s power play is ranked fourth in the NHL (25.0%). The penalty kill (86.3%) is eighth.
• The Sens are 11th in the league in goals against average, having allowed an average of 2.73 goals per game; however, they’re down at 19th overall in goals scored per game (2.82).

So, the special teams are great and they’re at least scoring more goals than they’re giving up. As anyone who’s been watching the games could probably have pointed out, their main problem has been scoring at even strength. In five-on-five play, they’ve scored only 15 goals and given up 21. It’s an interesting issue, but it seems to me their even strength play has improved a bit recently. Let’s hope so.

This game was a flashback of sorts for me as it was not televised, and therefore took me back to the dark age before I had Centre Ice, when I listened to almost every Sens game via The Team 1200’s website.

I realize now that I am easily distracted without visuals and I have very little idea what’s going on in a game I can’t actually see, so I don’t have too much to say about this one. I do know that the Sens lost 3-2 after an extremely lengthy shootout, though.

Lightning = Wusses. If Dean and Gord on The Team are to be trusted, the Lightning were all about avoiding contact in the first. What a bunch of sucky babies.

Feel the Heat! Dany Hot-Hot-Heatley and Antoine “Hot French Guy” Vermette accounted for the Sens’ two goals this evening. Vermette, who also assisted on Heatley’s goal, hadn’t scored a goal in almost a month. From what I could tell, he continued to play on the top line with Heatzza.

Alexander the Playing Very Well. Alex Auld stopped 32 of 34 Tampa shots and was named the second star of the game by The Team. Unfortunately, Mike Smith stopped 29 of 31 Ottawa shots and was named the first star of the game by both The Team and NHL.com. I hope to see Auld get the start on Tuesday against Washington. He has certainly earned it.

Shootout Shenanigans. The lineup of players the Sens sent into the shootout went like this:

Vermette
Daniel Alfredsson
Jason Spezza
Heatley
Jarkko Ruutu
The Absolutely Stone Cold Mike Fisher (described during the game as “covered in snake bites”)
Nick Foligno
Dean McAmmond

Would it surprise you at all if I told you that Spezza and Ruutu were the only one who scored? No? I didn’t think so. I have no problem with sending Spezza and Vermette out in the first three shooters; both have decent numbers over their careers (Spezza: 36.4%, Vermette: 29.4%). But I can only assume that Heatley (18.8%) was unable to convince Craig Hartsburg how much he sucks in shootouts.

Heatley: “Uh, coach, I’m not so good at these things.”
Hartsburg: “What? You’re the sniper! The 50 goal man!”
Heatley: “But –”
Hartsburg: “Heatley! Get out there!”
Heatley: “Okay, okay.”
Rest of Bench: “We’re humped!”

Alfie is a decent choice with his 23.5% career shootout percentage — or he would have been, if Ruutu and his 50% rate of success had not been sitting right there on the bench! I think it’s fair to blame this one on a faulty shootout order. Replace Heatley or Alfie with Ruutu in the lineup and the Sens would have the extra point.

Tomorrow night, I will be going on a field trip to GM Place to see the Canucks play the Detroit Red Wings. This will be the first NHL game I’ve attended since May 2007, and the first one I’ve ever been to that hasn’t involved the Sens. I hope it’ll be fun, despite their absence.