Next up: Leafs and Isles

Next two games for the Sens - Leafs on Thursday and Isles on Saturday. Based on our recent play, these should be two very winnable games as long as the Sens keep to their system and keep playing as a team for a full 60 minutes.

shabbs wrote:Next two games for the Sens - Leafs on Thursday and Isles on Saturday. Based on our recent play, these should be two very winnable games as long as the Sens keep to their system and keep playing as a team for a full 60 minutes.

Both of those teams have played some decent hockey recently. Full 60 minutes is a must. We are still a lottery team at this point in time:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=LEA&navid=NAV|STN|League

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Next two games for the Sens - Leafs on Thursday and Isles on Saturday. Based on our recent play, these should be two very winnable games as long as the Sens keep to their system and keep playing as a team for a full 60 minutes.

Both of those teams have played some decent hockey recently. Full 60 minutes is a must. We are still a lottery team at this point in time:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=LEA&navid=NAV|STN|League

It's too early to talk about us being a lottery team. Yes, we're in 13th in the east at the moment, but look at the conference standings closely: we're 1 win away from 10th, and 2 wins away from 8th (a playoff spot). That's a gap that we can make in pretty quickly, in one 4-5 game winning streak, for instance.

A lot of teams that started off strong are starting to fade, too. NYR, MTL, NJ, and BUF -- all of whom busted out of the gates -- are playing .500 hockey or worse right now in their last 10 games.

That said, we still do need to win these next 2 games for a variety of reasons. First, and no disrespect, those are teams you have to beat -- both are in self-declared rebuilding years. Second, we're 1 of 2 teams in the east to play only 2 games next week, while everyone else plays 3 or 4. Win those 2 games and you'll probably keep pace with the pack... but drop 1 or both and you'll probably see tangible losses. Psychologically, I don't think our team needs that right now.

This will be a good test for our boys... Sens have had a history of issues over the years when it came to beating bottom feeders. I've always blamed the lack of killer instinct... however these days we're swimming with the bottom feeders. That should be motivation alone to get up and outta there and get the wins we need.

rooneypoo wrote:

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Next two games for the Sens - Leafs on Thursday and Isles on Saturday. Based on our recent play, these should be two very winnable games as long as the Sens keep to their system and keep playing as a team for a full 60 minutes.

Both of those teams have played some decent hockey recently. Full 60 minutes is a must. We are still a lottery team at this point in time:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=LEA&navid=NAV|STN|League

It's too early to talk about us being a lottery team. Yes, we're in 13th in the east at the moment, but look at the conference standings closely: we're 1 win away from 10th, and 2 wins away from 8th (a playoff spot). That's a gap that we can make in pretty quickly, in one 4-5 game winning streak, for instance.

A lot of teams that started off strong are starting to fade, too. NYR, MTL, NJ, and BUF -- all of whom busted out of the gates -- are playing .500 hockey or worse right now in their last 10 games.

That said, we still do need to win these next 2 games for a variety of reasons. First, and no disrespect, those are teams you have to beat -- both are in self-declared rebuilding years. Second, we're 1 of 2 teams in the east to play only 2 games next week, while everyone else plays 3 or 4. Win those 2 games and you'll probably keep pace with the pack... but drop 1 or both and you'll probably see tangible losses. Psychologically, I don't think our team needs that right now.

That's 2 wins in -1 games. We win 2 and Philly loses three, yes, we are ahead of them. But so are a few other teams, and we're still behind them. I'll defer my cautious optimism until we've actually had a winning streak of more than 1 game.

the key in these next few games will be to see if they can stick to the system. By now, they've seen it works. If they stray from the system, they will struggle. Pretty simple. If they fail to take the next step as far as a full 60 minute game goes, Harts needs to let them know that isn't gonna fly. They've had enough time and seen the evidence that if certain players are nto committing to the system, they need to pay the consequences.

Vandelay wrote:the key in these next few games will be to see if they can stick to the system. By now, they've seen it works. If they stray from the system, they will struggle. Pretty simple. If they fail to take the next step as far as a full 60 minute game goes, Harts needs to let them know that isn't gonna fly. They've had enough time and seen the evidence that if certain players are nto committing to the system, they need to pay the consequences.

Amen to that. Like I said earlier, as well as they'd played against the Habs and the first Rangers game, neither one was a full 60 minute effort. Yesterday it was, and they got the extra point to show for it.