GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Buffalo Sabres - 7:30pm ET - Wed. Feb. 11th, 2009

We won't get Hedman (see one of my posts elsewhere for the stats). We are most likely to end up in 3rd-5th pick range, depending on lottery results. The next few games will go a long way towards deciding who stays and who goes, but will also lay out the bottom 6-8 teams to a certain degree; it becomes harder and harder to move out of the "pecking order" after about game 60-65 (purely for statistical/numerical reasons).

504Heater wrote:Also, Neely, did you see the score in the Montreal/Edmonton game?

Last I checked it was 4-1 Edmonton. You called a 10-1 earlier, no? It's on the way.

Ya, I got the tie in the NYR/Wash game as well. Seemed to nail every game last night, haha.

504Heater wrote:

davetherave wrote:
It also appears Dany Heatley has been sent a message.

Wow, I only got to watch the 3rd, but 12 minutes in ice time for Heatley...he's being sent a message loud and clear for sure.

EDIT: Scratch that, I forgot we spent half the game killing penalties.

Heatley is 100% being sent a message. I hope people realize what Heatley said the other day after the big contriversy is what Murray and the Sens told him to say. People might not realize it but that was probably the last straw for the guy despite it being blown out of proportion.

Clouston is still sending him a message and good on him. My guess is he will eventually end up on the West Coast.

I don't know if this was discussed but Foligno didn't seem noticable last game but that was likely due to the PK keeping him on the bench.

It was also nice to see a softy go in on Miller after his all world performance on Saturday. I guess missing Vanek made more of a difference than some thought?

Also in terms of ice time I wonder if Clouston was playing his bench and dishing out ice time keeping in mind they have to play again tonight?

I know Clutch, I didn't notice a lot of the guys last night, because of the PK though, I'm sure. I only noticed Shannon when he almost scored and then when he sat in the box with Smith. Besides that, I dont' remember seeing him much, same with Foligno.

This game was huge in many ways for us. I can't believe we killed of 12 of 13 powerplay opportunities...or was it 14?? I can't believe how many calls they made against us, it was ridiculous. Elliott was something else last night, OMG, it's nice to have a goalie who can make timely saves and keep us in the game, much like Auld was doing at the beginning of the year. (Imagine where we would be right now if this whole Hartsburg debacle didn't happen...) Our penalty killers were ridiculous. I'm pretty sure Alfie had to get oxygen after this game, he looked completely beat at the end. All in all, this was a really positive game for us. I can't believe we had 1 period+ in powerplays and still managed to score 3 goals.

Props to Donovan too, first game back and he ends a scoring slump. Sweet!

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I don't know if this was discussed but Foligno didn't seem noticable last game but that was likely due to the PK keeping him on the bench.

It was also nice to see a softy go in on Miller after his all world performance on Saturday. I guess missing Vanek made more of a difference than some thought?

Leads the league in powerplay goals, so he probably would have helped.

The Shannon - Fisher - Foligno line wasn't as awesome as turning pucks over, but yeah, it's hard to get going offensively when you're almost literally playing half the game short-handed.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I don't know if this was discussed but Foligno didn't seem noticable last game but that was likely due to the PK keeping him on the bench.

It was also nice to see a softy go in on Miller after his all world performance on Saturday. I guess missing Vanek made more of a difference than some thought?

I agree - and when I saw Foligno, he didn't have the usual jump he's had the last week. He needs to get back out there tonight and create - but the sheer number of penalties would disrupt anything.

Vanek would've made a game of it. Not sure if he would have tied it, but it would've been a lot closer.

How many guys are Buffalo missing? That was one franking uninspired performance for a team that could've started the ascent into top 4 in the East.

marakh wrote:

504Heater wrote:

davetherave wrote:
It also appears Dany Heatley has been sent a message.

Wow, I only got to watch the 3rd, but 12 minutes in ice time for Heatley...he's being sent a message loud and clear for sure.

EDIT: Scratch that, I forgot we spent half the game killing penalties.

Didnt stop Spezza from getting 17min though...

I didn't notice the ice time for Spezza. Wow...Heatley, are you getting the message?

Heatley will have a huge game tonight.

Heater better or he should become a healthy sracth in the near future.