Neil bumped to 4th line... and other Sens news

Some notes from practice today:

Source: TSN's Ice Chips: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11009

Chris Neil was bumped from the 3rd to the 4th line on Monday. Daniel Alfredsson (maintenance) did not skate but he will play n Tuesday. Anton Volchenkov (elbow) skated on his own on Monday. He's scheduled to return in mid-November. - TSN

Practice Lines

Forwards:
Michalek - Spezza - Winchester
Foligno - Fisher - Kovalev
Cheechoo - Regin - Shannon
Ruutu - Kelly - Neil/Donovan

Defencemen:
Phillips - Lee
Campoli - Kuba
Picard - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Leclaire
Elliott

From NHL_Sens Twitter: http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens

Audio from post-practice today:

Part 1: http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Audio/091109_Clouston-01.mp3
Part 2: http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Audio/091109_Clouston-02.mp3

Clouston: Alfredsson didn't skate - just maintenance/rest. Volchenkov skated on his own, but didn't shoot the puck.

For God's sake. Set the lineup as you see fit Clouston and let some chemistry develop. You can't keep taking Shannon in and out of the lineup and expect results. Ditto with Cheechoo - let him play a role on the 3rd line or scratch him, but up and down from the 3rd to the 4th to the 2nd to the first. Let's set the lines now, shall we?

I really think the last thing we need right now is less of what Neil brings. We need to be banging bodies and throwing other teams off their game.

Well, if the suggestions that the refs are "teaching Clouston a lesson" are true, then perhaps he can try a few games of just talking to his players and keeping his cool. We need to stay out of the sin bin, that's for sure.

MurderOnIce wrote:I really think the last thing we need right now is less of what Neil brings. We need to be banging bodies and throwing other teams off their game.

After what he did in the last game, this feels totally ok to me. Ruutu and Neil for 10 min each in the 3rd period is unacceptable.

SpezDispenser wrote:For God's sake. Set the lineup as you see fit Clouston and let some chemistry develop. You can't keep taking Shannon in and out of the lineup and expect results. Ditto with Cheechoo - let him play a role on the 3rd line or scratch him, but up and down from the 3rd to the 4th to the 2nd to the first. Let's set the lines now, shall we?

I'm fine with this, because as is; is not working.

jamvan wrote:I'm fine with this, because as is; is not working.

Fair enough, but we need to stop the 5.5 (average obviously) minor penalties we're taking per game or we're just going to lose over and over again.

SpezDispenser wrote:

jamvan wrote:I'm fine with this, because as is; is not working.

Fair enough, but we need to stop the 5.5 (average obviously) minor penalties we're taking per game or we're just going to lose over and over again.

Absolutely, it has cost us enough already. Some of the calls though have been brutal.

I'm starting to really dislike our D. They will be the death of us this year I think.

jamvan wrote:Absolutely, it has cost us enough already. Some of the calls though have been brutal.

Oh yeah, it's cost us three wins at least. And fine, some of the calls I can deal with, but when the other team does the same and doesn't get called, I start seeing a problem with the officiating.

There are only 2 teams that average more minor penalties per game than us. One is the Anaheim Ducks (13th in the West).

Can anyone guess who's the MOST penalized team (for minors)?

SensGirl11 wrote:I'm starting to really dislike our D. They will be the death of us this year I think.

I'm sure it will look better when all three of Kuba, Phillips and Volchenkov are in the line-up. We could use an upgrade over Campoli, though.

I think November is going to be a tough month to try to scrape out wins and that Devils game will come back to haunt us me thinks. The Sens can't afford to give away points like that. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky we're facing a weakened Penguins team and a Bruins team that is struggling to find the back of the net. The problem is we lost to a struggling Nashville team and a Kovalchuk-less Atlanta team and a struggling Bruins team already. I'm thinking even if we can't come out of November with a similiar record to October we're going to be in real trouble.

asq2 wrote:
I'm sure it will look better when all three of Kuba, Phillips and Volchenkov are in the line-up. We could use an upgrade over Campoli, though.

Cowen can come on down anytime now. He's better than our bottom 3 guys combined.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I think November is going to be a tough month to try to scrape out wins and that Devils game will come back to haunt us me thinks. The Sens can't afford to give away points like that.

Not to be overly dramatic, but I said the same thing when we lost. I took that loss really hard. If there ever was a time to eek out a win - it was in that game, leading up to what will be a hellacious schedule against tough-as-nails teams. And the Pens might have Malkin back apparently, so it's not gonna be a cakewalk against them, that's for sure.

Diddle I'm depressed. Even if we had blown the Devils game in OT, that one point would have been nice.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I think November is going to be a tough month to try to scrape out wins and that Devils game will come back to haunt us me thinks. The Sens can't afford to give away points like that. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky we're facing a weakened Penguins team and a Bruins team that is struggling to find the back of the net. The problem is we lost to a struggling Nashville team and a Kovalchuk-less Atlanta team and a struggling Bruins team already. I'm thinking even if we can't come out of November with a similiar record to October we're going to be in real trouble.

I have a feeling the opposite will happen. It's hard times that call for hard play and I can see us going on a bit of a run. The games I'm most excited for is the Ranger and Philly this week, as it will eb a true test of where we stand this year. Let's not forget, we have games in hand.