GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Calgary Flames - 9:30PM EST, Thursday, March 11, 2010

Meh, the personnel is not a problem. I think the coaching staff has to change the style of the PP. MTL has one if not the best PP system I've seen and it's Diddling simple. Even when Markov was out they struggled early and adjusted quickly. Don't tell me MA Diddling Bergeron is a difference maker because we have EK.
Moving feets would be a start.

marakh wrote:Meh, the personnel is not a problem. I think the coaching staff has to change the style of the PP. MTL has one if not the best PP system I've seen and it's Diddling simple. Even when Markov was out they struggled early and adjusted quickly. Don't tell me MA Diddling Bergeron is a difference maker because we have EK.
Moving feets would be a start.

Excillent point/

Biggest problem I've seen with our PP is we're utterly incapable of pulling off a simple one timer.

Everyone always hesitates a second or two before shooting, which leads to a blocked shot or easy save.

I think we're good down low, but if a team collapses down low effectively like the Flames did and leaves us to the point then we suck.

Cullen's goal against the Oilers is the type of goal we should see more regularly from the point.

I also don't put too much on EK's shoulders he's only 19 and he's still learning (at an amazing pace though).

The other guys like Phillips or Kuba have no excuse... get those shots off once you have a shooting lane ... FAST.

Yep, we need one-timers badly. If we had Stamkos we would be top 10 no doubt.

Is EK finally playing on the left side on the powerplay? He's got a great one-timer from there. I still see him pass-up a shot in favor of a pass too often. Especially when he's on with Alfie -- it's almost like he's saying "I'm not worthy -- here, you take the shot".

I know it's not like that, but it almost feels like some of his cockiness is gone with Alfredsson. Why not try him out there with Cullen, and Alfie with Kuba (when/if Kuba gets back).

wprager wrote:Is EK finally playing on the left side on the powerplay? He's got a great one-timer from there. I still see him pass-up a shot in favor of a pass too often. Especially when he's on with Alfie -- it's almost like he's saying "I'm not worthy -- here, you take the shot".

I know it's not like that, but it almost feels like some of his cockiness is gone with Alfredsson. Why not try him out there with Cullen, and Alfie with Kuba (when/if Kuba gets back).

Already the case 2 games now. DO you watch the games?

1st PP is now:
Alfie - Michalek - Spezza
EK - Cullen.

Last couple of games were on too late

wprager wrote:Last couple of games were on too late

have a nap saturday afternoon if you have time...

BTW, I just checked the standings. we are 12 points ahead of NYR who are 9th, so basically they have to win 6 more games than OTT to get us out, with 15 games left.

Likely it will be NJ/OTT 1st round, which is pretty interesting IMO. But I'm getting tired of having NJ/Pitts in the playoffs

BUT, if we beat NJ, we likely get Buffalo or Pittsburg (again) on 2nd round. Pretty interesting.

It's not really the time to start practising this, but it'll fall to Karlsson mostly to shift the guys around on the PP. He and Kuba will be the guys who can ensure movement from the blueline, so hopefully they'll start walking the line and shifting the stagnant PP.

I find it pretty sad that EK is less afraid of getting hit than Brian Lee. There was a shift last night he tried to evade 3 consecutive forechecks and lost the puck

marakh wrote:

wprager wrote:Last couple of games were on too late

have a nap saturday afternoon if you have time...

BTW, I just checked the standings. we are 12 points ahead of NYR who are 9th, so basically they have to win 6 more games than OTT to get us out, with 15 games left.

Likely it will be NJ/OTT 1st round, which is pretty interesting IMO. But I'm getting tired of having NJ/Pitts in the playoffs

BUT, if we beat NJ, we likely get Buffalo or Pittsburg (again) on 2nd round. Pretty interesting.

I have an afternoon nap about once every 3-4 years, when I get really, really sick and take lots and lots of meds. Just can't seem to be able to turn it off otherwise. STBM, I know.

Isn't it a little early to look forward to round one matchups (let alone round two)?

SpezDispenser wrote:It's not really the time to start practising this, but it'll fall to Karlsson mostly to shift the guys around on the PP. He and Kuba will be the guys who can ensure movement from the blueline, so hopefully they'll start walking the line and shifting the stagnant PP.

Karlsson certainly does that, but Kuba is very often quite stationary. I think that hip/groin/whatever that has hobbled him this season and in the past has really reduced his mobility.

You guys *do* know that the new GDT is up, right?

just got back from the game. to my surprise I didnt miss any of the game. lol. by the time my plane landed I knew beforehand that I wouldn't get to the game until the first period was over. but nope, thanks to the 1 hour glass/game delay i didnt miss a single second. there was A LOT of sens fans at this game, and a couple of go sens go chants actually made their way around the arena in the first period before the flames fans knew what hit them. by the 2nd and 3rd periods, they drowned out our chants though.
boring game i must say. regin looked good, but he had some bad luck. he was creating chances though and the puck seemed to follow him. spezza has to shoot more, i have been saying that for awhile. when he came back from his injury, he was shooting all the time and the results were there. now he is not shooting at all, a couple seconds into the game and he had a perfect 2 on 1, the defenseman let him walk in and he still tried to pass. down-hill from there as we didnt get a shot on net for a long time. everyone in the rink thought the goal that was disallowed should have counted. they showed the replay on the screen and everyone thought they were going to over-turn the call. brutal call. other than that, I am going to bed. long night.

marakh wrote:

wprager wrote:Last couple of games were on too late

have a nap saturday afternoon if you have time...

BTW, I just checked the standings. we are 12 points ahead of NYR who are 9th, so basically they have to win 6 more games than OTT to get us out, with 15 games left.

Likely it will be NJ/OTT 1st round, which is pretty interesting IMO. But I'm getting tired of having NJ/Pitts in the playoffs

BUT, if we beat NJ, we likely get Buffalo or Pittsburg (again) on 2nd round. Pretty interesting.

I would guess that if Buffalo makes it to the 2nd round and we hang onto 5th (which is nowhere near the slam dunk you seem to be implying) and win that 1st round, then we most likely get Washington because I don't see Pittsburgh going 1 and done... I guess what I'm saying is I think it's more likely that we get Pittsburgh or Washington in round two.

marakh wrote:Meh, the personnel is not a problem. I think the coaching staff has to change the style of the PP. MTL has one if not the best PP system I've seen and it's Diddling simple. Even when Markov was out they struggled early and adjusted quickly. Don't tell me MA Diddling Bergeron is a difference maker because we have EK.
Moving feets would be a start.

The problem with that is we have all these stationary players and older vets. The only person who really does anything dynamic on the PP (as we all know) is EK. Kovalev likes to slow it down; Kuba likes to slow it down; Spezza waits for passing lanes; Alfredsson can play it both ways, but seems to opt away from the shot nowadays, despite being our most prolific sniper. Until at least one of those players changes their approach, we'll continue seeing mediocrity from the PP.

I think we need a new PP coach who will tell the players what they should be doing.