Ottawa vs Montreal - Playoff Series Talk

tim1_2 wrote:We've been playing tight playoff hockey all season it seems. Time for that to pay off. Ottawa in 4.

+1

spader wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:I am glad the Sens got 3 days off and have time to regroup and catch their breath but the wait sucks.

I'm hoping young Latendresse decides to try to show the Habs they made a mistake letting him go.

Interesting side story. That was meant to be a situation where both players needed a fresh start, but it only seemed to work out for Lats. Pouliot never reached his potential. He went 4th in the Crosby draft. That was a weird draft.

Would love to see Latendresse raise his game for this series. Time for him to make a statement.

tim1_2 wrote:We've been playing tight playoff hockey all season it seems. Time for that to pay off. Ottawa in 4.

I think Stan Fischler +'d you.

Ian Mendes‏@ian_mendes

If I had to guess based on today's practice, I say Eric Gryba plays in Game 1 vs MTL and Patrick Wiercioch does not. But we'll see.

Right choice. You take Gryba out and Karlsson is the only RH D man again with no RH D men on the PK. You have Karlsson and Gonchar along with Cowen to move the puck and work the PP, Wiercioch is overkill at this point and doesn't have to be in the lineup.

Unless Gryba struggles which could happen I wouldn't expect to see Wiercioch short of an injury.

Yeah, Gryba's what you want in there right now.

NEELY wrote:Right choice. You take Gryba out and Karlsson is the only RH D man again with no RH D men on the PK. You have Karlsson and Gonchar along with Cowen to move the puck and work the PP, Wiercioch is overkill at this point and doesn't have to be in the lineup.

Unless Gryba struggles which could happen I wouldn't expect to see Wiercioch short of an injury.

That makes sense to me. Gryba is steady and he plays hard. Wiercioch is a good player, but he doesn't bring grit the way that Gryba does. If the Sens are going to out-grind the Habs (f the Habs), they'll need Gryba. If they want to play more of a run-and-gun style, Patty W might make more sense. I guess it depends on strategy.

NEELY wrote:Right choice. You take Gryba out and Karlsson is the only RH D man again with no RH D men on the PK. You have Karlsson and Gonchar along with Cowen to move the puck and work the PP, Wiercioch is overkill at this point and doesn't have to be in the lineup.

Unless Gryba struggles which could happen I wouldn't expect to see Wiercioch short of an injury.

If Phillips needs to rest his knee (back-to-back games) we might see Wiercioch on Friday.

spader wrote:

NEELY wrote:Right choice. You take Gryba out and Karlsson is the only RH D man again with no RH D men on the PK. You have Karlsson and Gonchar along with Cowen to move the puck and work the PP, Wiercioch is overkill at this point and doesn't have to be in the lineup.

Unless Gryba struggles which could happen I wouldn't expect to see Wiercioch short of an injury.

That makes sense to me. Gryba is steady and he plays hard. Wiercioch is a good player, but he doesn't bring grit the way that Gryba does. If the Sens are going to out-grind the Habs (f the Habs), they'll need Gryba. If they want to play more of a run-and-gun style, Patty W might make more sense. I guess it depends on strategy.

Montreal is not particularly harsh on the D with their forecheck, so I think Wiercioch would have been fine. Remember that he was one of the point leaders in head-to-head (3 in 4 games). This is the playoffs, though, and the Habs may be changing their style a bit. I guess we'll see.

1 of Jared Cowen or Marc Methot will have to obliterate their kids line in Game 1 and we win this in 6. Izzzzyyyy

LeKing wrote:1 of Jared Cowen or Marc Methot will have to obliterate their kids line in Game 1 and we win this in 6. Izzzzyyyy

Ideally, they would each take at least one (1) kid out for the season for starters.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

LeKing wrote:1 of Jared Cowen or Marc Methot will have to obliterate their kids line in Game 1 and we win this in 6. Izzzzyyyy

Ideally, they would each take at least one (1) kid out for the season for starters.

although not really kids anymore personally I'd like Subban and Prust taken out in game 1. maybe gallagher in game 2?

I hope the Sens are not gonna shoot from some stupid angles in Game 1 like they are used to. Last thing we need is give a rattled Price some confidence.
One early bad goal by Price could be the difference in this series

Yup, the quantity vs quality thing will be big. Get in his kitchen early.

Most Sens/Habs games this season were played without some of the Sens best players in the lineup and the Sens managed to stay competitive against them.

Any more updates on Spezza?

Michalek is saying he is not 100%. I don't know what's bothering him... but it had better not be his knee.

Go Sens..

sandysensfan wrote:Most Sens/Habs games this season were played without some of the Sens best players in the lineup and the Sens managed to stay competitive against them.

Any more updates on Spezza?

Michalek is saying he is not 100%. I don't know what's bothering him... but it had better not be his knee.

Go Sens..

Unfortunately it's always been his knee.

First two games the Sens were missing Spezza and Cowen; last two games they were missing those two plus Karlsson, Michalek and Anderson. Those were the SO games (each team won once).

Truth of the matter is all of the games, with the exception of the 5-1 blowout with Budaj in goal were one-goal games, and two went to the SO. Very, very close. On the one hand, with Cowen+Karlsson+Michalek back it should not even be close; on the other hand, even if those players were all PPG, that's (typically) still just one more goal per game (1G + 2A = 3 points). And the 3 players being replaced include Wiercioch, who had .75 PPG against Montreal. So, at best, you may be looking at getting 1 more goal every couple games. Not enough to turn a close series into a sweep.

It'll all come down to goaltending an special teams.

Hey, it's GAME DAY!!!!!!

OK, time for a pre-game nap.

wprager wrote:

sandysensfan wrote:Most Sens/Habs games this season were played without some of the Sens best players in the lineup and the Sens managed to stay competitive against them.

Any more updates on Spezza?

Michalek is saying he is not 100%. I don't know what's bothering him... but it had better not be his knee.

Go Sens..

Unfortunately it's always been his knee.

First two games the Sens were missing Spezza and Cowen; last two games they were missing those two plus Karlsson, Michalek and Anderson. Those were the SO games (each team won once).

Truth of the matter is all of the games, with the exception of the 5-1 blowout with Budaj in goal were one-goal games, and two went to the SO. Very, very close. On the one hand, with Cowen+Karlsson+Michalek back it should not even be close; on the other hand, even if those players were all PPG, that's (typically) still just one more goal per game (1G + 2A = 3 points). And the 3 players being replaced include Wiercioch, who had .75 PPG against Montreal. So, at best, you may be looking at getting 1 more goal every couple games. Not enough to turn a close series into a sweep.

It'll all come down to goaltending an special teams.

This kind of analysis doesn't make any sense to me. You speak as though the players are being inserted into a vacuum. I don't think it's quite that simple. If you add a couple of PPG players, that doesn't mean that they only add their point for each game. Is Karlsson just a point a game, or is he going to create a ton of offense that will make everyone around him better? If he came on the ice, notched a point, then didn't play for the rest of the game, I'd understand your position, but it doesn't work like that.

Adding Karlsson equates to so much more than adding one assist in the game, period.