GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs - 7:00pm - Sat. Oct. 5th, 2013

They for sure need to beat the Leafs and they for sure can't be giving up 2 goal leads late in a game. Spezza has to be better, plain and simple. If he plays like that and gives that kind of effort the playoffs will be a struggle to get to. You hope it's just rust but he really needs to start leading.

Ryan I'm not overly concerned about as he is a slow starter and he's come into a new organization with new line mates, needs a grace period for sure.

3 out of 4 points to start the year on the road is solid, they need 4 in the next 4 to really call the begining of this season a success. This roadie out west is exactly the type of trip this team needs to get everyone on the same page. The games are spaced out a good amount and the travel (when there) isn't all that tough.

Michalek is the one player that really worries me and I think everyone else. He's been invisible for the better part of 2 seasons now. He needs to do something, anything to get going.

6 pp's for the Leafs.. 2 goals ... 1 pp for the Sens 0 goals. That was the difference.

They have given up 13 pp's in 2 games against their opponents -- and only had 5 themselves Completely unacceptable or Tim Peel... pick your choice. Stay out of the box -- especially when the special teams coach is not doing his job.

5 on 5 .. the score was 4-2.

Sens had 14 giveaways to the Leafs 33...

But 3 out of 4 pts on the road to start the season isn't too bad -- especially in back to back games..

Hopefully next pre-season the schedule will allow the Sens to have at least 2 pre-season games with the NHL lineup to get them in sync..

If they play the next 4 road games like they did tonight... they could find themselves down in the standings with only 3 pts out of a possible 12..

I couldn't watch the game, but if Spezza needs to be better then Mac knows it as well as any of us. He meets with him one on one daily to work on his game, so leave it to our coach to fix.

In the end, this blown leads is a good thing. It's game 2 and it really gives us time to work out the kinks.

Spezza needs games to get in game shape and up to game speed. That's it.

The fact that he's in the lineup is why Turris is doing so well.

Pffft this game was a bit of a Dung show on both sides. It really could have gone either way. Of course, we shouldn't give up a 4-2 lead, but the Leafs had a ton of chances and played pretty well. We had a bunch of chances too, but Bernier shut the door after replacing Reimer.

If you look at the positives from the first couple of games, there's a TON to like. The Mac-Turris-Conacher line has been better than anyone could have predicted, and Cowen and Phillips have played really well.

The question marks right now are our top line, and EK looked relatively human last night vs the Leafs. And we all know neither of these situations will take long to resolve. That 1st line will start clicking sooner rather than later, and EK is just getting back to game speed.

The whole team will be flying soon enough. If I had to pick out a negative, I wish Pageau would get more ice time. A line of Greening-Pageau-Neil would look pretty good I think. Pageau was noticeable every time he was on the ice last night. And as stupid as this sounds, I actually wish Kassian had got some more ice time. 5 mins isn't bad, but the guy can actually play a bit, plus he was laying on the body.

spader wrote:

Ev wrote:Ryan is a notoriously slow starter every season, and as Bob McKeznie said, these first two weeks mean nothing

Nothing except a bunch of points.

Of which we got 3 out of 4. On the road. That's 62 points on the season. You'd only need 30 points at home to squeak into the playoffs. That's 15-26-0, and we were killer at home last couple of seasons.

wprager wrote:Well, hope Michalek can bust out of his funk, because Stone was taken to hospital for X-Rays.  Upper body is the only thing I've heard.  Came off after a hard hit and looked like he was holding his knee?  Since it wasn't the knee, what kind of injury would make it look like that -- shoulder, ribs?

Anyhow, probably won't be called up any time soon.

Heard it was shoulder. He was supposed to be evaluated Saturday night but I haven't seen any updates on that.

sandysensfan wrote:6 pp's for the Leafs.. 2 goals ... 1 pp for the Sens 0 goals.  That was the difference.

The refs were smart to give the Leafs the PP for the last 2 minutes of the second period to give them some momentum going into the 3rd.

Once we'll get into a rhythm we're gonna be hard to stop offensively.
Team looks rusty and I'm sure all of you see the potential.

I didn't see anything wrong with the top line really. Spezza isn't known for intensity and just recently coming off that groin injury I figure he's not pushing himself too much yet.

Michalek is fine to me, he is getting open and making some good passes.

Ryan seems the most lost of the 3 but that's understandable.

I think they'll be fine give them time, they didn't get to play much during the preseason.

Only thing I'd be concerned about is the penalty kill.

Hoags wrote:I didn't see anything wrong with the top line really.  Spezza isn't known for intensity and just recently coming off that groin injury I figure he's not pushing himself too much yet.

Michalek is fine to me, he is getting open and making some good passes.

Ryan seems the most lost of the 3 but that's understandable.

I think they'll be fine give them time, they didn't get to play much during the preseason.  

Only thing I'd be concerned about is the penalty kill.

Jesus, if there was one thing you can possibly take from that game it's certainly not that. Michalek has lost basically every puck battle so far, can't get in on the forecheck, can't find space, and has clearly lost a step.

LeKing wrote:Once we'll get into a rhythm we're gonna be hard to stop offensively.
Team looks rusty and I'm sure all of you see the potential.

Agreed. They're not quite there, but you can see that they're gonna be hard to contain. That 2nd line has been tremendous. If things keep going the way that they started, the 2nd is gonna be drawing better competition and the 1st line will probably take off.

spader wrote:

LeKing wrote:Once we'll get into a rhythm we're gonna be hard to stop offensively.
Team looks rusty and I'm sure all of you see the potential.

Agreed. They're not quite there, but you can see that they're gonna be hard to contain. That 2nd line has been tremendous. If things keep going the way that they started, the 2nd is gonna be drawing better competition and the 1st line will probably take off.

With just 2 games played Turris and Mac are tied for 4th in +/- (just one off the leaders); Conacher is one back, tied for 7th. Before anyone says anything about +/- being meaningless stats let me just pre-empt this by saying "Screw off!" That +4 +4 and +3 also happens to lead the entire Sens roster.

Don't think you need the +/- stat to determine that line has been the Sens best.

NEELY wrote:Don't think you need the +/- stat to determine that line has been the Sens best.

I don't disagree. Point was that +/- is not always a meaningless stat. If the number is high (or low) and stands out relative to others on the team, then I think it is indicative of the calibre of play.

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:Don't think you need the +/- stat to determine that line has been the Sens best.

I don't disagree.  Point was that +/- is not always a meaningless stat.  If the number is high (or low) and stands out relative to others on the team, then I think it is indicative of the calibre of play.

It's not meaningless it's just not the kind of stat you would hand out awards for. Even though I think there is such an award.

Ev wrote:Spezza needs games to get in game shape and up to game speed. That's it.

The fact that he's in the lineup is why Turris is doing so well.

The groin injury will be with him all season unless he rests it. Will it only get worse if he keeps playing?

SeawaySensFan wrote:

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:Don't think you need the +/- stat to determine that line has been the Sens best.

I don't disagree.  Point was that +/- is not always a meaningless stat.  If the number is high (or low) and stands out relative to others on the team, then I think it is indicative of the calibre of play.

It's not meaningless it's just not the kind of stat you would hand out awards for. Even though I think there is such an award.

It's a stat you use to back up an argument, but not one you base your argument on