GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs :: 7:00pm ET :: Sat. Feb. 1st, 2014

shabbs wrote:So no further action for Kadri then...

NEELY wrote:You can always do something to make yourself noticed and establish some sort momentum or game plan.  That hit changed everything and Spezza as the captain as to either make a play (which he's paid to do) or do something out of the ordinary and say "I'm here guys, lets go".  Yah, he's too slow for 5 on 5 hockey and on the road teams feast on his line because you are almost guaranteed an odd man rush with him on the ice but he still has to show he gives a damn.

Spezza is the captain and people forget about that because he has been embarrassingly bad 5 on 5 all year, he needs to step up in one form or another.  I don't want to say he doesn't care because I don't think that's the case but he refuses to do anything that he's not comfortable doing... that could be standing in front of the net, throwing a punch, back checking, something.  Fact is he only works hard at what he's good at and that's shooting the puck, working the 1/2 wall, or trying to make a play when he has the puck.  That's all well and good but that's about 25% of the game being played and there's 75% more than he just refuses to play.  

I won't get into the Phillips things because I think everyone knows he has lost a step but fact is his role is minor compared to Spezza.  Until they move on from Spezza this team will just keep spinning it's tires and Spezza's bad habits will trickle down to everyone else who will get sh*t on for doing the exact same thing.  Spezza isn't a cancer but he's ailment that needs to be removed from the Sens organization.  

If they move forward next year with Spezza as the captain they may as well just tell everyone they are ok with mediocrity.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

shabbs wrote:So no further action for Kadri then...

Business as usual in the Big Smoke.

Michallica wrote:Sooo my thoughts on this debacle.....

We got jobbed with that non-call on kadri.  Sens getting called for all the chintzy penalties and how that kadri hit was not a penalty in the refs eyes (or they missed it) is unacceptable.  We had zero PPs at that point in the game as well and that call is not even marginal, it's called all the bloody time.  Minimum 2-min boarding call.

What also infuriated me was Mr. Anderson and his comments.  STFU and make a damn save.  The game was 2-2 and this asswipe of a goalie buries his team mates while ignoring that he could have possibly made some saves.  Just don't come out and say Dung even if you didn't have a chance on the goals.

And finally....what is it with the ottawa senators franchise and intestinal fortitude?  Why can't these guys ever play 'mad' and with a chip on their shoulder?  We lost the cup finals in large part to the ducks getting pissed off with alfie shooting the puck at neidermeyer.  That game 4 was tied 2-2 at the end of the 2nd period when that play happened.  Why this franchise has never come to play for their team mates is beyond me at this point.  Same Dung in 2003 game 7......couldn't win it for a dying roger neilson yet the devils came back and won the game for a crying joe niewendyk who got injured in the game.  

/rant

Hoags wrote:I'm more worried about how they folded and gave up after the Kadri hit.  Anderson's comments don't help but he may be trying to direct team focus to their own internal problems rather than blame the refs for the loss.  Anderson hasn't been all that good but he has been hung out to dry many times as well so there's probably some frustration in there.

It's been a long time since they beat the Leafs on HNIC so I expected a loss.  I don't think it's a leadership because when Alfie was here we'd Dung the bed against them as well.

NEELY wrote:
It's not a leadership thing because Neil showed what leadership and an understanding of the situation can do for a team.  It's the captain and to a lesser extent a mentally fragile #1 goaltender.  Spezza 5 on 5 is killing the Sens.

NEELY wrote:Anderson is a small problem that could turn into a larger one for sure and IMO he's a guy that will get moved in the off season to the Panthers when Thomas retires and they are left with no one.  Easy resign for them as well and gives them stability.

Spezza, yah until they move on from him be it a trade or simply letting his contract run out the Sens will just flutter around where they are, in a good year they might finish 2nd or 3rd in the division but will lose out to the teams where everyone has bought in.  Does anyone really view him as the captain?  Does anyone really believe any success the Sens have had this season isn't because of Turris and Karlsson?  They need to move on from Spezza, it hasn't worked for 10 years with him at his peak so it's not going to work in the next 5-10 years going forward.  

Murray doesn't have the balls to do it.

shabbs wrote:Anderson's not wrong there though, Leafs always seemed to have a guy coming into the slot wide open for a quickie.

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Anderson's not wrong there though, Leafs always seemed to have a guy coming into the slot wide open for a quickie.

He was wrong in airing it out in public.

Hoags wrote:I'm more worried about how they folded and gave up after the Kadri hit.  Anderson's comments don't help but he may be trying to direct team focus to their own internal problems rather than blame the refs for the loss.  Anderson hasn't been all that good but he has been hung out to dry many times as well so there's probably some frustration in there.

It's been a long time since they beat the Leafs on HNIC so I expected a loss.  I don't think it's a leadership because when Alfie was here we'd Dung the bed against them as well.

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:
And finally....what is it with the ottawa senators franchise and intestinal fortitude?  Why can't these guys ever play 'mad' and with a chip on their shoulder?  We lost the cup finals in large part to the ducks getting pissed off with alfie shooting the puck at neidermeyer.  That game 4 was tied 2-2 at the end of the 2nd period when that play happened.  Why this franchise has never come to play for their team mates is beyond me at this point.  Same Dung in 2003 game 7......couldn't win it for a dying roger neilson yet the devils came back and won the game for a crying joe niewendyk who got injured in the game.  

/rant

Look who is leading the charge right now.  Neil gets it, he's been here for over 10 years and look what he did on Saturday night.  Right now this team is like a guy with a pacemaker, it's heart is fine as long as everything is going according to plan but one little thing goes wrong and it could be a disaster.  Time to get a new heart though and that's getting rid of Spezza.  You need guys that give a damn and show it, Spezza might care but not enough to be considered the leader.  Saturday night, HNIC, Leafs/Sens, both playing to get into the playoffs, that was Spezza's chance to make a statement... he made one and it's couldn't have been worse.