GDT - Game #33: Sens @ Blackhawks, Dec 20, 2016, 8:30pm

PTFlea wrote:Damn...what a white knuckle third.  I can't believe we hung in,  thanks mostly to Condon in that third.  

Massive win!

He's been real solid. He had 2 or 3 bad games in the last 10, but he's been real good otherwise. I picked him up in my fantasy pools and haven't looked back.

spader wrote:

PTFlea wrote:Damn...what a white knuckle third.  I can't believe we hung in,  thanks mostly to Condon in that third.  

Massive win!

He's been real solid. He had 2 or 3 bad games in the last 10, but he's been real good otherwise. I picked him up in my fantasy pools and haven't looked back.

Geez, no kidding. The guy is making the most of his opportunity. Amazing stop on Kruger initially when Kruger went sliding into him on the partial brake. Beauty stop on the penalty shot. Great competitiveness to stay with a couple of those goalmouth scrambles too.

5th round pick keeps giving on this guy! I'd re-sign him if given the opportunity, who knows...he could be the next

Definitely wish I could have watched this one.
Bobby Ryan with another goal. Clearly heating up.

Phaneuf going to the front of the net on the PP is really working well.

Yeah, the refs were garbage. Also, I'd like that Panik guy to get a kick in the nuts.

The thing I was most impressed by last night was how the Sens kept being aggressive even when they were up by two goals...I don't remember ever seeing them play like that in recent memory. It was awesome.

tim1_2 wrote:Yeah, the refs were garbage.  Also, I'd like that Panik guy to get a kick in the nuts.

The thing I was most impressed by last night was how the Sens kept being aggressive even when they were up by two goals...I don't remember ever seeing them play like that in recent memory.  It was awesome.  

I thought that too until the third when they really seemed to get in trouble by the Hawks laying it all out on the line. It's not surprising the Hawks did, but it really should have been tied in the 3rd. Great job by Condon and then you have to look at the team including Boucher for making sure the players keep opposition to the outside of the home area.

Very nice.

On another note, how much is Panarin gonna be paid this summer? Mad money coming to him. Like...7 million per season on a long term.

Boucher had a quick, closed-door meeting with the players after the win against the Islanders. I really like what he's doing so far. Hopefully he maintains an even keel as much as possible and has great staying power.

PTFlea wrote:Sorry, how did the hawks not dominate the third?  I watched thr whole game and was impressed to hell with Ottawa,  but the hawks clearly ramped it up in the third.  Condon had to save the game.

Just because the hawks got the majority of chances in the 3rd doesn't equate to domination. They also got gifted that penalty shot, and clearly got away with a lot towards the end. I thought the sens were poised for most of it, it wasn't like the usual times when they run around like a headless chicken. Chicago was going to come out swinging, we knew that. Condon was great too, but it's unfair to label this as a domination by the hawks in the 3rd.

The Hawks certainly didn't "dominate" the 3rd, but they were outplaying us a bit. Who cares. We were the better team for the majority of the night, and we got the result we wanted. It was great.

tim1_2 wrote:Boucher had a quick, closed-door meeting with the players after the win against the Islanders. I really like what he's doing so far.  Hopefully he maintains an even keel as much as possible and has great staying power.

I think you touched on an important point here. If there's anything that's been missing since Alfredsson left this team is that there isn't much stability in anything the sens have done. There isn't much team identity and hopefully Boucher is installing something that the team can grow to identify with. A winning mentality linked to he system I guess.

By the way, Condon was interviewed and said the third goal was all on him and he felt he had to make up for it on that penalty shot. That's a refreshing change from "Perfect shot, 12" off the ice".

tim1_2 wrote:The Hawks certainly didn't "dominate" the 3rd, but they were outplaying us a bit.  Who cares.  We were the better team for the majority of the night, and we got the result we wanted.  It was great.

Well, they entered the period trailing by 2 goals so, yeah, they had to push, whereas the Sens were more concerned with defending. It's natural. Overall, though, the Sens held them to 26 shots on goal (they were averaging almost 29) and outshot them by a small margin. It was not total domination (it could have been if Hoffman buried his two chances) but they were, on-balance, the better team.

Hoff-Machine wrote:

PTFlea wrote:Sorry, how did the hawks not dominate the third?  I watched thr whole game and was impressed to hell with Ottawa,  but the hawks clearly ramped it up in the third.  Condon had to save the game.

Just because the hawks got the majority of chances in the 3rd doesn't equate to domination.  They also got gifted that penalty shot, and clearly got away with a lot towards the end.  I thought the sens were poised for most of it, it wasn't like the usual times when they run around like a headless chicken.  Chicago was going to come out swinging, we knew that.  Condon was great too, but it's unfair to label this as a domination by the hawks in the 3rd.  

As long as we won, I don't really care. I thought the Hawks were flying at us in the 3rd, outshooting us 11-4 IIRC, but we bent and didn't break. Condon had a heck of a night and the Sens players kept the Hawks to the perimeter most of the time - which is so neat to see after the lack of structure the past few years.

While it's great that Ryan's last goal did not involve a painful bounce off some part of his anatomy, I think it's great how many of the team's goals in the recent past have been "lucky" bounces. The clear results of going to the net and creating traffic in front of the goalie. It's a lot more difficult to get Vezina level goaltending with big bodies going to the crease.

wprager wrote:While it's great that Ryan's last goal did not involve a painful bounce off some part of his anatomy, I think it's great how many of the team's goals in the recent past have been "lucky" bounces. The clear results of going to the net and creating traffic in front of the goalie. It's a lot more difficult to get Vezina level goaltending with big bodies going to the crease.

Indeed. There haven't been many pretty goals lately, but whatever. Keep the Ws coming.