GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ New York Islanders - 7:00pm Nov. 29th, 2008

The Sens visit the Islanders looking to build on their 2-game winning streak and improving play of late. They are fresh off a 2-1 shootout win over the Leafs where Auld gave them a top-notch performance.

Zach Smith and Brian Lee have been called up to address injuries on the Sens' roster. Smith will play only if Donovan can't go tonight. Lee will fill in ofr Picard who won't be in the line-up.

Alex Auld gets his 8th straight start in net.

The game is listed as on MSG PLUS 2. NHL CI viewers only I think.

GO SENS GO!!!

shabbs wrote:The Sens visit the Islanders looking to build on their 2-game winning streak and improving play of late. They are fresh off a 2-1 shootout win over the Leafs where Auld gave them a top-notch performance.

Zach Smith and Brian Lee have been called up to address injuries on the Sens' roster. Smith will play only if Donovan can't go tonight. Lee will fill in ofr Picard who won't be in the line-up.

Alex Auld gets his 8th straight start in net.

The game is listed as on MSG PLUS 2. NHL CI viewers only I think.

GO SENS GO!!!

Anyone find it funny that Smith gets called up instead of Zubov? Means 1 of 2 things to me...

either Zubov is involved in a potential deal...OR...Smith is being auditioned for his role in a potential deal...

COLLAR UP wrote:

shabbs wrote:The Sens visit the Islanders looking to build on their 2-game winning streak and improving play of late. They are fresh off a 2-1 shootout win over the Leafs where Auld gave them a top-notch performance.

Zach Smith and Brian Lee have been called up to address injuries on the Sens' roster. Smith will play only if Donovan can't go tonight. Lee will fill in ofr Picard who won't be in the line-up.

Alex Auld gets his 8th straight start in net.

The game is listed as on MSG PLUS 2. NHL CI viewers only I think.

GO SENS GO!!!

Anyone find it funny that Smith gets called up instead of Zubov? Means 1 of 2 things to me...

either Zubov is involved in a potential deal...OR...Smith is being auditioned for his role in a potential deal...

Is Picard hurt? If not I think Lee is being auditioned over Smith.

Smith is taking Donovon's place. Might be just a case of needing a hard nosed grinder (Sun compares him to Mike Fisher) than an offensive minded player like Zubov. I hope neither of those two are involved in any potential deal.

Snuh wrote:

COLLAR UP wrote:

shabbs wrote:The Sens visit the Islanders looking to build on their 2-game winning streak and improving play of late. They are fresh off a 2-1 shootout win over the Leafs where Auld gave them a top-notch performance.

Zach Smith and Brian Lee have been called up to address injuries on the Sens' roster. Smith will play only if Donovan can't go tonight. Lee will fill in ofr Picard who won't be in the line-up.

Alex Auld gets his 8th straight start in net.

The game is listed as on MSG PLUS 2. NHL CI viewers only I think.

GO SENS GO!!!

Anyone find it funny that Smith gets called up instead of Zubov? Means 1 of 2 things to me...

either Zubov is involved in a potential deal...OR...Smith is being auditioned for his role in a potential deal...

Is Picard hurt? If not I think Lee is being auditioned over Smith.

Well Picard is hurt...not sure what...but you are certainly bang on...Lee is being auditioned for sure...no doubt...

Not sure that they would let go of Smith but I guess it depends on what Martin is looking for. If I had my choice, I would pick Smith over Lee.

shabbs wrote:The Sens visit the Islanders looking to build on their 2-game winning streak and improving play of late. They are fresh off a 2-1 shootout win over the Leafs where Auld gave them a top-notch performance.

Zach Smith and Brian Lee have been called up to address injuries on the Sens' roster. Smith will play only if Donovan can't go tonight. Lee will fill in ofr Picard who won't be in the line-up.

Alex Auld gets his 8th straight start in net.

The game is listed as on MSG PLUS 2. NHL CI viewers only I think.

GO SENS GO!!!

You have go to be kidding! Since the "pre" season openers in Sweden the only time the Sens were on HNIC is when they played the Leafs.

BIH CBC!

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:The Sens visit the Islanders looking to build on their 2-game winning streak and improving play of late. They are fresh off a 2-1 shootout win over the Leafs where Auld gave them a top-notch performance.

Zach Smith and Brian Lee have been called up to address injuries on the Sens' roster. Smith will play only if Donovan can't go tonight. Lee will fill in ofr Picard who won't be in the line-up.

Alex Auld gets his 8th straight start in net.

The game is listed as on MSG PLUS 2. NHL CI viewers only I think.

GO SENS GO!!!

You have go to be kidding! Since the "pre" season openers in Sweden the only time the Sens were on HNIC is when they played the Leafs.

BIH CBC!

I don't understand this league. If I were commissioner, I would mandate all games to be televised for free. Enough of this PPV, alternate channel, Center Ice only garbage. How does this league expect exposure when you can't watch their games; and we live in a massive hockey market.

Ridiculous.

I am very annoyed by this as well

TheAvatar wrote:I am very annoyed by this as well

Make you wonder how much the NHL is getting from CI and the NHL Network, after the middleman gets his cut. Couldn't be *that* much, could it?

Game is available online http://www.atdhe.net/#

The could also be a reward for Smith for playing so well down in Bingo. Zubov has a a few games, giving Smith 1 or 2 is a good way to get everyone on Bingo to work harder and know a reward may come your way.

All that said, if this had trade implications it would not surprise me either. Im just looking forward to seeing Smith play tonight.

I do think Lee is being show cased though, it just doesnt make sense him coming up with Schubert there as well to play D. It was basically a choice between bring up Zubov or Lee in all honesty because Shubert wouldnt be playing up front and he would slip back to play that 5, 6 man role.

spezza rules! wrote:Game is available online http://www.atdhe.net/#

Not sure what's better, watching it on a 15-year-old 17" CRT monitor (used to be top-of-the-line or re-watch the Sens/Leafs overtime/shootout victory in high-def on a 57" screen. At least with the Leafs game I'm guaranteed a victory. Then again, as ticked as the Isles will be after the blowout, they'll be tired and full of turkey farts. So, at the risk of jinxing it, that's probably just as ... umm, better not.

What to do, what to do.

So, checking the standings, the Sens have clawed their way into 10th, behind Buffalo and Carolina for the last playoff spot. We've got 3 games in hand on Carolina and 6 points behind them. A nice little winning streak would do nicely right now. Let's not forget that we have only won two in a row, one against the Leafs in a shootout. We've scored fewer goals than we've let in, even though we're leading the Conference (and 2nd in the league) in goals against.

This is a really odd year. The team that led the league in scoring the last three years (?) is now tied for *league-worst* in that category.

In a way, this is a much better position to find ourselves in than last year.
1. Goal is the least of our worries. In fact our goalie is 3rd in GAA and 5th in SV%.
2. We are playing well defensively, even though we did not start the year that well (Lee had to be sent down, Schubert had to be benched, and Picard wasn't playing well). In other words our defensive play is even better than the stats show.
3. Goals will come. With better play from Picard and the callup of Bell, we have three defensemen capable of moving the puck. By putting a forward on the back-end of the 2nd PP unit we can stop using Phillips back there and get even better production from the powerplay.

We now have three defensemen capable of moving the puck. Not elite by any stretch, but certainly good enough. Maybe it's time to split Philchenkov and get O/D in each pairing.

Donovan not playing (IceChips).