GAME DAY: Florida Panthers @ Ottawa Senators - 7:30pm Dec. 8th, 2008

agreed. Why did Hartsburg break up the Donovan, Fisher and Verme line?

And were the Refs blatant Panther lovers!?!? Seriously, this isn't a sore-loser blaming the refs, but last night, I saw at least 3-4 blatant penalties that went unnoticed or perhaps purposely ignored... What the hell!??! And it wasn't Van Masenhoven reffing either?!?!

I just hope this is one step back and the team can follow it up with a step forward. I think we all had a feeling they were going to let off the gas for this game and now that it is done, they need to make sure they put it behind them and make forward progress in the next game.

It seems like we've had an issue with letting up after we score all season. For some reason, we can't keep the petal to the metal after we get a lead. There's just no excuse for giving up 3 leads to an injury depleted lineup like the one faced last night. Auld didn't make the timely saves last night but Anderson certainly didn't bring his "A" game either. If not for the big 3, we would have been completely dominated through 40 minutes.

A little heart-breaking to lose it in OT like that after some inspired penalty killing due to some weak calls and lack of calls going our way. How there was no call on the hook on Volch stepping out of the box is beyond me.

One last thought- although it sounds like it's going to be at least until January, seeing Jaybo last night, I'm willing to up my offer of Vermette, Lee, and SJ's first!

Vandelay wrote:I just hope this is one step back and the team can follow it up with a step forward. I think we all had a feeling they were going to let off the gas for this game and now that it is done, they need to make sure they put it behind them and make forward progress in the next game.

It seems like we've had an issue with letting up after we score all season. For some reason, we can't keep the petal to the metal after we get a lead. There's just no excuse for giving up 3 leads to an injury depleted lineup like the one faced last night. Auld didn't make the timely saves last night but Anderson certainly didn't bring his "A" game either. If not for the big 3, we would have been completely dominated through 40 minutes.

A little heart-breaking to lose it in OT like that after some inspired penalty killing due to some weak calls and lack of calls going our way. How there was no call on the hook on Volch stepping out of the box is beyond me.

One last thought- although it sounds like it's going to be at least until January, seeing Jaybo last night, I'm willing to up my offer of Vermette, Lee, and SJ's first!

Or the slash on Alfie... wasn't the reason we lose last night, but I think it's the reason we don't win...

Last night was a mediocre at best, but one cannot dispute the one-sided nature of the calls by the zebras... Truly disgusting...

However, the Sens need to bring their A game Night in and night out, no matter WHO they are facing... This seems to be a consistent issue with the team of late and Hartsburg is going to have to fix that ASAP if these boys have ANY hope of playing leap-frog in the standings.

Neely4Life wrote:

Not impossible and if I was a betting man, depending on the odds, I would put a lot on Chicago here. Everything is adding up to a blow out IMO. The Sens are walking in with no secondary scoring and Chicago is playing some of the best hockey in the league.

DOnt be shocked if its a 5-1, 6-1 game. Auld looks exhausted too.

Again, I'll take that bet. With the kind of D we've been playing for weeks (last night excepted, of course), I don't how we're suddenly good blow-out candidates.

I watch Chicago games, too, when I can. They're a fun team to watch, but they don't exactly leave me quaking with fear. It's not a particularly strong team away from the puck.

Our road record is horrendous at 3 - 5 - 2 so I'm not holding my breath for a win. How we played vs. Malkin and Crosby on Saturday is encouraging but it was a CBC game on a Saturday at home and the Sens always seem to be up and ready for games in that scenario. They need to string together some road wins and fast.

I'd hate to say it, but I think it's time Gerbs gets in there for a game or two, because as Neely pointed out, Auld looks to be getting tired...

After giving it a bit of thought it's not a bad idea Cronie :D. Seriously though perhaps it keeps the guys more focused on team defense to ensure nothing too difficult gets fired at Gerbs? I'd almost be tempted to call up Elliot just for this one game.

Can Murray call up Elliott though?
I suppose if Gerbs is still suffering through a 'nagging' injury...

Good point Cronie. I'm under the impression that they can do what they want as long as it fits under the 23 man roster but I could be wrong. If they want to use the "emergency" callup option then Gerbs would have to be "injured" but other than that I don't know.

asq2 wrote:
I won't pretend that I watch Florida very often, but I don't understand why they are/have been this bad.

They had/have a great blue-line with guys like Bouwmeester, Ballard, Allen, McCabe, Skrastins (like him tonight, too), MVR, Boynton etc., have obviously received good goaltending from Anderson and Vokoun over the years. On paper haven't had terrible offensive line-ups with guys like Jokinen, Horton, Weiss, Zednick, Stillman, Kreps, Frolik, Matthias etc.

The South-east isn't exactly a killer division, either.

Why have they been so terrible?

No identity at all. No forwards who can consistently come at teams. No Alfie, Heatley or Spezza. If you combined Ottawa's forwards with Florida's D, you've got a tremendous team.

rooneypoo wrote:
Again, I'll take that bet. With the kind of D we've been playing for weeks (last night excepted, of course), I don't how we're suddenly good blow-out candidates.

I watch Chicago games, too, when I can. They're a fun team to watch, but they don't exactly leave me quaking with fear. It's not a particularly strong team away from the puck.

They're Melanie's 2nd favourite team (and mine too I guess), so we watch them all the time - and although good, they're not 'there' yet to be the ones who blow us out. Washington might be, but let's take it one step at a time. Regroup.

Neely4Life wrote:

asq2 wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:We dont have a shot against the Hawks. That is going to be an ugly, ugly game. If the Sens keep it close I will be shocked.

That's the spirit! :D

They are playing a complete team, with a good offense, good defense, in a better conferance. I'm realistic, I dont expect the Sens to even be close on Wed night.

Hey, if The Leafs can get them to OT, why can't we?

The Sens had last night's game won on three different occasions. Auld wasn't his better self last night, letting in some bad goals. I think fatigue is setting in, and I believe we should give Gerber a shot.

The referee's, while horrible, did not make the difference. Yes they missed at least two blatant penalties (slash on Alfie, Volchenkov's trip) but the Sens should have maintained their leads. Still, the extra few powerplays might have made a difference.

Anyone watched Weiss' post game reaction on TSN? great athlete...

504Heater wrote:Frustrating game. We didn't deserve to win and we didn't really deserve to lose, but this game went against pretty much everything Hartsburg is trying to do here. End to end rushes, open ice, D caught out of position, F caught back in the offensive zone, too many icings. And to top it all off we couldn't win a faceoff unless Vermette was there.

Gotta stop you there. Spezza was winning everything in sight in the first two periods. He definitely cooled off in the third (as did the rest) but he ended up the same as Vermette (56% -- not bad, but given that he was 8-1 to start, not that great).

504Heater wrote:Average effort, really strong third until we took all those penalties.

Well, to be fair, some of those were given to us.

504Heater wrote:It felt to me like the D was off as a unit tonight. Smith was good, but he just has zero offensive skills, the rest of the guys like Bell and Picard for sure seemed to be nervous, as if for the first time it sinks in that they can't compete with a Bouwmeester - and if there's a trade, one of them sits. They were timid, lost their men a lot, made soft plays.

D had a lot of help being out of position. Except for the top line (2 goals, 2 posts) there was little there to talk about. I forget who said it before the game, but I'm beginning to agree Foligno needs to go back to Bingo. He's almost as useless as Kelly out there, except Kelly is great on the PK and has wheels.

504Heater wrote:
Throw it away, be thankful for the point, regroup and get ready to play a much more physical and grit game against the Hawks, or they will kill us.

I don't really like even bothering complaining about refs anymore, because it's really pretty rare that a ref is the root of your problems - and the refs weren't the root of our problems tonight, but how the Diddle do you possibly miss two straight blatant calls when you've just handed out 3 in a row to the Sens? What are you watching? The slash on Alfie is textbook and the trip on Volchenkov is so bloody obvious you'd have to be mentally challenged to miss it.

I really, really want refs to be treated like the players are. Every game should be reviewed and a compilation of blown calls and non-calls should be sent to te ref in question. Demerit points handed out, fines and suspensions to follow.

We've got two referees but I really want only one. Put the second one up in the pressbox to log the game -- write down the time index of every blown call to speed up the process of making the blooper reel.

rooneypoo wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:

Not impossible and if I was a betting man, depending on the odds, I would put a lot on Chicago here. Everything is adding up to a blow out IMO. The Sens are walking in with no secondary scoring and Chicago is playing some of the best hockey in the league.

DOnt be shocked if its a 5-1, 6-1 game. Auld looks exhausted too.

Again, I'll take that bet. With the kind of D we've been playing for weeks (last night excepted, of course), I don't how we're suddenly good blow-out candidates.

I watch Chicago games, too, when I can. They're a fun team to watch, but they don't exactly leave me quaking with fear. It's not a particularly strong team away from the puck.

Quaking with fear yet?

Neely4Life wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:

Not impossible and if I was a betting man, depending on the odds, I would put a lot on Chicago here. Everything is adding up to a blow out IMO. The Sens are walking in with no secondary scoring and Chicago is playing some of the best hockey in the league.

DOnt be shocked if its a 5-1, 6-1 game. Auld looks exhausted too.

Again, I'll take that bet. With the kind of D we've been playing for weeks (last night excepted, of course), I don't how we're suddenly good blow-out candidates.

I watch Chicago games, too, when I can. They're a fun team to watch, but they don't exactly leave me quaking with fear. It's not a particularly strong team away from the puck.

Quaking with fear yet?

lllloooooooooooollllll!