Game Day: Habs at Sens March 19 2009

Urkie wrote:Spezza played great and of course it comes after I criticize him to death. We still saw a glimpse of the old or real Spezza during the last minute of the game though. He should have just flicked that puck out instead of trying to get Heater a goal.

Elliott was okay but he gave up some big rebounds and at times looked kind of shaky. Elliott is close but I think there are still too many question marks with him and that's why Leclaire was brought in.

Overall it was a good win. Any win over the Habs is always good win

Never fear. With Leclaire's injury history, Elliott should get a good number of starts.

He was okay tonight, some goals to give the Habs some life, but he didn't get much help in the 2nd. One questionable goal that I can think of - and he gets to watch that DVD over and over to correct it.

Leclaire is nice to have coming in. Kind of a win-win, if he's good, that's great, if he gets hurt or sucks, Elliott's showing he has the goods to play a hefty amount of games I think.

I knew Campoli didn't play much but he only played 13 or 14 minutes. He must be in the dog house now.

davetherave wrote:Yeah, and I'm STILL watching the games...went from Sens-Habs (flipping to the Panthers game during TV breaks) to Blues-Nucks to Sharks-Preds...

...now hopelessly addicted to hockey in HD LOL.
:pirat:

Yeah, I was watching the shootout in Phoenix. Boo (for the Sens). Started to get 'hockeyed-out' with the SJ/Preds game. Might go back to it for the end.

Urkie wrote:I knew Campoli didn't play much but he only played 13 or 14 minutes. He must be in the dog house now.

He had the worst first and second since he's been here. Him and Bell were dying out there defensively. And they were the 3rd pairing, so they were up against some big, big dudes.

Not a great night for either. I suspect Clouston shortened his D bench for the 3rd.

One of the questions Mike Eastwood brought up in the pregame on The Team was how the coaches evaluate the Sens' talent now that they are playing better under Clouston.

Eastie (no stranger to struggling teams, and not afraid to call it as he sees it) said the evaluation is being made on the basis of the entire last year and a half.

He also said management understands how some players are performing better now that there is no pressure to make the playoffs.

It'll be VERY interesting to see the result.

504Heater wrote:

Urkie wrote:I knew Campoli didn't play much but he only played 13 or 14 minutes. He must be in the dog house now.

He had the worst first and second since he's been here. Him and Bell were dying out there defensively. And they were the 3rd pairing, so they were up against some big, big dudes.

Not a great night for either. I suspect Clouston shortened his D bench for the 3rd.

He was pretty bad but he shouldn't be paired up with Bell either. That's just asking for some trouble in the defensive zone.

I remember Campoli making a pretty good play in the 3rd period though. The Habs player had an open net to shoot in to and he got his stick on it. I'm sure he'll play better next game though. This was really his first terrible game.

Urkie wrote:He was pretty bad but he shouldn't be paired up with Bell either. That's just asking for some trouble in the defensive zone.

I remember Campoli making a pretty good play in the 3rd period though. The Habs player had an open net to shoot in to and he got his stick on it. I'm sure he'll play better next game though. This was really his first terrible game.

Oh yeah! I had forgotten about that, he pretty much saved the game there. He'll be fine, I'm 100% certain. Smaller offencive D-men sometimes have games like that, then bounce back with a 3 point night and fuel the PP.

Your point is good - get him away from Bell - and get Bell away from him or I'll be

davetherave wrote:One of the questions Mike Eastwood brought up in the pregame on The Team was how the coaches evaluate the Sens' talent now that they are playing better under Clouston.

Eastie (no stranger to struggling teams, and not afraid to call it as he sees it) said the evaluation is being made on the basis of the entire last year and a half.

He also said management understands how some players are performing better now that there is no pressure to make the playoffs.

It'll be VERY interesting to see the result.

Can't argue with that. Also can't argue that the pressure was there to wake the Diddle up with yet another coach coming in - and that they answered the bell.

I'm in for whatever B.Murray has in store. I'd rather not see a big name go, but we're getting stronger and stronger with guys like Shannon, Foligno, Kuba etc. etc. stepping up. I also think Winchester has found an excellent niche on this team. A very important role.

So if something happens, at least I'll feel pretty comfortable that we'll have a good, talented and hard working team going forward.

IMHO one of the keys to knowing where Ottawa is and needs to be, is to take a VERY realistic look at the Sens' depth chart and stack it up alongside the depth charts of every single team in the league...

BTW I'm watching the Sharks and Preds knotted at two in OT. Trotz has done an amazing job with them. And Rinne is outrageous.

davetherave wrote:IMHO one of the keys to knowing where Ottawa is and needs to be, is to take a VERY realistic look at the Sens' depth chart and stack it up alongside the depth charts of every single team in the league...

BTW I'm watching the Sharks and Preds knotted at two in OT. Trotz has done an amazing job with them. And Rinne is outrageous.

Rinne is gonna start to challenge Mason soon for the Calder. He's unreal.

Mariposa Belle wrote:wprager - I am a Senators supporter and read your post.

I remain a Senators supporter and am convinced that you are an idiot. The proof being sending Lee down to Sweden and bringing Karlsson up from the Land of the Free.

If they weren't playing hockey, what were they playing? Hurley?

Whoa, a bit much no? Talking like that ensures that people won't take anything you say seriously.

Rebounds are OK, as long as the D is there to sweep them away and the game's not on TSN

Neely: just to be clear: I agree with your point on Elliott not giving up bad goals at the wrong time. All I said (all I meant) was that two of those goals he'd like another stab at.

Urkie wrote:Spezza played great and of course it comes after I criticize him to death. We still saw a glimpse of the old or real Spezza during the last minute of the game though. He should have just flicked that puck out instead of trying to get Heater a goal.

Elliott was okay but he gave up some big rebounds and at times looked kind of shaky. Elliott is close but I think there are still too many question marks with him and that's why Leclaire was brought in.

Overall it was a good win. Any win over the Habs is always good win

I agree with that.

I didnt think bell had that bad of a game he made a nice play to get ruutu the puck before ruutu pulled out all those sweet moves. and he had a solid first

it was an ugly win, but hey, a win is a win, I am wearing my Spezza jersey today just to bug the Montreal fans, will be rooting big time now for Florida to knock Montreal out of the playoffs as it seems Buffalo is falling off the pace.

SensFan71 wrote:it was an ugly win, but hey, a win is a win, I am wearing my Spezza jersey today just to bug the Montreal fans, will be rooting big time now for Florida to knock Montreal out of the playoffs as it seems Buffalo is falling off the pace.

For sure, I felt like throwing up a few times during that game.

What's with the Habs fans Ole-ing in the first minute of the game. I can't believe they're still being punks like that when they are clearly in some serious trouble.

The plus side for Montreal is that they are playing pretty weak teams in their remaining games, not that that really means anything with the way they've been playing lately.

When is Kovalev going to get shipped out of there, that guy doesn't give two Dung about that team, I'm surprised Gainey kept playing him last night, especially in the final 1:30 of the game. Stupid much? He was clearly the worst player on their team last night, and should have been benched right away. He needs to get out of there, and soon. They certainly won't win with him.

SensGirl11 wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:it was an ugly win, but hey, a win is a win, I am wearing my Spezza jersey today just to bug the Montreal fans, will be rooting big time now for Florida to knock Montreal out of the playoffs as it seems Buffalo is falling off the pace.

For sure, I felt like throwing up a few times during that game.

What's with the Habs fans Ole-ing in the first minute of the game. I can't believe they're still being punks like that when they are clearly in some serious trouble.

The plus side for Montreal is that they are playing pretty weak teams in their remaining games, not that that really means anything with the way they've been playing lately.

When is Kovalev going to get shipped out of there, that guy doesn't give two Dung about that team, I'm surprised Gainey kept playing him last night, especially in the final 1:30 of the game. Stupid much? He was clearly the worst player on their team last night, and should have been benched right away. He needs to get out of there, and soon. They certainly won't win with him.

that is all they have to cling to as the wheels are falling off their team, it's much like how Ottawa's last half of a season went last year, and it won't matter who they play if Price is in net, his confidence is shattered, he won't be able to stop a beach ball at this point. Kovy doesn't care anymore is right, Gainey can't care either or he would be starting Halak every game except back to back games. ole, ole, ole indeed, enjoy losing your playoff spot, enjoy your 100th season you idiots in Montreal.

marakh wrote:The Best achievement this team had since Clouston came in is all those Defensemen shooting the puck from the blue line. Talk about metamorphosis.

Even better if the fact that defensemen are now aggressive again, standing people up at the blue line, holding the offensive blue line, etc. Never saw that earlier this year.