GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Florida Panthers - 7:30pm ET - Wed. Oct. 28th, 2009

wprager wrote:Maybe Campoli will play like he did last year when paired with Kuba? We kept saying how Campoli was not a good partner for Karlsson, but perhaps it goes both ways.

Undoubtedly, but Karlsson with Kuba IMO has the potential, even this year, of being better than Campoli and Kuba. So, it'd be better long-term and short-term. Part of me thinks it's Murray trying to justify the NYI trade.

This will be my last post on the issue, though. What's done is done.

With Karlsson out of the picture Campoli will get a chance to shine. While I still think that we are not going to see Karlsson back this season, what if Murray gets a call about Campoli? It would be weird, but it could happen.

Game day!! GO SENS GO!!

Sens win 5-2

If Leclaire is over his flu then he's not going to let in 2 goals. Kuba isn't going to be anywhere near game shape, but his game relies more on positioning and long stick than foot speed and physicality. He's likely to still struggle a bit, but I don't think our overall defensive play will suffer much tonight, and it will improve going forward. And that's not taking anything away from Karlsson.

Go Sens!

asq2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Maybe Campoli will play like he did last year when paired with Kuba? We kept saying how Campoli was not a good partner for Karlsson, but perhaps it goes both ways.

Undoubtedly, but Karlsson with Kuba IMO has the potential, even this year, of being better than Campoli and Kuba. So, it'd be better long-term and short-term. Part of me thinks it's Murray trying to justify the NYI trade.

This will be my last post on the issue, though. What's done is done.

I just pray that Murray isn't sending high picks out for stop-gaps again this season (I'm looking right at you, Campoli). I'm totally not interested in trying to squeak into the playoffs only to get our asses rocked by a real contender.

hemlock wrote:

asq2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Maybe Campoli will play like he did last year when paired with Kuba? We kept saying how Campoli was not a good partner for Karlsson, but perhaps it goes both ways.

Undoubtedly, but Karlsson with Kuba IMO has the potential, even this year, of being better than Campoli and Kuba. So, it'd be better long-term and short-term. Part of me thinks it's Murray trying to justify the NYI trade.

This will be my last post on the issue, though. What's done is done.

I just pray that Murray isn't sending high picks out for stop-gaps again this season (I'm looking right at you, Campoli). I'm totally not interested in trying to squeak into the playoffs only to get our asses rocked by a real contender.

i view us as a playoff team without any trades. i hope if there's trades to be made it's sending players out for picks.

i have a feeling we're gonna be on top of it tonight. coming off of 2 loss and the PP drills clouston was working on... i'd say we lead by 2, maybe 3 goals.

Flo The Action wrote:

hemlock wrote:

asq2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Maybe Campoli will play like he did last year when paired with Kuba? We kept saying how Campoli was not a good partner for Karlsson, but perhaps it goes both ways.

Undoubtedly, but Karlsson with Kuba IMO has the potential, even this year, of being better than Campoli and Kuba. So, it'd be better long-term and short-term. Part of me thinks it's Murray trying to justify the NYI trade.

This will be my last post on the issue, though. What's done is done.

I just pray that Murray isn't sending high picks out for stop-gaps again this season (I'm looking right at you, Campoli). I'm totally not interested in trying to squeak into the playoffs only to get our asses rocked by a real contender.

i view us as a playoff team without any trades. i hope if there's trades to be made it's sending players out for picks.

i have a feeling we're gonna be on top of it tonight. coming off of 2 loss and the PP drills clouston was working on... i'd say we lead by 2, maybe 3 goals.

I think we could be a playoff team, provided everything comes together and we can avoid long stretches of bad play. Florida is definitely a team we should be beating if we want to be a playoff team though.

I agree about the picks, although I'd settle for blue-chip prospects.

Love the stats breakdown Shabbs. I think it would be cool if you added the two teams all time record versus each other.

GO SENS GO!!!

Florida is a team we should be beating, true. Nashville with the lowest goal total in the league and with its best scorer out of the lineup was a team we should have beat. A struggling Bruins team with no Lucic or Savard was a team we should have beaten. I hope the pattern doesn't continue.

I hate to say it, but "replacing" Karlsson with Kuba will give us a little more stability on defense. Perhaps that will be enough to stop us from giving up 0-3 first-10-minute leads or giving up 2 goals with under 2 minutes to go. Because, really, that's the reason for the losses.

As for the powerplay, I don't know if practicing it for 90 minutes straight is going to do anything but get them even more tense. They've got to relax -- forget about the set plays which only serve to tighten the grip on the stick (as they try to remember everything they learned in the drills). Forget the routine, just crash the net and shoot the puck, sometimes reverse the order.

hoping for a W tonight and tomorrow against the florida teams, Montreal and Boston are nipping at our heels now, sure it's early, but with games in hand, these are the times you don't want to squander important points, that could hurt come March or April.

Thing is, Alfie was playing the point in practise. I am okay with that personally. Our top line often plays 1:45 of a full powerplay anyway, might as well stack it with our best players. I have always thought Alfie has done well back there. He had one costly defensive lapse in the playoffs a couple of years ago, other than that he is solid. He also gets the shot through and on net most often which is something that has been missing.

Florida scares me. They had our number last year. Granted it was Anderson we couldn't score on, and now he's in Colorado. But their forechecking system seems to fluster our defense and their fast breaks seem to confuse our team.

Last year we were 1-2-1 against them. 8 goals for, 13 goals against.

In the preseason, we went 0-2 against them and only managed to score a total of 2 goals against them, while they scored 5 against us.

This is not going to be an easy game for us, I'm not very optimistic. I believe our boys can pull this out, it's just a matter of getting a few bounces, and having a steady attack from our 3 scoring lines.

Geez, Montreal is on a 4 game winning streak. They've got 12 points (same as us) and more wins. I thought wins was the first tie-breaker, meaning the Habs would slide into 2nd ahead of us in the Division, but we're still in 2nd according to NHL.com. Yeah, we have 2 games in hand but we still have to win them, starting tonight.

wprager wrote:Geez, Montreal is on a 4 game winning streak. They've got 12 points (same as us) and more wins. I thought wins was the first tie-breaker, meaning the Habs would slide into 2nd ahead of us in the Division, but we're still in 2nd according to NHL.com. Yeah, we have 2 games in hand but we still have to win them, starting tonight.

agreed, time to invoke the "Talk is Cheap" slogan again, get out there and win, win dirty if you have to, if this team is trying to play up to the blue collar team persona, they have to get back to it and play hard for 60 minutes.

Bass Destruction wrote:Florida scares me. They had our number last year. Granted it was Anderson we couldn't score on, and now he's in Colorado. But their forechecking system seems to fluster our defense and their fast breaks seem to confuse our team.

Last year we were 1-2-1 against them. 8 goals for, 13 goals against.

In the preseason, we went 0-2 against them and only managed to score a total of 2 goals against them, while they scored 5 against us.

This is not going to be an easy game for us, I'm not very optimistic. I believe our boys can pull this out, it's just a matter of getting a few bounces, and having a steady attack from our 3 scoring lines.

In the pre-season we were still largely fiddling around with lines and getting all the new players (Kovalev, Cheechoo, Michalek, Carkner, Karlsson) adjusting to the team. Plus a lot of the Bingo boys were still here. In other words, it's apples and oranges.

Now, are our apples better than the Florida oranges? Time will tell.

Go Sens!

Bass Destruction wrote:Florida scares me. They had our number last year. Granted it was Anderson we couldn't score on, and now he's in Colorado. But their forechecking system seems to fluster our defense and their fast breaks seem to confuse our team.

Last year we were 1-2-1 against them. 8 goals for, 13 goals against.

In the preseason, we went 0-2 against them and only managed to score a total of 2 goals against them, while they scored 5 against us.

This is not going to be an easy game for us, I'm not very optimistic. I believe our boys can pull this out, it's just a matter of getting a few bounces, and having a steady attack from our 3 scoring lines.

Again, that's a product of playing on the perimeter and letting goalies see every friggin shot, even on 5 on 3s!!!!

Until Clouston starts insisting that someone parks himself in front of that net sometimes (at least) we will be kidding ourselves about "hot goalies" and a "snakebitten" powerplay.

Instead of relying on bounces and other forms of luck we have to create our own chances and capitalize on some of them. Enough of this apologist Dung!

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Bass Destruction wrote:Florida scares me. They had our number last year. Granted it was Anderson we couldn't score on, and now he's in Colorado. But their forechecking system seems to fluster our defense and their fast breaks seem to confuse our team.

Last year we were 1-2-1 against them. 8 goals for, 13 goals against.

In the preseason, we went 0-2 against them and only managed to score a total of 2 goals against them, while they scored 5 against us.

This is not going to be an easy game for us, I'm not very optimistic. I believe our boys can pull this out, it's just a matter of getting a few bounces, and having a steady attack from our 3 scoring lines.

Again, that's a product of playing on the perimeter and letting goalies see every friggin shot, even on 5 on 3s!!!!

Until Clouston starts insisting that someone parks himself in front of that net sometimes (at least) we will be kidding ourselves about "hot goalies" and a "snakebitten" powerplay.

Instead of relying on bounces and other forms of luck we have to create our own chances and capitalize on some of them. Enough of this apologist Dung!

now's the time to try Neil in front of the net again on the PP, it's been awhile since a coach in Ottawa did that, but am pretty certain it was effective.