GAME DAY:Philadelphia Flyers @ Ottawa Senators– 7:30PM EST, Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

rooneypoo wrote:

N4L wrote:Im hoping he does because I think he is literally the difference between winning a round and losing.

I agree.

Talk to me about playoff Kovalev. When the playoffs come, I pretty much limit myself to following a few teams, and MTL isn't really one of them, so I've never really seen much of him in the playoffs. Does Kovalev thrive in the postseason, or is it just another time of the year for him to go hot & cold, just as he feels?

I've followed the last MTL playoffs and most nights he was the best MTL player, when it wasn't Carey Price.

TheAvatar wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I think this might be something that Alfie, Spezza, Kovalev etc. need to figure out for themselves by reviewing tape over and over again. It has to be something when the Flyers and Habs have some of the top ranked PPs in the league. Pronger adds a massive dimension obviously, but just watching them in action, then re-watching your PPs would probably be a good start.

There's so much talent...it will be righted soon...right?

We're 74 games into the season. Our p-play has been at the bottom of the league basically since the beginning. I don't believe it will automatically, magically fix itself overnight. I'm sorry I think we need some help; divine or other ...

What's funny is, MTL's powerplay is like 23% when MA Bergeron is playing, and like 13% when he's not.
For the SEns, it's awful, whoever is on the ice.

By the way, Hofman was 1st star last night.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:
Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Don't look at me man, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just re-iterating what this St.John fan is saying. I've heard it more than once that he has a very Heatley-esq release, which is a good thing to say the least. Apparently he can skate as well, which is a hell of a lot better than Heatley who used to skate like he was pushing a walker.

I think there's zero chance of Hoffman making the NHL next year, in fact, I think it's laughable. He needs to leave the sniper-friendly confines of the Q and make some noise in the AHL for a full year before even getting consideration IMO.

Just as well, maybe he'll be ready just in time for Kovalev's departure.

Yeah, that's an interesting point, if we don't re-sign Kovalev - which I assume we won't - then there'll be a massive spot open on the Sens roster. Petersson, Hoffman, Silfverberg, Cowick etc. will all have an amazing opportunity if they can strut their stuff.

If that happens that way, perhaps the Sens finally have the $$ to get that top pairing D-man - or by then, who knows, maybe Karlsson and Cowen are filling that bill with Wiercioch trying to get in as well.

I think the future is bright here and I hope it all works out the way we're all kind of counting on. It would be refreshing to see a bigger influx of electric young talent like Kalrsson, Regin etc.

I've been preeching this for so long, not specifically Hoffman, but the Sens future in general. 2011-12 will be the year that I think Ottawa makes a legit run at the cup. Karlsson, Regin, Cowen, Lee, Elliott, Foligno, and Smith will all be hitting the beginning of their peaks while Wiercioch, and Lehner will likely be very solid rookies. We'll have Alfie who'll be in his last season, hopefully a finisher to play with a mature Spezza a la Gagne, and the right role players in Neil and Fisher in place. Add in a Hoffman, Silfverberg, or Pederson and that legit goal scorer and we're going to be REALLY solid.

Kovalfie wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:
Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Don't look at me man, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just re-iterating what this St.John fan is saying. I've heard it more than once that he has a very Heatley-esq release, which is a good thing to say the least. Apparently he can skate as well, which is a hell of a lot better than Heatley who used to skate like he was pushing a walker.

I think there's zero chance of Hoffman making the NHL next year, in fact, I think it's laughable. He needs to leave the sniper-friendly confines of the Q and make some noise in the AHL for a full year before even getting consideration IMO.

Just as well, maybe he'll be ready just in time for Kovalev's departure.

Yeah, that's an interesting point, if we don't re-sign Kovalev - which I assume we won't - then there'll be a massive spot open on the Sens roster. Petersson, Hoffman, Silfverberg, Cowick etc. will all have an amazing opportunity if they can strut their stuff.

If that happens that way, perhaps the Sens finally have the $$ to get that top pairing D-man - or by then, who knows, maybe Karlsson and Cowen are filling that bill with Wiercioch trying to get in as well.

I think the future is bright here and I hope it all works out the way we're all kind of counting on. It would be refreshing to see a bigger influx of electric young talent like Kalrsson, Regin etc.

I've been preeching this for so long, not specifically Hoffman, but the Sens future in general. 2011-12 will be the year that I think Ottawa makes a legit run at the cup. Karlsson, Regin, Cowen, Lee, Elliott, Foligno, and Smith will all be hitting the beginning of their peaks while Wiercioch, and Lehner will likely be very solid rookies. We'll have Alfie who'll be in his last season, hopefully a finisher to play with a mature Spezza a la Gagne, and the right role players in Neil and Fisher in place. Add in a Hoffman, Silfverberg, or Pederson and that legit goal scorer and we're going to be REALLY solid.

We'll probably be better depth-wise, but just in the east alone, when you see what the Capitals have in their system (neuvirth, varlamov, carlson, alzner etc) + what they already have (no big deal, just the best offense in the league), it's gonna be hard to compete against them.
I'm not even talking about teams like LA, St Louis, Vancouver etc.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Urkie wrote:I don't know if it's been brought up by anybody but the amount of whining the Flyers fans are doing over on HF is laughable. All of their players are apparently little angels.

I said it to them and I'll keep repeating it:

The refs did everything in their power to even up the game. They gave the Flyers a 5 on 3 for 2 full minutes and they Flyers had back to back power-plays to end the game. It's not our fault that their PP looked like ours (crappy) and that no one took the initiative to...I don't know...score?

Come on, be honest now: someone from another team gives one of our guys (say, Alfie) that exact same hit Volchenkov gave Gagne, and then that other team turns around and scores immediately after, and you'd be f'ing pissed, too.

Volchenkov could have easily been called for a penalty there, rightly or wrongly, and given our luck with the zebras we were fortunate to have to goal stand. And that reviewed non-goal, well, that's as close as it gets -- I wouldn't have be surprised if it had been called a goal or a non-goal.

If I were a PHI fan, I'd be doing a bit of whining today, too.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Urkie wrote:I don't know if it's been brought up by anybody but the amount of whining the Flyers fans are doing over on HF is laughable. All of their players are apparently little angels.

I said it to them and I'll keep repeating it:

The refs did everything in their power to even up the game. They gave the Flyers a 5 on 3 for 2 full minutes and they Flyers had back to back power-plays to end the game. It's not our fault that their PP looked like ours (crappy) and that no one took the initiative to...I don't know...score?

Come on, be honest now: someone from another team gives one of our guys (say, Alfie) that exact same hit Volchenkov gave Gagne, and then that other team turns around and scores immediately after, and you'd be f'ing pissed, too.

Volchenkov could have easily been called for a penalty there, rightly or wrongly, and given our luck with the zebras we were fortunate to have to goal stand. And that reviewed non-goal, well, that's as close as it gets -- I wouldn't have be surprised if it had been called a goal or a non-goal.

If I were a PHI fan, I'd be doing a bit of whining today, too.

Yp completely agreed. we have to take the homer glasses off on this one. It was a dangerous hit, Volchenkov should have had a penalty on this one. bad job by the refs there.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Urkie wrote:I don't know if it's been brought up by anybody but the amount of whining the Flyers fans are doing over on HF is laughable. All of their players are apparently little angels.

I said it to them and I'll keep repeating it:

The refs did everything in their power to even up the game. They gave the Flyers a 5 on 3 for 2 full minutes and they Flyers had back to back power-plays to end the game. It's not our fault that their PP looked like ours (crappy) and that no one took the initiative to...I don't know...score?

Come on, be honest now: someone from another team gives one of our guys (say, Alfie) that exact same hit Volchenkov gave Gagne, and then that other team turns around and scores immediately after, and you'd be f'ing pissed, too.

Volchenkov could have easily been called for a penalty there, rightly or wrongly, and given our luck with the zebras we were fortunate to have to goal stand. And that reviewed non-goal, well, that's as close as it gets -- I wouldn't have be surprised if it had been called a goal or a non-goal.

If I were a PHI fan, I'd be doing a bit of whining today, too.

The thing with the hit though, is yes if it were Alfie being hit, it would be another story. If it were Fisher, maybe, maybe not. But it was a very similar hit to the one on Karlsson. Both could have been called hitting from behind, or boarding, whichever.

But the goal was caused because after the hit Richards and Hartnell both converged on Volchenkov instead of going for the puck. That created a 4 on 2.

As for the disallowed goal. I'm with you, when watching it, i wouldn't have been too upset had they called it a goal. I was on the fence myself.

marakh wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Urkie wrote:I don't know if it's been brought up by anybody but the amount of whining the Flyers fans are doing over on HF is laughable. All of their players are apparently little angels.

I said it to them and I'll keep repeating it:

The refs did everything in their power to even up the game. They gave the Flyers a 5 on 3 for 2 full minutes and they Flyers had back to back power-plays to end the game. It's not our fault that their PP looked like ours (crappy) and that no one took the initiative to...I don't know...score?

Come on, be honest now: someone from another team gives one of our guys (say, Alfie) that exact same hit Volchenkov gave Gagne, and then that other team turns around and scores immediately after, and you'd be f'ing pissed, too.

Volchenkov could have easily been called for a penalty there, rightly or wrongly, and given our luck with the zebras we were fortunate to have to goal stand. And that reviewed non-goal, well, that's as close as it gets -- I wouldn't have be surprised if it had been called a goal or a non-goal.

If I were a PHI fan, I'd be doing a bit of whining today, too.

Yp completely agreed. we have to take the homer glasses off on this one. It was a dangerous hit, Volchenkov should have had a penalty on this one. bad job by the refs there.

I really don't know man. I watched it in slow motion. It was definitely blindsided, but it was still to the side until 2-3 feet away when Gagne quickly pivoted in accepting the pass, and that's when he got hit. I definitely wouldn't call it a hitting from behind. Maybe a boarding, but then you are setting a precedent saying people are allowed to stand a certain length from the boards and will be free from being hit.

The lack of a call says clean hit. I think everyone but the Flyers (at least not publicly) say clean hit - because Gagne saw him coming and turned his back they way he did. You never like to blame the recipient like that, but come on, he knew better than that, or should. The guy's a prime example of concussions.

Bass Destruction wrote:

marakh wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Urkie wrote:I don't know if it's been brought up by anybody but the amount of whining the Flyers fans are doing over on HF is laughable. All of their players are apparently little angels.

I said it to them and I'll keep repeating it:

The refs did everything in their power to even up the game. They gave the Flyers a 5 on 3 for 2 full minutes and they Flyers had back to back power-plays to end the game. It's not our fault that their PP looked like ours (crappy) and that no one took the initiative to...I don't know...score?

Come on, be honest now: someone from another team gives one of our guys (say, Alfie) that exact same hit Volchenkov gave Gagne, and then that other team turns around and scores immediately after, and you'd be f'ing pissed, too.

Volchenkov could have easily been called for a penalty there, rightly or wrongly, and given our luck with the zebras we were fortunate to have to goal stand. And that reviewed non-goal, well, that's as close as it gets -- I wouldn't have be surprised if it had been called a goal or a non-goal.

If I were a PHI fan, I'd be doing a bit of whining today, too.

Yp completely agreed. we have to take the homer glasses off on this one. It was a dangerous hit, Volchenkov should have had a penalty on this one. bad job by the refs there.

I really don't know man. I watched it in slow motion. It was definitely blindsided, but it was still to the side until 2-3 feet away when Gagne quickly pivoted in accepting the pass, and that's when he got hit. I definitely wouldn't call it a hitting from behind. Maybe a boarding, but then you are setting a precedent saying people are allowed to stand a certain length from the boards and will be free from being hit.

Well we all know the rules suck Donkey, so until it is pretty clear Volchenkov should think twice before running into a guy at tha distance from the boards, whether Gagne was on the side or not. same thing for Gagne, he saw Volchie coming and he still turned.
Should have been a penalty no matter what, even if it is just to prevent it from happening again in the same game.

marakh wrote:

Well we all know the rules suck Donkey, so until it is pretty clear Volchenkov should think twice before running into a guy at tha distance from the boards, whether Gagne was on the side or not. same thing for Gagne, he saw Volchie coming and he still turned.
Should have been a penalty no matter what, even if it is just to prevent it from happening again in the same game.

All the more reason I think it won't be so sad to see Volchie walk on July 1st. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy and I really wish there was a perfect scenario to sign both him and Sutton, but with the new rule changes coming as well, how effective will Volchenkov be with the hard hits? That's twice within the last month (olympics on staal, and last night) that he's hit someone from behind into the boards.

rooneypoo wrote:
Come on, be honest now: someone from another team gives one of our guys (say, Alfie) that exact same hit Volchenkov gave Gagne, and then that other team turns around and scores immediately after, and you'd be f'ing pissed, too.

Volchenkov could have easily been called for a penalty there, rightly or wrongly, and given our luck with the zebras we were fortunate to have to goal stand. And that reviewed non-goal, well, that's as close as it gets -- I wouldn't have be surprised if it had been called a goal or a non-goal.

If I were a PHI fan, I'd be doing a bit of whining today, too.

Oh man, I'd be so pissed if a player did something like that to one of our guys and they scored on top of it. But...I'd be just as mad if not even more so that our inept power-play couldn't score one goal on a full two minute PP. And then I'd be pissed that the refs gave us consecutive PPs to end the game and we couldn't muster anything. I'd have called out the heart on my own team as well as being pissed about the play.

Some of these guys need desperately to stop turning into these hits, it's ridiculous. There's four photos from the hit that show a completely different story than the one being painted by Flyer fans.

I'll see if I can find it.

Kovalfie wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:
Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Don't look at me man, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just re-iterating what this St.John fan is saying. I've heard it more than once that he has a very Heatley-esq release, which is a good thing to say the least. Apparently he can skate as well, which is a hell of a lot better than Heatley who used to skate like he was pushing a walker.

I think there's zero chance of Hoffman making the NHL next year, in fact, I think it's laughable. He needs to leave the sniper-friendly confines of the Q and make some noise in the AHL for a full year before even getting consideration IMO.

Just as well, maybe he'll be ready just in time for Kovalev's departure.

Yeah, that's an interesting point, if we don't re-sign Kovalev - which I assume we won't - then there'll be a massive spot open on the Sens roster. Petersson, Hoffman, Silfverberg, Cowick etc. will all have an amazing opportunity if they can strut their stuff.

If that happens that way, perhaps the Sens finally have the $$ to get that top pairing D-man - or by then, who knows, maybe Karlsson and Cowen are filling that bill with Wiercioch trying to get in as well.

I think the future is bright here and I hope it all works out the way we're all kind of counting on. It would be refreshing to see a bigger influx of electric young talent like Kalrsson, Regin etc.

I've been preeching this for so long, not specifically Hoffman, but the Sens future in general. 2011-12 will be the year that I think Ottawa makes a legit run at the cup. Karlsson, Regin, Cowen, Lee, Elliott, Foligno, and Smith will all be hitting the beginning of their peaks while Wiercioch, and Lehner will likely be very solid rookies. We'll have Alfie who'll be in his last season, hopefully a finisher to play with a mature Spezza a la Gagne, and the right role players in Neil and Fisher in place. Add in a Hoffman, Silfverberg, or Pederson and that legit goal scorer and we're going to be REALLY solid.

i'm really happy to hear there's some buzz about hoffman, when he got drafted i thought he had the numbers to be drafted much higher but i guess the lack of experience he had in the juniors was part of the reason he was picked lower. then again, the juniors in quebec have a reputation for not putting out good D-man, that resulting in high scoring games. so it's not uncommon to see fantastic numbers on a winger or center then see them hit the 3rd or 4rth line once they hit the AHL/NHL. still i was hoping for Hoffman. petersson wil be awesome to watch if he makes it over to the NHL. i'm not convinced yet on silfverberg (judjing solely on stats) but it is looking brighter with our prospects.

now i'm not sure Lee will ever brake into the top 4 and foligno is still to me a good 3rd liner(please let him prove me wrong) and smith will probably be never play on any line higher then the 3rd so i don't think we're holding aces just yet. we'll see

SpezDispenser wrote:Some of these guys need desperately to stop turning into these hits, it's ridiculous. There's four photos from the hit that show a completely different story than the one being painted by Flyer fans.

I'll see if I can find it.

That's exactly why I said that the ref's didn't call a penalty, because Gagne inflicted his own punishment. Then he lost his temper. I loved it. the hit I would be more inclined to think could have been a penalty was his hit on Carcillo. Looked like he might have gotten an elbow up.

Pretty conclusive evidence that Gagne turned at the last split-second. Even so, I would not have been terribly upset if that had been called a penalty.

On the other hit, Carcillo clearly looks up and sees him coming, then looks down again to find the puck and pass it off. He knows A-Train is coming, and you can see he tries to slow down to avoid the hit, which is why it wasn't a full-on body hit. You can also see his head turning away from the hit *before* A-Train connects. If he had truly hit him shoulder to head I don't think Danny would have gotten up so quickly.

Now, where's the Carcillo hit on Karlsson? I can't find it on YouTube.