GAME 3 - 2010 Stanley Cup GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators (1) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1), Sunday Apr. 18, 2010 - 6:30PM EST

GAME 3 - 2010 Stanley Cup GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators (1) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1), Sunday Apr. 18, 2010 - 6:30PM EST.





The Sens proved that they are creatures of habit as they, yet again, failed to go up 2-0 in a playoff series. As expected, the Penguins were better as they outshot the Sens 31-20 and outhit them an unreal 52-31 (some home ice advantage in those totals, I think). The biggest hit of the night belonged to Mt. Sutton who leveled Jordan Leopold with what was deemed a legal hit. No penalty, no suspension, but it sure made the rest of the game interesting.

The Sens have also proven that they are in this series. Rookie Regin scored his second goal in as many career playoff games, just 18 seconds into the contest, and if not for some sloppy coverage by Spezza on Crosby, driving to the net, the game out come may have been different. Spezza did a better job covering Crosby later on, but Sid still managed to escape from behind the net and pass the puck to Letang at the point for the winner. Well, actually, Crosby fell to his knees and the pass looked more like him losing the puck, except that no Sen player was around to retrieve it. They have to cover the points better than that. Rest assured, in the next two games Sid will not be lining up against Spezza as often as he did in the first two.

Bottom line, as nice as it would have been to be up 2-0, the Sens have done more than anyone who gets paid to write about hockey imagined they could do. They took away the Penguins' only two statistical advantages: goals for, and home ice advantage. It's now a best of five series, with the Senators holding home ice advantage. And after 2 games (on the road, I might add) the Sens are dead-even with the Penguins in goals for and against.

Of course none of that really matters unless they sweep at home, but for now, at least we know that The Kids are Alright.


...now, if we can get Alfie and Fish going ...

Game Coverage

TV: VERSUS (HD),CBC (HD),RDS (HD)
Radio: Team 1200
Web: check ATDHE.net and Justin.tv

Latest updates:

Sutton's hit on Leopold is ruled legal; no suspension.

Lineups

Ottawa
Pittsburgh

Ottawa Key Injuries

Milan Michalek (torn ACL, done for the year)
Filip Kuba (back surgery, out a month)
Alexei Kovalev (torn ACL, done for the year)

Penguins Key Injuries

Jordan Leopold (temporal confusion -- he still thinks it's yesterday)

Playoff Previews:

ESPN Preview

ESPN Playoff Stats


Media Links:

Official Sens Twitter
SensTVOnline
Brian Elliott speaks to the media following Friday's game: http://bit.ly/bJoRR3
Clouston talks to media after 2-1 loss: http://bit.ly/d26c7y
Spezza speaks with the media after 2-1 loss: http://bit.ly/cbRhKA
Fisher speaks with the media after 2-1 loss: http://bit.ly/9koUEs

GO SENS GO!!!

Very good GDT.

We need a bounce back performance, no mistakes. Aflie needs to WTF up.

Dash wrote: Very good GDT.

We need a bounce back performance, no mistakes. Aflie needs to WTF up.

I think he looked more alert in his interview (not sure if that was pre or post-game).

Dash wrote: Very good GDT.

We need a bounce back performance, no mistakes. Aflie needs to WTF up.

You're laughing. I take it you noticed Leopold's injury assessment?

Yes I did. I just do not want the Sens thinking it is game 2 again, we need to get pas that. No blown leads, take away their chances.

Our star players need to step up...

Alfie, Spezza... The series has started.

MacT said on Spezza guarding Crosby: 'you could give Spezza Selke for that shift because there's nothing more he could've done vs Sid. Still not enough.'

Alfie has to be our best player, doesn't he? If we can get him, Spezza and Fisher scoring, we should be ok, since the other guys are scoring.

Elliott was screened on that Letang shot, Sutton needs to clear the crease quicker.

caissie_1 wrote:Our star players need to step up...

Alfie, Spezza... The series has started.

Spezza has two assists playing in a role he's not used to -- trying to shut down Crosby. He was weak on the Crosby goal but much better the second time around. It still ended up in the net, and there's certainly a takeawy from that play (see below), but that was a broken play more than anything. Crosby was down on his knees and *lost* the puck. Except he "lost" it right up to the point man for a goal. That was not a crisp pass to Letang for a one timer. That was a slow puck that, if the Sens had been properly covering the point, wold have been intercepted, possibly for an odd-man rush the other way.

Now, on that play, if you believe Nick Kypreos, Spezza had his feet too wide apart and could not turn as quickly as Crosby did (is Kypper saying that Spezza spread his legs for Sid?)

In my opinion, he tried to do a little too much. When Crosby went behind the net Spezza cheated to the outside (left) to prevent him coming out in front. All he had to do is push him wide enough to prevent a wraparound; there were two Sens players on that side of the net. When he went too far to Crosby's left, sure, he prevented him from not only doing a wraparound but also from coming out in front, but unfortunately he also left him open to curl back toward the boards.

Still, the progression from not covering him at all when he drove to the net for the first goal, to pretty much keeping up with the best skater in the league behind the net -- that's the right direction.

Now, what's Fisher been doing? Alfie? A-Train and Big Rig? It's not yet time to hand this over completely to the kids. Our vets need to step it up in a meaningful way.

By the way, does anyone want a Game 2 summary thread or just keep the discussion here?

Dash wrote:MacT said on Spezza guarding Crosby: 'you could give Spezza Selke for that shift because there's nothing more he could've done vs Sid. Still not enough.'

Alfie has to be our best player, doesn't he? If we can get him, Spezza and Fisher scoring, we should be ok, since the other guys are scoring.

Elliott was screened on that Letang shot, Sutton needs to clear the crease quicker.

Exacly, our best players need to be our best players... Spezza and Alfie our not cutting it rigth now... We didnt get much of any offence when these 2 were on the ice... They need to pick it up...

Spezza need's to ligth it up like he did just last week. I know these guy's can!

The first two games Spezza played against Crosby. Shut-down is not his role, but he still got two assists, keeping up his PPG playoff average. It's unfair to compare him against Spezza because: (1) that was a road game and, (2) Crosby is the best in the league.

Perhaps the reason the Kelly line had three goals was that they were not spending most of their time covering Crosby. Shaky goaltending and a lucky bounce didn't hurt either. Do you think they are going to have another coupld of goals in the next two home games? I doubt it, but their success in the next two games will be measured in Corsby's performance more than their own.

Spezza, on the other hand, assuming his knee is OK (was it his right knee he hurt in the regular season?) will now be expected to produce more on offense. Same for Alfie and Fisher.

I'll be so there, and if you guys have the cash and time, I hope you wil be too, coz we're gonna crush those mofo on home Diddling ice

Dash wrote:MacT said on Spezza guarding Crosby: 'you could give Spezza Selke for that shift because there's nothing more he could've done vs Sid. Still not enough.'

Alfie has to be our best player, doesn't he? If we can get him, Spezza and Fisher scoring, we should be ok, since the other guys are scoring.

Elliott was screened on that Letang shot, Sutton needs to clear the crease quicker.

If I've said it before, I'll say it again. When Alfie is off, the team is off.

I think they've done well without him up to now, but yes he need to come to the party.

For the most part, the Sens matched the intensity of the Pens yesterday. But they were still not playing at full potential IMHO. Shannon needs to go play with his Lego and Cheechoo needs to take his place.

You usually don't play your full potential when the crowd is against you and sometimes the refs too.
We'll kill at home.

wprager wrote:

caissie_1 wrote:Our star players need to step up...

Alfie, Spezza... The series has started.

Spezza has two assists playing in a role he's not used to -- trying to shut down Crosby. He was weak on the Crosby goal but much better the second time around. It still ended up in the net, and there's certainly a takeawy from that play (see below), but that was a broken play more than anything. Crosby was down on his knees and *lost* the puck. Except he "lost" it right up to the point man for a goal. That was not a crisp pass to Letang for a one timer. That was a slow puck that, if the Sens had been properly covering the point, wold have been intercepted, possibly for an odd-man rush the other way.

Now, on that play, if you believe Nick Kypreos, Spezza had his feet too wide apart and could not turn as quickly as Crosby did (is Kypper saying that Spezza spread his legs for Sid?)

In my opinion, he tried to do a little too much. When Crosby went behind the net Spezza cheated to the outside (left) to prevent him coming out in front. All he had to do is push him wide enough to prevent a wraparound; there were two Sens players on that side of the net. When he went too far to Crosby's left, sure, he prevented him from not only doing a wraparound but also from coming out in front, but unfortunately he also left him open to curl back toward the boards.

Still, the progression from not covering him at all when he drove to the net for the first goal, to pretty much keeping up with the best skater in the league behind the net -- that's the right direction.

Now, what's Fisher been doing? Alfie? A-Train and Big Rig? It's not yet time to hand this over completely to the kids. Our vets need to step it up in a meaningful way.

I think your assessment is a little off on both goals. Having watched the replays for both, I came to the following conclusions:

- On the first goal, Spezza was well-ahead of Crosby in terms of getting to the net to clear the rebound. Given his velocity, direction of skating and the physics of the puck, he was unable to swat the puck out of the crease as it bounced off its' side. Swatting the puck on that play also happened to be the only legitimate play he could make due to the nature of the puck's bounciness. It was just a piece of bad luck and all Crosby had to do was poke at the puck to put it in. Result: goal.

- On the second goal, Spezza defended Crosby as well as anyone in the league could have in my opinion. He was giving him no options when circling behind the net, was stick checking very well without taking any penalties and was limiting Crosby's ability to make a play with the puck. If you watch the break down, when Spezza smoked Crosby out on the last turn, he HAD to have Peter Regin support him MUCH faster. Crosby was already off balance and falling to his knees, Regin SHOULD have hustled harder to close off the passing lane or to knock the puck away from Crosby since he wasn't covering one of the point men.
I'm 110% sure Regin will hear about it from Clouston this morning since the idea of collapsing down to the net and not covering the high point men is to make sure that cross ice passes and in close shots are taken away. Result: goal.

Sure Spezza was on the ice for both goals, and sure at first glance it looks like he lost the battle in both cases, but one was just bad luck and the other was a lack of support from a team mate who was standing there not covering anyone.

They'll tighten that up. Clouston will watch the tape and point it out to the appropriate players that when their team mate is going through such an effort to contain a player that he needs support on the rotation from behind the net. It's basic hockey sense.