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

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.

Number Twenty Nine wrote: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.

Alfie was way more "off' in he first game, and they won, despite less than stellar goaltending and defensive work. Yesterday they actually had a lead and were not far from OT, against a team that was in a *MUST WIN* situation. The Sens were expected to last 4-5 games by most. They accomplished that an then some in the first game. Unfortunately that killer instinct still appears to be missing because, really, that was not the best effort by the Sens.

Yes, Alfie needs to step it up. Yes, Cheechoo needs to be given a shot (and I fully expect that he will). But I still think the Sens could have won that game if it was played at home.

If it was Foligno instead of Regin I'm sure he would have dived to block the shot, but Regin can't afford to get injured now.
That goal was ok, just hard to defend.

As an aside, I'm gonna say with 100% certainty that Shannon will be coming out of the lineup. In you go Cheechoo/Donovan/Spartacat...

PKC wrote:
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.

His assignment was Crosby, not the puck. He let him go and the puck ended up in the net.

PKC wrote:- 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.

I completely agree. I was only looking at what, possibly, he could have done differently. Clearly he did everything, and it was a broken play with Crosby on his knees, losing the puck. If the Sens winger (was it Regin?) was properly covering the point that's an interception and an odd-man rush the other way.

PKC wrote: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.

It'll be my first playoff game tomorrow, can't wait. SBP better be rockin'

wprager wrote:

PKC wrote:- 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.

I completely agree. I was only looking at what, possibly, he could have done differently. Clearly he did everything, and it was a broken play with Crosby on his knees, losing the puck. If the Sens winger (was it Regin?) was properly covering the point that's an interception and an odd-man rush the other way.

I think also worth mentioning on the second goal is how obviously Crosby was holding Spezza's stick at one point on the play. The guy got away with a lot last night, including that cross check from behind on Ruutu. You better believe if the roles are reversed on either of those plays, it's a penalty.
Bill McCreary continues to show his bias against the Sens. Pathetic. Hope we don't see that chump anymore this series.

lol give it up, we were outplayed heavily last night

Big Ev wrote:lol give it up, we were outplayed heavily last night

They threw everything and the kitchen sink at the Sens.... and it was a very tight game... it took some heroics by Crosby to break the tie and setup the game winner. I'm feeling pretty good with the split we got in Pitt.

SDH89 wrote:It'll be my first playoff game tomorrow, can't wait. SBP better be rockin'

Excellent, have fun - hope it is a memorable one for you.

The ref's and the Penguins have the ability to take the crowd out of this quickly. Home ice is one thing but the Sens have to show up to play.

Big Ev wrote:lol give it up, we were outplayed heavily last night

I don't know about "heavily". The expectations going in were that the Pens would defeat us heavily. 2 goals and 31 shots in a must-win situation for the defending Stanley Cup champs is a little less than expected.

As for that cross-check, it was definitely a dive, and if it happened against us and Spezza got a 5 and a game we would be furious. It was the right call not to make. My issue is much more with the calls on Talbot's diving, but that didn't cost us the game.

I don't really recall seeing Crosby blatantly holding the stick. I think both players played that sequence very clean, and Crosby was very lucky the puck went to Letang and not intercepted by Regin. He stumbled, fell to his knees and lost control of the puck. Then the hockey gods smiled at him for his effort and let it get to Letang.

Crosby was the real deal last night -- goal, assist, save. He was lucky but only because, first, he was good.

Hey, Dash, the banner is "broken". It quickly cycles through the 4 pictures, then a red square flashes bottom right, then rinse, repeat. There is no text and no GMH banner at the end.

Edit: Just tried it in chrome and IE and it works fine. It's "broken" in Firefox.

Never mind. I restarted Firefox and it's fine.

Haha, okay then.

Is Alfredsson injured? I've barely noticed him this series.

asq2 wrote:Is Alfredsson injured? I've barely noticed him this series.

i dont think he is, or we just dont know about it, hasnt been playing his best, only been 2 games though, you could say the same about ovechkin