GAME 4 - 2010 Stanley Cup GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators (1) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2), Tuesday Apr. 20, 2010 - 7:00PM EST.

The Sharks comparison is ludicrous. At least Spezza was the number one center on a team that went to the Cup Finals - not to mention Spezza was tied for the scoring lead in the playoffs. He just needs to remove his head from his arse.

If they could resign Cullen I wouldnt give a damn if they just waived Spezza next year if this is going to be the norm in the playoffs, which it looks like it is. Hell, Regin has just gotten better every step of the way, but he is probably more of a 2nd line center then anything.

Point being is this series would be no different without Spezza, much liek the regular season probably wouldnt have been either. Spezza is a passenger and always will be. Sure, he has a ton of tallent but at 7 million dollars, that money is better spent elsewhere while developing The Sens and their future from the back and out.

Lehner/Karlsson/Cowen/Wiercoich are the future, they have to build on that up front.

SpezDispenser wrote:The Sharks comparison is ludicrous. At least Spezza was the number one center on a team that went to the Cup Finals - not to mention Spezza was tied for the scoring lead in the playoffs. He just needs to remove his head from his arse.

Needs to do a lot more then that.

N4L wrote:If they could resign Cullen I wouldnt give a damn if they just waived Spezza next year if this is going to be the norm in the playoffs, which it looks like it is. Hell, Regin has just gotten better every step of the way, but he is probably more of a 2nd line center then anything.

Point being is this series would be no different without Spezza, much liek the regular season probably wouldnt have been either. Spezza is a passenger and always will be. Sure, he has a ton of tallent but at 7 million dollars, that money is better spent elsewhere while developing The Sens and their future from the back and out.

Lehner/Karlsson/Cowen/Wiercoich are the future, they have to build on that up front.

You can turn that argument around and say that when Karlsson, Cowen, Wiercioch and Lehner have arrived, we'll need a play making center more than anything. At least they'll be fed the pucks to make plays by someone other than Karlsson.

Play for a contract Sutton! Play for a contract, come on man, you can be awesome, we all saw it! ! ! ! !

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:If they could resign Cullen I wouldnt give a damn if they just waived Spezza next year if this is going to be the norm in the playoffs, which it looks like it is. Hell, Regin has just gotten better every step of the way, but he is probably more of a 2nd line center then anything.

Point being is this series would be no different without Spezza, much liek the regular season probably wouldnt have been either. Spezza is a passenger and always will be. Sure, he has a ton of tallent but at 7 million dollars, that money is better spent elsewhere while developing The Sens and their future from the back and out.

Lehner/Karlsson/Cowen/Wiercoich are the future, they have to build on that up front.

You can turn that argument around and say that when Karlsson, Cowen, Wiercioch and Lehner have arrived, we'll need a play making center more than anything. At least they'll be fed the pucks to make plays by someone other than Karlsson.

There is stilla huge learning curve coming into the league let alone being able to perform in the playoffs. Karlsson is having a tough time right now, not surprising, same with Elliott at times. The same will happen to Wiercoich and Cowen for sure, Lehner seems like he might be a little different in that aspect though. Point being is this team will compete for true chances to win the cup in the mid decade here, that's when things will be stable in Ottawa. They still need something resembling a true number 1 center that can compete on most nights and certainly in the playoffs.

Skinner seems to be more and more the guy I am hoping Murray is able to take. That guy has leader and winner written all over him.

I get the feeling that if it wasn't for one hit by Sutton, everybody would hate him right now.

We could probably pick everybody's game apart right now as in my mind only Regin has come to play for all 180 minutes.

We have to remember that we are only down 2 games to 1 against the defending Champs and only a rookie forward has played his best consistently for us. On the other hand, I don't think Crosby and Malkin (moreso Crosby) can play any better than they are right now for the Pens. So much room for improvement from our stars, theirs...not so much. We can do this!

Re-focus Sens and go out and take Game 4 and tie this series up...PLEASE!

N4L wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

N4L wrote:Sensgirl is right though, you see what Thornton is in SJ, that's what Spezza is as well, only worse.

Disagree. No one is worse than "Jumbo" Joe. I agree that Spezza needs to step it up but if about a dozen of his teammates were stepping it up, Spezza would be less of an issue.

Your number 1 center being a complete no show and costing your team defensivly is an issue, doesnt matter how the other 19 guys are playing.

As for Jumbo Joe, the guy has a few more championships then Spezza does whether he deserves them or not. Spezza actually has nothing. Not one thing. He's the biggest loser in The NHL and you are seeing why.

I still don't think you can single out anyone as a loser when this is a TEAM sport. No one player wins a championship by themselves these days.

But, I think it could benefit both teams by trading Spezza for Thornton. That would be something.

N4L wrote:Spezza hasnt competed at all or even close to what he has to. How hard Crosby compete's is how hard Spezza should be. Im not saying he has to be as good or as effective as Crosby, but he doesnt have a snow balls chance in hell of doing anything worthy of anyone praise until he does. Hell, even Malkin compete harder.

Not last night. No way. They were equally as Dung as each other. That goal that Malkin scored was Dung, through and through. The whole play started with them getting dominated in their own end. The Sens were all over the puck and all over their net, but just couldn't put it in - unfortunately. And there was Malkin in the Middle. Literally just coasting around, lollygagging in his own end waiting for something to happen. At no point in time was he even close to making a defensive play. Then boop, puck magically bounces out to the middle of the ice where bunghole was picking his nose (pretty much), he comes sprinting down the ice, loses the puck after a pathetic move.
The immediate play after that is the goal. Karlsson, who's already winning the foot race against Talbot, starts gliding to the puck. He'll certainly hear it from Clouston today about urgency and hustle. But it's fine, he's a rookie defenseman in his first playoffs against the Cup champions (and in my opinion still the best team in the Eastern conference). Talbot happens to lift Karlsson's stick at the last second and direct it towards the net.
Fagkin comes in and deposits the puck into the net.

That's been games 2 and 3 in my opinion. Dung little broken plays that have ended up in the net. We're making Malkin and Crosby look like superstars for absolutely no reason. These guys can be contained. Any illusion of that not being a possibility is distinctly incorrect. You play hard and physical with them, lean on them against the boards, take away their time and close the gap between player and puck and they wilt just like anyone else in the league.
All this Diddling crap talk this series about Crosby "willing" his team to a win is Dung. Their broken plays are turning into goals. How much longer will that continue for?

An aside, there are things Clouston needs to change. Our forecheck was ridiculously poor last night. Our third forward into the offensive zone was hanging around 10 feet in to the blueline which is wrong. Defending the break out was pretty poor too. We got stretched out too much. They need to clog the neutral zone and force them to give up the puck. They aren't superheros. Their top end players might be better than ours, but their team as a whole isn't.

Trading Spezza for Thornton would be spinning your tires. I would be looking to Atlanta and seeing if they would be willing to give up their top 10 pick along with Klinenberg, Cormier, and a roster player.

Sens wont be competing for a cup this year, next, or whenever. They need to start stock pilling some forward prospects to go along with the solid base that has been built by Murray on the back end.

If you can get Skinner, Klienenberg, Cormier, and perhaps McFarlend all in the system in one year to go along with Karlsson, Cowen, Wiercoich, Gryba, Lehner, Regin, Z.Smith, Silvferberg, and Petersson, that's a really solid base to build on. Skinner may very well be the next coming of Mike Richards and would be Kadri's worse nightmare which is important within the division.

PKC wrote:

N4L wrote:Spezza hasnt competed at all or even close to what he has to. How hard Crosby compete's is how hard Spezza should be. Im not saying he has to be as good or as effective as Crosby, but he doesnt have a snow balls chance in hell of doing anything worthy of anyone praise until he does. Hell, even Malkin compete harder.

Not last night. No way. They were equally as Dung as each other. That goal that Malkin scored was Dung, through and through. The whole play started with them getting dominated in their own end. The Sens were all over the puck and all over their net, but just couldn't put it in - unfortunately. And there was Malkin in the Middle. Literally just coasting around, lollygagging in his own end waiting for something to happen. At no point in time was he even close to making a defensive play. Then boop, puck magically bounces out to the middle of the ice where bunghole was picking his nose (pretty much), he comes sprinting down the ice, loses the puck after a pathetic move.
The immediate play after that is the goal. Karlsson, who's already winning the foot race against Talbot, starts gliding to the puck. He'll certainly hear it from Clouston today about urgency and hustle. But it's fine, he's a rookie defenseman in his first playoffs against the Cup champions (and in my opinion still the best team in the Eastern conference). Talbot happens to lift Karlsson's stick at the last second and direct it towards the net.
Fagkin comes in and deposits the puck into the net.

That's been games 2 and 3 in my opinion. Dung little broken plays that have ended up in the net. We're making Malkin and Crosby look like superstars for absolutely no reason. These guys can be contained. Any illusion of that not being a possibility is distinctly incorrect. You play hard and physical with them, lean on them against the boards, take away their time and close the gap between player and puck and they wilt just like anyone else in the league.
All this Diddling crap talk this series about Crosby "willing" his team to a win is Dung. Their broken plays are turning into goals. How much longer will that continue for?

An aside, there are things Clouston needs to change. Our forecheck was ridiculously poor last night. Our third forward into the offensive zone was hanging around 10 feet in to the blueline which is wrong. Defending the break out was pretty poor too. We got stretched out too much. They need to clog the neutral zone and force them to give up the puck. They aren't superheros. Their top end players might be better than ours, but their team as a whole isn't.

Malkin is still playing harder then Spezza, there isnt a player on the ice right now that is showing as little competitivness then Spezza, maybe aside from Ryan Shannon. That kills your team.

Malkin was pretty invisible yesterday, I wondered if he was even playing at times.

i think(and actually voted) that the sens are gonna take the next one. in all honesty they have to to keep any hope alive in the series.

alot of what i'm hearing here rings alot of truth. matching our top line against their top line isn't giving our top guys much space to work with. seriously, whoever is on the ice at the same time as crosby is gonna have to try and shut him down. never spezza's biggest plus.

spezza is being forced into a role that isn't best cut for him. sure he'd been showing improvments in the second part of the season but i think you try and facilitate him by making his job to score instead of defence.
hopefully clouston has taken that in for game 4.

another point is that we are missing 2 top 6 forwards and a top 4 D-man. the pens... leopold. i think the sens are battling pretty honourably(not so much in the last game) for where they are at and who they are facing. game 2 was a good game by the sens.

also fleury had a tough time in front of his crowd in game one, i can see how elliot could too. hopefully the sens can learn from some of last games mistakes. throw cheechoo in as it keeps being repeated.

and in case everyone forgot, there is alot of kids on this team who are benefiting from these playoffs and showing good potential even if mistakes are being made. i love what i'm seeing from regin and karlsson. and if anyone thought we were cup contenders this year... well... sorry for your hopes and dreams. i'm just hoping to see what some of our players are made of, and i'm plensently surprised by some.

But they won and that's all that matters. I do think that Crosby wants it more than anyone on that team though, with the exception of maybe Guerin and Orpik.

One thing is certain though, I ended my season ticket package last year in protest and bought an 8 gamer this year based on Spezza and his performace, if his next two games are the same and The Sens get beat out, I wont be getting that either if he is here next year.

I refuse to pay any portion of his salary when the team I love is just as good without him, and they are. This team would be in the playoffs with or without him this year, not a lot of doubt in my mind. Next year they may be in the same position but at least they can build a base without a career loser as it's center piece. That's a huge problem.

Thank God Karlsson is the future of this team.

SensGirl11 wrote:Malkin was pretty invisible yesterday, I wondered if he was even playing at times.

The Pens are already feel overconfident that they have this in the bag, anyone see Orpik's gesture to the crowd through the glass ?

Malkin is dreaming of a 2nd Conn Smythe, he doesn't have to compete because there's not a worry in the Pens' dressing room.

Flo The Action wrote:i think(and actually voted) that the sens are gonna take the next one. in all honesty they have to to keep any hope alive in the series.

alot of what i'm hearing here rings alot of truth. matching our top line against their top line isn't giving our top guys much space to work with. seriously, whoever is on the ice at the same time as crosby is gonna have to try and shut him down. never spezza's biggest plus.

spezza is being forced into a role that isn't best cut for him. sure he'd been showing improvments in the second part of the season but i think you try and facilitate him by making his job to score instead of defence.
hopefully clouston has taken that in for game 4.

another point is that we are missing 2 top 6 forwards and a top 4 D-man. the pens... leopold. i think the sens are battling pretty honourably(not so much in the last game) for where they are at and who they are facing. game 2 was a good game by the sens.

also fleury had a tough time in front of his crowd in game one, i can see how elliot could too. hopefully the sens can learn from some of last games mistakes. throw cheechoo in as it keeps being repeated.

and in case everyone forgot, there is alot of kids on this team who are benefiting from these playoffs and showing good potential even if mistakes are being made. i love what i'm seeing from regin and karlsson. and if anyone thought we were cup contenders this year... well... sorry for your hopes and dreams. i'm just hoping to see what some of our players are made of, and i'm plensently surprised by some.

So what? That's a losers attitude right there. It's the playoffs, you do things that you wouldnt normally do. Im so sick of hearing "Spezza isnt paid to play defence" or "he has to get away from Crosby". Guess what, he wont be getting away from Crosby and Malkin, both of who have out played Spezza thus far. He can either do the job or he cant, simple as that. If he cant, it's time to cut bait.

Sens are a better TEAM without Heatley and they wont be worse without Spezza. Spezza needs to show he can do something to help The Sens in the playoffs because that's what matters and the cup is the ultimate goal. If he cant do it with Alfi, omg, he wont be doing it without him.

Malkin was not invisible, they just didn't need him as much last night because they were focused on outhitting us, and then Crosby took it from there.

If Malkin is invisilbe and they still win, that's why they are champions.