Good, Bad and Ugly on Opening night...

Well night-time in Sweden anyway.

The bad... watching Ottawa reminded me how much I thoroughly despise the Senators. Funny enough, I used to hate Alfredsson more than any other player, now he is the only player I like on the Sens, maybe one other, below.

The Bad... Jason Spezza, bad turnover to cost them the game in OT

The Good... I thoughy Foligno looked excellent out there. Tough, to not like this kid. He is certainly a nice bonus for Ottawa this year. He was playing like a top 6 forward. I also thought Vermette and Kelly played strong games. Picard had some moments where he looked good.

The Ugly... Gerber. Youch, even if there was a minor deflectiono on the last goal, he let in 3 softies. That is the kind of goaltending that costs you games. There is no way around it, he was horrible.

man!! You are bang-on Aetherial.

My patience with Gerber is beyond wearing thin, but I suppose the only comfort would be to see how the Sens respond tomorrow.

It's funny, because I can predict the HB blog for tomorrow: spezza needs to go...turnover cost them the game, Gerber is not the answer, bla bla bla...

However, one thing is clear... Spezza STILL needs to learn when to dangle and when to be patient; and at this point tomorrow afternoon, if Gerbs lets in 2 more softies, it's time to let Auld or Elliott to have a turn, because when a little punk like Kennedy beats you, there's something wrong...

man, I'm still reeling from this loss...

Aetherial wrote:Well night-time in Sweden anyway.

The bad... watching Ottawa reminded me how much I thoroughly despise the Senators. Funny enough, I used to hate Alfredsson more than any other player, now he is the only player I like on the Sens, maybe one other, below.

The Bad... Jason Spezza, bad turnover to cost them the game in OT

The Good... I thoughy Foligno looked excellent out there. Tough, to not like this kid. He is certainly a nice bonus for Ottawa this year. He was playing like a top 6 forward. I also thought Vermette and Kelly played strong games. Picard had some moments where he looked good.

The Ugly... Gerber. Youch, even if there was a minor deflectiono on the last goal, he let in 3 softies. That is the kind of goaltending that costs you games. There is no way around it, he was horrible.

Bass caught my eye a few times as well. The defense seemed to be better without Redden. A bad bounce on the dump-in hitting Neil, but I still thought Schubert had over-committed himself -- I mean, that *was* Malkin behind him.

Which of the goals was *not* a softie? Did you mean the Malkin short-handed goal? Weak shot that slid under his blocker between his legs. If he had the paddle down on the ice it stays in the blue ice.

Well, we still got the "loser point" out of it. But if I was Therrien I'd be more than a little concerned. On most nights, against most teams, this is a game they lose.

Was Alfie out late with friends/family last night? He seemed to be missing a step.

Cronenbergfan wrote:man!! You are bang-on Aetherial.

My patience with Gerber is beyond wearing thin, but I suppose the only comfort would be to see how the Sens respond tomorrow.

It's funny, because I can predict the HB blog for tomorrow: spezza needs to go...turnover cost them the game, Gerber is not the answer, bla bla bla...

However, one thing is clear... Spezza STILL needs to learn when to dangle and when to be patient; and at this point tomorrow afternoon, if Gerbs lets in 2 more softies, it's time to let Auld or Elliott to have a turn, because when a little punk like Kennedy beats you, there's something wrong...

man, I'm still reeling from this loss...

I missed most of the first, but was listening in the car. When I saw what they refs were letting the Pens get away with in ht second I was wondering, was it one-sided reffing or were the Sens simply playing lazy hockey? There were lots of hooks, holds, slashes, sticks in the face that were missed. I could see that when it was 3-3 in the third, but when it's 2-1 Pens or 2-2, what gives?

Maybe they should out Auld in to start the game, face that first shot. After that, put in Gerber.

I only caught the short handed Malkin goal. But it sounds like Gerber was not in the zone at all. Damn. Not the start we needed. Hopefully Game 2 will be better.

I wonder if Murray is making any calls to Tallon?

Bass was in the line-up? I didn't even see him, yet I remember seeing everyone else. Was he on the line with Neil and Ruutu?

DashRiprock wrote:Bass was in the line-up? I didn't even see him, yet I remember seeing everyone else. Was he on the line with Neil and Ruutu?

Oops, sorry, I meant Winchester. #18.

Ahh.... so I wasn't going crazy.... hmmm.... guess he won't be playing much this year then... and DeDo (Dean and Donovan) did well. and Schubert was hitting pretty much everything in sight.

Just gotta do something about that goalie situation of ours.

And I thought Spezza played a great game, albeit that one costly error.... though a good goalie would have bailed out his #1 center on that play.

DashRiprock wrote:Ahh.... so I wasn't going crazy.... hmmm.... guess he won't be playing much this year then... and DeDo (Dean and Donovan) did well. and Schubert was hitting pretty much everything in sight.

Just gotta do something about that goalie situation of ours.

And I thought Spezza played a great game, albeit that one costly error.... though a good goalie would have bailed out his #1 center on that play.

Hmm, he also got lucky on Heater's goal, because while that was a heck of a pass, it was a blind pass from behind the goal out into the high-slot. If he's off by a couple of inches someone gets a breakaway the other way, and since he didn't look it was more luck than skill.

But he did get one of the game stars.

wprager wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:Ahh.... so I wasn't going crazy.... hmmm.... guess he won't be playing much this year then... and DeDo (Dean and Donovan) did well. and Schubert was hitting pretty much everything in sight.

Just gotta do something about that goalie situation of ours.

And I thought Spezza played a great game, albeit that one costly error.... though a good goalie would have bailed out his #1 center on that play.

Hmm, he also got lucky on Heater's goal, because while that was a heck of a pass, it was a blind pass from behind the goal out into the high-slot. If he's off by a couple of inches someone gets a breakaway the other way, and since he didn't look it was more luck than skill.

But he did get one of the game stars.

Despite the gafs, Spezza was still one of the best players on the ice. I don't know, but today Alfie seemed awful slow. Gerber cost us that game, no one else.

jamvan wrote:Despite the gafs, Spezza was still one of the best players on the ice. I don't know, but today Alfie seemed awful slow. Gerber cost us that game, no one else.

Yeah, I don't disagree, but he still got lucky on that one. I'll take it. A goal and an assist got us that loser point, and there's little chance we win a shootout the way Gerber was playing. So with less than 30 seconds to go, he's got to go full out trying to score.

I also mentioned earlier that Alfie seemed to be missing a step. God, I hope he was partying and not injured.

You have to think that they were somewhat deflated by a goal 40sec into the season - not just the game, but the season.

How's that for an omen?

So much for the theory that Gerber was distracted by Emery (or is he distracted by Elliot now?) Perhaps I overestimated his technical skill a bit (or overestimated his mental strength a lot - and that's scary, when I think about it.)

Murray puts in a call to Tallon, and I'm thinking Tallon is in the driver's seat.
Dammit, another game like this, and Melnyk won't be questioning whether he should absorb a big contract in the minors, he'll be asking why he waited so long.

Acrobat wrote:You have to think that they were somewhat deflated by a goal 40sec into the season - not just the game, but the season.

How's that for an omen?

So much for the theory that Gerber was distracted by Emery (or is he distracted by Elliot now?) Perhaps I overestimated his technical skill a bit (or overestimated his mental strength a lot - and that's scary, when I think about it.)

Murray puts in a call to Tallon, and I'm thinking Tallon is in the driver's seat.
Dammit, another game like this, and Melnyk won't be questioning whether he should absorb a big contract in the minors, he'll be asking why he waited so long.

OK, back away from the ledge, please.

It's one game, a bad game by all. Gerber sucked. Alfie was not playing like Alife. Spezza with the give-away. Refs still hate us.

But we still got a point out of it, and the big-two had a three-point night. And we outhit the snot out of those waddlers.

Tomorrow Gerber *will be* better. Alfie will get a good night's sleep and be on fire tomorrow. Spezza will get another 2 points or more. The Pens defense will be really tentative going into corners. The Sens wil come back home with 3 out of a possible 4 points. That's like 123 points for the season, if you extrapolate.

The only question is, do we start the parade from the Red Zone and go downtown, or the other way round?

:D

I'm not "on the ledge" - I'm just a bit pissed, that's all.

This is a team that is supposed to hammer the opponent into submission, and they didn't.

This is a team that is supposed to keep shots to a minimum, and they didn't.

This is a team that is supposed to play smart defensive hockey (which Heater, Spezza, and other have committed to, and know how to do), yet - you guessed it - they didn't.

I have no problem with someone, or a team that really tries, and fails. I just didn't see that.

And worse, I have a bunch of Habs fans at the office that I'm going to have to listen to all year ...

EDIT : keep in mind that my initial rant was directed at Gerber only; the more I think about it, the more I realize that he was only one of many problems, but we've seen before that no team will play with confidence without a solid goalie behind them

Sucks to say it, but we might need to look at acquiring Khabibulin or another goalie of some letter. Those goals Gerber let in were absolutely Dung. That first goal he let in...I swear to God, a 12 year old kid on my street could have stopped that. It was just horrible to see. The last goal was an embarrassment to being a goalie. You CAN'T LET PERIMETER GOALS IN!!!!

Another thing I thought brought optimism was...the penalty kill. Our penalty kill units are going to be absolutely ridiculous this year. Might have the best penalty kill in the league if they can improve upon tonight's successes in that area.

But yeah, Gerber...you let me down old friend.