GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Washington Capitals - 7:00pm EST - Mon. Oct. 11th, 2010

Well boys cover your eyes because this one could get messy.

Smith moving to 2nd line according to Garrioch's tweet:

New look sens: Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson; Smith-Fisher-Foligno, Ruutu-Kelly-Neil and Shannon-Regin-Kovalev. Winchester looks like out.

And the defensive pairings are what they were at the end of the game Saturday night:

Phillips/Gonchar
Campoli/Carkner
Lee/Karlsson

wprager wrote:Smith moving to 2nd line according to Garrioch's tweet:

New look sens: Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson; Smith-Fisher-Foligno, Ruutu-Kelly-Neil and Shannon-Regin-Kovalev. Winchester looks like out.

Thats solid, Regin didn't look good at all the past few games so putting him on the 4th line he should fit in nicely, or regain his confidence and move up to the 2nd, only time will tell. And kovalev on the 4th ? Clouston means business now.

wprager wrote:And the defensive pairings are what they were at the end of the game Saturday night:

Phillips/Gonchar
Campoli/Carkner
Lee/Karlsson

sens4win wrote:

wprager wrote:And the defensive pairings are what they were at the end of the game Saturday night:

Phillips/Gonchar
Campoli/Carkner
Lee/Karlsson

Kuba can't get back fast enough, despite the general indifference toward his importance to the team.

PKC wrote:

sens4win wrote:

wprager wrote:And the defensive pairings are what they were at the end of the game Saturday night:

Phillips/Gonchar
Campoli/Carkner
Lee/Karlsson

Kuba can't get back fast enough, despite the general indifference toward his importance to the team.

That is why I said Kuba is the missing piece to the puzzle, him and Karlsson play well together, when the other team dumps the puck on us 100's of times Kuba uses his size to get it pass it to karlsson and its out.

Back to work tomorrow boys. I'll get the next GDT prages. Great job on this one btw.

Why does anyone care about line combinations? They change every ten minutes anyways.

wprager wrote:Smith moving to 2nd line according to Garrioch's tweet:

New look sens: Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson; Smith-Fisher-Foligno, Ruutu-Kelly-Neil and Shannon-Regin-Kovalev. Winchester looks like out.

Wow. A couple things here:

-- Winchester is one of the last guys I would have sat based on the last two games; he was hitting and doing his job all night
-- Shannon drawing in ONLY makes sense because of the line they'll put him on; Kovalev - Regin - Shannon has worked before in the past
-- BIG statement to Kovalev here; the way he's played, he doesn't deserve anything better than 4th line minutes, but how will he respond? if poorly, we could end up being stuck with a big $5 mil turd all year long

First thing this team needs to do is drop the shots against by at least 10, if we're allowing 37 per game for an extended period of time, we might have a problem.
Second order of business is to increase the shots for by at least 10, because averaging 20 isn't gonna cut it.

sens4win wrote:

wprager wrote:And the defensive pairings are what they were at the end of the game Saturday night:

Phillips/Gonchar
Campoli/Carkner
Lee/Karlsson

Yep, it's setting them both up to fail. With Kuba out, tho', I'm not sure what alternatives we have. You need a big body who can play good D with Karlsson, to insulate him, and we don't have anyone after Phillips right now who can do that.

Playing our 5/6 pairing in the 3/4 spot, too, is not a good sign. OTT may need to go out and get a big body just to survive this month.

Look for Phillips and Gonchar to play 25+ minutes each tonight.

One thing I hope happens is Michalek gets demoted to the 2nd line.

dennycrane wrote:Why does anyone care about line combinations? They change every ten minutes anyways.

True. But they impetus to the change is typically bad/unsuccessful first 40 minutes. If they start out with the right combos off the bat it's a different game.

Like that 4th line -- against a team with a shallow defense like the Caps, it might work miracles to *not* have a line whose only purpose is to crash and burn.

But I still don't get the Lee/Karlsson pairing. My guess is PhilChar will grab 29 minutes, CampKner will get 22, and KarLee will get 9.

And I'm really sorry about those name mash ups.

sens4win wrote:One thing I hope happens is Michalek gets demoted to the 2nd line.

The play of the guys who are supposed to be our top 6 wingers -- especially Michalek and Kovalev -- has been appalling. I expect way more out of Michalek in particular. He hasn't been the same since that hit to the head late last fall; he's much more timid, playing safer and smaller and slower.

rooneypoo wrote:
Yep, it's setting them both up to fail. With Kuba out, tho', I'm not sure what alternatives we have. You need a big body who can play good D with Karlsson, to insulate him, and we don't have anyone after Phillips right now who can do that.

Playing our 5/6 pairing in the 3/4 spot, too, is not a good sign. OTT may need to go out and get a big body just to survive this month.

Look for Phillips and Gonchar to play 25+ minutes each tonight.

Gonchar played close to 29, didn't he? Expect more of the same.

There is always the option of bringing Gryba up to insulate Karlsson. Or even Cowen. Might be do-able with 3rd pairing minutes.

rooneypoo wrote:

sens4win wrote:One thing I hope happens is Michalek gets demoted to the 2nd line.

The play of the guys who are supposed to be our top 6 wingers -- especially Michalek and Kovalev -- has been appalling. I expect way more out of Michalek in particular. He hasn't been the same since that hit to the head late last fall; he's much more timid, playing safer and smaller and slower.

Is it a coincidence that both of them are coming off serious knee surgeries, though?

wprager wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:
Yep, it's setting them both up to fail. With Kuba out, tho', I'm not sure what alternatives we have. You need a big body who can play good D with Karlsson, to insulate him, and we don't have anyone after Phillips right now who can do that.

Playing our 5/6 pairing in the 3/4 spot, too, is not a good sign. OTT may need to go out and get a big body just to survive this month.

Look for Phillips and Gonchar to play 25+ minutes each tonight.

Gonchar played close to 29, didn't he? Expect more of the same.

There is always the option of bringing Gryba up to insulate Karlsson. Or even Cowen. Might be do-able with 3rd pairing minutes.

Gryba = another righty. Cowen makes the most sense, but I'm not sure if we can call him up the same way we can other players now that he's back in junior. I could be wrong on that, tho', but I don't think we can call him up until the end of his junior season -- maybe in an emergency capacity only.