Game Day - Columbus @ Ottawa, 7:00PM, Saturday, October 22, 2011

and please send Zibanejad back to Sweden. Please. I have no idea why Wilson, Brown, and Garrioch all think he's gonna stay here.

Gonchar and Kuba both had great games, damn...so nice to see that. The entire D looked a lot better, are we seeing the results of MacLean's hard practices.

Quick thoughts:

Karlsson is a beast. Obviously Michalek, Spezza and Greening have some nice chemistry. Z-Bad looks okay, he's still tentative handling the puck, and to me doesn't look quite there. We'll see what MacLean thinks. Da Costa keeps getting beaten in the defensive zone, needs an AHL stint. Z.Smith looked damn good for parts of that game. Anderson could - and will have to be a little sharper.

Fun comeback...unexpected.

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The dump and chase, chip part of Columbus' gameplan is weak, weak, weak. Totally blew that game with a passive 3rd period.

Big Ev wrote:Columbus only has themselves to blame. They packed it in and started playing the trap. Playing prevent defense only prevents you from WINNING

Big Ev wrote:and please send Zibanejad back to Sweden. Please. I have no idea why Wilson, Brown, and Garrioch all think he's gonna stay here.

Agreed on both.

And what a finish in Montreal, too. Grabovski scores a beauty in OT and the Jacques Martin death watch is on. Or at least that's what you keep hearing on Fan990. It's wild listening to that station, sometimes. You think some Ottawa fans are critical? These two guys on the afternoon show are worse.

Big Ev wrote:and please send Zibanejad back to Sweden. Please. I have no idea why Wilson, Brown, and Garrioch all think he's gonna stay here.

Why? He isn't out of place out there, has played responsible hockey, he can be trusted on the ice, and he is getting chances. I bet her stays too because he looks like an NHL hockey player.

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:and please send Zibanejad back to Sweden. Please. I have no idea why Wilson, Brown, and Garrioch all think he's gonna stay here.

Why? He isn't out of place out there, has played responsible hockey, he can be trusted on the ice, and he is getting chances. I bet her stays too because he looks like an NHL hockey player.

I'm not saying he looks out of place, but that should not be the reason to keep him. Let him develop in Sweden, it doesn't hurt any Swedish player ever.

I'm just not feeling him getting 13 minutes a night on the third line here. It won't hurt him but it doesn't help him more than getting more minutes with Djurgarden.

He is clearly not ready for the offensive aspect of the NHL. I don't see them keeping him. They will do the right thing by sending him back.

Players may look fine in their defensive end and be responsible, but I don't think that is why you should keep him. This team doesn't NEED him right now, we have other players to fill those roles.

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:and please send Zibanejad back to Sweden. Please. I have no idea why Wilson, Brown, and Garrioch all think he's gonna stay here.

Why? He isn't out of place out there, has played responsible hockey, he can be trusted on the ice, and he is getting chances. I bet her stays too because he looks like an NHL hockey player.

I'm not saying he looks out of place, but that should not be the reason to keep him. Let him develop in Sweden, it doesn't hurt any Swedish player ever.

I'm just not feeling him getting 13 minutes a night on the third line here. It won't hurt him but it doesn't help him more than getting more minutes with Djurgarden.

He is clearly not ready for the offensive aspect of the NHL. I don't see them keeping him. They will do the right thing by sending him back.

Players may look fine in their defensive end and be responsible, but I don't think that is why you should keep him. This team doesn't NEED him right now, we have other players to fill those roles.

The team has the choice between them developing an NHL reayd prospect or another organization... we'll see what they choose. He hasn't had a bad game at center this year.

MacLean called Condra a potential 'elite' penalty killer. Nice compliment.

Great game....I was all "oh poop" when we took that penalty late in the game, but The Alfie really saved our asses when he drew that penalty short-handed. That was huge.....and then Michalek and Spezza took over. It's nice to see the vets leading the way. Great great great!

tim1_2 wrote:Great game....I was all "oh poop" when we took that penalty late in the game, but The Alfie really saved our asses when he drew that penalty short-handed. That was huge.....and then Michalek and Spezza took over. It's nice to see the vets leading the way. Great great great!

They didn't "take over", Alfi made a great play and then they got to pull the goalie. Everything was created from the back end for both of those goals. Spezza winning all those draws was the biggest thing but neither of those two "took over".

Michallica wrote:Well done Dash with the GDT! But I detest your record of going to games.....it also has alot to do with you cheering for the opposing team

Looks like no Filatov for this game....so much for the grudge matchup (right decision in the end)

I don't actually cheer for the other teams, I just was hoping Ottawa would finish as badly as I thought they would be, put they have surprised (or should I say other teams have sucked more than I thought they would). I cheered for Nash (and Vermette) but happy the Sens won.

People really need to relax a bit though, Ottawa beat the two worst teams in the NHL, yah, it;s good to see and I am cheering for them like everyone else, but the struggled with a team that hasn't won a game that played the night before.

If Russle doesn't give the puck up to Alfi we are not having the dicsussion of the Sens winning but rather how can they get out played and out worked by Columbus.

I was as happy as anyone that they pulled it off but that wasn't a good game by 75% of the team. There were like 4 guys that played well, Kuba, Gonchar, Neil, and Smith... that's about it. The rest of the team just coasted through.

There is also literally no game the Sens have played in where they have not be down by at least a goal.

NEELY wrote:People really need to relax a bit though, Ottawa beat the two worst teams in the NHL, yah, it;s good to see and I am cheering for them like everyone else, but the struggled with a team that hasn't won a game that played the night before.

If Russle doesn't give the puck up to Alfi we are not having the dicsussion of the Sens winning but rather how can they get out played and out worked by Columbus.

I was as happy as anyone that they pulled it off but that wasn't a good game by 75% of the team. There were like 4 guys that played well, Kuba, Gonchar, Neil, and Smith... that's about it. The rest of the team just coasted through.

They barely beat a winless team playing with half an AHL roster.

Karlsson, Michalek, and Condra all had good games as well. Smith was great though.

I thought Karlsson struggled last night, personally.

Columbus may have been playing with 8 "regulars" out of its lineup (4 of those had not yet been in the lineup so they haven't been "regulars" this season; it's like saying the Bruins are playing without Marc Savard), but they are a desperate team. Those games can go either way. And Mason played pretty well. And Anderson wasn't exactly great on two of those goals.

At the end of the day, a win is a win, and two in a row is a little streak. They have a great opportunity here to make a small run at it and make it four before they have to face Lundqvist.

I personally liked a lot of what I saw from Rundblad. I disliked a lot as well but that's to be expected his first few games in his first NHL season. Smith definitely played well and I personally would have given him one of the stars of the game.

Neil was huge in that game but my goodness Alfie was key in saving our beacons. Sucks he got no points last night but he helped save the senators big time last night.

On another note, anyone think Neil will get a disciplinar¥ hearing for shoving the ref?