Game Day - Rangers @ Ottawa, 7:30PM, Wednesday, Movember 9, 2011

Prags, I went to 310 during each intermission but didn't see you

Hope you and your daughters had fun though.

So that's 3 losses in 4 games that I have attended :S I am bad luck. And I will have to look this up, but it seems they lose more often than not when I post the GDT too.

I also voted Rangers regulation win :S Obviously wanted Sens to win, but felt that they were gonna split the two games.

Dash wrote:Prags, I went to 310 during each intermission but didn't see you

Hope you and your daughters had fun though.

So that's 3 losses in 4 games that I have attended :S I am bad luck. And I will have to look this up, but it seems they lose more often than not when I post the GDT too.

I also voted Rangers regulation win :S Obviously wanted Sens to win, but felt that they were gonna split the two games.

We got there early and while we were sitting and waiting for the warmups to star a lady attendant came by and asked if we wanted to move down. She ended up giving us 3 tickets to 110 row N. She would have given us 4 -- she thought the guy sitting next to us was with us, but he had his little brother skating with the Sens (one of the flag kids, I guess) so he couldn't move.

We spent the rest of the time in 110, except when we came up to 210 to visit my brother in law (he's got season tickets there).

sandysensfan wrote:

shabbs wrote:Too bad about that brain fart by Rundblad. C'mon Sens!

I can live with his mistakes as he is learning... but that one by Gonchar.. unacceptable.

Gonchar was awful.

Karlsson, on the other hand, I would have given him one of the three stars. Gaborik? Really? Chery picking the whole night, and that two-on-one he scored on was a sniper gift as Anderson was deep in his crease *and* cheating to his left. Gaborik isn't going to pass from there, come on!

That play with 5 seconds left when Karlsson dives to knock the puck away -- *that* is how I want my team to play. Mind you, if he doesn't dive, he gets a -1 on the play, so there was some personal motivation there, I suppose.

NEELY wrote:Yah, the turnovers are part of learning and they just happen. Watching a guy like Butler just float around and do nothing just gets me to no end.

What the hell is with Anderson?

Turnovers from Rundblad I expect (still grumble about them though) but Gonchar had 3 glaring ones -- he *has to be* better.

Spezza with another big fart of a game. Guy needs to step up with Alfie gone, not sneak off to the shadows. Where has he been for 4+ games now?

I hate watching him play, especially live.

rooneypoo wrote:Spezza with another big fart of a game. Guy needs to step up with Alfie gone, not sneak off to the shadows. Where has he been for 4+ games now?

I hate watching him play, especially live.

Tonight he was in the "trying to do too much" category. He should have just hung out at the other team's blueline like Gaborik did.

But let's face it, the Sens were outplaying the Rags by w wide margin in the 1st, then went ahead on Michalek's goal. If not for Gonchar and Rundblad's giveaways they probably maintain the lead and build on it.

Will we ever see this group block more shots than the opposition? What's happened there? We blocked *8* shots tonight while the Rangers blocked 23 -- that's nearly three times as many!

wprager wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Spezza with another big fart of a game. Guy needs to step up with Alfie gone, not sneak off to the shadows. Where has he been for 4+ games now?

I hate watching him play, especially live.

Tonight he was in the "trying to do too much" category. He should have just hung out at the other team's blueline like Gaborik did.

But let's face it, the Sens were outplaying the Rags by w wide margin in the 1st, then went ahead on Michalek's goal. If not for Gonchar and Rundblad's giveaways they probably maintain the lead and build on it.

Will we ever see this group block more shots than the opposition? What's happened there? We blocked *8* shots tonight while the Rangers blocked 23 -- that's nearly three times as many!

Here's a list of Sens players, off the top of my head, in order, who all looked better than Spezza tonight:

Michalek, Da Costa, Foligno, Karlsson, Daugavins, Cowen, Smith, Neil, and yes, even Kuba.

Spezza = the $7 mil Kovalev. I'm so sick of this guy. He was invisible for 80+% of his shifts.

Spezza isn't playing well and hasn't for the majority of the season. Like me, Ronney, Femme, and Cash have stated, he beats up on the weaker teams and in crap time. Alfi and then probably Mchalek are the best forwards on this team because they do it all.

La Femme wrote:I wonder where DaCosta learned those slick moves. Unreal hand eye and unreal skating technique.
We played well, that's all that matters to me. Rookie mistakes who cares.

Peter Schaefer.



Memba that?

I honestly didn't think he was bad. At least not *that* bad. There were two plays where I felt that he should have dumped it in or tried to pass it off to his wingers, but instead he tried to do it all himself. He wasn't shying away from contact, laid a few hits, made a pass that led to a goal and won a ton of face offs. Michalek got a goal but had a complete brain fart on his semi-breakaway. He's a freaking shooter! Why pass back when you're in a perfect shooting position with no-one but the goalie in front of you? And Da Costa had a terrific game, but after that juggling act when he managed to get the puck out of the air and back down on his stick, he proceeds to shoot it right at Lundqvists's pads instead of going glove-side where there was tons of room. Karlsson -- who I thought was the best player on the ice -- had a few bad plays as well, but he either recovered quickly or was bailed out.

I'm beginning to think that this is what they will have to start doing with Gonchar and Rundblad -- bail them out. Don't let them be the last guy out of the zone. Rundblad, I though, had a rough game. The skill's all there but it looked like he kept trying to do a coast-to-coast rush and kept losing it. A few times he lost it in the wrong places and one ended up in the net.

wprager wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Spezza with another big fart of a game. Guy needs to step up with Alfie gone, not sneak off to the shadows. Where has he been for 4+ games now?

I hate watching him play, especially live.

Tonight he was in the "trying to do too much" category. He should have just hung out at the other team's blueline like Gaborik did.

But let's face it, the Sens were outplaying the Rags by w wide margin in the 1st, then went ahead on Michalek's goal. If not for Gonchar and Rundblad's giveaways they probably maintain the lead and build on it.

Will we ever see this group block more shots than the opposition? What's happened there? We blocked *8* shots tonight while the Rangers blocked 23 -- that's nearly three times as many!

I don't disagree with anything you said here aside from "hang out at the other teams blueline". Spezza isn't fast enough to actually get away with early breaks from the zone, but w/e.

I said a couple weeks ago, come talk to me after their long road trip and tell me if Spezza is still putting up the PPG numbers and he isn't. Fact of the matter is, and I think most people here will agree, the player carrying that line was and is Michalek. He's doing everything from putting the puck in the net to being the first man back on the backcheck and last man out of his own zone. There might be more of an attachment in Ottawa to Spezza because he has obviously been here a long time, but Michalek is the teams best forward.

wprager wrote:I honestly didn't think he was bad. At least not *that* bad. There were two plays where I felt that he should have dumped it in or tried to pass it off to his wingers, but instead he tried to do it all himself. He wasn't shying away from contact, laid a few hits, made a pass that led to a goal and won a ton of face offs. Michalek got a goal but had a complete brain fart on his semi-breakaway. He's a freaking shooter! Why pass back when you're in a perfect shooting position with no-one but the goalie in front of you? And Da Costa had a terrific game, but after that juggling act when he managed to get the puck out of the air and back down on his stick, he proceeds to shoot it right at Lundqvists's pads instead of going glove-side where there was tons of room. Karlsson -- who I thought was the best player on the ice -- had a few bad plays as well, but he either recovered quickly or was bailed out.

I'm beginning to think that this is what they will have to start doing with Gonchar and Rundblad -- bail them out. Don't let them be the last guy out of the zone. Rundblad, I though, had a rough game. The skill's all there but it looked like he kept trying to do a coast-to-coast rush and kept losing it. A few times he lost it in the wrong places and one ended up in the net.

He wasn't "bad". He was how I like to say "meh". He isn't paid to be "not bad" or "meh". He's paid like the teams best player and I would say in pretty close to 80-90% of the games he was no where near it. Is it any wonder now that teams are focusing on the points on the PP and paying attention to both Gonchar and Karlsson his points have dried up? Is it any wonder when the Sens started playing good teams his points have dried up. It's the same thing going on with the Maple Leafs, but a team that's going to work just as hard in front of them and they will be pretty ineffective. Spezza is the exact same way, put a team in front of him that will pressure him or a team that plays a strong system, he's done.

Spezza hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been very good either.

rooneypoo wrote:
Here's a list of Sens players, off the top of my head, in order, who all looked better than Spezza tonight:

Michalek, Da Costa, Foligno, Karlsson, Daugavins, Cowen, Smith, Neil, and yes, even Kuba.

Spezza = the $7 mil Kovalev. I'm so sick of this guy. He was invisible for 80+% of his shifts.

That's one of the more ridiculous statements that I've heard you make. Not really worth going any further.

NEELY wrote:
He wasn't "bad". He was how I like to say "meh". He isn't paid to be "not bad" or "meh". He's paid like the teams best player and I would say in pretty close to 80-90% of the games he was no where near it. Is it any wonder now that teams are focusing on the points on the PP and paying attention to both Gonchar and Karlsson his points have dried up? Is it any wonder when the Sens started playing good teams his points have dried up. It's the same thing going on with the Maple Leafs, but a team that's going to work just as hard in front of them and they will be pretty ineffective. Spezza is the exact same way, put a team in front of him that will pressure him or a team that plays a strong system, he's done.

Spezza hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been very good either.

So you agree that he wasn't a $7M Kovalev, then?

I don't think you can compare Spezza to Kovalev but in the same breath I don't think you can compare him with the best in the game either.

Mike Robiero is probably the best current comparable like I've maintained for the better part of 2 years.

Don't wanna talk about negatives...they are the same as they usually are (young D-men making some mistakes, certain forwards not capitalizing on chances, etc).

The positive:

Karlsson. Wow. That was one of the better games I've ever seen him play. It looks like he's really starting to figure out how to play D with his smaller frame...kinda like how Lidstrom plays D (good stick work/positioning).

Michalek. How much fun is it watching him play right now. He's really fast, strong on the puck, and has a great shot. He's great.

Da Costa. Still lots of rough edges, but you can tell he's special (and not just because of his weird alien head). He *almost* had a goal-of-the-year candidate.

NEELY wrote:I don't think you can compare Spezza to Kovalev but in the same breath I don't think you can compare him with the best in the game either.

Mike Robiero is probably the best current comparable like I've maintained for the better part of 2 years.

1 goal in 14 games on a team playing lights out? 40% on face offs? 5th on his team in scoring. Yeah, that's a comparable, all right.

Anyhow, have an early call to attend to. Gotta go.

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:I don't think you can compare Spezza to Kovalev but in the same breath I don't think you can compare him with the best in the game either.

Mike Robiero is probably the best current comparable like I've maintained for the better part of 2 years.

1 goal in 14 games on a team playing lights out? 40% on face offs? 5th on his team in scoring. Yeah, that's a comparable, all right.
Anyhow, have an early call to attend to. Gotta go.

You obviously missed my point. I would be willing to bet you haven't watch Robiero play a game in the last 2 years. Plays exactly the same kind of game as Spezza for the most part. It's nice to see how quickly you can pull up some stats though.

Just as an FYI, when all you have is stats to go off of, it doesn't make for the best argument when at the end of it you say "but I've never actually seen him play".