GAME DAY: Ottawa @ New Jersey, 7:00PM, Thursday, December 8, 2011

NEELY wrote:They should probably never play Auld ever again. He's just awful.

Still has no wins this year.

Getting a point playing back-to-back *and* traveling, I'm OK with the end result. Not quite so OK how we got there.

Maybe he should have put in Anderson for the SO. Was the only goal that didn't go in the one Kovie put wide?

Huge point after blowing that lead.

Rundblad took a lot of SO attempts in Sweden. Trying something different I guess.

With Gonchar injured (if out still next game) he won't be sent down.

Cowen played 31 minutes tonight

Yeah, Cowen was a damn rock.

Don't forget they've been playing without Kuba (PP hasn't been good since he went down) and they lost Gonchar in the 2nd. And they played last night. I think there are very good reasons for blowing a 3-0 lead (would have been nice to score a couple on the early PPs before the zebras decided to even things out).

I honestly thought they should have put Anderson in the shootout

NEELY wrote:This is on Spezza. Period.

I hope you're not blaming that last shorty on Spezza.

Damned leaderboard not yet updated. They've got Giroux there replacing Kessel with the point lead, but haven't got Michalek's 18th yet, so there is still a little Kessel showing.

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:This is on Spezza. Period.

I hope you're not blaming that last shorty on Spezza.

First goal that turned it all around, yup.

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:This is on Spezza. Period.

I hope you're not blaming that last shorty on Spezza.

I think he is. He said so right after the second one. Why was he on the bench? I'm sure he had a hand in Konopka getting beat up, too. Speaking of which, it looked like Konopka got head-butted early on (just before or just after he dropped the gloves). Maybe that's what the cut was from and why Z was so upset.

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:This is on Spezza. Period.

I hope you're not blaming that last shorty on Spezza.

First goal that turned it all around, yup.

I'm talking about their second SH goal. The one where Karlsson passes it to him when he had a guy literally right next to him? Bad pass by Karlsson. Spezza gives it away but can't do anything about that one IMO.

I told you with Spezza. Just painfully ignore him until February are when he comes back from a 1 month injury. He is a second half player. Not saying that is GOOD, you would ideally like him to be great every single game just saying that is fact. Not an excuse for his poor play.

Karlsson was awful again tonight but he's been playing an insane amount of hockey.

We'll see what Spezza does going forward but he's looked awful for most of the season. Like I've said 1000 times Michalek is carrying his Donkey.

Sigh....not one but 2 shorthanded goals? This is Cussing ridiculous. That is actually unacceptable. Two straight third period blown leads, 3 less points in the bank

I see big things for DR7 in the next couple of games, if Gonchar is out. Sending him out for that shootout should give him some confidence IMO. Coach puts you in an important role, you're gonna feel good.

NEELY wrote:Karlsson was awful again tonight but he's been playing an insane amount of hockey.

We'll see what Spezza does going forward but he's looked awful for most of the season. Like I've said 1000 times Michalek is carrying his Donkey.

It's not really fair to say Michalek carries him IMO. Spezza hasn't been great at all this season, yet Michalek's had excellent success when on his line. He's not doing it all himself, he's seeing some open ice because teams are keying more on Spezza.

NEELY wrote:They should probably never play Auld ever again. He's just awful.

If we had Price in net and Auld was in Montreal, we win in regulation and they get blown out.