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

tim1_2 wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

NEELY wrote:On Spezza again. Absolutely no compete level in that guy. None.

To be fair, Spezza caught up to the puck carrier. It was Alfie that thought Spezza needed a hand and left the scorer all by himself. Sure Spezza screwed up there but he got back. Was he supposed to cover both Devil's players?

Yeah..The Alfie on the point on the PP when protecting a lead in the 3rd is not a good idea.

Cowen is a guy they should be putting out there more often. If he can establish himself as a guy with a cannon from the point it will open up a lot more space while providing a calming influence if and when the puck does get turned over. That said, last night it was Alfi on the point because Gonchar left the game... Alfi does a pretty good job back there in a general sense.

Literally, all they had to do last night was not lose the game. Just manage the puck when you have it, don't make any bad mistakes that could turn the game around, and just generally play a conservative game. This is a road game with 5 people watching, they didn't have to impress anyone.

2 short handed goals being up 3-0 then 3-1 is about as unacceptable as you can get. The number 1 center had everything to do with that first goal and carried some responsibility on the 2nd.

One shortie in a game is deflating... two in a game is killer. They just didn't play the full 60+ mins and Jersey took advantage of the momentum shift to take the game. Dung happens, time to move on. Next game.

Spezza just looks too slow. I think he's hampered by injury, or maybe his training is/was hampered.

Whatever the case, he's not as quick as he should be.

tim1_2 wrote:Spezza just looks too slow. I think he's hampered by injury, or maybe his training is/was hampered.

Whatever the case, he's not as quick as he should be.

Pretty sure a few people have been saying that since game 1. He looks awful out there on a nightly basis. IMO, its a matter of the game passing him by... the game has changed. He was a player for the old NHL.

Auld didn't help anyone out though, lets be honest about that too. He's an awful goaltender in the NHL.

NEELY wrote:
Auld didn't help anyone out though, lets be honest about that too. He's an awful goaltender in the NHL.

That's too harsh. He is not awful. He's a decent backup, and that's all. Our D is having some problems.

wprager wrote: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 thought the whole team was playing like Dung even at 3-0. I mean, Brodeur basically spotted us the first 2. Seriously, team got cocky, thought it was dominating, didn't see all the signs.

tim1_2 wrote:

NEELY wrote:
Auld didn't help anyone out though, lets be honest about that too. He's an awful goaltender in the NHL.

That's too harsh. He is not awful. He's a decent backup, and that's all. Our D is having some problems.

He's won like 10 games in the last 3 seasons. Not even sure he's a backup at this point. Either way Lehner will get the nod next year for the backup role and probably get into about 30 games.

NEELY wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

NEELY wrote:
Auld didn't help anyone out though, lets be honest about that too. He's an awful goaltender in the NHL.

That's too harsh. He is not awful. He's a decent backup, and that's all. Our D is having some problems.

He's won like 10 games in the last 3 seasons. Not even sure he's a backup at this point. Either way Lehner will get the nod next year for the backup role and probably get into about 30 games.

I honestly thought Auld made a lot of big saves last night -- and the only goal against I didn't like was that Parise one. Obviously, he sucks in the SO, but that's another matter.

There is a reason Auld is a backup so I won't go into a whole bunch of technical stuff but he needs to make a frigging save. I've always thought he was a decent enough goaltender but right now and probably going forward he's going to have a tough time making an NHL club.

Literally the worst goaltender in the NHL right now. Roloson close behind.

Hobiesens wrote:NEVER stop watching! Winchester!

Yeah that was nice but, seriously, WTF is Winchester doing on the ice when you're trying to come back? Shouldn't this guy have been traded already?

I honestly thought WInchesters days were numbered. Dead wrong.

Auld was pretty good against Vancouver some time ago.

I'm going to save my energy on this one, a lot of losses coming this month, starting tomorrow.

Anderson has bailed Spezza out for a dozen times in the last few games, unfortunately for N19 he wasn't there last night.
Say all you want about his linemates, but the number of stupid plays he makes on a nightly basis is amazingly disgusting.
Thank god we're not having cap issues so I don't care what he's making. Wonder what MElnyk is thinking watching those games.

LeKid wrote:Anderson has bailed Spezza out for a dozen times in the last few games, unfortunately for N19 he wasn't there last night.
Say all you want about his linemates, but the number of stupid plays he makes on a nightly basis is amazingly disgusting.
Thank god we're not having cap issues so I don't care what he's making. Wonder what MElnyk is thinking watching those games.

Pretty much. You would think 10 years in the NHL something would finally click.

"Hey we're up 3-0 on the road and we just blew a lead last night and lost... I think I should try and do something really special here".

We're just lucky we got a point. Spezza playing like crap, Karlsson playing like crap, Auld not getting it done, Z.Smith's line broken up and not looking as good, Gonchar out which compounds the Kuba injury as well, Rundblad showing some flashes, but not ready...

Lucky to get the point. It was right around the time Parise said, I got this, that I thought we were dead in regulation. Spezza could learn some things from him.

SpezDispenser wrote:We're just lucky we got a point. Spezza playing like crap, Karlsson playing like crap, Auld not getting it done, Z.Smith's line broken up and not looking as good, Gonchar out which compounds the Kuba injury as well, Rundblad showing some flashes, but not ready...

Lucky to get the point. It was right around the time Parise said, I got this, that I thought we were dead in regulation. Spezza could learn some things from him.

Or the Devils were just free to start attacking once Fraudeur was yanked and they no longer needed to play the "Make Fraudeur look good" system that's been in place for nearly 20 years.

SpezDispenser wrote:Lucky to get the point. It was right around the time Parise said, I got this, that I thought we were dead in regulation. Spezza could learn some things from him.

Yeah, this is SO why we're going to get Parise in the off-season. He's the cure to what ails #19.

On the Winchester front: he, Foligno, Kuba, Gonchar…these are guys Sens fans have traded 37,000 times over. It's cool how they are now big reasons why we are remaining competitive. Spezza also fits into this mold, although we're waiting for his pendulum to swing back to "reason for success" from "successful despite".

Anyway, it's never a dull game with the Sens these days!