GAME DAY: NY Rangers @ Ottawa, 7:30PM, Thursday, March 8, 2012

We're playing well but aren't we gad to see Biron tonight lol

Poor Auld

Sens win 4-1. Sweet.

Man where is everybody? This place has been dead the past few gdt

Thank god Biron played tonight but our D was solid as was Bishop

Thought Bishop was way better tonight. Looked sharped, didn't let a lot of juicy rebounds out, just looked solid.

Pretty good game by the Sens. Can't wait for the playoffs.

Cowen's back in a big way, damn...hard hits that completely eliminate the forwards. Really solid effort by the whole team. Really liked Bishop.

Karlsson is putting on a clinic as well. Guy's incredible.

NEELY wrote:Thought Bishop was way better tonight. Looked sharped, didn't let a lot of juicy rebounds out, just looked solid.

Pretty good game by the Sens. Can't wait for the playoffs.

That's all this team needs is a solid goalie. He doesn't have to be flashy, just get the job done. I wish I'd seen more than the last 2 minutes of this game, but from the highlights, I'd say that N4L's "solid" assessment is sound.

Yeah, really solid. Stopped a point blank breakaway and made another critical save later when he was protecting the 1 goal lead.

Find myself not a huge fan of Gilroy.

Big Ev wrote:ok I am Cussing done with these two clown announcers. Potvin keeps calling Ryan Callahan "O'Callahan".

Don't you know? This is from the NHL.com frontpage:

SpezDispenser wrote:Karlsson is putting on a clinic as well. Guy's incredible.

Huh? Gave the puck away a few times. Always looks like he's trying to avoid contact (mind you, tonight they were really going after him). But, man, is he ever strong on his skates. He took down Anisimov how has 35 lbs on him and it was just being able to keep on his skates.

Smith had a nice little fight, there. That goal, though, no way that should have gone in. *UNDER* the glove? Wow.

Good win.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Karlsson is putting on a clinic as well. Guy's incredible.

Huh? Gave the puck away a few times. Always looks like he's trying to avoid contact (mind you, tonight they were really going after him). But, man, is he ever strong on his skates. He took down Anisimov how has 35 lbs on him and it was just being able to keep on his skates.

Smith had a nice little fight, there. That goal, though, no way that should have gone in. *UNDER* the glove? Wow.

Good win.

Even though he gave it away I found his game very solid. Nice passes, great speed, thought he was the pulse of the team - as usual.

Hopefully Cowen can continue that play going forward - so solid tonight.

SpezDispenser wrote:Find myself not a huge fan of Gilroy.

He's made some bad pinches but overall I think he's looked solid with phillips. Even pmac likes his game (so he sez).

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Karlsson is putting on a clinic as well. Guy's incredible.

Huh? Gave the puck away a few times. Always looks like he's trying to avoid contact (mind you, tonight they were really going after him). But, man, is he ever strong on his skates. He took down Anisimov how has 35 lbs on him and it was just being able to keep on his skates.

Smith had a nice little fight, there. That goal, though, no way that should have gone in. *UNDER* the glove? Wow.

Good win.

Even though he gave it away I found his game very solid. Nice passes, great speed, thought he was the pulse of the team - as usual.

Hopefully Cowen can continue that play going forward - so solid tonight.

I only caught the last couple minutes, but one of the guys on Sportsnet said that Spezza and Karlsson both had big games. Considering the box score, I was surprised to hear it. On the other hand, it's fantastic to hear that those two are having great games on nights when they don't put up points (other than Spezza's ENG).

SpezDispenser wrote:Find myself not a huge fan of Gilroy.

If the benchmark is pre-McClean Brian Lee, then he's a superstar.
He will only improve (much like Lee did) under the new coaching staff. I don't have high expectations for new comers to the team like Gilroy and Bishop. You can tell just from last game that Bishop worked with Wamsley. Anyone forward of goal takes more time to get into a new system with new guys. Gilroy will get there.

Cussing great win. It's amazing how ordinary we make the Rangers look. We are a really bad matchup for them, because we can handle their physicality (they are the #1 hitting team in the league). I think they dressed Biron in an effort to lose, to ensure they don't have to play us in the 1st round. If we somehow do get through the 1st round and run into the Rags in the 2nd...well...hopefully this trend continues.

tim1_2 wrote:Cussing great win. It's amazing how ordinary we make the Rangers look. We are a really bad matchup for them, because we can handle their physicality (they are the #1 hitting team in the league). I think they dressed Biron in an effort to lose, to ensure they don't have to play us in the 1st round. If we somehow do get through the 1st round and run into the Rags in the 2nd...well...hopefully this trend continues.

We would not face Biron in the post-season. That Zack Smith goal that elevated the Sens' spirits is an easy save for Lundqvist (for any goalie, actually -- that was a really, really bad goal). With Lundqvist in goal that game continues to be 1-0 Rags for a while until we make another mistake, while pressing for the equalizer. Rangers play a boring game and have a goalie who can take an early 1-0 lead and nurse it for the remaining 50-55 minutes.

A win is a win, I'll take it with a big grin. And I also know that we *did* beat Lundqvist earlier (and have had relative success against the Rangers in general in the past). But let's not overstate this win, either. This is the same team that blew a 2-0 lead and almost blew a 3-0 lead very recently. There are things to work on -- getting shots *on* net, blocking shots, reduce defensive zone turnovers and stop running around when such turnovers happen. And one of those middle-six forwards needs to step up, say "That top-six spot is mine!" and back it up.


Still very much a work in progress.