(1) New York Rangers vs (8) Ottawa Senators - Playoffs Round 1

SpezDispenser wrote:


http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showthread.php?t=1163661

A quick guide to Bob Colisms
Now, because CBC hates Senators fans, they have once again put Bob Cole as the play-by-play man for the Ottawa series. People who are unfamiliar with him sometimes get confused with his ... unique way of calling a game. So here's a quick cheat sheet to help you translate:

Gonchar = Erik Karlsson
Kubina = Flip Kuba
"This side" = That side over there. No, the other one.
Karlsson = Sergei Gonchar
"The Ottawa Player" = Somebody who joined the Senators after their last playoff series against the Leafs
Offside = Hand Pass
New York penalty = a penalty against Ottawa
Hand Pass = puck played by a high stick
The Ottawa Sens = trollolol

SpezDispenser wrote:
Yeah, except sandwiched in between was some really serious pressure on NY. Still, I hate to say I agree, come on guys, get it together and stick to what go you here.

On that note...what do you do about Cowen? I love that kid and it's a way better option to have him play and learn than not, but perhaps a game from the press box is in order for him to gather himself if Carkner is ready to go. Poor kid Dung the bed pretty bad last night.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Big Ev wrote:get rid of the yeswecan avatars, they're bad luck and they have no relevance to this series

We should have a better slogan like "Justice."

Vandelay wrote:Yeesh...you guys are a tough bunch to please. First playoff game for a lot of these guys. Considering, I thought they played very well. Yes, the nerves were an issue and Cowen looked lost. Other than that, we were the better team for most of the game. Not sure what the zone time was but I thought we had more sustained pressure outside of the end of the second and early in the third.
The other thing is, I don't think those two late goals are at all meaningless. Scoring two was/is huge for them. They know now that if they outwork them, Lundqvist is human and they will be rewarded. Great learning experience for them. Saturday should be fun!

SpezDispenser wrote:
I think a lot of us are being tough on them because they got away from what made them so successful all year for about...20 minutes and it cost them a big game. Will they do it again? Hard to say, they are young for sure, but I'd hate to lose the series because of a few badly timed cluster diddles personally - and that's what I thought happened. A series of boneheaded plays that you iron out in games 1-15 of the regular season. Gonchar loses his stick, goes to the 2nd man in the zone, Cowen does I don't even know what and Gaborik smiles like a cat that has a mouse cornered. Foligno goes behind the net, gets stripped and costs us a goal, we can't clear the puck for goal 3 (the real back-breaker IMO), Cowen gives it right up in the high slot, goal. These are the things that are more mental than anything, although I give credit to NY for waking the heck up after Torts called that TO.

Add to that that we're a really tough team (I think), but we got manhandled out there. Why is that? Nerves? If anything I thought that would lead to more hitting. Z.Smith, Michalek - get out there and hit, make your damn presence known - especially Z.Smith, you're built for this, come on. Neil tried to do it, basically alone. Spezza was invisible in the 2nd and 3rd as well, Turris got shut down, Alfie was poor - and on and on.

That's why I'm being hard on them personally. They can do a heck of a lot better.

Vandelay wrote:Yeesh...you guys are a tough bunch to please. First playoff game for a lot of these guys. Considering, I thought they played very well. Yes, the nerves were an issue and Cowen looked lost. Other than that, we were the better team for most of the game. Not sure what the zone time was but I thought we had more sustained pressure outside of the end of the second and early in the third.
The other thing is, I don't think those two late goals are at all meaningless. Scoring two was/is huge for them. They know now that if they outwork them, Lundqvist is human and they will be rewarded. Great learning experience for them. Saturday should be fun!

beerandsens wrote:

Vandelay wrote:Yeesh...you guys are a tough bunch to please. First playoff game for a lot of these guys. Considering, I thought they played very well. Yes, the nerves were an issue and Cowen looked lost. Other than that, we were the better team for most of the game. Not sure what the zone time was but I thought we had more sustained pressure outside of the end of the second and early in the third.
The other thing is, I don't think those two late goals are at all meaningless. Scoring two was/is huge for them. They know now that if they outwork them, Lundqvist is human and they will be rewarded. Great learning experience for them. Saturday should be fun!

For guys who like to analyze stuff relevant to this POV, Sportsnet has a little "Game Dominance" doohickey at the bottom of their game summaries. It's not foolproof by any means, but for those who love to over-analyze everything it's kind of neat.

They've got Ottawa "Dominating" 55% of the game. If you look at NYR, their 3 goals are in a spasm of "Dominance".

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/04/12/rangers_senators_nhl_stanley_cup_playoff_recap/
(Click on Game Dominance at the bottom of the page)

wprager wrote:
New York are one of the toughest teams out there when judging by hits and blocked shots. But even in a home rink the hits were almost dead-even. You can't say they manhandled us, just not true. Neither team dished out a lot of very heavy hits. The one on Winchester is about the only one I remember, and they both went down equally.

It wasn't Gonchar who lost his stick -- when he tried to clear the zone he knocked the stick out of the forechecker's hands. Then Cowen tried tip-toeing around the stick and ended up going in the wrong direction when Gaborik picked up the puck.

wprager wrote:It's a homer stat, for sure, which is why it was odd to see the Sens within 1 (something like 37-38). IMO both numbers were seriously exaggerated.

Shawn Simpson on Team1200 was talking about how Healy was praising the Rangers for all their blocked shots and said (paraphrasing) "If you are a defenseman jostling for position with a forward in front of the net and you get hit in the butt with a puck, that's not blocking a shot". There's got to be something similar about the "hits" -- sometimes you run into people; incidental and not very harsh contact. There was no-way the Rangers laid 38 hits on the Sens like the one on Winchester. Both teams were doing very little actual hitting.

wprager wrote:That was my whole point -- it's a homer stat, and if the Rangers were "man-handling" the Sens as SD said, I would expect the hits totals to be completely one-sided. They weren't. They were nearly identical.

But best of all I remember very few *memorable* hits. Just one, actually, on Winchester, where both players went down.

wprager wrote:Blood is fresh out of college. Borowiecki has at least played at the NHL level. If we want Cowen to have a seat The Borocop is our only choice (plays the left side).

sandysensfan wrote:IF that was the best the Rangers had -- we all know the Sens can be much better than last night.

They have to be tougher and harder on the puck.

Boyle needs to pay for what he did to Karlsson. That was totally uncalled for and lowered him to the ranks of Lapierre & Burrows. Big brave dude who likes to pick on the little guy.

Anderson has to be better... Carkner hopefully comes into the lineup.. wish Gonchar would just come out.. but that won't happen.

Borowiecki could be an option as could Gryba... how about Ben Blood.. LOL