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

Big Ev wrote:best news: no Dean Brown! Diddle yeah!

Yay bob Cole?

Dean brown anyday over that clown.

Key to victory for Ottawa? WIN AT HOME!!! Sens haven't won a home playoff game in 5 years (game 3 against the ducks) which makes for a 6 game home losing streak

shabbs wrote:The keys to the Sens winning the series are going to be the same things that got them to the playoffs... staying healthy, solid goaltending by Anderson, Spezza stepping up and being the man, Alfie, Michalek and Turris chipping in and providing a balanced scoring effort, a successful PP, avoiding the PK and a stable set of D-men that clear the crap in front of Anderson and give him good looks at the puck.

They're going to be in tough up against the Rags and Lundqvist. Hopefully the Rangers bonk a bit. Torts will do his best to take the pressure off the players by putting it all on him.

I think another major factor in this series (or any series the Sens will be in) will be Karlsson avoiding injury. Rangers are going to hit him every chance they can get. If he misses any time or is too banged up to play his game effectively that will be a major loss for us. He has to avoid getting hit/injured as much as possible and if the Rangers try anything funny Neil & co. need to respond, no holds barred.

Michallica wrote:

Big Ev wrote:best news: no Dean Brown! Diddle yeah!

Yay bob Cole?

Dean brown anyday over that clown.

Not for me. Dean's a f****ing blowhard. Bob has the playoff voice.

rooneypoo wrote:

Riprock wrote:I'd make room for Silfverberg for sure. I'd probably slot him in ahead of Daugavins - not that KD isn't good, but if you can put in a 2-way player like Silfverberg who is probably just as good defensively than KD and better offensively, why wouldn't you?

Because he's never played an NHL game in his life, maybe?

Neither did K-Daug, Klinhammer or DaCosta. And while DaCosta did not stick around, he was good in his first few games. There's nothing wrong (IMO) inserting Silfverberg as a 3rd or 4th line winger in a game or two. Yes, generally you would need an injury for that, and there will certainly be some.

Let's say Neil isn't ready to go, or maybe re-injures something -- clearly you don't replace Neil with Butler.

Michallica wrote:Yesssss denis potvin picked the Sens in 6!!!!! We got this

Of course he did. Why would he pick the team whose fans still chant "Potvin Sucks" whenever they feel like it.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:This series goes 6 or 7 games but I don't know who wins.

You can't get the bonus point without first picking the winner

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I assume Gilroy doesn't see any more ice time as a Sen unless we tank bad and feel a little shakeup is in order.

He played well in the last game against NJ, the goal was lucky but that was his best game in the uniform IMHO.

Great...1 good game.

Michallica wrote:If we can last that long, Silfverberg should get the spezza treatment from '03 when they inserted him for a spark while they were down 3-1 in the series

Yep, I could see that, too.

SpezDispenser wrote:
Great...1 good game.

MacLean might still play him, hard to say.

I can't wait to see how MacLean handles coaching in the postseason. Bylsma outcoached Clouston in our last postseason appearance so hopefully MacLean can match Torts.

Sportsnet preview of the Sens. Pumped me up

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Great...1 good game.

MacLean might still play him, hard to say.

I can't wait to see how MacLean handles coaching in the postseason. Bylsma outcoached Clouston in our last postseason appearance so hopefully MacLean can match Torts.

I would think McClean has more playoff experience with him being in Detroit and all.......

Big Ev wrote:

Michallica wrote:

Big Ev wrote:best news: no Dean Brown! Diddle yeah!

Yay bob Cole?

Dean brown anyday over that clown.

Not for me. Dean's a f****ing blowhard. Bob has the playoff voice.

This is what you'll hear from crotchety old senile Cole...

"The Ottawa player starts from his own end and passes it to... an Ottawa player... who skates through the neutral zone and sends it around the boards where it's picked up by... an Ottawa player... who then shovels it back to... an Ottawa player at the blue line... the Ottawa player on the blue line gets ready to shoot it on net... and he does just that, shooting it on net now... Lunqvist makes the save on the... Ottawa player... with... two other Ottawa players right on his doorstep."

Kill me now. Dude should be put the Diddle down. Senile old bastard.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Great...1 good game.

MacLean might still play him, hard to say.

I can't wait to see how MacLean handles coaching in the postseason. Bylsma outcoached Clouston in our last postseason appearance so hopefully MacLean can match Torts.

I would think McClean has more playoff experience with him being in Detroit and all.......

So you think the 20,000 fans sitting at the Joe are also qualified to coach in the playoffs? Or maybe just the 20 sitting behind the bench?

Sure, he's seen how it's done for a few years, and I certainly hope he learned a lot from observing. However he still is his own man, and the Ottawa Senators 2011-12 edition has very little resemblance to the Detroit powerhouses of the last few years. He will have to make his own decisions in very different situations, and he will make mistakes. As I mentioned in another thread, I think it was a mistake to play a full lineup against the Bruins because there was no way they could "win", and losing would put up huge question marks about ho we matched up against the (at the time) first round opponent.

Do you think those 20,000 fans or the 20 behind the bench had any part of the strategy during the playoffs Detroit has enjoyed over the last few years?

wprager wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Great...1 good game.

MacLean might still play him, hard to say.

I can't wait to see how MacLean handles coaching in the postseason. Bylsma outcoached Clouston in our last postseason appearance so hopefully MacLean can match Torts.

I would think McClean has more playoff experience with him being in Detroit and all.......

So you think the 20,000 fans sitting at the Joe are also qualified to coach in the playoffs? Or maybe just the 20 sitting behind the bench?

What a terrible terrible analogy

Michallica wrote:

wprager wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Great...1 good game.

MacLean might still play him, hard to say.

I can't wait to see how MacLean handles coaching in the postseason. Bylsma outcoached Clouston in our last postseason appearance so hopefully MacLean can match Torts.

I would think McClean has more playoff experience with him being in Detroit and all.......

So you think the 20,000 fans sitting at the Joe are also qualified to coach in the playoffs? Or maybe just the 20 sitting behind the bench?

What a terrible terrible analogy

And if you stopped reading right there you stopped terribly, terribly too soon.

wprager wrote:
Neither did K-Daug, Klinhammer or DaCosta. And while DaCosta did not stick around, he was good in his first few games. There's nothing wrong (IMO) inserting Silfverberg as a 3rd or 4th line winger in a game or two. Yes, generally you would need an injury for that, and there will certainly be some.

Let's say Neil isn't ready to go, or maybe re-injures something -- clearly you don't replace Neil with Butler.

To be honest, I don't think we're going to be seeing Silvferberg over here in any playoff games. Winning a championship with his SEL team is a huge accomplishment, and certainly a grind- I can't imagine Senators staff would want to bring him over immediately after all of that and risk further injury, take away his enjoyment of the achievement, for a couple of potentially meaningless playoff games.

All of that being said- we might see someone else, who is more rested, arguably higher skilled, and raring to go.

@ian_mendes
Mika Zibanejad is also at the rink this morning.