Game Night - Ottawa @ Tampa Bay - 7:30 Start

shabbs wrote:9mm looked like he was out of gas or nursing an injury... didn't seem in the game at all. Not Silf's greatest... he was benched for a while in the 2nd.

That 2nd half of the Florida trip is so tough. Most teams don't take 2 wins out of there. 2-1 on the road, 1-0 at home, great start to the year. Time to put it to the Pens on Sunday night, they should be a little tired coming back from Winnipeg, seem to be out of gas as well.

Bah! At least Karlsson got a goal. Spezza, too. I got home just after Malone tied it up. I got to watch the last 7 minutes or so. They looked slow.

For sunday, obviously Andy gets back in. I'm guessing weircioch gets in for benoit as well.

Bishop will come around but yeah clearly lehner is >>> bishop. At this point a 2nd is the best they can hope for straight up for bishop

Mendes: MacLean did not lay blame for this loss on Ben Bishop. "I didn't particularly like anybody's game tonight," he said.

Too true.

NEELY wrote:Yup, hopefully for Bishop it was just a matter of shaking off the rust but if Murray can move him for a 2nd rounder or better right now, he should be doing it. Get the guy who deserve the backup role in there, Lehner. Not like people don't know who the better goaltender is.

You're forgetting Hoags.

Hoags wrote:
I am not hating on Lehner and I sincerely hope I am wrong about everything. I just don't see a reason why he must be in the NHL whereas Andy and Bishop have proven more in the pros.

and:

He hasn't done Diddle all in the pros over the course of a full season. I don't give a Diddle about the OHL and last year he did suck behind a bad team but he still spent more time playing CoD and getting fat eating Cheetos.

He's going to have to do a lot more to convince me, I look at how long other goalie prospects took before they were ready and he's nowhere near that and I really doubt he is the next Patrick Roy who will a Cup as a Rookie #1 NHL goalie.

For better or for worse I am a skeptic on Lehner, that's all there is to it.

Still feel the same?

I'm not sure how anyone could have ever thought Bishop was better than Lehner...

Michallica wrote:For sunday, obviously Andy gets back in. I'm guessing weircioch gets in for benoit as well.

Bishop will come around but yeah clearly lehner is >>> bishop. At this point a 2nd is the best they can hope for straight up for bishop

Yeah, it's very clear that Bishop had a bad case of the rusty butterflies. Problem is, in a short season like this it's not like they can give him a lot of work when he plays like this. This was his chance to strut his stuff -- not just for Murray but for the other GMs out there. After tonight I don't think they'll get a 2nd for him.

And New Jersey wins, so that's that.

Penguins lose to Winnipeg even though Crosby had 2 goals. Something's wrong with that team.

NEELY wrote:I'm not sure how anyone could have ever thought Bishop was better than Lehner...

He was skeptical of Lehner. Didn't really ever say that Bishop was better, only that Lehner hasn't proven anything yet.

Meh, I don't think people or GM's in this case are so short sighted they ignore Bishop's entire body of work. One game, good or bad, doesn't change much. What does change things is Lehner being the better goaltender and the one that deserves to be in Ottawa.

Murray should make a move fairly shortly so they can move forward and have 2 very capable NHL goaltenders ready to go at any time that actually have a future in Ottawa.

IMO Bishop is a distraction, minor, but a distraction non the less and I have felt that way since the season started. This is on Murray to do something and do it quick.

I'll also say this... Alfi looks like a guy that might be playing his last season. Maybe he has to find his legs but he might have been the worst Sens forward the past week overall.

Methot was good. There are a lot of people in the Eastern Conference that are gonna be pissed that he's here.

NEELY wrote:I'll also say this... Alfi looks like a guy that might be playing his last season. Maybe he has to find his legs but he might have been the worst Sens forward the past week overall.

His set up to Turris was absurd.

spader wrote:

NEELY wrote:I'll also say this... Alfi looks like a guy that might be playing his last season. Maybe he has to find his legs but he might have been the worst Sens forward the past week overall.

His set up to Turris was absurd.

He still has the mental ability and it won't ever go away but he is still a step behind. Maybe he finds that step, maybe he doesn't but he looks a little slower than normal right now and it could be the fact he's 40.

NEELY wrote:

shabbs wrote:Diddle man.

Garbage reffing, weak effort....

can't blame the refs for the loss tonight, no way. Refs were fine after the 2nd and the Sens had a 2 goal lead twice. Bishop and sloppy play is the reason... Phillips and Gonchar were not at their best.

I hardly ever blame the refs on any losses, but when you spend half of the first period of a b2b game in Florida, you'll be out of energy by the 3rd period, which was exactly what happened there. Even Erik "infinite stamina" Karlsson dumped the puck with 1 min left down 1 goal.
So bottom line, not blaming it on the rest entirely, but they had a hand in it.

I have taught you well, my disciples ...

Ev wrote:Lehner 40 save shutout in Bingo

You think he might have been trying to prove something? 40 saves, plus all 5 guys in the shootout...

I thought they had it up by two at 4-2. Gonchar and Phillips were poor. Boroweicki looked solid. Bishop looked poor. Not great, but easily fixable by Mac.

Lindback is average at best. No playoffs with him as a number one imo.