OPENING NIGHT-NJ Devils @ Ottawa Senators - New Baby and Engagement Edition

Spezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzza EN.

spez Empty netter still 130 to go in the 3rd

Sens win!

Home opener awesomeness!

So this kid, Ryan, hear he's a slow starter. Apparently it's the first time he's had 7 points in the first 7 games.

Spezza being Spezza. Won a bunch of faceoff early, poor coverage on the Devils' 2nd goal that made it too close for comfort. 3 point night and leading the team in scoring.

Much better game for Karlsson. But the team gave up 40+ SOG yet again, against a pretty bad team.

Got free tickets. Classic Devils hockey. This team is trash.

Nice win, penalties are killing us though. Slow that up and you're looking good.

DIdn't see obviously, but Anderson being 1st star after allowing 2 goals is not particularly sexy to me

I will just assume the Sens played like garbage because they are coming off that major road swing out west and the 1st game back is the toughest.  That said the Sens were lucky to win this game in a big way.

Karlsson - Despite 3 points was brutal... I mean Karlsson rookie bad when he was bad.  Yah, he showed up on the score sheet but that 2nd goal was all on him, gave the puck away regularly, and was just generally not mentally into the game.  

Anderson - Simply amazing, nothing else needs to be said.  The reason the Sens won and nothing else.

Gryba - noticeably bad throughout the season so far but last night especially.  Maybe it's because of the system the devils play he did not look like an NHL player last night.

Cowen - Needs to move his feet, he's taking lazy, lazy penalties and 2 were last night.  

Ryan & Turris - Great games, both skating and dangerous all night.

Conacher - Solid effort, really liking his game right now.

Overall - STOP TAKING PENALTIES!  There wasn't one questionable call that went against the Sens last night, not one.  The Devils didn't deserve anymore than they received either.  MacLean needs to figure this out.

Special thanks to Martin Brodure, Sens don't win that game without him.

NEELY wrote:

Overall - STOP TAKING PENALTIES!  There wasn't one questionable call that went against the Sens last night, not one.  The Devils didn't deserve anymore than they received either.  MacLean needs to figure this out.

I disagree there. At least 3 blatant trips weren't called. Nothing they can really do about the penalties. As hardcore Leafs fans, the refs can't help themselves. Simple as that.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Overall - STOP TAKING PENALTIES!  There wasn't one questionable call that went against the Sens last night, not one.  The Devils didn't deserve anymore than they received either.  MacLean needs to figure this out.

I disagree there. At least 3 blatant trips weren't called. Nothing they can really do about the penalties. As hardcore Leafs fans, the refs can't help themselves. Simple as that.

Did Gryba's stick actually make contact? I saw that play and it didn't look like he was doing anything wrong, and there definitely was no blood, he wasn't trying to be rough or anything, yet they are down 5-on-3 for 1:42. Seriously, SSF may only be half serious about the "Leafs fans" comments but it looks very much like the refs are going out of their way to find penalties to call on the Sens, but missing a lot of crap going the other way. Like that chop across the face with the stick on Conacher in the Phoenix game -- how can four guys on the ice miss it when it happened right where the puck was, yet the one on Gryba is called no-problem? Remember last year when we had something like 3 or 4 high-sticks (couple of them with blood drawn) missed in a short span of 3-4 games?

wprager wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Overall - STOP TAKING PENALTIES!  There wasn't one questionable call that went against the Sens last night, not one.  The Devils didn't deserve anymore than they received either.  MacLean needs to figure this out.

I disagree there. At least 3 blatant trips weren't called. Nothing they can really do about the penalties. As hardcore Leafs fans, the refs can't help themselves. Simple as that.

Did Gryba's stick actually make contact?  I saw that play and it didn't look like he was doing anything wrong, and there definitely was no blood, he wasn't trying to be rough or anything, yet they are down 5-on-3 for 1:42.  Seriously, SSF may only be half serious about the "Leafs fans" comments but it looks very much like the refs are going out of their way to find penalties to call on the Sens, but missing a lot of crap going the other way.  Like that chop across the face with the stick on Conacher in the Phoenix game -- how can four guys on the ice miss it when it happened right where the puck was, yet the one on Gryba is called no-problem?  Remember last year when we had something like 3 or 4 high-sticks (couple of them with blood drawn) missed in a short span of 3-4 games?  

Let's say 3/4 serious. It's a big reason for sure. They're fixtures at Leafs and former Leafs golf tournaments and functions. It's sickening.

Gryba's stick made contact with Elias' face... it's black and white. It was a penalty. And the tripping call on Gryba in the 2nd the guy didn't even really get his skates and that was called. Either way, the reffing so far this year isn't the reason why the Sens are taking penalties more so than the other team. Should we also blame the amount of shots given up and scoring chances to the refs as well?

Sens have been soundly out played in a lot of games this year already and have given up the most shots against in the NHL. This is on them. People need to stop blaming the refs.

NEELY wrote:Gryba's stick made contact with Elias' face... it's black and white.  It was a penalty.  And the tripping call on Gryba in the 2nd the guy didn't even really get his skates and that was called.  Either way, the reffing so far this year isn't the reason why the Sens are taking penalties more so than the other team.  Should we also blame the amount of shots given up and scoring chances to the refs as well?  

Sens have been soundly out played in a lot of games this year already and have given up the most shots against in the NHL.  This is on them.  People need to stop blaming the refs.

A lot of those shots come from power plays. They seem to be coming at the end of periods so the opposing team can get some momentum going into the next too. Senators have to be at the top of their game every game and that's definitely on them. But they are playing against a stacked deck before the puck drops pretty much every game.

LeKing wrote:DIdn't see obviously, but Anderson being 1st star after allowing 2 goals is not particularly sexy to me

Obviously. He was ridiculously good. 1 goal on a 5 on 3, by the way, after making numerous spectacular saves.

I'm guessing that without seeing, if Lehner were first star after letting in two the assumption would have been that he won the game single handedly.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:Gryba's stick made contact with Elias' face... it's black and white.  It was a penalty.  And the tripping call on Gryba in the 2nd the guy didn't even really get his skates and that was called.  Either way, the reffing so far this year isn't the reason why the Sens are taking penalties more so than the other team.  Should we also blame the amount of shots given up and scoring chances to the refs as well?  

Sens have been soundly out played in a lot of games this year already and have given up the most shots against in the NHL.  This is on them.  People need to stop blaming the refs.

A lot of those shots come from power plays. They seem to be coming at the end of periods so the opposing team can get some momentum going into the next too. Senators have to be at the top of their game every game and that's definitely on them. But they are playing against a stacked deck before the puck drops pretty much every game.

Not buying it. Sens are taking these penalties on their own merit.

NEELY wrote:I will just assume the Sens played like garbage because they are coming off that major road swing out west and the 1st game back is the toughest.  That said the Sens were lucky to win this game in a big way.

Karlsson - Despite 3 points was brutal... I mean Karlsson rookie bad when he was bad.  Yah, he showed up on the score sheet but that 2nd goal was all on him, gave the puck away regularly, and was just generally not mentally into the game.  

Anderson - Simply amazing, nothing else needs to be said.  The reason the Sens won and nothing else.

Gryba - noticeably bad throughout the season so far but last night especially.  Maybe it's because of the system the devils play he did not look like an NHL player last night.

Cowen - Needs to move his feet, he's taking lazy, lazy penalties and 2 were last night.  

Ryan & Turris - Great games, both skating and dangerous all night.

Conacher - Solid effort, really liking his game right now.

Overall - STOP TAKING PENALTIES!  There wasn't one questionable call that went against the Sens last night, not one.  The Devils didn't deserve anymore than they received either.  MacLean needs to figure this out.

Special thanks to Martin Brodure, Sens don't win that game without him.

They *did* play like garbage, for the most part, and the fact that they traveled on game day (which is unusual) probably had a lot to do with this. But Brodeur didn't make it easy to play bad because they beat him clean on the first three shots (the third one was Michalek hitting the post). When you play badly but are up 3-0 it's hard to kick yourselves in the a$$ to play better.

I didn't think Karlsson was garbage at all. From a physical point of view he looked more like his old self than recently. And his brain farts hopefully can be attributed to being tired after the long road trip and the aforementioned game day travel.

Gryba just shaved off his beard. Yep. That must be it. Samson got shorn. I thought he had a good game in Phoenix so I'm prepared to give him the Mulligan for last night and see if he progresses. Don't forget that he missed most of camp and has only played 4 games (counting last night's).

Cowen, not sure what to say other than I completely agree. He has been, at best, not noticeable and, at worst, very noticeable for the wrong reasons. I would recommend sending him down to Bingo for a 5 game conditioning stint and bringing up Borowiecki in the meantime.

NEELY wrote:Gryba's stick made contact with Elias' face... it's black and white.  It was a penalty.  And the tripping call on Gryba in the 2nd the guy didn't even really get his skates and that was called.  Either way, the reffing so far this year isn't the reason why the Sens are taking penalties more so than the other team.  Should we also blame the amount of shots given up and scoring chances to the refs as well?  

Sens have been soundly out played in a lot of games this year already and have given up the most shots against in the NHL.  This is on them.  People need to stop blaming the refs.

Like I said, lots of black-and-white stick-contact-with-face somehow gets missed against Sens players. Not all but a surprisingly high number. Also what was Gryba doing with his stick? Was he being lazy and allowing a lot of shots against? What the hell does your comment about them giving up a lot of shots have to do with anything? Crap gets called against them that is not called against the team they are playing. It's black and white. Just like the zebras shirts. Sure, the Sens have been playing poorly, but they've also played against teams that played poorly. The Leafs -- despite their record -- have not been playing very well, getting outshot; they get under 20 shots on goal and somehow they still draw penalties. There is definitely bias and you are a fool to deny it.

Now, all that said, the Sens should not be denying it, either. The refs have it in for them so they have to play extra squeaky clean, and they simple have not.

NEELY wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:Gryba's stick made contact with Elias' face... it's black and white.  It was a penalty.  And the tripping call on Gryba in the 2nd the guy didn't even really get his skates and that was called.  Either way, the reffing so far this year isn't the reason why the Sens are taking penalties more so than the other team.  Should we also blame the amount of shots given up and scoring chances to the refs as well?  

Sens have been soundly out played in a lot of games this year already and have given up the most shots against in the NHL.  This is on them.  People need to stop blaming the refs.

A lot of those shots come from power plays. They seem to be coming at the end of periods so the opposing team can get some momentum going into the next too. Senators have to be at the top of their game every game and that's definitely on them. But they are playing against a stacked deck before the puck drops pretty much every game.

Not buying it.  Sens are taking these penalties on their own merit.  

You don't have to buy it for it to be true.