GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ St. Louis Blues :: 8:00pm ET :: Tue. Feb. 4th, 2014

Michallica wrote:If lehner didn't allow that garbage 4th goal, we'd have another ROW under our belts.  

That said, considering the absolutely pathetic autrocious reffing, and being down 2 goals to start the third, what a great comeback.  Spezza was good and bad yesterday, but he was more good than bad.  Take it.  

Da Costa is starting to look legit.  Ryan is starting to worry me....

I don't know, this is what we thought we'd be getting with Ryan. he's not going to tear it up and score every game or 2. he's a 30+ goal scorer year in, year out. it's probably a good thing if they can manage to resign him this summer that he doesn't score 40 this year. might get a small discount.

wait till spezza is gone and turris is even better. then we might get our 40 goals.

The break will be amazing for Ryan. He is a streaky player, so he will be on a great roll to end the year/playoffs.

He won't score 40 IMO but he has a chance to break out as he's entering his prime.

This break is everything to him. That rattled him real good. Some players excelled (St.Louis, Okposo), some have taken it hard and it's rattled them (Ryan).

Screw the Cussing Olympics, when the break is over, I bet he comes back guns blazing. In the meantime, I hope he gets a couple of real dirty goals in the next two games to point him in the right direction.

Also, I try to never complain about reffing- it is what it is - but last night was embarrassing to the league and it made me wonder what vendetta these idiots had against us. Grow some thicker skin you weiners.

Ev wrote:The break will be amazing for Ryan. He is a streaky player, so he will be on a great roll to end the year/playoffs.

He won't score 40 IMO but he has a chance to break out as he's entering his prime.

not this year but it's very feasible going forward. maybe not every year.
basically what you're paying for when you sign him long term is at least 30 goals every year hopefully for the next 5 years maybe more, maybe he gets to 40 once in a while.
not that many guys that can do that.

No, it's more than feasible. He's what, 25 years old? He hasn't even stopped growing and maturing as a player. These slumps should theoretically get few and farther between when he continues to mature - and especially when we sign him long term.

He's got that talent, the X factor where he can make something out of nothing and he's got the shot to complete the deal.

I think 40 is quite feasible, but again it all comes down to support through the lineup for him and Turris and MacArthur. Zibanejad is a good start, soon Stone will be able to help, Lazar will be a huge help, no one's sure about Spezza or Michalek, but we'll be in a position to spend some money at some point and continue to upgrade the roster.

SpezDispenser wrote:Also, I try to never complain about reffing- it is what it is - but last night was embarrassing to the league and it made me wonder what vendetta these idiots had against us.  Grow some thicker skin you weiners.  

They're Leaf fans. You're welcome.

Ryan will be hard pressed to score 30 goals as of now...still have faith he'll find his scoring touch after the break. And remember, other players simply got cut. Ryan got dissected and humiliated thanks to burkie.

I still maintain burke has a vendetta against the sens org and it likely has to do with his buddy Roy Mlakar being replaced.

SpezDispenser wrote:Also, I try to never complain about reffing- it is what it is - but last night was embarrassing to the league and it made me wonder what vendetta these idiots had against us.  Grow some thicker skin you weiners.  

Pierre Mcguire was saying how the refs definitely had something against the sens when clouston coached. Not sure what the hell upsets the refs so much, whether they had a reason to or not, the fact remains they're Cussing referees that need to be impartial. Doesn't matter what is said about their mommas

And apparently macarthur got 10 min misconduct for saying 'give us a chance'. I'm glad sens won that game so the refs can shove it up their Donkey

SpezDispenser wrote:No, it's more than feasible.  He's what, 25 years old?  He hasn't even stopped growing and maturing as a player.  These slumps should theoretically get few and farther between when he continues to mature - and especially when we sign him long term.

He's got that talent, the X factor where he can make something out of nothing and he's got the shot to complete the deal.

I think 40 is quite feasible, but again it all comes down to support through the lineup for him and Turris and MacArthur.  Zibanejad is a good start, soon Stone will be able to help, Lazar will be a huge help, no one's sure about Spezza or Michalek, but we'll be in a position to spend some money at some point and continue to upgrade the roster.

counting we trade spezza for one top 6 (3) winger style of player or trade Edler in van then we're only one or 1 moves away i feel from being a legit contender. one of those could come via FA(a la dan boyle if SJS doesn't get their act together)or another top 6 that could be a Moulson or Cam for the 2nd line or via trade depending what we get for speeza. the rest of the prospect i would sit on and bring them up as they're ready Detroit style.

Ev wrote:He's still being sheltered so it will be interesting to see if he would look the same playing a bigger role

Sheltered? He's out in OT and then the SO as well. Although PMac didn't plan it like that, his SO try was a score-or-lose situation.

Playing 9 minutes on a 4th line...

Shootout is not facing people on the ice

Ev wrote:Playing 9 minutes on a 4th line...

Shootout is not facing people on the ice

It's actually facing much more...   

Maybe someone should write in to Kerry Fraser for his "C'mon Ref" blog.

I have another question to do with penalties. The Sens already have two in the box with, I believe, 7 and 15 seconds remaining on their penalties, when they get a third one. Now, you can't be three men short, so the third penalty doesn't start until the second one expires. But you still have three guys in the box, even though one of them is waiting 7 seconds before his timer starts counting down.

After 7 seconds, the first penalty expires but the Sens continue to be 2-men short because the third penalty kicks in. But this means that the guy whose penalty expired has to remain in the box and the Sens continue skating with three. Then, 8 seconds later, the second penalty expires so the Sens should be down by only one, so one of the players can not leave the box.

So the question I have -- what if it's not 7 and 15 seconds but something more substantial, and what if that 1st player is your best penalty killer? And when the 15 seconds have expired, bot the 1st and 2nd penalized players are eligible to return to play, although only one of them can because the team must still be short-handed; so does the team have a choice of which of the two comes back to play or does it have to be the first one?

You know, this is way too complicated. They really should just stop calling that third penalty. Especially against the Sens.

The whole point of Da Costa being on the 4th line is to prove his worth. If you can make something happen or get noticed playing against the other teams bottom line why on earth would a coach, GM, or otherwise think he can do it against better competition or in important situations. 90% of the time this is how players make it in the NHL, they work their way up and it's basically clock work.

Credit where credit is due, Da Costa has been a difference maker with the ice time he has had the last week and 1/2 and has been a huge reason why the Sens have points against Columbus, Pitt, and St.Louis. Whatever the situation was he has succeeded in those games and the more he does that the more ice time he will see, the more PP time he will see, and the coach will lean on him more and more and other guys will be pushed down. Everyone has seen what he is capable of doing... now can he do it over an extended period of time and on a consistent basis? We'll see. He has NHL skill, an NHL shot, and NHL hockey sense, now he just needs to show that NHL work ethic day in and day out. He does that and the Sens have an NHL player and offensive weapon.

Ev wrote:Playing 9 minutes on a 4th line...

Shootout is not facing people on the ice

One-on-one with the game on the line is a lot more stressful than being one of 5 skaters.

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:Playing 9 minutes on a 4th line...

Shootout is not facing people on the ice

One-on-one with the game on the line is a lot more stressful than being one of 5 skaters.

Being sheltered means being given easy minutes against inferior d-men/skaters

Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:Playing 9 minutes on a 4th line...

Shootout is not facing people on the ice

One-on-one with the game on the line is a lot more stressful than being one of 5 skaters.

Being sheltered means being given easy minutes against inferior d-men/skaters

They are not sheltered minutes, he's a rookie trying to prove he belongs in the NHL. Spezza playing against the 4th line would be sheltered minutes. Da Costa is simply playing where he belongs right now in a situation where he can show what he has.

There was nothing sheltered about taking that shot last night to extend the shootout. If there was ever a pressure situation where a guy could fold that was it. He got the Sens that point last night with that goal.