GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Nashville Predators - 8:00pm ET - Thu. Oct. 9th, 2014

Neil on the pp is for screening the goalie.

We will get better as ryan gets better. Slow starter recovering from surgery

Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:I'm not the biggest maclean fan to be honest. If this season doesn't turn out well then I think they should consider a veteran coach.

Richardson.

Did you even read my post.

Yes, I just disagree.  

The last thing they would need is a rookie coach. Look at the good teams in the league, all guys who have been coaches for years.

Tortorella has been a coach for years, didn't help him out in Vancouver. And Richardson *has* been a coach for "years", coached many of the same players the Sens will be depending on now.

Ev wrote:Neil on the pp is for screening the goalie.

We will get better as ryan gets better. Slow starter recovering from surgery

We all know he's not out there to carry the puck up the ice or make the pin-point pass or release that blistering slapshot of his. Point is he is neither the biggest body out there to screen the goalie, nor does he have good hands for rebounds. He's also not the fastest guy out there to get to the crease in the first place, or to move around to always be between puck and goalie. Unless you expect a fight to start in the crease there is nothing that Neil can do out there that someone else could not do better: Michalek, Stone, Zibanejad, Lazar. You want big, put Cowen out there. If the only purpose for a player being out on the ice is to screen a goalie then make it your tallest player -- you think 6'5" Pekka Rinne had trouble seeing over 6'0" Chris Neil?

Up-coming schedule is kind to the Sens. Next two games are their Florida swing, where they usually do pretty well. Then the home opener against Colorado -- the Avalanche will be on their 4th game in 6 nights on the road. Then the Blue Jackets, Leafs and Devils who will all be playing the second game in two nights. Should be a successful home stand. We'll need the points as four of the next five games will be against Chicago (2) Boston and Detroit.

The good news is that may be Karlsson's worst game for the season...he wasn't bad, he just wasn't karlsson. I'd say the goal they blamed Cowen for was more on Karlsson and goal three, he got caught as well (although that was just a bad bounce).

wprager wrote:Up-coming schedule is kind to the Sens.  Next two games are their Florida swing, where they usually do pretty well.  Then the home opener against Colorado -- the Avalanche will be on their 4th game in 6 nights on the road.  Then the Blue Jackets, Leafs and Devils who will all be playing the second game in two nights.  Should be a successful home stand.  We'll need the points as four of the next five games will be against Chicago (2) Boston and Detroit.  

After last night I wouldn't count on anything.

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:Neil on the pp is for screening the goalie.

We will get better as ryan gets better. Slow starter recovering from surgery

We all know he's not out there to carry the puck up the ice or make the pin-point pass or release that blistering slapshot of his.  Point is he is neither the biggest body out there to screen the goalie, nor does he have good hands for rebounds.  He's also not the fastest guy out there to get to the crease in the first place, or to move around to always be between puck and goalie.  Unless you expect a fight to start in the crease there is nothing that Neil can do out there that someone else could not do better: Michalek, Stone, Zibanejad, Lazar.  You want big, put Cowen out there.  If the only purpose for a player being out on the ice is to screen a goalie then make it your tallest player -- you think 6'5" Pekka Rinne had trouble seeing over 6'0" Chris Neil?

Not that I like Neil on the PP but really having him might be to change up the pace for the defence on the PK. Cowen looked awful and I wouldn't reward him with PP time. Also Neil has been a Sen for a long time and that probably counts for something. There's always more to the decision than we think. They didn't lose cause neil played on the PP

spader wrote:Neil and Phillips on the PP didn't make me very happy (even if Neil was just out there as the 6th forward).

I really liked Turris, Chiasson, Legwand (late penalty aside), Lazar, and Stone's games. Anderson played well (though he really seems to miss a step on those wraparounds).

Phillips got 11seconds of PP time. Neil 42 seconds(11th) on the team.

Turris
Ryan
Legwand
MacArthur
Zibanejad
Chiasson
Hoffman
Neil

The only thing that seems odd to me is that Stone played so little other than that I'm not sure what else you'd expect? Tire out the top 6 players for potential over time?

spader wrote:Neil and Phillips on the PP didn't make me very happy (even if Neil was just out there as the 6th forward).

I really liked Turris, Chiasson, Legwand (late penalty aside), Lazar, and Stone's games. Anderson played well (though he really seems to miss a step on those wraparounds).

My last point for now is that when you look at total specialty time (PP and PK) time Neil got a total of 42 seconds (all PP). Right where he should be. Not used at all on the PK

Reason the Sens lost that game was poor defensive zone coverage down low. Sens were cauht up ice way too often, lost way too many puck battles, and couldn't move the puck to the forwards.

Most concerning player was Cowen, it's only game one but it's going on game 100 something where he's struggled. Last night was concerning to say the least for him, hated his game.

DirtyDave wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:Neil on the pp is for screening the goalie.

We will get better as ryan gets better. Slow starter recovering from surgery

We all know he's not out there to carry the puck up the ice or make the pin-point pass or release that blistering slapshot of his.  Point is he is neither the biggest body out there to screen the goalie, nor does he have good hands for rebounds.  He's also not the fastest guy out there to get to the crease in the first place, or to move around to always be between puck and goalie.  Unless you expect a fight to start in the crease there is nothing that Neil can do out there that someone else could not do better: Michalek, Stone, Zibanejad, Lazar.  You want big, put Cowen out there.  If the only purpose for a player being out on the ice is to screen a goalie then make it your tallest player -- you think 6'5" Pekka Rinne had trouble seeing over 6'0" Chris Neil?

Not that I like Neil on the PP but really having him might be to change up the pace for the defence on the PK. Cowen looked awful and I wouldn't reward him with PP time. Also Neil has been a Sen for a long time and that probably counts for something. There's always more to the decision than we think. They didn't lose cause neil played on the PP

Point is with the game on the line, down by one with a PP to close out the game, you pull the goalie and put out Neil? Why? Because he's been a good soldier?

NEELY wrote:Reason the Sens lost that game was poor defensive zone coverage down low.  Sens were cauht up ice way too often, lost way too many puck battles, and couldn't move the puck to the forwards.  

Most concerning player was Cowen, it's only game one but it's going on game 100 something where he's struggled.  Last night was concerning to say the least for him, hated his game.

I thought he was good save for the few gaffes. But yeah he needs to be better. I think he'll be fine as he showed some very good signs last night. I think Karlsson was the worst D on the ice but he gets a pass.

McKenzie mentioned Myers yesterday. Would trade for him in a heartbeat. He's a stud on a bad team IMO.

wprager wrote:

DirtyDave wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:Neil on the pp is for screening the goalie.

We will get better as ryan gets better. Slow starter recovering from surgery

We all know he's not out there to carry the puck up the ice or make the pin-point pass or release that blistering slapshot of his.  Point is he is neither the biggest body out there to screen the goalie, nor does he have good hands for rebounds.  He's also not the fastest guy out there to get to the crease in the first place, or to move around to always be between puck and goalie.  Unless you expect a fight to start in the crease there is nothing that Neil can do out there that someone else could not do better: Michalek, Stone, Zibanejad, Lazar.  You want big, put Cowen out there.  If the only purpose for a player being out on the ice is to screen a goalie then make it your tallest player -- you think 6'5" Pekka Rinne had trouble seeing over 6'0" Chris Neil?

Not that I like Neil on the PP but really having him might be to change up the pace for the defence on the PK. Cowen looked awful and I wouldn't reward him with PP time. Also Neil has been a Sen for a long time and that probably counts for something. There's always more to the decision than we think. They didn't lose cause neil played on the PP

Point is with the game on the line, down by one with a PP to close out the game, you pull the goalie and put out Neil?  Why? Because he's been a good soldier?

Maybe the other players had no energy. I'm not going to pretend I know the reason. I'm just saying that not everything is black and white.

DirtyDave wrote:

wprager wrote:

DirtyDave wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:Neil on the pp is for screening the goalie.

We will get better as ryan gets better. Slow starter recovering from surgery

We all know he's not out there to carry the puck up the ice or make the pin-point pass or release that blistering slapshot of his.  Point is he is neither the biggest body out there to screen the goalie, nor does he have good hands for rebounds.  He's also not the fastest guy out there to get to the crease in the first place, or to move around to always be between puck and goalie.  Unless you expect a fight to start in the crease there is nothing that Neil can do out there that someone else could not do better: Michalek, Stone, Zibanejad, Lazar.  You want big, put Cowen out there.  If the only purpose for a player being out on the ice is to screen a goalie then make it your tallest player -- you think 6'5" Pekka Rinne had trouble seeing over 6'0" Chris Neil?

Not that I like Neil on the PP but really having him might be to change up the pace for the defence on the PK. Cowen looked awful and I wouldn't reward him with PP time. Also Neil has been a Sen for a long time and that probably counts for something. There's always more to the decision than we think. They didn't lose cause neil played on the PP

Point is with the game on the line, down by one with a PP to close out the game, you pull the goalie and put out Neil?  Why? Because he's been a good soldier?

Maybe the other players had no energy. I'm not going to pretend I know the reason. I'm just saying that not everything is black and white.

yeah Neil had energy and knows his job - go as fast as you can to the net. He did that. I don't see a problem here. 6 players vs 5 is a lot of guys on the ice, so putting out an offensive guy with no space to maneuver might be redundant.

If you want a big body, put Chiasson out there. I know he had the shift before but not Neil. Putting Neil out to wake up a PP is one thing, putting him out with the game on the line is a joke.

The most disappointing thing for me was the way we turned over the puck over and over again - both in the defensive zone and in the neutral zone.  Hard to win like that as last year showed.

Didn't we get blown out by Colorado and Philly in the first week a couple of years ago?

Probably, they can tidy up those turnovers and play a better overall game pretty quick hopefully.