GAME DAY: Columbus Blue Jackets @ Ottawa Senators - 7:00pm ET - Sat. Oct. 18th, 2014

Another game we may not have deserved to win.  We're on a really thin ledge here.

Flo The Action wrote:i'm not a critic of phillips but i did have questions of re-uping him as i do think he'll be on the decline. it's the start of the season, i'm not sure he can keep going at the current rate he's on. i'll take it for sure now but to expect that this is what we'll get for the full 82 is maybe kidding ourselves.

If we are relying on Phillips for first line minutes for 82 games, we've got bigger problems...

Vandelay wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:i'm not a critic of phillips but i did have questions of re-uping him as i do think he'll be on the decline. it's the start of the season, i'm not sure he can keep going at the current rate he's on. i'll take it for sure now but to expect that this is what we'll get for the full 82 is maybe kidding ourselves.

If we are relying on Phillips for first line minutes for 82 games, we've got bigger problems...

What kind of problems? Winning?

tim1_2 wrote:Another game we may not have deserved to win.  We're on a really thin ledge here.

We're definitely getting a lot of perks, what with injured goalies, other injuries, tired teams. We're not playing that much different from the opening Western swing last year, but are getting better goaltending and playing weaker (and weakened) competition. I really like that saying that the points we get in October are still worth the same in April. But our favorable schedule will come to pass, we will face stiffer competition, so unless the team improves their play there simply won't be enough points in April.

All that said, this team played some really good games last year against strong competition (and it wasn't Spezza winning us those games) so we know they've got it in them. Looking up and down the lineup there aren't too many players that I think have played like they can, yet. Lots of areas we need to improve in, but also lots of players not yet playing to their potential.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Vandelay wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:i'm not a critic of phillips but i did have questions of re-uping him as i do think he'll be on the decline. it's the start of the season, i'm not sure he can keep going at the current rate he's on. i'll take it for sure now but to expect that this is what we'll get for the full 82 is maybe kidding ourselves.

If we are relying on Phillips for first line minutes for 82 games, we've got bigger problems...

What kind of problems? Winning?

That game Phillips had more ice time than Karlsson he was great. But I said at the time that we can't expect him to play like that for an extended period. Last game he was OK, but definitely not top-pairing material. We need Methot back.

It was a fast, western conference team where Phillips struggled. Not worried for his play against Toronto or NJ but against Chicago, back2back, on the road? Could be problematic.

dennycrane wrote:It was a fast, western conference team where Phillips struggled. Not worried for his play against Toronto or NJ but against Chicago, back2back, on the road? Could be problematic.

For Chicago.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

dennycrane wrote:It was a fast, western conference team where Phillips struggled. Not worried for his play against Toronto or NJ but against Chicago, back2back, on the road? Could be problematic.

For Chicago.

Patty K and Jonny T better keep their heads up.