SENShobo
Boston Gets The Win, Ottawa The Individual Victories
by SENShobo on 02/06/09 at 08:08 AM ET
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A 4-3 shootout loss to Boston may not leave you happy or surprised, but the determination and fight shown by the Senators has to count for something. You’ve been cheering to Tank for Tavares anyways, right?
The bad luck, culminating in this game by facing the League’s best team and in an instant by having the Sens lose their lead late in the third on a double high sticking minor that came from Vermette falling and his stick not cooperating, will end. It didn’t end last night, Buffalo and Philly might not make it easy either, but there’s too much consistently hard work coming from the players. Misfortune’s bound to run out of options soon.
It was a loss, let’s not kid ourselves. But, just for a moment, didn’t hope rear its head for all to see? It’s not often I’ll post anything here aside from my thoughts, but even though the video doesn’t quite do it justice, Foligno’s goal last night is worthy of recognition in the Hindenburg that has been the Senators’ season.
Is two enough to make it a common occurrence? Not the most consistent season, but when you see his flashes of work ethic leading to such great rewards, you can’t feel like this team is light years away from a return to dignity. You’d have seen plenty of those from Elliott, who calmed down after a should-of-had-it Chara blast to continue stymieing scorers with opportunities in droves.
The game as a whole had to be described as a roller coaster. Down two goals halfway through the game, and the Senators did not give up or let up, scoring three straight to take the lead, and then letting the game get tied up on a double minor to Vermette. They nonetheless survived being shorthanded in overtime, getting some great stops by Elliott and some great chances on Thomas, before the fifth round of the shootout shot down the hopes of giving Clouston his first victory.
As a note, I did notice that the typical 50% ratio of missed shots to shots fell to around a third this game, but I have a feeling that the 23 Boston blocked shots probably swallowed plenty of pucks that wouldn’t have reached Thomas anyways; 30 shots went wide or were stopped, only 20 shots hit Thomas in three periods (another two in OT), and if you take out Fisher (3), Alfie (7), and surprisingly Kuba (4), that’s all of 8 shots that 15 players were able to get on net. Ouch.
Was it for dignity, though, or for Clouston, that the Senators did not give up the fight? A good TSN panel discussion of Clouston finally sought to look beyond his impressive coaching stats to ask whether or not he could command the respect of the players with no NHL experience behind or on the bench. The anecdotes the panel had to share paint a favourable light for Clouston’s chances even as the NHL.com recap of the game noted the Sens lost for the second time under “interim” coach Clouston.
You know as well as I do that Melnyk is already paying two guys not to coach this team; it might be a little while before he fully settles on a candidate, but that still doesn’t mean he has to be labeled ‘interim’ does it? Couldn’t you have at least added that he is interim ‘head’ coach? Guy gets no breaks, but if he can work as hard up here as he’s made players work at every other level, respect won’t be hard to come by, and don’t think for a minute that the little victories of the past two games have gone unnoticed by Clouston either. Hartsburg’s been graceful and shown nothing but class after his dismissal, but Clouston’s fresh slate and hammer to pound it with are exactly what the team needs right now.
As a side note, as if the season wasn’t depressing enough, there’s an excellent read at the Ottawa Citizen about the beginning of this mess, namely when Chara left despite coaching staff and players apparently agreeing strongly that he was the better of the two, and even though he would have accepted less to stay in Ottawa, apparently crying when he found out he would not be able to stick around.
The lesson? As much as you appreciate the community love felt for players, you cannot ever afford to let that enter into decisions that could have a drastic negative impact, especially if the player’s on-ice and off-ice (training and coachability related) skills are not up to snuff. There’s no way you’re prying Boston’s captain away from his League-leading squad, but if there was one former Senator I could go back in time to get, or even do what it takes in the here and now to bring back, Chara would be it.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
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