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Ottawa Narrowly Edges Florida
by SENShobo on 10/29/09 at 07:37 AM ET
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Struggling Sens on and off the ice, scary personnel losses, praise for Clouston and Kovalev, some mild skepticism, (update) and lineup notes for tonight, but first..
From the Ottawa Sun, on Kuba’s successful return,
In his first game back after missing eight with a groin injury, Kuba assisted on two goals and was a plus-2 as the Senators dumped the Florida Panthers 4-3 last night at BankAtlantic Center.
Kuba said he felt “rusty” and that it was “like the beginning of the season for me.”
...
While the Senators converted their one and only power play of the night, it was the Ottawa “killers” who shone brightest. The Panthers were allowed only one goal on seven power plays.“I thought we battled hard,” said coach Cory Clouston. “When you have to kill that many times, it’s tough on guys. It’s really hard to get momentum. I thought each time we killed, two or three shifts later we ended up gaining the momentum back, but the next thing you know we were in the box.”
There will always be positives to find in victory. Yes, even against a .250 team.
Ironically, going 6 for 7 on the penalty kill actually lowered Ottawa’s success to 89.1%, though they still lead the League; wasn’t Hartsburg supposed to be the defence king?
Much as you’re happy to see Campoli, Kuba, and Alfie with two-point nights—wasn’t Alfie’s age supposed to mean that the now 16th ranked scorer in the League , 7th most productive with 1.40 points per game, would be in decline?—you have to wonder about others. Cheechoo skated for only 17 more seconds than the man who saw the most bench time, Donovan, who was off the bench for 9:16, 5 minutes of that being for his fight with Kenndal McArdle. In the first period alone, he managed to give the Panthers two power plays. Clouston was adamant that you had to earn your opportunities, hence the pointless Shannon being paid to watch games from the press box, but you have to wonder how long until Cheechoo gets his wake-up call turn. There is still a difference between sporadic, Kovalev, and non-existent.
Perhaps the most disturbing events of the game came at the ends of the first and third periods, from the Ottawa Sun,
Whereas some guys might hide in the trainer’s room rather than chat with reporters, Leclaire relishes the moments.
“I love the media,” he said, straightfaced. “We all grew up watching hockey. Doing interviews, on TV, with newspaper guys ... it gives you a good vibe.”
Yup, good guy, that Pascal, whose play thus far has given Senators fans a positive vibe.
But maybe he shouldn’t have overdone it on his first day back at work out of sick bay. Complaining that he wasn’t feeling well, Leclaire gave way to Brian Elliott to start the second.
To end the game, Volchenkov left after crashing into the net, favouring his arm. This morning likely won’t reveal the blow to either player, with Pascal clearly needing more time to recover from the flu, and Volchenkov’s injury still not fully known, though I’d expect that if he was absent, we’d see Lee and not Karlsson rushing down to the warmth of Florida. Then again, this is Volchenkov we’re talking about, he’ll be adding notches to his belt of bodies in no time.
It only took a little while for the NHL reporters to notice Clouston’s success, now 25-13-4 as the Senators’ head coach, from NHL.com,
Cory Clouston, who took over as interim head coach Feb. 2 when Craig Hartsburg was fired, got the job full-time in April after he led the Senators to a 19-11-4 record down the stretch. Clouston did his best to make the team play more responsible, accountable, two-way hockey and institute a team-first culture. He seemed to succeed on both fronts and GM Bryan Murray was impressed enough to extend Clouston’s contract for two years.
Clouston’s changes seem to have carried over to this season and the Senators, with the exception of their last two games—a 6-5 overtime loss to the Predators and a 4-3 shootout loss to the Bruins—have been a difficult team to play against.
“There’s no question that there has been a carryover,” Murray told NHL.com. “I think the players that were here (last season) in particular, understood right from the beginning of training camp that the work ethic and structure was one of the main demands that Cory would have. I think for the most part we’ve played competitive so far.”
As well, NHL.com seems to have high praise for the Senators’ biggest off-season acquisition in recent memory, noticing as well that it’s one of the highest profile divisional defections of the last while,
Imagine Jarome Iginla playing for the Edmonton Oilers. Think about Ryan Getzlaf skating with the San Jose Sharks or Martin St. Louis in a Florida Panthers jersey.
It sounds crazy—a marquee player joining an arch-rival club. But that’s exactly what happened when Alexei Kovalev became a free agent this past summer. Rather than extending his tenure with the Montreal Canadiens, he joined the team’s closest rival—the Ottawa Senators.
...
“When I coached and watched our team play in the last couple of years against Montreal, every time he came on the ice I was scared to death that he was going to be the difference in the game,” Ottawa General Manager Bryan Murray said. “And on some nights he certainly was the difference. Alex is a guy that when he is going, he can be a star and help teams win games. I think he is a big-time player.”
For all the high hopes, though, you still have to look under the hood. Against the League’s second worst team? The Senators managed 29 shots + 9 missed shots + 9 shots blocked = 47 pucks directed towards the net (NHL.com). That second-to-last placed team? 38S + 14MS + 17BS = 69 pucks directed towards Leclaire and Elliott. Yes, 16S + 4MS + 6BS = 26 of those came with a man advantage, leaving 43 otherwise; Ottawa had 2S + 0MS + 1BS = 3 with the man advantage, giving them 44 otherwise.
While I still expect something more reasonable than the 7-1 romp Ottawa enjoyed over Tampa Bay tonight, let’s stick in Florida and in 4-3 win mode, you don’t get outworked in chances to that degree by that thus-far non-competitive a team and wind up looking pretty for the playoffs another 72 games along, whatever the reasoning for it, you just don’t.
Update - 11:15 a.m. - From Tim Murray on the Team 1200, Volchenkov will be out a decent amount of time due to an elbow injury, Brian Lee has been called up and his flight should have him in Tampa now. Glad to see Lee getting the call after the undoubted pains of not making the roster.
Update - 1:15 p.m. - (NP) Volchenkov will be out three very long weeks with an elbow injury, three weeks at least. It wasn’t just Leclaire who ducked out early after one period last night; several players have been feeling off this morning, according to Clouston, so final roster decisions will wait, though barring a very late callup, no defensemen will get out, Leclaire will sit sick on the bench, and Shannon is the only forward who could draw in to relieve any single sick player.
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