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Panthers Beat Sens In Overtime Shinny Match
by SENShobo on 12/09/08 at 08:13 AM ET
Comments (2)
From the Ottawa Citizen, on Ottawa’s loss 4-3 OT loss,
“We didn’t come out with the same focus or desperation in our game that we’ve had,” he lamented as his team dropped to 4-1-1 in its last six. “Florida came out and, give them credit, they worked. They worked like crazy.”
Senators fans may not like the comparison, but right from the season’s inaugural North American start, when the Leafs beat the Red Wings, the reminder came out that no matter how you feel about a club and its chances, hard work will be the difference.
The Sens had three separate one goal leads, but the longest stretch the Sens managed to hold any of those leads was just short of four minutes. The first came from Kelly, giving the Sens some tertiary (line) scoring, poking the puck past Anderson as he and Foligno were crashing around the net. For once, an on-ice call was in the Sens’ favour, and whether the video review confirmed or failed to conclusively disprove this, it remained a “good hockey goal”. It would remain a lead for just under four minutes, with the Panthers’ Boynton drawing the visitors even to close out the first period scoring.
If there was one frustrating development, it was that the Sens seemed thrown off by many Panther hits; some hard, some late, and some going unrecorded as a hit, ignored for the clear interference calls that they were. Ruutu was unable to match that level of pest towards the Panthers, perhaps unsure of whether he might want to target Bouwmeester, the Panthers’ most targetable player, pondering whether they might soon be teammates. The biggest concern was that the Sens felt compelled to out hit the Panthers, leading 33-26 after 65 minutes of play according to NHL.com stats, and that they focused on the body, forgetting that its the hands, the stick, and control of the puck that are the real threats in the game.
In the second, as the Sens took leading line leads from goals by Heatley and Spezza, but lost both within a couple minutes as rookie debut Repik and on a powerplay Bouwmeester himself replied for the Panthers. By the third, the game had become lapse, with both goalies looking tired and at times lost, and turnover madness, the Sens leading 16-8 in that category, caused countless headaches for the defensive-minded teams. With only 9 seconds left in overtime, the last of those turnovers, committed by Kuba, gave Weiss the puck, and a redirected blast prevented the Sens from seeing if their firepower would beat the Panthers lineup, missing seven regulars, in the shootout against tired goalies.
The Sens got away from their good habits, committing turnovers, being unable to move the puck up the ice effectively, not being able to keep the Panthers out of Auld’s crease, and failing for great stretches to clear it successfully on penalty kills, as their own powerplay failed to capitalize on its chances, notably a lengthy 5 on 3, and allowing 40 shots even as they took 38. After starting Auld for the eleventh consecutive time, he experienced his worst (though not entirely poor) outing yet.
In the Sens’ quest for balanced scoring, perhaps they should lead with more balanced shooting: five players (Kuba, Winchester, Neil, Picard, Bass) registered no shots, and with another six shooters failed to break the one-shot-per-person average. As the Ottawa Sun points out, “That shot in overtime was Fisher’s ninth of the night. No wonder Anderson figured out what he was going to do.” Compare that to only two players who didn’t register any hits, and only five who didn’t try to block any shots. You hear of defense by committee, why not vary the offense with a dose of the same?
Given the busy schedule and the Panthers’ seven missing regulars, it may have made more sense to play Gerber. Instead, they will have a tough time switching Auld out against either the Hawks in Chicago Wednesday or the Capitals in Washington on Friday, Gerber likely starting Saturday against the Bolts. If Auld is indeed feeling any tiredness, the Sens’ lack of balanced scoring may wind up as the least of their concerns.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
Comments
First of all…who would want a guy that hasn’t scored in 25 games and makes $3m….....? I personally think Florida is horrible….even worse than Tampa with all their injuries. If Ottawa can’t beat these guys at home they are really going to challenge for last place in the league
Posted by kevin from boston on 12/09/08 at 09:46 AM ET
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Question—why haven’t the Sens traded Vermette and Kelly yet?
With Kelly scoring once every 25 games, and Vermette buried in a slump that shows no sign of ending, is it worth keeping these multi-million dollar forwards?
Surely Zack Smith and Ryan Shannon can’t be any worse, and they’re at least worth their modest salaries.
As always, thanks. The best articles on the Sens are found on your site.
Posted by davetherave from Ottawa, Canada on 12/09/08 at 09:24 AM ET