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Senators Improving As Losing Streak Reaches 5
by SENShobo on 11/18/08 at 09:01 AM ET
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From the Ottawa Citizen, Craig Hartsburg on last night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Rangers,
“We played a heck of a game. I’m proud of every guy. We battled. Now we have to go home and continue. This is not a consolation. We played good. The guys worked.
“We competed (last night) for 65 minutes and that was a good step for us.”
65 minutes of competing well against the East’s best team and walking away with a lone point won’t prompt any high-fives. It might, however, give some hope that the tide could slowly be turning.
One amusing highlight was the return of Ruutu, who brought his nuisance to bear on the whole Rangers’ squad, eliciting more than a few angry rebuttals. To cap it off, after missing the puck on a deke in front of Lundqvist in the shootout, he followed the failed attempt into the corner, and whipped the puck at Lundqvist anyways, getting a rise out of the Rangers’ bench as he skated past.
From the Ottawa Sun, on the Rangers’ bench’s post-shootout reception of Ruutu,
Ruutu remained on the ice after the game to speak with the officials.
“Somebody swung a stick from their bench and nearly hit me in the eye. I don’t know who it was,” said Ruutu. “I wanted to make sure they knew about it. I don’t think that’s allowed.”
I did not see the stick swinging incident, but a handful of angry Rangers stormed out onto the ice after the game was won, not heading to congratulate Lundqvist, but coming after Ruutu, being held back by the referees and linesman as Ruutu told his story. You can find full game details in my post-game review.
One interesting point not brought up elsewhere: according to the MSG broadcast, the announcers had Spezza stating that Hartsburg has been the most in-depth defensive coach he’s had (no offense to Jacques Martin), and that the team has had to prepare far more on that side of the game, and Spezza has felt it difficult to get back into offensive mindsets after working on defensive tactics so thoroughly. In the end though, you really do notice the difference in the Senators’ increased defensive prowess.
From the Ottawa Senators’ website, on last night’s CASH line reunion and Bell’s callup,
“We need a spark,” Hartsburg said after the team’s pre-game skate earlier today at the Garden. “We need something to get us going. I took them apart earlier because there was nothing happening (offensively) and (Mike Fisher) and Alfie were good. We won some games and now we’ve struggled, so we’ve got to try something and get some spark back in our lineup.”
....
To further that aim, the Senators recalled defenceman Brendan Bell from their AHL affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., and will insert the former Ottawa 67’s captain into the lineup tonight.“(Bell) is playing very well down there,” said Hartsburg. “He’s a puck-moving guy, handles the puck, skates well and we hope he can come up and show that with our team. We’ve talked about that as something we need, and if he can provide that, it would be a big boost for us.”
If the Senators’ offense looked sputtering before, Fisher’s injury, coupled with the CASH line’s reunion, will have it as thinly spread as it’s ever been. Vermette, despite receiving beautiful passes, breakaways, and shootout attempts last night, still has yet to prove he is the top-6 forward he sees himself as, and certainly is not showing that he can elevate a line or rise above it to score goals.
Last night, the top line had some good shots, but still could not beat Lundqvist for all but one goal. The goal was nearly all Alfie, with Heatley and Spezza both standing still in place, tying up the attention of various blueshirts, as Alfie skated across in front of Lundqvist, and caught him 5-hole when Spezza and a Ranger had him screened.
Bell looked a little fresh to the NHL. He did manage a pair of hits and shots, and a lone takeaway, and was stealthy on the ice as a good defenseman should be in his own zone. But there was little offensive panache coming out of his 13:11 of icetime, including 1:35 on the powerplay. Chalk this up to first-game or MSG effects, but there will still be a chance for him to prove himself, though it is unclear how long Hartsburg will sit Schubert for, as he has committed to not moving him to forward.
From the Ottawa Citizen, on the Schubert shuffle,
“(Schubert) hasn’t played as well as he did early in the season,” Hartsburg said. “No sense getting into the long stuff. He just hasn’t played as well.”
That was that, though Hartsburg did add he had no plans to move Schubert back to a forward spot, where he started the season.
....
“Nothing I can do,” Schubert said. “Just keep working on it myself until I get my chance again. Usually we don’t talk about (individual) players, usually we always talk about the team, so I think that the team isn’t playing pretty well.“But I also understand he’s a bit under pressure right now and he wants to make some changes, and I guess he’s starting with me and see what happens in the future.”
Sounds almost like a Martin Gerber quote at the end there. Maybe Bell will get another shot on Thursday, after a couple days of practice with the team, and have a better shot working in a group that’s finally come to realize that it can put together a full game’s worth of effort. A full effort will be harder without Fisher and Neil, the latter undergoing an MRI today to discover the extent of his knee injury.
From the Ottawa Sun, some more Murray trade speculation,
Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis and assistant Lawrence Gilman were on the list of scouts for last night’s Senators-Rangers game at Madison Square Garden.
....
It’s believed contract talks with Ohlund have been fruitless and if they continue to go nowhere, he might be asked to waive his no-movement clause to accept a deal elsewhere.It’s believed the Senators are willing to move winger Antoine Vermette.
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Murray has been working the phones vigorously and Minnesota Wild GM Doug Risebrough was also in attendance. There were also two scouts from Columbus and Los Angeles among the eight teams that were represented.A league executive told Sun Media that Murray “might be one of the most active GMs working the phones right now” next to Tampa Bay’s Brian Lawton, who has been offering virtually every player on his roster.
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The New York Post speculated that the Rangers may have an interest in Neil and Vermette. It indicated the Rangers are willing to move RW Petr Prucha, who hasn’t scored in the eight games he’d played in prior to last night, when he only got in the lineup due to C Scott Gomez being scratched due to injury.
The Rangers may have lost Avery to Dallas, but they had plenty of feisty players looking to tangle with Ruutu last night. Petr Prucha appears to be as snakebit as any of the Senators’ secondary scorers, and would not likely interest Murray much. Plus, I can think of one chemistry killer in this trade, the potentially sore feelings between Neil and Rangers captain Chris Drury, over one of those perfectly clean hits to the head that sparked one of the biggest full-team battles in recent memory, including Emery taking on both the Sabres’ backup goalie and then their enforcer.
As for getting Ohlund to waive his NTC, it’s no small irony that last night saw the Senators facing Wade Redden, who refused multiple times to waive his NTC while playing out the final season of his contract with the Sens, insisting he did not want to leave the team, and then bolting the first chance he got. Not only that, but would Ohlund really waive it to head to a team that looks dead set on missing the playoffs? More likely that he’d be willing to waive it to join Naslund in New York, or the Canadiens in Montreal, as they have Stanley Cup potential, assuming they are interested and a deal could be hammered out.
Vermette’s many chances last night, none of which he was able to capitalize on, likely makes Murray more willing to consider trading him, but also makes him less attractive to any potential suitors. If only he would go and score a few points, prove himself useful, he might find that Murray would start to feel that he is more valuable in the lineup than on the trading block.
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Who is SENShobo?
Fully addicted to hockey, Andrew Dodds finds it safe to live in the alleys, considering his allegiance to the Ottawa Senators in the middle of Leaf County. He tries to bring you as many worthwhile Sens stories as he can find, along with his musings on the team and the NHL in general; musings indeed since he is but a humble hockey hobo.
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Excellent and well thought out. Thanks.
Posted by davetherave on 11/18/08 at 02:58 PM ET