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Senators Slowly Springing To Life
by SENShobo on 12/05/08 at 08:09 AM ET
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Growing contributions from Brendan Bell and Shean Donovan, but first…
From the Ottawa Sun, Neil on his impending return to action,
“I was hoping to play (Wednesday), but we just wanted to make sure and give it an extra couple of days,” said Neil. “I will be good to go. I heal pretty quick, usually. I was thinking that when I got hurt. I wanted to get back as soon as possible. If I’m able to play, I want to play. If the last game was a playoff game, I would have played.”
Neil cautioned that he’s not fully healed.
“There are definitely going to be some issues with (the knee) for the next couple of weeks. There will be swelling and stuff, but I just have to take care of it after games and practices.”
More interesting, perhaps, is the line combination for tomorrow: Ruutu-Bass-Neil. Utter sandpaper. It was just a couple months ago that the Sens were flashing hard work to Pittsburgh, suffering an unfortunate OT loss in their Swedish opener, and then getting under Crosby and the Penguins’ skin as they won the next game.
Crosby is on fire. 6-8--14 in his last 5GP, and along with Malkin (41), Crosby (39) is helping to hold down the League scoring lead. A good time to put the League’s 4th best defense (2.35 GA/G), and 3rd best PK (87.6%) on the line against the 7th best offense (3.16 G/G) and 17th best powerplay (17.5%). It should come as no surprise that Auld will start yet again, though with 5 games in 8 days, Gerber may finally draw in.
I wonder, is Crosby ready for some more love, as the Sens’ 3-0-0 third jersey faces its toughest competition yet?
From the Ottawa Sun, on Brendan Bell’s growing contributions,
“He’s not just a first-year player that got called up. He’s played in the league and he understands what it’s all about,” said coach Craig Hartsburg. “When he’s skating, moving the puck and trying to be part of the offence, that’s when he’s at his best. He just needs to continue.”
Bell is well aware of all the talk of trading for a puck-moving defenceman—a role GM Bryan Murray hopes somebody on the roster can fill.
“If I can contribute offensively, that will help,” said Bell. “That puck-moving thing is in front of everybody’s minds.”
A two-point effort will certainly help to assuage the worries and fears of Ottawa fans. Those contributions helped propel Ottawa above the .500 mark (6-5-2) at home, and brought the team up to a fresh goal differential slate (57 GF - 57 GA). As much as Kuba’s 18 points in 23 GP for .783 P/G, Picard’s 8 points in 21 GP for .381 P/G, and Bell’s 2 points in 6GP for .333 P/G has fans clamoring for more puck movement, the loss of Redden (12 points in 29 GP for .414) and Meszaros (6 points in 25 GP for .240 P/G) should not be missed much, especially for their salaries and for the groans they would elicit in their own end.
From the Ottawa Citizen, on the increased faith in Donovan,
“Every player wants to play more,” said Donovan, who was elevated to a line with Mike Fisher and Antoine Vermette during Wednesday’s 5-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.
....
‘’It’s all about winning, but everybody wants to be a part of it and help the guys win. Obviously, we all know we can play here, and we want to prove we can play here and help out. It’s great to get a chance to do more.”
....
Both Murray and Hartsburg say it’s vital to stroke the egos of players who do excel at their given role, providing them with additional ice time wherever possible.“It’s good to see players like Donovan, who work so hard to get rewarded, have some success, and hopefully it continues with other players, as well,” Hartsburg said. “It’s a team and not everybody is going to get the same ice time, obviously, but we’re not going to go very far unless your role players feel they can contribute and have an opportunity, too.
“Donovan, (Dean) McAmmond, (Jarkko) Ruutu, those guys have been very consistent for us in how they play the game. Some nights it might be five minutes, some nights it might be 10 minutes, but now Shean is getting more ice time and a better opportunity to do more, so he has earned it. He has been a good player for us.”
Donovan has earned every second of his extra ice time, and seeing him flash skill as he snuck past the Thrashers’ Exelby to score on Pavelec was satisfying, a great reward for a hardworking player. Perhaps he can take some of the pressure off of Fisher and Vermette, maybe helping to relax them to the point where they rediscover their scoring touch.
Watching him play on the fourth line, his tenacity in pursuing the puck was enough for me to feel that he had contributed exactly what I had hoped to see from him. That he’s now on pace for his second most productive season ever, 15-11--26 in 80GP compared to his high with Calgary of 18-24--42 in 82GP in 03-04, that is just icing on the cake. Everyone gets hungry from time to time, and Hartsburg’s not about to hold hungry players back from feasting.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
Tags: Brendan+Bell, Chris+Neil, Shean+Donovan,
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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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