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Sens Beat Tumbling Thrashers
by SENShobo on 12/04/08 at 08:27 AM ET
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The Senators get dominating performances from unexpected places, a pile of team firsts, and some casual Q&A with Nick Foligno, but first…
From the Ottawa Citizen, on the Pizza line,
Spezza says the chemistry between the three is slowly coming back.
“We’ve felt better about our games, the last couple of games,” he said. “I think a couple of days of practice helped.”
The Sens’ 5-1 thrashing of Atlanta fell a goal short of earning all attendees a free slice of pizza, and maybe out of respect for the fans they could have pulled Auld in the last minute to look for that fan-rewarding goal, but with a goal apiece and six points between them, they appear ready to dominate once more.
From the Ottawa Senators’ website, on the team’s plan for last night,
A better start, a better finish… sounds like a winning formula for the Ottawa Senators.
....
“They played (Tuesday) night, so it’s important for us to come out strong,” captain Daniel Alfredsson said following the Senators’ pre-game skate earlier today. “Don’t give them the lead to work on or sit back on. Just force them to play hard for 60 minutes.”Added center Jason Spezza: “We’ve only had two games this week, we had a couple of good practices and they played last night, so you want to take advantage of that early. That’s going to be our mindset at the start of the game, at least.”
The plan was executed perfectly. Less than 90 seconds in, Bell would earn his first point with the Senators, wiring a pass from the boards to Heatley just in front of the crease, Heatley one-timing it over Pavelec. Five minutes later, Heatley would repay the favour, getting the puck to Spezza to re-establish the lead, Boulton having beat Auld three minutes in on one of his rare weak moments.
Before the period was over, Heatley hustled to beat a Thrasher to the puck just inside their blueline, extending himself and his stick to chip the puck over towards the slot, where Alfie picked it up, got organized, and capped the all pizza line first period, the first time in three years that all three had scored in a single period. Perhaps the best sign was that during the intermission, an interview with Heatley showed him to be intent on not letting up, on continuing past tonight, and on not forgetting the slump they’ve been in, never looking intent on coasting, or commenting at all on his three point period against his former team.
The period was especially dominating for the Sens, notching 19 shots to Atlanta’s 8, according to NHL.com, and had leapt out to over half a dozen in the first few minutes, winding up 34 to 23 in Ottawa’s favour. They would score on two of their three powerplays, and stunned the Thrashers on all six of theirs, including almost two minutes of five on three time in a short span.
Interestingly, the Thrashers gunned the puck more, totaling 50 when you add up their shots, missed shots, and blocked shots. The Sens had 34 shots, but only missed the net three times, and only had seven shots blocked, adding up to 44. Only five giveaways compared to their 13 takeaways, and never backing down with a 27 to 24 hit lead with three fighting majors, one to Bass and Winchester’s first and second NHL tilts.
They may not have pushed nearly as hard in the second and third, but they never let up, biding their time until a powerplay let Bell wire in his first goal as a Senator, with Shannon picking up an assist as his first point as a Senator in his first game back from his concussion, and in the final period Donovan showing a great deal of skill in beating Exelby and capping the scoring as part of a great energy night for the Vermette-Fisher-Donovan line, Donovan’s promotion not likely to be a temporary thing.
From the Ottawa Sun, on his first Ottawa goal,
“It was awesome. I will take them any way I can get them. If I can score some goals, all the better,” said Bell, who believed somebody grabbed the puck. “I hadn’t thought about it much. It wasn’t just another goal. To have friends and family here was great.”
The Sens appear to have learned that it is far easier to avoid falling into a hole while tired than it is to climb out of one while fully rested. Granted, it was against the League’s worst team, who had played the night before, but they lit up Montreal for four goals, and had the Sens punching hard at their goals for, against, powerplay, and penalty kill stats. Saturday against the Pens will be a whole different beast, but after last night, the confidence might thankfully be there.
From the North Bay Nugget, on a terrifying incident at Scotiabank Place,
A 21-year man was taken to an Ottawa hospital Wednesday night after falling from the third level at Scotiabank Place during the Senators’ 5-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.
The man was walking to his seat carrying some beers when he tripped over a woman’s purse, fell over four people and went over the railing to the level below onto other fans.
He was not inebriated,” Senators president and CEO Roy Mlakar said in a statement following the game.
Two other people were treated at the scene while a third person was also taken to the hospital with lacerations and a neck injury, though Mlakar said that, too, was done as a precautionary measure.
The drop straight down from the third level to the ground below is approximately 15 feet.
My condolences go out to those injured, and despite this being the first such incident of an individual falling from one level to the next, I doubt that it is the first incident of someone tripping. Please, be considerate, and make sure that your belongings are not obstacles at the arena.
From the Ottawa Citizen, on the night’s less-heralded heroes,
While the big three got all the glory, Fisher, Vermette and Donovan could have had just as many goals for all the chances they generated. Of Ottawa’s 34 shots, the Fisher line had 14: seven by Donovan.
“I liked it,” Hartsburg said of his latest creation. “They would be a tough line for a defenceman to play against. They were tenacious, hard on their checks.”
Against an Atlanta team that had played the night before in Montreal, energy figured to be an element the Senators could exploit, and who better than Donovan, quick on every puck, Vermette, with his speed, and Fisher’s power game.
Hartsburg’s mantra was “don’t feel pressure, but apply pressure.”
The Fisher line did that from the opening faceoff. Fisher strips a defenceman of the puck and sends Donovan in alone. Only a rolling puck keeps him from scoring his fourth of the season as he has goaltender Andrej Pavelec beaten. Then Donovan wins a puck race, flicks the puck back to Fisher, who wires a shot. In the second period, as an Atlanta penalty expires, Vermette breaks in alone, but is stopped by Pavelec.
....
They were flying, due to be rewarded, and were in the final minutes, when Donovan howdy-doodied Thrashers defenceman Garnet Exelby by slipping the puck through his feet before whipping a wrist shot past Pavelec.“Poor guy,” Donovan said of Exelby. “He’s going to feel bad if it’s me doing that.”
Fourteen shots, seven by Donovan; seven is the number of shots totalled by the pizza line. Anyone who doubts the usefulness and skill of any of those three only had to watch last game to see that it’s in there, even if it’s sometimes too hidden for comfort. Pavelec, who might have Kari Lehtonen on the outs with the team as his contract expires, was the sole reason this game didn’t get loopy, and combined with luck to hold the speedy trio to two points on the score sheet, which could easily have been double or triple that, or more. Now, to see how well they can put Pittsburgh on their heels..
From the Ottawa Senators’ website, a chat with Nick Foligno,
Q: Tell me about your first pair of skates.
A: They were those Bauer Chargers. They had that plastic charger on the side. I remember them. They were sweet. I don’t know where my dad got them but it was a whole set. So I had the shoulder pads, elbow pads. I was 3 when I got them.Q: Tell me about the first arena you played hockey in.
A: Probably the first arena I remember playing hockey in was the Depew Arena in Buffalo. That’s where I played my minor hockey. Back then, it had an open end, so snow would come in if you were playing. It was pretty different.
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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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