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Shootout Lifts Rangers To 2-1 Win Over Sens
by SENShobo on 11/17/08 at 11:01 PM ET
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It was a gentle skate in on Auld for Chris Drury, the second last shooter as Zherdev had given the Blueshirts the lone shootout goal through two rounds. A lifted leg, followed by a gentle twitch of a fake — which Auld did not sink one tooth into — and then the very shot you would have predicted gets shut down by Auld.
All pressure rests on Vermette to keep the game alive. Renney was wise to give Lundqvist the last word, a choice the Rangers’ goaltender is always given as the zambonis clear the ice; knowing all the pressure is on you, and that you are staring down a long stretch of ice with the King at the end, it’s enough to crack the toughest egg. Henrik’s save would win the game for the Rangers, and indeed it was largely his play that kept the game within reach throughout 65 minutes of play.
The Sens managed one of their most complete full-game efforts of late, playing fairly consistently compared to throughout their now 5-game losing streak, but it wasn’t enough. The Sens, who have fallen a long way, were up against not only their former teammate in Redden, but their former team in the Rangers; a team with enough skill that turning on their game for brief flashes is all it takes to rise to the top of the East.
Not that the Rangers didn’t play well throughout the game; they had very good stretches. The middle frame and section overall, though, showed a more laid-back Rangers’ squad. The Sens pressed hard and deep, again and again, but they were always rejected in the end, and would have to contend with a brief flash forward of offense. When you quit smoking, you usually work yourself down, gradually; coming up against the East’s beast sandwiching the most-hyped upcoming heritage winner is very close to trying to cut the habit cold turkey.
The game would end with a simply massive hitcount, 53-35 in New York’s favour according to NHL.com, though as rough as it felt that total still manages to feel too high. The biggest hit to the Sens will clearly be Fisher; he left the game, having to be helped off the ice, with what is likely to be deemed a lower-body injury. The Senators’ secondary scoring will suffer more for this.
The story of the first was the story of Ruutu’s return. The pesty winger, fresh off a two-game suspension for an elbow to Montreal’s Maxime Lapierre, notched five hits tonight, not likely including some rough bangers that wound up landing on matching jerseys. It’s been said that Anaheim has gotten a free pass to play rough at times, largely because they always play on the edge; Ruutu appeared to be using that logic tonight. There was nobody that he seemed to skate by that he didn’t upset, appearing to get tangled with one Ranger’s leg, taking another by surprise with a hit that landed on an Ottawa player behind Lundqvist instead, and generally provoking at every turn. Even as he fanned on a deke in the shootout, he followed the puck to the corner and pitched it back at Henrik, much to the ire of the Rangers’ bench. After the game was won, several Rangers came to jaw at Ruutu, held back by referees, but there will be a full 60 minutes to seek out Ruutu come Saturday.
The second period was marked by aggressive Senators attacking at every chance. Sometimes it would be a foolish 1 on 3, but many times Lundqvist was fully earning his first star. The Rangers seemed content that Ottawa’s offense would remain anemic and their goaltender heroic. Playing to Ottawa’s lack of defensive puck mobility, the Rangers were particularly pressing when Ottawa tried to exit its zone, always having one or even two forecheckers in on the play, and not one of Ottawa’s defenders was able to avoid being hemmed in at some point in the game by this one consistent aggressive move. If you know the puck won’t have the best chance of making it to the forwards, why not try to poach it where you can get a shot off down low?
But it was the Sens who would work down low to open the scoring. Called out to varying degrees in the media for not having scored in 10 straight games, or a single even-strength goal so far this season, it was Alfie who would be the only Senator to beat the King. Down low in the corner, Alfie took the puck up the boards, and weaved back low again, as Heatley moved quickly in on the play and then froze, and in doing so two blueshirts found themselves focused on the wrong man. As Spezza played Holmstrom in the blue paint, an extra Ranger body helped to complete the screen, with Alfie catching Lundqvist moving laterally, spitting the puck through his legs at his most blind point during the post-to-post slide. The glory would not last.
In the third, the Rangers would finish biding their time. Renney showed some displeasure with certain players’ lack of success, benching Voros and Zherdev for stretches during the period. But, just as a New York girl’s best friend can often be a Jimmy Choo, the Rangers found their best friend of the period in Freddie Sjoo. Fredrik Sjostrom to the roster sheet, he would find the goal thanks to one of the few Senator lapses. With the puck buzzing around Auld, the Sens would let a few low chances and pucks bounce from side to side in front of Auld, eventually drawing him out of the net and out of the optimal position. Two Blueshirts down by the crease found themselves uncovered until the puck slid between them, and Freddie pounced quickly on it, leaning into a quick shot that sailed into the top corner of the net, just over a sprawled Auld’s outreached hand, and the game was tied.
After 65 minutes of play, the Sens had the narrow shot lead, 28-27. but when taking into account the 19 shots both missed by the Rangers and blocked by the Sens, the pucks flew towards Auld in far greater numbers, 65-41 for the Rangers, though thanks to fairly solid defense, and a 4-block, 3-hit strong night by Chris Phillips, it was Lundqvist left with the harder chances to stop, including a Vermette breakaway, and Vermette alone in the crease receiving a great Spezza pass, though too close to a all-hands-everywhere Henrik to get off a good chance, not that there weren’t plenty of chances by others as well through the game to beat the Rangers a second time. Auld was left with his own troubles at times though, for while the Sens had a relatively low 6 giveaways during the night, one apiece was held by the member of the top line, whereas the other three were all gifted by Auld himself.
In the end, it’s no big surprise that a flash of effort from the Rangers was enough to eke out a win. After sitting Zherdev in the third for stretches, he seemed plenty lively skating in on Auld in the shootout, wasting no time when he felt he saw his opening, and cleanly beating Auld 5-hole to score the only goal of the shootout on the first attempt. In suggesting to start that Drury let up and put no real hard-fought effort into his shot on Auld, it is not a negative comment on his ability, but more a nod to what may have been his generous recognition of the game’s true hero. Letting the win rest on Henrik’s shoulders, defending against Vermette, he allowed the one truly solid player throughout the whole game to walk away as the true gamewinner and first star, though Auld deserved much praise for his 26-save performance.
A trade has been suggested and bandied about for a while now, and sending snakebitten Vermette into the shootout over Alfie, with the game’s only goal and likely the best knowledge of how to beat his team Sweden teammate, it may have been another giftwrapped chance for Vermette to show he is the top-6 forward he envisions himself to be. At this point, 18 games and four points into the season, he does not appear to fit the bill just yet. With Fisher’s absence though, he may well get a last couple chances to prove himself, as will the team get only a scant while more to show they can come together, before the trade axe eventually comes to fall on someone.
Fighting MacDonald’s hot hand twice, followed by the King twice with a visit to the Habs, it does not give you an easy way out of your losing streak. But it does give the players a chance to show they can step up under pressure, and the team a chance to show they can put in a full, solid, and hard 60-minute effort to come away with a real win. One point may not seem like much, but at this point, if it might somehow be the first drop into a bucket of change, Sens fans will be happy to take what they can get.
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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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