SENShobo
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Spezza Sinks Penguins, Senators Also Contribute
by SENShobo on 12/06/08 at 06:01 PM ET
Comments (5)
An early rise for a 2:00PM EST game featuring the Ottawa Senators hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins was well worth it, as Spezza’s second career hat trick — a natural one, as no other Senators scored — led Ottawa to a thrilling 3-2 victory.
“Playmaking center” are the words most often used to describe Spezza, but this afternoon he put on a show with a trio of beautiful, hardworking, and varied goals.
The first period may not have offered enough excitement for some, seeing the Senators’ top line and the League’s top scorers in Malkin and Crosby, paired together for most of the game, failing to register a single goal, as Ottawa doubled up on Pittsburgh with 12 shots to 6. Both teams ranked in the top 10 in goals allowed, and you could almost see the respectful eyes keeping tabs on positioning, opportunities, and good scoring chances.
The second period threw caution to the wind, even as the shots wound down to 8-7 in the Pens’ favour. Four minutes in, faceoff won by Stall in Ottawa’s end, Alfie blocked a blast from Gill, and then Gill would recollect the puck, only to give it away. In the Penguins’ end, Spezza’s initial shot would be stopped by Sabourin, but he collected the puck to Sabourin’s left, sped around behind the net, and completed the wraparound just off the couple inches of his wooden blade’s tip that curled around the post, to open the scoring with an unassisted effort.
Not to let up, the Spezza show continued. Another few minutes, and the big three would converge, with all getting a point as Spezza found himself uncovered in the slot as extra Penguins dove behind the net to get the puck, and a quick pass out met a blast from Spezza’s stick, and it’s two nothing Ottawa. Wanting to show some life for his team, Godard convinced Neil to fight in the Penguins’ zone after a faceoff, the pair so focused that Neil didn’t even flinch, staring into Godard’s eyes, gloves dropped, as an Ottawa shot hit his left foot.
Perhaps Don Cherry would be proud, Neil not backing down to a player with 3” on him in his first game back from injury, despite his team having a lead. He could have been standing up for some of the hard hits, a couple of board-flippers, that were coming Spezza’s way after lighting the lamp. Neil was the only one to pull off his helmet, the two punching at each other for a good 20 seconds or so before Neil actually had to pull Godard’s helmet off for him, and then the refs stepped in to end the bout.
With five minutes left, Spezza’s stick was called for a hook on Malkin. Either he hooked him, or as some saw Malkin clamped down on the stick with his arm and fell with it, but that’s the risk you take when you put your stick on a man. After failing to convert on an earlier accidental delay of game penalty to Ruutu, the Penguins would not miss again. Crosby had the puck at the left faceoff dot, and looked poised to blast a shot at a prepared Auld. Only the shot turned out to be a quick blast a few degrees to the left, to Staal’s awaiting stick behind Auld, and there was no chance for him to stop the Penguins from making it onto the board.
But, a two goal lead needs to stay a two goal lead, and late in the 2nd, Spezza found himself behind the net, and in his words attempted to make a pass out to the slot, but between Sabourin’s right leg and Letang’s too-eager open-faced stick, the puck wound up in the net.
The third once again had Ottawa dominating for long stretches, outshooting the Penguins 12-5, but they would pour in on late in the period. With Crosby off for two-handing a slash to Heatley’s leg after a little shove, Malkin caught an errant pass near the line, and there was no chance for Bell to catch up to the League’s top scorer. Maybe Auld was a little too deep in the net, maybe not, but a quick shot by Malkin when he got close went over Auld’s blocker, his second shorthanded goal of the season, both against Ottawa.
In the last few seconds, the Sens would get incensed that Malkin stayed on after starting a scrum and throwing some punches, Phillips and Staal going off, but the Sens held on to win 3-2, and further christen their black jerseys, now 4-0.
Yes, Ottawa has been resting since Wednesday night, hosting Atlanta, and Pittsburgh played Wednesday and Thursday, both on the road, but the NHL.com stats paint a nice picture to continue building on: 31-19 lead in shots, 25-24 lead in hits, 2 fewer giveaways than Pittsburgh (even if Ottawa still gave away 14 pucks), a 12-8 takeaway lead, a whopping 57% in the faceoff circle, with only Fisher (a single win) below 50% for the Sens, and only Talbot above 50% for the Pens (Malkin won and lost a single faceoff each, playing heavily on Crosby’s wing and only really chipping in when the not-so-much-a-kid was tossed out).
Perhaps best of all, the Sens had three even-strength goals to one by the Pens, have finally scored more goals (60) than they’ve allowed (59), and are a .500 team at long last. At this point, fans would be foolish not to take that and be happy with it.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
Comments
I always took it to be an interruption by your own team, but nonetheless, a great outing by Spezza.
Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 12/06/08 at 09:31 PM ET
That, and three goals in a single period is also considered a hat trick by some.
Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 12/07/08 at 12:59 PM ET
Yeah, it’s not in the NHL Rule Book, but if you research that term, the majority of definitions do include that the opposition can’t interrupt it, unofficial as that may be…
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 12/07/08 at 03:21 PM ET
Not to mention that Spezza’s third goal was very much assisted by Sabourin and Letang… 
I’ll stick to appreciating that game for all the things it was though.
Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 12/07/08 at 03:25 PM ET
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A natural hat trick can’t have the opposition interrupt the string, which it did….
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 12/06/08 at 08:06 PM ET