SENShobo
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There Must Be Something In The Water
by SENShobo on 03/23/09 at 08:05 AM ET
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Now there’s something you don’t see every day.
Whether you look at streaks, Ottawa having won 5 straight, or recent records, Ottawa being 9-1-0 in their last 10 games, there is no denying reality.
The hottest team in the NHL is nowhere near the playoff picture. What tom-foolery is this, and how did this scrappy squad manage to top the Rangers last night?
Things didn’t start out smoothly last night, from the Ottawa Citizen,
Auld, something of a surprise starter considering that Elliott had eight consecutive wins, including a 5-2 victory against the New York Islanders on Saturday, rebounded from a shaky start that resulted in Brandon Dubinsky’s game only 2:18 into the first period.
“It certainly wasn’t the way we wanted it to go, but (the rally) was a good sign,” Auld said. “In the last month and a half, we’ve shown resiliency after giving up tough goals.”
Auld stopped Nik Antropov on a breakaway seven minutes into the second period. He also caught a break when a Ryan Callahan shot beat him to the stick side, but clanged off the post.
But that wouldn’t be the end of it. First, Campoli made a pass to Phillips before stepping off the ice, preventing his -1 stat from the lone Rangers’ goal from being negated. The puck wound up with Comrie, who’s forehand shot was blocked by a Ranger. Luckily, once blocked, the puck just came back to Comrie, who was able to take it to his backhand and whip it up and over Lundqvist’s shoulder to tie the game. A nice victory for a guy who’s been out with the flu and was held out last night from taking on his old team, the Islanders, in their last game this season against Ottawa. I suppose ex-divisional rivals isn’t the worst substitute.
Then, it was the Fisher-Foligno-Shannon line’s turn. Bursting across the blueline with the puck, Foligno dropped it for Shannon, who was given far too much room by a rapidly-reversing-into-Lundqvist Redden. A guy Shannon’s size has to work on other areas of his game, and giving him the puck with plenty of room and time to shoot it proved fatal.
Not that the friendly crowd didn’t help, from the Ottawa Citizen,
“I come from a town where pretty much everybody works in New York City, and my dad (Patrick) worked here my whole upbringing,” Shannon said before the game.
“I played an exhibition game here (earlier this season), but I only played, like, six minutes. I like to think of this as the first time I’ve played here. There are a lot of people here. My parents, my dad’s brothers and sisters, and their families, and then my fiancée (Jessica Goldmark), her family and my fiancée’s aunts and uncles. There are also some friends that I grew up with who live and work in New York.”
....
“I’m trying to relax, not get too excited,” he said. “It’s a big thrill, playing in front of everybody. With the places I have been, I haven’t been back in the east that often.”
Friendly to a degree; Ruutu probably enjoyed the “Ruutu sucks!” chants earlier in the game, and while he skated hard, Avery made little attempt to get into competition with Ruutu for best pest.
Why play Auld? Elliott’s won his last eight starts, holds the record for longest winning streak by an Ottawa rookie goaltender, and in the AHL has been used to playing in far more cramped schedules than this, not to mention that the Sens have until Wednesday night in Carolina to rest up.
Tonight was about adversity to me. Volchenkov’s many bruises forced him to take a sit, and so the team had to rely on Schubert, who chipped in with seven hits and a pair of blocked shots. Perhaps Auld’s 2-0-2 record with 0.96 GAA and a shutout against the Rangers played into it, but you can never trust those too much, nor does an Auld-Lundqvist battle look good on paper. The Sens were out-hit 33 to 24, won only 31% of their draws, and could not solve the League’s best penalty kill. Every card that could be found was stacked against them.
But yet, they found a way. They worked hard, dominating the second period and deflating New York’s hunger in the third, and they are still alive. Speaking in a post-game interview, Alfie told TSN that the team has been avoiding thinking about reality and the playoffs, still too remote a possibility to consider, even in light of their recent successes. They will just keep playing, and keep winning as long as they can.
Now would be a bad time to reminisce about all those games back in the fall where a poor call or unbelievable disallowed goal turned so many games against the Senators. Happy thought, people, happy thoughts.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
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