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SENShobo

Watch Out For The Complete Game

by SENShobo on 10/29/08 at 08:22 AM ET
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Today’s Ottawa Senators stories,

• Complete performance against Buffalo key to future wins.
• Sabres’ Mair being reviewed for unprofessional post-game aggression.

• A full 60 minutes of the Senators playing like a team seems so simple, but holds so much power (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Senators’ web).

Chris Neil said the Senators, sliding to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, didn’t have to be told what was a stake.

“It was very emotional for us,” he said. “It was a big game, we needed that. It was a game that we all came together and played like a team.

“We haven’t done that this year. We showed signs of it when we played Pittsburgh in Sweden, but not for a full 60 (minutes), and I thought, for the most part, we played a full 60 minutes (Monday night) and stuck with the game plan.

“Now we just have to build on it. You get a little confidence and the sky’s the limit.

“We were lacking that in some of our previous games. A puck goes in the net and you get down on yourself as a team, instead of going out and working that much harder and getting another goal. You’ve got to come out and be ready to go on your next shift. We did that (Monday) night.”

A full game from the Sens has all the power to rocket the team up through the standings. It’s just about unlocking the potential. Heatley, Spezza, and Alfredsson made us the only team last season to sport three players in the top 15 in League scoring, and three 30-goal scorers. Kuba leads the League this season in points and powerplay points by a defenseman. During last year’s playoffs, Smith helped lead the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals, playing hard-nosed despite two separated shoulders, and so many others on the team have proven and are now proving that they can be key parts of another strong run.

Coming out early, or in this case coming out of a tailspin early, gives the Sens a chance to start heading in the right direction for the season without too much trouble. The 5-2 win in Buffalo was a showcase of team play, but it also probably made the team wonder what might have changed against the Ducks had we gotten out to a 3-0 lead instead of falling into a 0-4 hole. It has to remind you that the potential is always there, waiting to be untapped.

Our veterans of this season all seem to have the ability to stave off any decline in their skill, and our younger players all seem to be on a continual rise to higher peaks. Many of our losses have shown us to be outworked as a team, but based on team potential several could easily have been Ottawa showcases. It might be taking a while to adjust to a big year-over-year turnover, but if Murray was right about cleaning house and bringing in quality guys, maybe we’ll soon get to see just how far a quality dressing room can go towards defining the face and attitude of a team.

• Mair gets riled by Neil, but will he get repercussed by Campbell? (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun).

The National Hockey League hasn’t yet announced how long the Buffalo Sabres’ Adam Mair will be suspended for charging down the hallway to the Ottawa Senators’ dressing room at the end of Monday’s game and demanding that Chris Neil come out to fight.

However, he should expect at least two games.

That’s how long then-Senator André Roy was suspended in 2001 for chasing then-Vancouver tough guy Donald Brashear down a Scotiabank Place hallway to the Canucks’ dressing room.

You can find several YouTube clips showing at least part of Mair’s hunt for Neil, and such a Wild West, I’m-gonna-take-care-of-you cavalier approach is undoubtedly going to get Bettman and Campbell’s attention. Off the ice, players need to behave as the professionals they are. It’s one thing to hear unsubstatiated rumours that last year, Emery let his road rage loose, berating and wanting to beat an Ottawa man who was said to have cut him off. To see these videos though, showing no discipline or respect, this is where a message needs to be sent.

At the same time, I’m of the belief that on ice, players should be allowed to get away with more. We don’t have them all wired up for audio, so while you wouldn’t accept any profanities in an interview or during a public appearance, you should not be policing the pests on the ice. If it goes too far, if it brings racism or true hateful discrimination onto the ice, that is crossing a line. But does anyone really think Neil deserved a game misconduct in Toronto when he taunted Hollweg by beckoning him for a check by going by and facing into the boards?

Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
 

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