SENShobo
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When Great Danes Score, Great Things Happen
by SENShobo on 01/30/09 at 08:58 AM ET
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I can’t say I’ve fully healed, Canadian winters don’t tend to make that easy, but I’ve had enough of being a pure spectator.
The Senators decided they weren’t just along for the ride last night either, and found a way to beat the Blues 3-1.
Plenty to be frustrated with, but for the moment two points is a truly celebratory high for the team, and his first NHL goal, the game winner, a great high for Peter Regin to enjoy, only the NHL’s fifth Danish player.
From the Ottawa Sun, Regin on his first goal, the game winner,
“I was happy to help the team get the win, it was a huge win for us,” said Regin, only the fifth Dane to play in the NHL. “I’m pretty excited to get my first goal in the NHL, too.
“It’s something I dreamed about as a kid.”
Regin described the goal as a bit of an accident.
“It was pretty open, that side of the net. I think all the ‘D’ came to the other side. I tried to shoot high and I missed it a little. I think it went between (goalie Chris Mason’s) legs. That’s often how you score ... when you miss your shot a little.”
You could strip something out of that quote about determination and hard work paying off. You could get it just from watching Regin, who was stopped dead in his tracks, flattened into the boards by the benches on that shift, but found it in himself to get back up and keep going, driving hard and deep and not wasting time looking for better options once he got there. Figures that the only goals were scored by effective two-way players, Fisher notching the opening goal on the penalty kill and giving the Sens breathing room with less than a minute left, collecting a Tkachuck pass that he raced down and into St. Louis’ empty net.
The bounces were actually going in favour of the Sens, even if ‘in favour’ implies more so ‘not against’ than actually in any way helping the Sens. Elliot managed to keep the team above water whenever the Blues found their legs, and even after the game was sealed and delivered, in those dying ten seconds, the Sens looked as thirsty as ever for yet another goal.
The powerplay failed to connect, and seeing five forwards (the big three plus Vermette and Fisher) out gives you a shivering recollection of the Canes last season before they received Corvo. They didn’t find a way to break through a roster that’s dead last in the West, missing several critical regulars, until the very end. Hartsburg’s got every ability to keep the pressure up on these guys for a while yet.
But a win is a win, is something that’ll make Melnyk happy enough that Murray can probably put down the phone for a minute, even if it’s only on brief hold. When I was in Montreal, not that there wasn’t enough reason already to wish that Chara was still in red, but he was also talking about his leadership style, wearing the ‘C’ in Boston. He felt his biggest job and challenge was just to keep the team balanced, never too high after a win or wins, never too low after a loss or losses, always at a smooth medium from which they could regain their game and head into each night prepared and ready just the same.
Still miles from the playoffs, but also 4-1-1 in their last six, the Senators need to find their middle ground, their common jump point, to help them secure their game and their playing strategies. Only a couple months and change remain, but the only enemy now is math. And for me, a cough that I’m going to now take out back and paddle again.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
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