From the Ottawa Sun, on Ottawa’s 3-2 OT win over Tampa,

Returning to the lineup after missing two games with what’s believed to be a back/groin injury, the Senators centre fired his first goal of the season past Antero Niittymaki at 4:17 of overtime to give Ottawa a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay at Scotiabank Place.
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“To get one in overtime, get the win and get my first is always nice,” said Spezza, who hadn’t scored since April 11, in the Senators’ season-ending game — against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“I felt pretty good about my game going into this. I just wasn’t getting any bounces. It’s nice to get one — that’s for sure.”

Continue reading "Third Time’s The Charm"

From the Ottawa Sun, on Spezza’s back problems,

“I felt pretty good. I got through the whole practice and I didn’t have to leave. The rest has definitely helped it, but the only way you can tell how it’s going to be is by skating,” said Spezza, who is still looking for his first goal, but has eight assists in 10 games and has been good at both ends of the rink.

“It hasn’t gone away completely, but it’s been better. It’s a positive sign. It’s been hampering me all year. I just got to the point where I didn’t feel I could go on much longer without taking a bit of time off. Hopefully, we’ve got it under control now and it doesn’t become an issue for me.”

Whether or not Spezza plays tonight (and with Volchenkov still sidelined), the real team need is consistency, in all areas. Update - 2:20 p.m. - (OC) Spezza, Fisher, Leclaire are in, Donovan and Winchester out.

Continue reading "Sens Need Mending"

From the Ottawa Citizen, on Elliott’s future prospects,

Like Elliott, Leclaire has another year left on his contract. At that point, the Senators will have to decide whether they want to re-sign Leclaire and/or Elliott or whether they want to trust their future to Swedish goalie Robin Lehner, who is playing very well this season for the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds.

Cory Clouston, who coached Elliott in Binghamton before both of them were parachuted into Ottawa, has no doubt Elliott will be a No. 1 NHL goalie. It’s a matter of finetuning.

“I think the structure of his game and his positional play is a lot better,” said Clouston, who was promoted to Ottawa after the firing of Craig Hartsburg in February.

Going 2-1-1 with a 3.20GAA and .892Sv% won’t convince anyone that last season’s end wasn’t a fluke, but there’s much more still to come.

Continue reading "Sens’ Final Resting Place"

From the Ottawa Sun, on Kuba’s successful return,

In his first game back after missing eight with a groin injury, Kuba assisted on two goals and was a plus-2 as the Senators dumped the Florida Panthers 4-3 last night at BankAtlantic Center.

Kuba said he felt “rusty” and that it was “like the beginning of the season for me.”
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While the Senators converted their one and only power play of the night, it was the Ottawa “killers” who shone brightest. The Panthers were allowed only one goal on seven power plays.

“I thought we battled hard,” said coach Cory Clouston. “When you have to kill that many times, it’s tough on guys. It’s really hard to get momentum. I thought each time we killed, two or three shifts later we ended up gaining the momentum back, but the next thing you know we were in the box.”

There will always be positives to find in victory. Yes, even against a .250 team.

Continue reading "Ottawa Narrowly Edges Florida"

From the Ottawa Citizen, on Karlsson’s demotion,

On the bright side, at least nobody said, “this is a men’s league and he’s still a boy.”
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Karlsson survived the late September cut, but not the contractual trigger deadline nine games into the season. The 19-year-old was stung, breaking down with emotion in the office of Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray.
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Spezza, drafted by Ottawa second overall in 2001, famously went down to Bingo with the “this is a men’s league” quote from Jacques Martin ringing in his ears, back when Marshall Johnston and Martin were GM and head coach of the Senators, respectively. Truthful, but blunt, and not exactly what a future star wants to hear.

For all the hope and promise, it was bound to happen, and it’s for the best.

Continue reading "Karlsson Down, Kuba In For Sens"

From the Ottawa Sun, on Erik Karlsson’s impending status change,

No final decision has been announced, but the Senators appear to be leaning toward sending their top prospect back to Sweden for the season. They are as excited as ever about Karlsson, the 15th overall pick in the 2008 entry draft, but they have concerns about the slight defenceman’s confidence as he battles through the growing pains of his first year in the NHL.
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“We’re going to have to make a decision, obviously, within the next 24 or 48 hours,” coach Cory Clouston said after a practice yesterday that was minus Karlsson and centre Peter Regin — both dealing with the flu bug. “There are some pros and cons (for keeping Karlsson). It’s going to be a tough decision either way.

“You’ve got to make a decision on what’s best for him in the long run and obviously what’s best for us immediately. There are a few other things we have to consider other than just his play and his development.”

Is there really any daunting reason to keep him around at the moment though?

Update - 12:49 p.m. - From the Ottawa Citizen, Karlsson has been demoted to Binghamton.

The 19-year-old defenceman, who didn’t speak to the media, didn’t take the news well, said Murray.

Use it Special K, use it.

Continue reading "Personnel, Power Play Struggles For Sens"

So, just where does crazy stop and weird take over?
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Take Spezza, for instance. He’s supposed to be doubtful for the game with some kind of injury.

All he does is go out and have a dominating performance with three assists, including an end-to-end rush to set up defenceman Anton Volchenkov for his first goal in almost a year, which tied the game 4-4 with less than five minutes left in the third period.
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When’s the last time Senators’ shutdown pair of Volchenkov and Phillips scored in the same game, never mind the same period? Ever?

Then there was the Nashville power play, last in the league with one goal this year, scoring two in just over three minutes (the last minute of the third and first two of OT) to win it.

The game started with Senators defenceman Alexandre Picard knocking two goals into his own net. Should have known then it was going to be a weird one.

There’s a reason you take struggling teams seriously, especially ones that have beaten you 6-5 in extra time in your own barn just a couple years ago.

From the Ottawa Citizen,

“Obviously, it’s a definite advantage when you score first,” said Mike Fisher, who set up both Chris Neil and Alex Kovalev for goals against Montreal.

“It gives you that much more confidence. Montreal was all over us in the first period and (Leclaire) made some great saves. We got out of that first period tied 1-1 and we knew it was all they could throw at us.

“We were confident we could find our game. Without some of those saves, it could have been 2-1 or 3-1 after the first period and a different game.”
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“We’ve been fortunate to have scored the first goal in so many games,” said Nick Foligno, who also assisted on Neil’s game-opening goal against Montreal. “I think it allows you to play your game. You’re able to dictate how the game is going to be played, and I think that’s the biggest thing for us. When we’re dictating, it’s a better game for us. We’re forechecking, we’re the ones with the puck on our stick.

Why not throw out a random set of numbers, though, and see if it doesn’t stick to Leclaire and his fortunes?

Continue reading "Low Level Stats: Ottawa’s Friend Or Foe?"

From the Ottawa Sun, on no-longer-career-AHLer Matt Carkner’s two-year, one-way, $1.4 million extension,

Before training camp, GM Bryan Murray thought he might have to go out and get a rugged element, but, with the way Carkner has performed, the search is over.

“He stuck with it after being in the minors for a number of years with maybe not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel,” said Murray. “He’s a community guy. He’s a team guy. He does anything and everything to be important in the group. He came to camp after spending the summer doing a lot of power skating to develop his stride.

“Every player sees how hard he works. When you have people like this, you should definitely make sure you keep them.”

He was drafted a decade ago in the second round by the Canadiens, and has become the Senators’ definition of perserverance.

Continue reading "Senators Reward The Faithful"

From the Ottawa Citizen, on Spezza’s new game,

“He has been a little snakebit around the net, but he’s creating chances, he’s getting chances, and it’s only a matter of time.”
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“He’s a smart player. He can read well, and often offensive guys, if they’re willing to do the little things, commit themselves, they can kill penalties. It’s a matter of whether they’re willing to do that, and right now, he has shown that.
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“It has been a role that I’ve really welcomed,” he said.

“I enjoy the chance to go out there and take some key faceoffs and kill some penalties, and try to grow my game defensively. It keeps you in the game and it gets you involved, too, team-wise, defensively. I still want to be better offensively. I wouldn’t mind getting on the board.

“Maybe in the past I wouldn’t be contributing unless I was scoring, but I feel I’m still contributing quite a bit and not scoring.”

Continue reading "Senators Growing Into Themselves"

From the Ottawa Sun, on the Senators pleasantly surprising penalty kill,

On a rare dark night on the NHL schedule, the Senators got to savour another day in first place in the Northeast Division and second in the Eastern Conference.
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One of the big ones has been the club’s outstanding penalty killing so far, second in the league at 93.1%, behind only the Columbus Blue Jackets (95.8%). The Senators have killed 27 of the 29 short-handed situations they’ve had — the last 17 in a row — including a huge kill of a 3-on-5 situation for a minute and 55 seconds in Saturday night’s 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
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Carvel said he puts Carkner in the same class as Volchenkov and Phillips as a penalty killer.

“He’s got size and strength and reads the game really well. When we get (Filip) Kuba back, I think we’ll have as good a group of four defencemen as any in the league,” said Carvel.

Continue reading "Sens Knock Teams Around, On Wood"

If Milan Michalek didn’t already feel at home in Ottawa, the welcome wagon yelled its approval last night.
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It was Michalek’s first career hat trick and he became the second Senators player to score two short-handed goals in a game (Marian Hossa did it against Florida on Nov. 18, 2000) .

“It’s awesome. It was great to see everybody standing and clapping for me,” said Michalek. “It’s a great feeling. Hopefully, there are more goals to come. I’ve had a lot of games with two goals. It was sure nice to get a hat trick.”
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“We know what we’re capable of doing. On any given night, if we’re playing the way we should be by playing a smart defensive game and honing in on our opportunities, we should be able to score goals. We proved that. It can come from anyone. You saw every line scoring and that’s the type of team we are. We’ve got depth. It’s nice to get a complete win.”

Clearly they won’t be letting any of this go to their heads.

Continue reading "Senators Enjoy The Moment"

With the Lightning visiting Ottawa tonight, plenty of comparisons could be made. Two teams that traded for goaltending stability in Smith and Leclaire. Two teams employing no-nonsense coaching styles from coaches that have raised eyebrows in Tocchet and Clouston. Two teams rebounding from terrible seasons, both with large roster turnover and ambition to find themselves paying for fewer months at the links next spring.

The inevitable comparison to watch, however, is of the mighty mites of age and size. If it weren’t for the fact that they played together for team Sweden at the World Juniors, you would be hard pressed to speak of Hedman and Karlsson in the same light.

Continue reading "Ottawa Decision Time On Defence"

The ‘dreadful’ Ottawa power play, finding chemistry, and some thoughts on early reviews, but first, from the Ottawa Sun,

Erik Karlsson admits he’s not quite himself these days.

“I’ve not really got the confidence that I need. I don’t know why.”
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Among the personal lowlights, he had the winning goal bounce in off his left leg after losing a boards battle with Chris Kunitz seconds earlier, he had a puck stripped from him as he tried to stickhandle by Malkin at the Ottawa blue line, and he had a bird’s-eye view of a goal scored by Jordan Staal seconds after the puck had been on Karlsson’s stick behind the Ottawa net.

“I thought he struggled a little bit (Monday) night,” said coach Cory Clouston. “I just think he’s got to realize what his assets and skills are and utilize them more. Instead of making the first pass, he tried to beat guys by himself. I didn’t think he used his teammates as well as he needs to, and understand at this level you can’t skate through players and through teams, you’re going to have to distribute the puck on breakouts. And he’s got to get back a little bit harder for pucks.

He was certainly trumpeted these past 16 months, but his play has been a tiny storm in your teacup thus far.

Continue reading "Senators Slow Out Of The Gate"

From the Ottawa Sun,

“There are going to be nights where things are going his way and he’s allowed to use his skill in the offensive zone and there are going to be nights where he’s very frustrated where nothing happens for him,” said Senators assistant GM Tim Murray. “That’s biggest thing for a young guy: Consistency.

“Certainly, from the circles to the net, he’s as good as anybody. He’s got great hands, a great shot and a great release. He can score on NHL goaltenders as well as he did on junior goaltenders. He won’t get the same amount, but he’s got that great instinct for scoring goals. If you give him any room from the faceoff dot to the net, he’ll make you pay.”

That’s why Tavares can expect to see a lot of Ottawa’s shutdown pair of Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips.

But no fanfare is needed, just focus. Calm focus without hyperbole.

Continue reading "Senators Host Islanders, Some Rookie"

There were hits, there were dramatic moments, and Komisarek even managed to get the puck behind Leclaire, only to have it deflect off one post to travel along the goal line, and deflect off the other post to keep the Senators’ lead secure. Without any fights or dramatic flair, though, the best blood pumping moments were all highlights as the Leafs paid video tribute to Gary Roberts, retired Senator killer, showing a bevy of goals of his, most against the Senators, before he dropped the puck on Gustavsson’s first NHL start.

Continue reading "Senators Pound Out First Win In Toronto"

Let’s be honest, neither of these teams is what it used to be, though both imagine brighter days ahead. Burke is in his first full season as the Leafs general manager, coming to Toronto via Anaheim, coincidentally also Bryan Murray’s previous stop before he joined the Senators as head coach and now GM.

Having two colourful hockey men in charge offers hope that these provincial tiffs might warm up into something interesting again.
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Until recently, the Senators were a scary scoring machine, but they are in the early stages of evolving into a Charlie Hustle squad—death by a thousand forechecks—under young head coach Cory Clouston.

While the Leafs are coached by the esoteric Ron Wilson, they are being remade in general manager Burke’s likeness: subtle as a knee to the groin and about as friendly.

When the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins next clash, it will have all the intensity of a hot-blooded rivalry solidifying itself as one of the best post-lockout. When two teams meet that have both finally fallen from their glory days, and then years later come to accept it, you wonder if it will be two buckets of slop splashed onto the ice in a battle to see which one can survive the most zamboni scrapings.

Then you have those nights when still sloppy meets still blood-feud rivalry, and you know it’s the Battle of Ontario (someone could have made a killing copyrighting that).

Continue reading "(Generic Witty Title), Sens Visit Leafs"

A 5-2 loss to the Rangers would not normally bode well for any team, but for now, for the moment, you can take some solace in it for a few reasons.

Continue reading "Finally Back"

From Mike Chen, an introduction. No, two.

Continue reading "Word from the Coast"

The names—Heatley, Cheechoo, Michalek—they weren’t the relevant detail of this afternoon’s transaction. That training camp can start with a whole new set of questions instead of the same old tired ones, even only pushed to the back of our minds as they are, that’s what matters.

Continue reading "Heatley Departs But Questions Only Removed From Forefront"