Gameday: at Nashville Predators November 29th, 2007

Another loss, another day!

Our beloved Sens dropped their 4th game in a row last night against Rick Dipietro… and his New York Islanders. Dipi was not tested often despite the 37 shots put up by the Sens but when he was needed he made big saves. The Senators appeared to take the lead when Randy Robitaille put a puck past Dipietro but it was immediately, and incredibly emotionally, waved off by non-other than the Diva of referees himself, Mick McGeough.

The Sens were once again victim of a trapping team. When the play opened up, the Sens had a few good chances to score. However when Nolan’s gameplan was put into effect, the Islanders took away all the time and space and did very well at playing a containing game. Teams have adopted a new version of the trap against the Sens. Of late we’ve seen the Blue Team, the Bruins and now the Isles trap the whole game and totally negate the Sens’ speed.

A few gamenote for tonight:

- Andrej Meszaros now leads the Sens’ defensemen in goal scoring with 4

- Second line centre, Mike Fisher, has not scored in almost 4 weeks

- Jason Spezza has 9 points in his past 5 games

- After starting Ray Emery in net yesterday, John Paddock is expected to go with Martin Gerber tonight. Should Gerber win, we should probably expect to see him in net Saturday against the New York Rangers

- After starting off November with 5 wins, the Sens are now 3-4-2 in November

- Former Senator, Radek Bonk, leads the Nashville Predators with 9 goals this season

The Senators are not expected to make any changes to the lineup tonight:

Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson
Robitaille-Fisher-Neil
Kelly- Vermette-Foligno
Schubert-McAmmond-Donovan

Phillips-Volchenkov
Meszaros-Redden
Corvo-Richardson

Gerber
Emery

Gameday: at New York Islanders November 28th, 2007

In the first of a back-to-back games, the Ottawa Senators will attempt to snap their 3-game losing streak against the New York Islanders tonight. The Senators welcome back their captain Daniel Aflredsson who missed the last game with a groin injury. Alfie says that he is ready to go and we can rest assured that neither GM Bryan Murray or coach John Paddock would rush him back to the lineup this early in the season. We saw what a nagging injury can do to a player when Wade Redden tweaked his groin early in the season and never really bounced back from it.

Redden has regained his old form this year and appears less tentative to play the body in the corners. He has finally been rewarded in the past few game recording 4 points in the past 3 games. His 3 goals this year have all come with the man advantage.

With the loss to Patrick Eaves the Sens are in desperate need to find some secondary scoring. Mike Fisher (0 points in 5 games with a -7 rating), Antoine Vermette (1 point in 8 games with a -7 rating) and Chris Kelly (2 points in 8 games with -5 rating) really need to pull their weight offensively. They are all average over 16 minutes a game and are all vital pieces to the Sens’ secondary offense.

A few game notes for tonight:

- Daniel Alfredsson will return to the lineup

- Martin Gerber will sit out tonight and Ray Emery will get the start. No word if Paddock is simply splitting time between the two because of games on back-to-back nights

- The Sens have recalled Nick Foligno, who had 5 assists in 6 games with the Binghamton Senators and assigned Andrei Nikulin to the AHL team

Senators expected lineup:

Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson
Robitaille-Fisher-Neil
Kelly- Vermette-Foligno
Schubert-McAmmond-Donovan

Phillips-Volchenkov
Meszaros-Redden
Corvo-Richardson

Emery
Gerber

Gameday: vs. Philidelphia Flyers November 24nd, 2007

After another disappointing loss, the Ottawa Senators will attempt to rebound at home tonight against the Philidelphia Flyers. After giving up a 2-goal lead twice in the eventual shoot-out loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday, the Senators will be looking to shore up in the defensive end and stop taking useless penalties in the offensive end.

Dany Heatley has been lit up the lamp 3 times in the past 3 games however his 4 penalties over that same span have been of greater concern. Alexander Nikulin is expected to fill-in for Daniel Alfredsson tonight who has a groin injury suffered in the last game.

A few game notes for tonight:

- The Sens have lost 4 of their past 7 games

- Martin Gerber will be getting the start in net for Ottawa and Antero Niittymaki is in for the Flyers

- After not recording a point in the first 2 games of his comeback, Jason Spezza has 7 points in his past 3 games

- The Senators’ special teams play must improve. They are currently ranked 15th overall on the Power play and 8th overall in penalty killing. An upside to their mediocre power play is only Detroit is ahead of the Sens in 5-on-5 goals for and against ratio.

The Senators expected lineup for tonight:

Heatley-Spezza-McAmmond
Robitaille-Fisher-Neil
Vermette-Nikulin-Kelly
Schubert-Donovan-McGrattan

** If Randy Robitaille cannot go, John Paddock will probably call-up Nick Foligno from the AHL club

Phillips-Volchenkov
Meszaros-Redden
Corvo-Richardson

Gerber
Emery

Reason for concern?

Darren Dreger seems to think so.  In what he considers to be a late blooming of a Stanley Cup hangover, the Ottawa Senators have now lost 4 of their last 7 games. As the norm goes, the Media, the cynical Ottawa non-believers and perhaps even some flakier Sens fans are dissecting the problems arising in the Nation’s Capital.

I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves:

- Tied for 2nd in team goals for, 4th in goals against

- Martin Gerber leads all goalies in wins, 5th in goals against average, 3rd in save percentage

- Daniel Alfredsson currently 3rd in goals and 5th in points

- Currently the team is leading the league in points and are 6 points ahead of the 2nd place team in the division

Until the numbers start saying otherwise, the Sens are far from a hangover.

Gameday: vs. Pittsburgh Penguins November 22nd, 2007 Part 2

For everyone that has been having problems with their Sens TV HD feed, call Rogers and get your money back.  I purchased the $60 package that got me all 7 games in HD and the lady from Rogers Billing Department credited me back $10.99 on my bill.

I experienced these problems last year with the PPV feed and once again I am forced to pay for a crappy American feed that’s Standard definition only.  I don’t know if the Sens or Rogers are to blame but the marks the 3rd time that I’ve had problems with the Sens PPV telecasts and needless to say, I’m quite bitter.

So get your money back Sens’ fans.  If they offer excuses tell them that you didn’t get what you were expecting and for those of who purchased the HD feed you have all the more reason to complain.