Round 1 – Ottawa’s Seven Keys to Victory

Pierre McGuire was on the Team1200 as usual this morning and he quoted a former NHL-coach that once said (paraphrased of course): “You have to keep the game simple for your players and not give them too many assignments. Players (and people) can normally process about 7 tangible assignments.” He also said something about making the 7 Keys to Victory “fun for the players” but I didn’t really understand where he was coming from with the fun factor.

So in light of Mr. Monster’s quote, here are my 7 tangible Keys to an Ottawa Senators upset over the Pittsburgh Penguins:

1. Strong puck support in the defensive zone: Nobody leaves the defensive unless the puck has crossed the blue line. Too many times this year a forward got trapped up in the neutral zone waiting for a break-out pass only to have the pass intercepted and the puck shortly ending up in the Sens’ net shortly thereafter.

2. Dump the puck in Brooks Orpik’s corner: This does 2 things. First of all, the Sens are getting the puck deep in the Penguins’ zone and secondly it keeps the puck off Gonchar’s stick. Should Gonchar play the puck, then he needs to be forechecked hard every time and everyone needs to finish their checks on him.

3. Shoot, shoot and shoot: Marc-Andre Fleury is a ratable goalie. He tends to over commit to the side of the net and often leaves the weak side wide open. Therefore, low percentage shots from the end boards can suddenly become prime scoring opportunities. If the Sens can get a few quick, dirty goals passed MAF in the early going, they could instill doubt to Pittsburgh’s entire lineup.

4. Do not take avoidable penalties: The Sens’ penalty killing unit is already 3-players short-handed. The PK duties will fall on the likes of Antoine Vermette, Dean McAmmond, Cody Bass and Dany Heatley. It’s no small duty to stop the 4th best Power Play in the league but the best way to ensure they don’t score is by not letting them get any chances.

5. Slow the game down: Martin Gerber has been notorious to keep the play alive instead of freezing the puck. The Pens’ top-3 centers have roughly a 44% average in the face-off circle compared to the Sens that have roughly 53% average. That means the Sens will most likely control the face-off battle. If Pittsburgh tries to establish a cycle forecheck, Gerber needs to freeze the puck at every chance to try kill the game’s flow.

6. Play hard in the neutral zone against Malkin and Hossa: The Sens forwards and defense need to contain Pittsburgh’s speed through the neutral zone. Crosby and co. cannot be allowed to build speed through the neutral zone and cross the blue line at full speed. A few high impact collisions will have the Pens thinking twice about curling in the neutral zone to gain that extra stride of speed. I’m not an advocate of attempts to injure but Peter Schaefer laid a clean hard hit on Tim Connolly against the Sabres in 2006 which should have shifted the momentum in the Sens’ favour. Although it didn’t. Plus it gets guys like Ryan Malone off their game as they’re vying for revenge instead of playing their game.

7. Get under Crosby’s skin: Everyone in Ottawa vividly remembers The Kid’s whining and temper tantrums thrown during last year’s playoffs. The Ottawa fans promptly greeted him with loud boo’s every time he touched the puck at the ScotiaBank Place. The Sens, Chris Neil, Shean Donovan and Martin Lapointe in particular must find a way to continuously be in Crosby’s face. He’s exposed himself as an emotional player in the past and there’s no reason to expect he wont do it again.

So there you have it folks. If the Ottawa Senators can keep these 7 points in mind, they’ll give themselves a much better chance at advancing in this year’s playoffs.

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