Round 1: Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Game 3 Preview – Update

In a stunning turn of events, Daniel Alfredsson is considered a game time decision for tonight’s Game.  He will be taking the pre-game skate and will decide if his presumed torn-MCL is ready to play.

Obviously Alfie will not be at 100% but many would take the captain’s presence on the bench and in the dressing room will be inspiring to the rest of the team.  Alfredsson went a long way in securing himself a true NHL-caliber leader last year and his legend will grow even more if he can somehow find a way to will this team back into this series.

The lineup may look something like this if Daniel Alfredsson is a late addition to the lineup.  I would expect Alexander Nikulin to be scratched.

Forwards
Heatley – Vermette – Stillman
Alfredsson – Spezza – Foligno
Donovan – McAmmond – Neil
Schubert – Bass – Lapointe

Defence
Phillips – Commodore
Meszaros – Volchenkov
Lee – Redden

Goaltender
Gerber
Emery

Round 1: Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Game 1 Recap

The Ottawa Senators were absolutely out-hustled in Game 1.  A complete estimate on part would lead me to believe that Pittsburgh won 70 to 80% of the battles along the boards and in the neutral zone.  They simply wanted the puck more than Ottawa and sacrificed their bodies.

Obviously a better effort is needed for the Senators to advance to Round 2 but here are a few encouraging signs from a not very encouraging game:

1.  Goaltending: Martin Gerber kept the team in the game.  The biggest question in Ottawa come playoff time is always goaltending.  However with a 31 save performance in a game largely dominated by Pittsburgh offense, he at the very least gave Ottawa a chance to the win the game.  Key saves by Gerber kept the game 2-0 after 40 minutes including 10 saves on one of the best Power Plays in the league.

2.  Won the face-off battle: Strong games in the face-off circles by Jason Spezza (75%) and Antoine Vermette (56%) allowed the Sens to at least dictage play for a few seconds.  Face-offs are key in close games and hopefully as the series progresses the Senators will win key faces-offs in their zone.

3.  Out-worked and not out-skilled: The Penguins won this game by essentially beating Ottawa at their own game.  They won the battles down low.  They crashed our defence.  They forced turn-overs by a strong back-check.  Aside from the nice chip passed a pinching Mike Commdore by Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh’s goals were scored on the result of hard work as opposed to dazzling 1-on-1 play or burning someone wide on the rush.

I really hope that Bryan Murray finds the right buttons to push to light a fire under the Senators collective behinds and show a better showing on Friday for Game 2.

Round 1 – Game 1: Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

All slates are wiped clean. All teams have 0 wins and 0 losses. All players have 0 points. All the predictions are put aside and we can finally start playing some playoff hockey!

The Ottawa Senators will be suiting up tonight without the services of a few key players but this most be used as a motivation factor instead of an excuse. The Senators are built for the playoffs. The lineup (shown below) has grit from the 2nd line down with a ton of playoff experience and they all love to initiate contact. In the past grit, toughness and experience has been the Achiles’ heel of young skillful team.

Spezza and Heatley teamed up for a total of 8 goals against the Penguins during the regular season. Should the Penguins 3rd line manage to shut-down down our top line a lot of the secondary scoring will be placed on Vermette and McAmmond’s lines. The 2nd and 3rd lines for Ottawa need to crash the net and get some ugly goals much like Vermette did against in Ottawa’s 8-2 romp of the Blue Team.

Bryan Murray has decided to split up the defensive shut-down pairing of Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips. Phillips and, trade deadline acquisition, Mike Commodore will attempt to shut-down one of Pittsburgh’s top lines. Murray has also opted to combine a young puck moving tandem in Andrei Meszaros and, rookie, Brian Lee.

Forwards
Heatley-Spezza-Robitaille
Donovan-Vermette-Stillman
Foligno-McAmmond-Neil
Schubert-Bass-Lapointe

Defence pairings
Redden-Volchenkov
Phillips-Commodore
Meszaros-Lee

Goalies
Gerber
Emery

Chip and Chase

As the Sens are once again taking care of the Montreal Canadiens tonight, it’s 3-0 as I write this, all appears to be returning to form in Ottawa.

The Senators have won their past 2 games and were robbed of a victory by a young goalie the game before the streak started.  They’ve gone back to last year’s style.  Team commitment to defense, responsible play in the neutral zone and tough forecheck in the offensive zone.  They’re playing very well…

But… they’re playing well enough to get out of the Eastern Conference but this style of play does not work in the Western Conference.  As San Jose, Anaheim and to a lesser extent Los Angeles showed, the soft chip and chase does not work in the West.  For whatever reason, the game is called differently in the other Conference and the Sens forwards were constantly impeded coming into the zone during last year’s Stanley Cup Finals and the same tactics were used during their Western Road Trip.

Montreal and Ottawa are undoubtedly a top-5 team in the Eastern Conference but both combined for a 3-5 record against the Ducks, the Sharks, the Kings and the Coyotes.

If the Sens keep up their rejuvenated play, I have no doubt that they’ll be competing for the Eastern Finals once again this year.  However the Sens, and probably any other team coming out of the East, we need to adapt to the Western style in order to bring the Cup back to the East.

Gameday: vs. Buffalo Sabres January 10th, 2008

After a long layoff that most of the players used to get over the flu, the Sens return to action tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.   The Sens are normally quite slow at getting going after a long period of time away from home and we have to hope that they’re not looking ahead to Saturday’s big matchup against the Detroit Red Wings.

A few changes will be made to tonight’s lineup.  With Joe Corvo’s return from a 2 game absence, he will be reunited with his new partner Wade Redden.  This also means that Andrei Meszaros who was matched up with Chris Phillips on the top shut-down pairing will slide to the number 5 spot alongside veteran Luke Richardson.

A few game notes for tonight:

- Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher have a 7 game point scoring streak

- Martin Gerber will make his 2nd start in a row