SB Nation - Peter Regin

Senators blow a million chances en route to 2-0 loss to Flames

Mark Parisi — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:51:33 -0000

3 days ago: Ottawa Senators' Jason Spezza, right, digs for a rebound from Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, from Finland, during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Calgary, Canada on Thursday, March 11, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)

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Ottawa should have won this game but didn't. Thanks for reading.

What, you want more?

OK, here's a short list of the major missed chances:

Milan Michalek had a power play goal waved off because of a high stick. Whether it was truly a high stick or not is debatable, but there was not enough evidence to overrule the call on the ice, which was no goal.
0 for 5 on the power play.
Peter Regin hit the crossbar of an open net.
The Senators had 33 shots on goal. The Flames blocked almost as many. This is NOT an exaggeration.

A little more misery coming up.

Sens Heroes and Zeroes: None
This was a weird one. There wasn't a single player who played a bad game tonight, and yet the team has absolutely nothing to show for it. Goalie Brian Elliott really cannot be faulted with either goal -- the third coming into an empty net -- and even the power play looked very good -- except for the lack of goals. This was the quickest I've seen the team set up the PP in a long time, and they moved the puck very, very, well; they just couldn't bury any of their chances. Matt Cullen played a particularly strong game, and so did Milan Michalek. Michalek seems to play his best games on the west coast, as he repeatedly managed to turn on the jets tonight. He hasn't done that in a while, so it was nice to see him find another gear again. Jason Spezza, as well, deserves mention for playing an intelligent, inspired game. Spezza really tried to make something happen, but could not.

Black and Blue: Nick Foligno was sorely missed in this physical game. The Flames were dishing out hits left and right, and the Senators were checking as tightly as they have all year. Space and passing lanes were at a premium in this game and players were skating to the bench shaking some body part in pain with regularity. The Flames had more players give up their bodies to secure the win, and that was really the difference.

Sens Killers: Miikka Kiprusoff, Ian White
The Senators started off the game flying, but Kiprusoff slowly crept into their heads. He was going to stop anything he saw tonight, and his team was blocking shots like they were Secret Service agents. The Senators responded by trying to set up deflection shots, and though they got several glorious chances, none went in -- save for the waved off goal.

Meanwhile, even though White didn't lead the Flames in ice time, he was exemplary of what it was going to take to win the game: gritty. All of the Flames played this way and it was like watching a wall of red get in front of the shots. It had to be frustrating for the Senators, especially watching former Leafs stymie them again: Jamal Mayers opened the scoring with a quick shot under the crossbar. It was the game winner.

There's not really more to say here. Ottawa missed too many chances to claim they deserved to win, but at least they had the effort to generate them. Calgary outworked Ottawa in the little areas, and the sum of all those little victories was a big victory. The shot chart and highlights tell the story here. Speaking of which....

Shot Chart of Misery:

Just look at that. Nothing even near the crease, and that's what was needed to win this game.

Game Highlights:

Forthcoming

Next game is Saturday at Vancouver, and it should be a treat. All the remaining games can be considered must-wins if Ottawa expects to push for the Division title.

Silver Nuggets: Sens visit the Flames, Elliott starts

PeterR — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:14:01 -0000

UPDATE: Brian Elliott will start in net for the Senators. Chris Kelly missed the morning skate, but should be fine to go when the puck drops. (Mendes)
The Ottawa Senators last victory in Calgary, against the Flames? More than seven years ago. (Province)
With that in mind, the Sens are going to make sure not to underestimate the Flames tonight. (Sun)
Milks is the odd man out on the prediction panel again today; everyone else is calling for an Ottawa Senators win. (Citizen)
Daniel Alfredsson, Alex Kovalev, Andy Sutton and Matt Carkner all missed practice yesterday, but don't worry: They're expected to be in the lineup tonight. (Citizen)
Points are always important in the league, but they're especially important now, as the Senators try to keep pace (and overcome) the Sabres for the Northeast Division lead. (Citizen)

(Read more... )

UPDATE: The Flyers are only four points back of Ottawa, and they've got two games in hand, and they're climbing up the East quickly; will they catch Ottawa--or even Pittsburgh? (Broadstreet Hockey)
Rumours are out there that Anton Volchenkov's agent rejected a five-year contract extension offered by the Senators before the Olympics. Regardless of what happens, the Sens may also try to re-sign Sutton--both coming back would really be something. (Sun)
Neat interview with Peter Regin about hockey in Denmark. (Daily Observer)
Playoff hopes long gone, the B-Sens won their fourth straight road game on Wednesday against the Manchester Monarchs.Josh Hennessy scored 2G and 1A in the 4-1 win. (OSC)

The Upside Down Senators And Their Goaltending Problems

Derek Zona — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:00:29 -0000

via cdn.picapp.com

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The Ottawa Senators have climbed into 5th place in the Eastern Conference despite a goal differential of -8. If the Oilers 7-7-1 record against the Eastern Conference wasn't a large enough indicator of how awful the East is this year, the fifth and eighth place teams in the East have negative goal differentials. For a bit of contrast, the Kings are 5th in the Western Conference with a +25 goal differential. Even though the Sens aren't strong by the numbers, the run up the standings has stirred some excitement in Ottawa, excitement that was buoyed on by General Manager Bryan Murray's trade for playoff veteran Matt Cullen.

In an extreme case of excitement, Silver Seven, SB Nation's Ottawa Senators site, recently had a user-submitted FanPost comparing the 2010 team to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals team. The post was an interesting take and the writer's descriptions of the lines made me take a look at the underlying numbers in Ottawa this season and what I found was curious. We dive into Gabriel Desjardins' Behind The Net and Vic Ferrari's timeonice.com after the jump.

via www.sportslogos.net

SB Nation's Senators vs Oilers coverage

Silver Seven

For the year, Ottawa has been outscored 124-134 (-10) at even strength, even though they've posted a team Corsi of .519. The team even strength save percentage of .905 is pretty terrible -- with a .920 at even strength, the Senators outscore 124-102 (+22). Foligno has somehow managed a .951 ES save percentage while on the ice - whatever he is bribing the Ottawa goaltenders with should be standard fare in the room. Perhaps the Antoine Vermette for Pascal Leclaire deal wasn't the saving grace that Bryan Murray thought it was.

Player	GP	ES TOI	QC	QT	Corsi RQC	CorsiQC	Corsi On	ZS	GD
Peter Regin	59	10.96	-0.035	-0.008	-0.461	-0.536	19.58	58.7	3
Ryan Shannon	58	10.86	-0.029	0.121	-0.006	-0.098	12.48	60	-7
Chris Neil	52	11.33	-0.071	-0.007	-0.477	-0.566	7.64	57	0
Nick Foligno	48	12.59	-0.024	0.102	0.366	-0.024	2.98	54.5	14
Chris Kelly	66	11.64	-0.049	-0.185	-0.07	-0.01	2.81	55.3	-8
Milan Michalek	59	13.38	0.149	0.005	1.214	0.718	1.29	52.7	-10
Jarkko Ruutu	66	11.11	-0.08	-0.25	-0.228	-0.236	1.23	55.8	-7
Matt Cullen*	65	12.73	0.05	0.041	0.517	-0.622	0.73	50	-2
Alex Kovalev	63	14.53	0.021	0.199	0.595	0.247	0.46	53.2	1
Mike Fisher	64	13.79	0.062	0.205	0.964	0.842	-1.09	50.5	4
Jason Spezza	44	14.54	0.116	-0.09	1.055	1.124	-2.16	52.8	-4
Daniel Alfredsson	54	13.52	0.194	0.005	1.636	1.796	-2.79	54.7	0

*Matt Cullen's numbers were mostly tallied in Carolina, so they don't count here.

Even though they are mired in goaltending problems, Ottawa has other troubles. Ottawa's big money players are facing the tough minutes and being slightly outshot and outscored at even strength. The bottom of their lineup is outshooting the opponents, and except for Nick Foligno's outstanding goalie luck, being outscored at even strength.

Interestingly enough though - put Michalek - Spezza - Alfredsson together and you get...

	GF	GA	Corsi Ratio	EV Sv	EV Sh	PDO
Michalek - Spezza - Alfredsson	11	10	.508	.935	7.0%	.1005

...an outshooting power vs. power line. Silver Seven blames Spezza a bit as the article said "Spezza’s game seemed to decline until fairly recently, when he finally realized he could shoot the puck." but in reality the Senators are flawed from top-to-bottom. The goaltending is bad, the defense is thin and the best forwards on the team can't handle tough minutes, even in the East.

Dull effort dooms Senators in 4-1 loss to Hurricanes

Mark Parisi — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:47:35 -0000

More photos » Karl B DeBlaker - AP

10 days ago: Carolina Hurricanes' Chad LaRose (59) shoots the puck between Ottawa Senators goalie Brian Elliott (30) and Andy Sutton (5) for a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, March 4, 2010. Hurricanes won 4-1. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

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Earth to the Ottawa Senators: The season has resumed. Please show up and resume play.

No excuses this time. The Senators were thoroughly outworked by a Canes team that has now won seven straight. Manny Legace, who apparently had never beaten the Sens before, absolutely owned them all night. Unfortunately, Ottawa made his job far, far too easy.

Matt Cullen had the lone Senators goal, and played with good jump. He looked more comfortable than he has, and Sens fans should not worry about him fitting in -- he's going to be fine on this team. The same goes for Andy Sutton. Ottawa's newest defenseman did not look out of place playing alongside Erik Karlsson. Sutton was far from perfect. He had a blatant turnover in his own zone -- he passed it to an opposing player, shades of Chris Kelly -- and accounted for two goals. On the third goal of the game, hesitancy on who to play allowed jerk Chad LaRose to sneak behind him and bury a rebound. Sutton could simply not catch LaRose in time after realizing he had lost his man. In addition, with an empty net and two goal deficit, Sutton made the odd decision to go for a hit instead of playing the puck, allowing Brandon Sutter to tally his 16th goal of the season. Still, Sutton was aggressive and sound. His gaffes should not be held against him in his first game, especially since they were the result of effort instead of standing and watching.

So, the new guys were good. How was the rest of the team?

Sens Zeroes: Anton Volchenkov, Brian Lee
Volchenkov has a very interesting plan for getting his next contract with the team, as he has played far below average for the past two games. Getting turned around, chasing the puck around... this is not the Android we've grown to know and love. He has not shown any of his dominating presence since returning from the Olympics. I don't care much for speculation but he seems to be having a hard time readjusting since the Winter Games. The Sens better hope he finds his form again soon.

Lee, quite simply, isn't ready for the NHL. He looked completely lost in this game, and that is incredibly disappointing to see. Perhaps he is just trying to do too much, but something isn't clicking. Lee could not move the puck, keep up with his responsibilities, or separate players from the puck. He was useless. I am a fan of Lee, but no one could be pleased with what they saw tonight. I am starting to doubt if he will ever become a true NHL player. That may sound harsh, but he was not good. Sadly, he wasn't the worst player on the ice.

Sens Killers: Pascal Leclaire, the power play
Whatever the opposite of running with the ball is, Leclaire managed it tonight. Two goals allowed on five shots. Pulled before the game was even seven minutes old. Leclaire gave his team absolutely no chance to win this game, and the Senators really needed big stops from their goaltenders when their effort level was taken into account. Head coach Cory Clouston gave him the chance to be the man tonight, and he absolutely bungled it. The funny thing is that he didn't look terrible -- he was following the puck well, but his game was just... off, like the deja vu scene from The Matrix. To me, it looked like he had no confidence and was trying to overcorrect with positioning, which led to stoppable pucks going right through him. It's going to be a long time before he sees another start.

Of course, his team gave him no support. Though he was already in a baseball cap by the time of the first penalty, Ottawa managed to do nothing on offense except for small, impotent spurts. As usual, this ineptitude was most evident on the power play. Ottawa horrifically flubbed two very timely opportunities with shoddy passing and a total unwillingness to battle for the puck. They are not going to win many games at their current effort level.

Sens Heroes: None
Honorable mentions go to Peter Regin and Shean Donovan, two of the few who actually tried tonight. Donovan, especially, brought great energy (big surprise) on every shift. Regin, meanwhile, continued to show good chemistry with Alex Kovalev, but the two could not generate enough space to create quality scoring chances. Kovalev was an undeserved minus three on the night.

That's how you pass: Chris Kelly managed to pass onto a teammate's stick for a change, setting up Daniel Alfredsson on a shorthanded breakaway. Alfie went to his standard shot -- snapper, high glove side -- but Legace stopped him. Alfie got another shot on the rebound, and that too was stopped by Legace. The saves seemed to deflate the team even further, as they were unable to turn the momentum of a good penalty kill into any kind of energy.

Here's a shot chart for the masochists:

Game Highlights:

It's important to remember that as bad as this team looked, they are still in first place. No team wins every game and there are ups and downs to every season. The Olympic break didn't come at a good time for such a hot team, but they aren't going to keep losing forever.

Next game is Saturday against Toronto. Show up!

Third-period comeback powers Senators to 4-3 win over Islanders

PeterR — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:32:51 -0000

More photos » Kathy Kmonicek - AP

28 days ago: Ottawa Senators' Jarkko Ruutu (73), of Finland, celebrates his first-period goal against the New York Islanders with Jesse Winchester (18) and other teammates during an NHL hockey game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

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The Ottawa Senators' 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday was one of those 'find a way to win' games. A good start helped the Sens to a pretty early 1-0 lead, but they slowed down for the last half of the first and were completely missing in the second, allowing the Islanders to take a 3-1 lead. A huge 5-on-3 penalty kill to start the third period got Ottawa back into the game, and Alex Kovalev scored a goal and two assists to drive the Senators past the Isles and take the two points. Although not huge in isolation, the win was a big one because it leaves Ottawa on a winning note going into the break as the top team in the Northeast Division.

Sens heroes: Alex Kovalev, Ryan Shannon
In the third period, Kovalev really stepped up. He was double-shifted for a lot of it, playing 7:46 TOI in that period, and racking up his three points in just under seven minutes of that period. He was +2 and had five shots on the night, and has looked like the game-changer Ottawa has wanted him to be for a good while now. He's on a four-game point-scoring streak, with 7P (3G, 4A) in that span--and plenty of meaningful points in the process.

Shannon was a huge component of Kovalev's strong third period. The two look like a great wing pairing, especially with Peter Regin in the middle, and work well together. The speed of Shannon, and to a lesser extent Regin, give options to Kovalev, and he opens up ice for his linemates. Although he's not able to be effective every game, tonight was an opportunity for Shannon to use his quickness in a game with little physicality, and he took advantage of the extra space.

(Read more... )

Sens zeros: Filip Kuba, Derek Smith
Kuba has a four-game assist streak, and has six assists in that span. But he's still been a Sens zero for three straight games, despite good point totals. The criticism is based on the expectations of Kuba: He's expected to put points up, and he's starting to do that regularly, but he's also expected to be defensively sound--something that's been lacking in his game for the majority of the season. He's the highest-paid defenceman, and he's expected to play like it.

It was his second NHL game, so I almost feel bad tagging D. Smith with a zero, but he was. On the ice for all three Isles goals, D. Smith was blameworthy on a couple, and was benched in the third period as a result. He's been capable at times, but has also looked overwhelmed by the speed of the NHL game at other times. I'm certain that with more time he'd be more solid in the league, but it's unlikely he'll play another game in the NHL this season, unless Ottawa runs into more injury trouble (knock on wood).

Worst game of the year for: Daniel Alfredsson
A pretty good game for most Senators, but using the precedent Alfie has set for himself, it was an off-night. An off-night left Alfie even and with one assist, but he looked visibly fatigued out there, and made some uncharacteristically poor decisions as a result. Most grievous were two giveaways to Sean Bergenheim in the second period while Ottawa was on the powerplay, and both resulted in pretty good scoring chances for the Isles forward.

Shortening the bench: D. Smith, Jesse Winchester sit out the third
Cory Clouston usually likes to roll four lines and three defence pairings, but showed another side tonight in shortening the bench. D. Smith, as mentioned above, didn't play in the third, but Winchester also sat out the period after being on the ice for all three Islanders goals in the second period. He only played 4:03 TOI, by far the lowest ice time of any player in the game.

Don't be worried: Matt Cullen
At this point, the acquisition of Cullen looks a little iffy. We're left with a shortage of defencemen, and Cullen hasn't really done much (he has one shot in two games). But it's been two games so far, and we should be able to expect Erik Karlsson back in Ottawa's lineup after the Olympic break. The team also has the benefit of a period of time for Cullen to develop some chemistry with his linemates, particularly during the mini-training camp right after the Olympic break.

Lighting it up: Jonathan Cheechoo
Cheechoo made his debut in Binghamton today, and had a goal, an assist, six shots, and two PIM in Bingo's 4-2 win over the Rochester Americans. Is there a Rocket Richard trophy in the AHL? ~~Cheechoo should really help the B-Sens make up for the lack of~~ ~~Kaspars Daugavins~~ ~~during the Olympic break~~ (Ed. note: Cheechoo will reportedly be off for the Olympic break, but will return to Binghamton afterwards).

Shot chart:

Game highlights:

Senators stifled by Red Wings in 4-1 loss

Mark Parisi — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 04:18:16 -0000

More photos » Carlos Osorio - AP

29 days ago: Ottawa Senators center Peter Regin (43), of Denmark, celebrates his goal with teammates winger Ryan Shannon, second from left, winger Alexei Kovalev (27), of Russia, and defenseman Brian Lee, right, in front of Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (35) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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Ottawa's latest winning streak lasted much shorter than their previous one thanks to the Detroit Red Wings. Despite playing solidly in the opening minutes, the Senators could not generate any kind of sustained attack and their play degraded as the game went on. This was mostly due to the effort of the Red Wings, who simply jumped all over their opponents, allowing no time or space to develop a play. Passing lanes were filled and the Senators were forced to repeatedly attempt to stickhandle their way past the blueline -- a strategy that is best reserved for video games.

This was also Matt Cullen's debut in a Senators jersey, and it was pretty unremarkable. Cullen was invisible for the most part, but so were all of his teammates. He got some negative attention early, taking a slashing penalty that led to Detroit's first goal, but other than that, he wasn't much of a factor. One game is not a good body of work to judge him, so no hasty conclusions are needed. Ottawa plays a very structured system; it will take him some time to acclimate to his new role and teammates.

Call-ups Brian Lee and Derek Smith did as well as could be expected. Actually, that isn't fair to either one. Neither defenseman made any glaring mistakes, but neither made any great plays either. Though the Red Wings are not exactly the powerhouse of years past, they are still a highly skilled, disciplined team. Playing mistake-free hockey against them is a tall order for veterans, and the two kids managed that much at the least. Still, this was probably the game where Erik Karlsson was missed the most. With no space for the forwards, the team needed an offensive threat from their blue line to either generate scoring chances or create space, and there was no one on the team capable of accomplishing that goal in this game.

What's that? Filip Kuba, you say?

Sens Zero: Filip Kuba
When two AHL call-ups have a better night than you, you're not having a good game. When you take two terrible penalties (Interference, Holding) that scream "My man just blew right by me!" you get a zero. Kuba drew an assist on Ottawa's lone goal, but it was truly secondary. I'm not a fan of finding whipping boys on this team, but Kuba's play has been consistently below average this season. It was below average again tonight, and he was signed to provide better play -- much better play -- than he provided against Detroit.

Sens Killer: Pavel Datsyuk
Yikes. How is it that a team that shuts down players like Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and yes, Dany Heatley lets a talent like Datsyuk run free? Make no mistake, this guy was all over the ice tonight and he was doing whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted. Dangling the puck, winning battles, finding open space, you name it. Ottawa had no answer for his skills tonight as he routinely shook off defenders.

Bonus Sens Killer: Special teams
Detroit was two for four. Ottawa was zero for two. Detroit routinely set up early and moved the puck all over the place. Ottawa struggled just to gain the zone, much less maintain puck possession in it. If you need it broken down in more detail than that, you'll need to find another website or maybe take out a "Hockey For Dummies" book from your local library.

Sens Hero: Peter Regin
Not so much for scoring the goal (it was nice to see Regin doing some dirty work in front of the net) but more for the difference in his play versus the past few games. Working with Alex Kovalev suits Regin, for whatever reason. He was one of the few Senators who had intensity every shift tonight. He fought for what little space he could get, and made the most of it when he got it.

Bad News: Ottawa is now 0-1 since the Picard trade. Could this cookie-cutter defensman have been the key to all of Ottawa's success and everyone in the world didn't realize it? Stay tuned to find out.

Good News: Ice time shows that coach Cory Clouston continued to roll four lines -- it was just not with great (or any) success tonight. If this is truly a four line team -- and I believe it is -- and the coaching staff continues to plan like it is, there are going to be fresh legs going into the playoffs. The benefits of that cannot be understated.

Bad News: Ottawa's possession of first place in the Northeast Division was fleeting; the Sabres' 3-1 victory over San Jose moves them back into the lead. Buffalo still has two games in hand on Ottawa.

The Shot Chart Tells the Story Tonight:

Game Highlights (there weren't many):
Forthcoming

Luckily for the Sens, there's a game tomorrow to get the bad taste of this loss out of their mouths quickly. The team travels to New York to take on the Islanders. After that, it's a two week waiting period for the Olympics, or as I like to think of them, the Abductor Sweepstakes. Join us tomorrow for the final game of February!

Silver Nuggets: Interrupted streaks, Olympic excitement

PeterR — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:30:33 -0000

Ottawa Senators headlines for today:

After their consecutive-game streaks ended, the Senators now have a series of [(x) __ of last (x+1)] streaks to keep alive. For instance: The Senators have won 12 of their last 13 games, Jason Spezza has scored a goal in nine of his last 10 games, Brian Elliott has won 10 of his last 11 starts. They'll try to keep them going tomorrow against the Washington Capitals.
Ottawa got a 7/10 for effort last night from the Ottawa Citizen. Sounds about right, although Jonathan Cheechoo gets a 10 from me, and Filip Kuba gets a 4. (Citizen)
The Senators are stoked for the Olympics. (Sens)
Peter Regin likes to play the card game hearts, and apparently he smokes Chris Neil, Jarkko Ruutu, and Shean Donovan when they play. (Sun)
Speaking of Cheechoo, Wes Goldstein tabbed him with the fifth-worst contract in the league. It's definitely a bad one, but is it worse than Jeff Finger's (eighth-worst) and Cristobal Huet's (tenth)? Wade Redden's is likely a consensus number one. (CBS Sports)
The Sens have beaten all five other Canadian teams this season, which is pretty strong. (Sens Town)
The Soo Greyhounds are making a serious playoff run, with five wins in their last seven games. Sens prospect Robin Lehner has won his last four starts, allowing seven goals on 144 shots in that span, for a GAA of 1.75 and a SP of .951. On the season, Lehner is 19-9-3 with a GAA of 2.80 and an SP of .917. (Sault Star, OHL)

Senators extend winning streak to one with 3-2 victory over Flames

Mark Parisi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:52:57 -0000

More photos » Fred Chartrand - AP

about 1 month ago: Calgary Flames' Matt Stajan (18) attempts to reach for the puck as Ottawa Senators Daniel Alfredsson (11), of Sweden, skates with it during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

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This headline is Darren's. Apparently neither he nor Peter understand that a streak comprises more than one in a row, but it doesn't matter, because Ottawa won!

It was quite a sloppy game tonight, and the Sens were slow to start for the second game in a row. Thinly foreshadowed Sens Hero Brian Elliott kept the team in the game until they could find their legs, which didn't happen until almost halfway through the game. From that point on, Ottawa controlled more of the play than Calgary. It wasn't a coincidence that Spezza's goal came late in the second, and it wasn't a coincidence that the Senators outshot the Flames in the third period as well. I, probably like many fans, was curious to see how the team would respond to the beat down handed to them by Toronto, and I was not disappointed. The team overcame some adversity early and continued to attack throughout. This group of players remains confident.

Of course, much of that is due to coach Cory Clouston's system, which we've pointed out here before. The name of the game with this team is depth. Without Nick Foligno in the lineup, Clouston reunited the line of Ryan Shannon, Peter Regin, and Alex Kovalev. Those guys picked up right where they left off, generating some good chances. Being able to shuffle lines let Clouston roll four lines yet again -- no player played fewer than eleven minutes -- and the fresh legs paid off tonight as the team repeatedly outworked their opponents for loose pucks in the third.

Sens Hero: Brian Elliott
Like we said above, it was Elliott that kept his team in the game early, and it was Elliot who secured the win with some fantastic saves in the dying seconds of the game. Ottawa's goalie was not at fault at all on either of the goals: Goro could not have stopped them. What we watched here was yet another game where Elliott made steady, timely saves for his team, and they played confidently in front of him because of that. He's showing that this team doesn't need outstanding goaltending to win games.

Sens Hero: Jonathan Cheechoo
The Train played his best game as an Ottawa Senator. Period. Robbed not once, but twice, Cheechoo was the best player on the ice tonight, and it's not just me that thought so -- Clouston promoted him to a line with Spezza and Michalek. This was not just a reward; it let Clouston form a line of Chris Kelly, Mike Fisher, and Daniel Alfredsson to shut down some thinly foreshadowed Sens Killers. Cheechoo pumped out five shots and only managed one assist, but it was the game winner: A cross-ice feed to Jason Spezza, who wired a shot into an open net. He's been maligned this year, but he was fantastic tonight.

Sens Killers: Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Hagman, Jarome Iginla, pretty much every former Leaf
Kipprusoff was the best goalie on the ice tonight. He absolutely stoned the Sens (including Cheechoo, as mentioned) again and again and again. He did not deserve to lose this game, and the score could have been a lot worse if he didn't play as well as he did. He gave his teammates every chance to win tonight, and they just couldn't come through for him.

Meanwhile, Hagman showed real chemistry with Iginla, as their line created some glorious chances until Clouston was able to put together the Fisher line to check them. Iginla also showed the intensity of a captain, jumping right into the middle of a scrum to scuffle with Mike Fisher after Fisher came to the defense of Chris Kelly, who had taken a cheap shot to the back. I have a lot of respect for Iginla, and he continued to impress me tonight.

Sens Hero: Chris Kelly
It wasn't all rose petals and bird songs for Kelly, as his insistence on passing cost Alfredsson an empty net goal and he buried some great chances into the pads of Kiprusoff, but Kelly was big on the ice. His former line (with Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil) was the best one on the ice for Ottawa until they were broken up, but he didn't miss a beat while playing with Fisher and Alfredsson. Much like Cheechoo, Kelly's overall play tonight was a huge factor in allowing Clouston to make the adjustments he needed to make to win the game. It won't show on the scoresheet, but Kelly had a great game tonight.

Since we're making up streaks, here's some that started with the win tonight:

Ottawa's overcome deficit streak stands at two: 1-0, then 2-1.
With his goal tonight, Jason Spezza is on pace for 22 goals in his remaining 22 games.
Mike Fisher's awesomeness streak has reached 598 games, which is just 15 shy of infinity
Daniel Alfredsson has now been unable to impress Hasse Alfredsson for 38 years and 59 days. He's going to keep trying, I bet.
Peter's game recap streak was broken at one.
Anton Volchenkov's "Hit Niklas Hagman in the back" streak extended to 3, with two hits tonight.

Stare at this shot chart intensely:

(via ESPN)

Game Highlights:

Next game is Thursday versus the Washington Captials. Perhaps you've heard of them? Please join us for what will almost certainly be a fun game.

Donovan leads team red in Senators Super Skills victory

PeterR — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:51:24 -0000

More photos » PATRICK DOYLE - AP

Shean Donovan didn't do any fighting in the Super Skills competition, but he did done a pretty sweet bodysuit for the fastest skater competition. Plus he didn't injure himself this year, which is good. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Patrick Doyle)

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Okay, maybe Shean Donovan didn't win any official events in the Ottawa Senators Super Skills competition today, he won the best dressed award when he came out for the fastest skater competition in a speed skater's full body suit. The getup earned him the nickname 'Catriona Lemay Donovan' from teammate Mike Fisher, after the legendary Canadian speed skater. He also got some help in the event from teammate Chris Phillips, who brought out a couple protective pads to prevent Donovan from crashing into the boards and getting an injury like last year's. The final score of the event (including points from some kids who were also competing) was 13 for red and 6 for black.

His team red teammate Ryan Shannon won the fastest skating competition over Donovan, though, and also won the puck control relay to help team red beat team black convincingly. You know who didn't win the puck control relay? Chris Neil, who somehow snuck onto the ticket for that event. Neil also tried the fastest skater, but he fell going around the corner, and got the worst time (credit, though, for finishing strong, and Neil did make up for it in the shootout--more on that later). Fisher somehow tied Milan Michalek in the one-on-one puck control competition.

The hardest shot competition was highliy contested, with Matt Carkner's 100.9 mph blast bested only by Fisher, who hit two in a row at 101.3 mph to retain his hardest-shooter title. Daniel Alfredsson, the team black captain, also broke the 100 mph threshold with his 100.1 mph slapshot (apparently his secret was imagining Scott Niedermayer in front of the net).

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Biggest surprise of the night had to be team black's Jonathan Cheechoo's accuracy shooting victory; the Cheechoo Train took out four targets on five shots. Team red's shooters were Jesse Winchester (4/6), Jason Spezza (4/7), and Alex Kovalev (4/6), while Cheechoo was joined on black with Jarkko Ruutu (4/6) and Chris Kelly (4/7). Kelly assumed it was the accuracy passing competition, but still did pretty well.

The powerplay challenge was a rather complicated event, with three forwards taking a 3-on-1 powerplay to control the puck and score as many goals as they could in a minute. The Ruutu-Kelly-Neil line got one shot (no goals) with Phillips and Pascal Leclaire defending, and the line of Winchester-Spezza-Donovan fared no better against Anton Volchenkov and Brian Elliott. Cheechoo kept his hot streak going thanks to a pass from Alfredsson, and his linemate Peter Regin also got one past Leclaire, but the red team's next trio had Kovalev scoring twice and Fisher getting another, so red took the win.

In the shootout competition, Kovalev stole the show with a sweet one-handed backhand (is that even possible?) over Elliott's glove, although Ruutu tried to use a wig and moustache to get some points from the fans. Even Neil had a nice dangle and scored on Leclaire, saving his stickhandling from the entire season to display them in the skills competition. One of the minor hockey players tried to flip the puck onto his stick and spin around to launch it at the net (sort of like this kid's), and got the puck up, but hit the goalie right in the chest (hard to be accurate with those, I'd guess).

The survivor shootout was a demonstration in goaltending. No one on team black could get anything past Leclaire, while Elliott stopped all but two in the first round (Shannon and Spezza scored on him) and only Spezza could get past him in the second. Unfortunately, the NHL will likely not recognize Spezza's goals as the start of another consecutive game goal-scoring streak.

Pretty fun time, all in all, and in front of a pretty huge crowd of 15,112 people--sadly, more than have attended some actual games this season, but also not sadly, because $100,000 was donated to a few charities.

Maple Leafs 5 v. Senators 0

PPP — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:42:05 -0000

More photos » Frank Gunn - AP

Just another day at the office in the ACC. Ho hum. No goals.

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Less than 24 hours after being informed of the death of Brian Burke's son Brendan the Toronto Maple Leafs turned in one of their most complete performances of the season. They outplayed the Ottawa Senators in every aspect of the game Saturday night. The Leafs had spoken about the importance of performing tonight of all nights:

"I think our goal here is to make sure Burkie and his family don’t have to worry about us," said Giguere, who has known his GM for years dating back to their time with the Anaheim Ducks. "They have enough on their plate right now. It’s hard enough as it is to lose somebody you love like this. I can’t even imagine a kid."
- James Mirtle, Globe and Mail

In my recap last night, which I wrote between the end of the game and reading the news of Brendan Burke's passing, I hoped that Wilson's strategy of putting his younger charges in difficult sitations would pay off:

We'll see how the team reacts tomorrow night. That will play a big part in how I feel about this game. Right now, I think that there are enough young players here that you can look at the first 56 minutes and think that they are learning something. But if they come out flat tomorrow night it's much harder to cushion the blow.

It is most certainly small comfort but the win tonight immediately reminded me of another almost exactly two years ago. On that Monday night, on the day that we buried my beloved uncle, the Maple Leafs provided two and a half hours worth of distraction as they pummelled the Senators 5-0. The crowd was certainly into the game. Sure, the wave is lame but at least that means that the crowd was doing something other than checking their stocks on their blackberries. Even still, I expect DGB to be compiling a kill list.

I think that the best part about the game was...well, it was the score but the second best part was who led the charge. Luke Schenn posted probably one of his best games as a Maple Leaf. He scored two goals including a rocket for his second, an assist, and he finished the night +4 in 21:40 of ice-time. He was matched in production by Phil Kessel who extended his recent run of play to 6 goals 11 assists in the past 13 games.

Riding shotgun was Tyler Bozak who scored a goal, an assist, and won 61% of his draws. In fact, since he was re-called by the Leafs he has been below 50% in the face-off dot just three times. He's been over 70% twice and over 60% 5 times. In addition, Christian Hanson, Lee Stempniak, and Fredrik Sjostrom did yeoman's work on the penalty kill using their speed to craft out some chances of their own.

As for Jean-Sebastien Giguere what else can be said? These two games is a hell of a start to his career as a Maple Leaf. Don Cherry touched on it and a friend mentioned it when the trade was made but every strong game that Giggy puts together decreases Jonas Gustavsson's contract leverage. If he would have started Friday night the Gig-era would like be off to a 3-0 start mostly because Giguere is apparently invincible:

JS Giguere on pace to never allow a goal as a Toronto Maple Leaf. Bad news for Senators.
- Kid Canada

As for the Run From Number One the Leafs sit in 29th, tied on points with 28th place Carolina, and 5 points from the New York Islanders in 27th. The teams are tightly packed after that so the Leafs' annual futile push for the playoffs could get them comfortably away from the lottery. If, of course, they keep up their newfound dedication to playing good hockey.

Face-Offs: Tomas Kaberle was only on the ice for two of them while Luke Schenn and Dion Phaneuf were on for five. Carl Gunarsson and Francois Beauchemin were on for six apiece. I think that's another sign that Ron Wilson doesn't trust Kabby's defensive abilities.

H2H TOI: Looks like the Phaneuf and Beauchemin were in charge of making sure Daniel Alfredsson didn't score any goals while he was being booed. Schenn and Gunnarson were given the task of containing Alex Kovalev. Colton Orr's fists were given the tasks of making Matt Carkner disappear:

Boom. Headshot.

Corsi and Fenwick: The Leafs actually didn't do very well tonight but the only Senators that did well were their scrubs. Carkner, Peter Regin, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Chris Neil all ended up on the positive side of the ledger but the Leafs would give that up 11 times out of 10.