Reading one of the Ottawa papers today, and they say Ottawa has the advantage because they took the season series 2-1-1. Although, Montreal also had a record of 2-1-1, which is kind of funny.
Not that it matters much, but here were the four games they played and the results:
Jan. 30: Ottawa won 5-1. Budaj was in net, White took a stupid double-minor penalty that Ottawa scored twice on and didn't look back.
Feb. 3: Habs win 2-1. All three goals come in the first period. Both Price and Anderson were excellent (shots were 27-20 for Ottawa in the last two periods). This was a horribly called game by the refs for both sides. A phantom goalie interefence called on Silfverberg in the third when the Sens scored was the worst.
Feb. 25: Sens win 2-1 in a shootout. Bishop was excellent, making 44 saves. Price played well, but let in a really weak goal.
March 13: Habs win 4-3 in a shootout. Final shots were 45-32 for the Habs. Alfie scored on the PP with two seconds left in the second period and no one else knew it was a goal except for him. Lehner and Price were the goalies.
So except for the first game, all the games were close. I expect this series to be more of the same. Maybe a lot of OT games, which will probably be bad for my heart.
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid
Series: 1-0 Senators.
To me the game is quite easy to break down. The Habs' skaters were far better but the Sens had the better goaltender. The game could have been put out of reach with all of the power play time and the second period ended with just a one-goal lead. That puts the team in position where a cheesy goal allowed can be so devastating.
Player of the game: PK Subban. He did such a great job controlling the play and generated so much offense with speed and puck control.
Goaltending: Carey Price 27/31 (.871). He was pretty ordinary with one bad goal allowed. The way Anderson played there was no margin for error.
I thought the youngsters played quite well, in particular Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller (pre-injury) and Jerred Tinordi.
Eller took a nasty hit from Eric Gryba after a suicide pass from Rafael Diaz. Eller's head was hit but I do not think it was targeted. Things were happening too quickly to make a real judgment there. Regarding Gryba, I go back to comments I made about the Mike Brown boarding major on Josh Gorges and a head shot by Ryan White a few weeks ago: When you go for these big hits and the player is vulnerable to begin with you put yourself at risk to have to face some consequences if things go wrong. This could have lost the game for the Sens. They are lucky to have come out of this down one goal.
With Eller likely out for a while the other centermen (Desharnais and Plekanec) have to step up.
This game shows us how Capitals' fans felt in 2010. 50 shots and no win.
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Some more thoughts from last night's game:
As Thunder mentioned, DD was horrible. He just let loose pucks go, was invisible most of the night. The only Habs besides Eller to not have a shot. Brutal.
Habs don't hustle back. They're so ready to turn around to go back up the ice that they don't finish on defence. On Karlsson's goal, Pleks was with him. As soon as Karlsson lost the puck, Pleks started to slow up. Karlsson kept going to the net. Stay with your man!
Pleks was excellent in the faceoff circle. He won 17 of 22. I'm surprised he took so many, considering how often guys were being thrown out.
The 5-on-3 was too predictable. Subban was the only one taking a shot. Ottawa knew it and had guys ready to block. Pass it down low, and try something different.
Diaz was bad. I think the Eller pass shook him up.
When you look at the Sens goal, you see a theme. Karlsson goal, he went to the net. Latendresse goal, he went to the net. Methot goal, Michalek was in front. The Habs don't do that, except for a couple of people (like Gallagher). How many Habs shots were there where a rebound came out and no one was there? You can take 50 shots on Anderson. If he can see 45 of them, you're not going to score.
Gionta was pretty invisible for most of the night. We need more from our captain.
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid
^great summary... I was going to write my observations, but they would look pretty much like yours.
DD has to step up big time. His play affects the play of Pacioretty.
I also think that Diaz was rattle bu that injury to Eller. He was downright awful in the third.
Price needed to win this one in the third yesterday, but failed miserably. Not a lot of time to turn things around.
RYDER! Did anybody even noticed him last night...
Looks like Blunden might be the one replacing Eller. He is not skating with the scratches this morning. I prefer Dumont personally.
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I feel like Dumont offers more as a player in all areas and even plays a better physical game. Blunden is bigger but does next to nothing with his size. He just keeps getting looks because he's big.
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Eller out of the hospital, which is a great news.
Mx Pac may be out tonight.
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid
Well..an entire line will be missing for the Habs tonight, with gionta, Eller and Pacioretty out.
1) Who draws in?
2) How do you organize the lines? Do you create two scoring lines, or do you try to spread the offense on three lines?
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid