Introspection

The senators ended a 12 game road losing streak by a win against the Oilers.
It is nothing to be too happy about as the Oilers are not in the playoff picture so far. At the same time we didn't do well against solid teams like Calgary and Vancouver.

If it wasn't for the confusion between Phillips and Alfredsson near the sens net resulting in the first goal by Oilers, we would have had a more comfortable lead. Good to see the Ottawa Senators fans in the Oilers crowd tonight.

Two years ago at this time the senators had turned a page and went on multiple game winning streak around newyear. Only such a turn around this year will save their season and the jobs of the management and coaching staff.

So we won against the Dallas Stars, another lowly placed team in the league.

Just like any pathetic hockey team out there the Ottawa Senators have made it a habit of giving away leads. Thrice we took the led and thrice we relinquished it like a pathetic team. In the end we got a goal from the unlikliest of places: Jason Smith, his first goal in 104 games.
 
Daniel Alfredsson is out with an 'upper body injury' when he sustained a hit from a Dallas player along the boards. It didn't seem like it was a vicious hit, but It was just agonizing seeing Alfredsson lying on the ice like that. I am just hoping and praying with the rest of the senators fans that its nothing too serious and he will be back next game because the senators have missed him sorely, every time he has been out.

Good thing for senators though is that they scored 5 times in this game from a bunch of different players. Anytime you do that you give yourself a chance to win.


What a shame that a home game is not telecast on any of the channels. Instead i had to go looking for pathetic quality, streaming videos. This kind of thing happens only with the sens game you will never see this happen
with the habs games. They broadcast every single one of their games on RDS every single time but for senators we have to go looking at all the sports channels and hope that its showing on one of them. And then I wonder how this franchise came so close to bankruptcy once and even now it seems like it
teeters on the edge all the while.


Late tonight the Chicago Backhawks won 3-1 against the Vancouver Canucks. I think the hawks are the only hidden threat against the wings and the sharks. They have 4 lines, they are well coached and they seem to enjoy playing the game that they play.

How is is that every team in  the nhl starts by scoring a goal within a minute of the puck drop?  The sens play was so bad I watched  the Canada-Sweden game instead.


Looks like Auld's good run with the senators is finally coming to an end too.
He will go back to being an average goalie after the first 20 games as he has
always done in the past.


In the meanwhile Mats Sundin has signed with the Canucks. So there goes our another chance of getting a quality player here.

This is the 4th straight win for the sens in their black jersey's and lets hope it continues. Auld made an excellent save with 30 seconds left in the game to save the day for Ottawa. Spezza got 3 goals and hs third goal was the best one and I know some people will disagree with me. But if you watch the slow motion replay, he banked that shot on purpose, from the leg of the defenceman and it wasn't an accident.

Kudos to Neil for taking on the Pingu's  toughest guy Godard and coming out of it without a scratch. The last few seconds went to show why I like Phillips so much. Phillips is a big, strong defenseman and even though he never fights, he is extremely useful in scrums This is the 2nd time i have seen him make Malking really mad, by the little face wash after which he just whaled on another player for a few seconds just to humiliate the pingu's.

I loved the fact that today, Spezza was not afraid to get hit. When he went flying near the boards at one point he took it like a man and just kept going strong. But, he took a dumb penalty around the boards and it almost cost us the game. This was also the stuff he did in the game against Islanders but they wern't able to caplitalize.

The only reason we are winning these is because our big three are clicking once again because they are on the same line once again. But, we need Fisher, Vermette, Foligno and Kelly to chip in because they
really dont seem to be doing anything.

If it is black magic that the senators new black jersey is doing than its working. I say they should be allowed to wear that on the road, in their houses, in the shower and even go to sleep in it!

But, why is it that they end up giving a goal so soon after every time they score one is what baffles me. Except for the goal given by him at the start, Auld was very impressive throughout the game.In the end we shouldn't be too happy with ourselves, this was the just another team at the bottom of the league and they have the lack of talent to show for it. While at the same time the sens showed what they could do on nights when there big three click. Man I didn't know Wichester can fight!!! But what a delight to see Bass fight that 6-7 240 lb Vlabik!

The game on saturday will be absolutely huge. Boston and the Pingu's are the team to watch from eastern conference.