Pittsburgh Penguins- 8, Ottawa Senators- 2
Let’s not pull any punches – last night’s game was one of the worst performances from the Ottawa Senators in a long time. I know we said the same about a Sens loss to the Montreal Canadiens earlier this month, but this game was that bad. Last night’s game looked like men against boys and to make matters worse, the Senators lost captain Daniel Alfredsson with a suspected shoulder injury. TSN reported on Wednesday night that Alfredsson is expected to miss “a few weeks” with the injury.
Here are the Classy, Non-Classy, and Could-Have-Been-Classier moments of last night’s one-sided Senators-Penguins game.
The Classy
Nothing. I shouldn’t saying nothing. The first period featured some class. Especially the last 12 or so minutes. The Senators did all the things they needed to do in order to give themselves a chance against one of the NHL’s best teams. They cycled the puck well, they moved their feet, and they drove hard to the net. For most of the first period, Marc-Andre Fleury had to be very good, facing terrific screens and solid Senators net presence. And once the first period buzzer sounded, that was it for the night. (From a Senators-pressure perspective).
Non-Classy
The collapse the Senators displayed between the first and second period was something fierce. The most notable aspect of this collapse was the terrible defensive coverage. For those of you who didn’t catch the game, I can’t tell you how many 2 on 1′s were given up to the Penguins… maybe 8-10. To take this a step further, I’m going to outline which defenceman’s fault each goal was. It was that bad.
Goal 1: Filip Kuba wasn’t paying attention to the back door-cross ice pass to Evgeni Malkin. How was Malkin left wide open like that? It doesn’t make sense to play a tight box against such a star-studded powerplay like Pittsburgh’s.
Goal 2: Bill Guerrin walked out from the corner, took a shot and scored on his own rebound. He literally walked through or around Anton Volchenkov to do this. Why didn’t A-Train body check Guerrin, or at least get in his way?
Goal 3: First Erik Karlsson made a bad read on the 3 on 2, playing the puck and not the pass. He missed and the rush turned into a 2 on 1. Then Kuba does the exact same thing. He didn’t take away the pass like they teach in minor hockey, goes for the shooter and suddenly Ruslan Fedotenko was left with the puck and an open net.
Goal 4: Matt Carkner and Jonathan Cheechoo combined for the world’s worst breakout, ever. The result was a clean turnover (which looked more like a pass) to Guerrin who made a great tip-pass to Chris Kunitz, who’s left wide open as Alexandre Picard was nowhere to be found in the slot. Generally, when your defensive partner is behind the net making a breakout pass, the other defenceman stands in front of their net guarding the slot. Clearly this didn’t happen.
Goal 5: This was a 3 on 1 goal that made Carkner look ridiculous. Ottawa took a chance going for a shorthanded 3 on 2 rush and got burned. I don’t mind the risk – at this point it was 4-1 for the Penguins – but having Mike Fisher on that rush with Kuba and Jarrko Ruutu isn’t the most dangerous looking rush from a Penguins perspective. I wouldn’t take it seriously either.
Goal 6: Chris Phillips chased a Penguin all the way up to the blue line and Chris Neil dropped back for support. So far so good. Then, knowing he’s covering for a defenceman, Chris Neil delivered a soft pass right up the middle of the high slot (another no-no lesson from minor hockey) right on Kunitz’ stick, setting up for a 2 on 1 for Kunitz and Malkin. Of course, Picard being the lone defenceman doesn’t take away the pass hanging Leclaire out to dry.
Goal 7: Sergei Gonchar snuck into the slot and scored on a one timer, right in front of Kuba. No slot coverage at all. Nice.
Goal 8: Ryan Shannon is the lone Senator playing defence in the offensive zone. Chris Phillips saw this from the half-boards, sends a bad pass to Shannon (that he had to receive on his backhand), setting up for 2 on 0 with Malkin and Sidney Crosby. Result: Malkin hat-trick.
Yes, Pascal Leclaire didn’t look good in his Senators return, but he wasn’t given any help whatsoever. I find it hard to blame Leclaire when the defence played this poorly.
Could-Have-Been-Classier
One area (of many) the Ottawa Senators could have been classier in was discipline. For a team who publicly complained about the lack of powerplays they’d been receiving, they didn’t help themselves last night. The Pittsburgh Penguins scored on 3 of their 8 powerplays… and they have the league’s worst powerplay. I found a lot of the penalties taken were unnecessary – Jonathan Cheechoo’s back-to-back penalties come to mind, especially given the timing of the penalties. The Senators were tied at 1 at that point. Basically, this was a pretty big fail by the Sens. “Penalty-Fail”.
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Luckily for Alfredsson and the Senators, they’ll have a few days off between games. In fact, their next game is on Saturday night in Buffalo against Ryan Miller and the Sabres. I don’t even know what else to say. Hopefully for Senators fans, there’s a much better effort from the club.
Stay classy, Ottawa Senators.
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Thoughts on last night’s Avalanche-Senators game
December 31st, 2009Colorado Avalanche- 4, Ottawa Senators- 3
Kind of a predictable game and result from the Avalanche and Senators last night. Craig Anderson had another strong performance (it’s becoming routine this year), the Senators finished the game off strong despite some weak play early on, and breaking out of their own end proved to be difficult for the Senators (as it has all season long). Colorado’s speed was difficult for the Senators to handle and the young Avalanche kids were certainly a factor all game long. It was nice to see Alex Kovalev (or Koastalev as he’s known to our classier readers) driving the net and Ryan Shannon showing some strong play Senators fans got used to towards the end of last season. It should be noted Nick Foligno returned after missing seven games and Erik Karlsson was a healthy scatch for the third straight game.
Here’s the Classy, Non-Classy, and Could-Have-Been-Classier moments of last night’s Avalanche-Senators game.
The Classy
Hey, what’s up with Ryan Shannon lately? He’s like… scoring. Weird. Shannon now has four goals in his last three games and he came through with some big goals for the Senators last night. Yes the first goal went off Kyle Cuminskey’s skate, but his second goal was a great shot and came at a critical time in the game. I found Shannon’s positioning excellent all game. He’s finding dead area’s in the offensive zone and is moving his feet well. When he’s on his game, he reminds me of a less (much less) physical Mike Fisher. When he’s not on his game… I don’t notice him. Like Jonathan Cheechoo or Alex Kovalev (wow, two low blows!). For Shannon’s sake (and the Senators), I hope he can continue this kind of play. His improved play has really helped this team since Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson went down with serious injuries.
Non-Classy
The sum of Pascal Leclaire’s rebounds and the Ottawa Senators defencemen (and forwards)’s inability to clear Leclaire’s rebounds makes last night’s Non-Classy mention. I lost track of how many routine shots became high risk rebounds… and three of those rebounds turned into Avalanche goals. To Leclaire’s credit, he didn’t have much chance on those goals, but the defence was suspect to say the least. The Senators defencemen were simply out of position or standing around on each of those three goals. Ryan O’Reilly’s game winning goal was a great example of Jonathan Cheechoo not paying attention. Chris Kelly did a great job to hustle back into the play (and nearly caught Darcy Tucker), but it was the third trailing man (O’Reilly) that Cheechoo needed to pick up. He didn’t and the Sens lost because of it. As far as the Matt Duchene goal, I’m sure it’s one Leclaire would like to have back (on a side note: that was a bullet of a shot from Duchene).
Could-Have-Been-Classier
Maybe this is a small thing I’m giving too much attention to, but did anyone else notice Adam Foote dropping to his knees more often than a Tiger Woods transgressioner? It seemed like his default “defensive positioning” to drop down on his knees to take away shots and passes each time the Senators had decent in-zone pressure. However, in doing so, he was leaving just enough room for the super Senators puck handlers to deke around. Don’t worry Adam, Cheechoo, Shannon, and Kovalev thank you. Call it a late Christmas gift or something, but only Shannon could cash in.
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Up next for the Senators is a game tonight against John Tavares and the New York Islanders. The Islanders are 5-5 in their last 10 games and are coming off a home shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. I’m sure many broadcasters will be all over the fact that a year ago today at Scotiabank Place, Tavares had the huge hat-trick performance against the United States in that epic World Junior Canada/US battle. Prediction: the billing will read “Can Tavares do it again?” or something to that extent. I predict the Senators to win the game with Brian Elliott in goal.
Please note we won’t be providing thought’s from the Islanders/Senators game as our complete and undivided attention will be on the World Junior showdown between Canada and the United States. And as well, we’ll be “recovering” from various pool parties. That said, you can expect a full Winter Classic review on the evening of New Years Day.
Happy New Years Eve, classy readers.
Stay classy, Ottawa Senators.
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Posted in NHL Commentary
Tags: Adam Foote Alex Kovalev Colorado Avalanche Daniel Alfredsson Erik Karlsson Hockey Jason Spezza Jonathan Cheechoo Matt Duchene Mike Fisher NHL Ottawa Senators Ryan O'Reilly Ryan Shannon StayClassy.net