Nice effort against the trap. The reason why it couldn't work for Ottawa is that more successful teams aggressively pursue the turnovers it creates, and they didn't/weren't allowed to.
A slow start, but a smart one too, as they come off another long layoff. Fortunately Cheechoo, just one of the Senators washed-up scorers, hits the post on a defensive breakdown, which was one the rare ones tonight.
Well, it was at the end of the PP, with Giroux making the dump, but Betts gets rewarded for chasing it down. That line has another good night. Not quite as top notch as other recent (?) games, but still good enough. They provided some energy when the trap got boring for the team to play against. Betts credited for 67% on faceoffs.
Carter's line is the big force on the scoresheet tonight. I like the Billion Dollar Man's first goal better than his second, though they are all good. On the first he goes to the net like he should and shows great hand-eye to bat it in. The second is just a waster shot that tips off a D and goes in. Ottawa fans will call 2 of our goals bad tonight. Carter with 46% faceoffs. VanRam looks OK as he scores again and plays a good game.
Richards lines did some good work down low with #18 working well in traffic. Carter's line takes some pressure off and that's fine, as they also played well on the backcheck. Richards 64%. Giroux 80% on 5 draws.
I love it when Powe scores. He played great and deserves the reward. Pyorala 46% on draws. He and Asham play decent but unspectacular games and that is fine.
Pronger still the team MVP and Carle is worth his minutes.
Coburn is starting to play better as is Timonen.
Nice game by Bartulis. It's only one and Ottawa didn't put much pressure on, but he looked calm with the puck. Syvert also made some good plays.
Emery lets in one stinky goal but otherwise gets the job done with the help of that first period post and Ottawa's obsession with high shots seeing a lot of them over the net.
It's a nice win after a layoff against an average NHL team. To me though, I remember all the frustration we've had against Ottawa in past years and I delight in kicking their ass.
The progression continues.
Posted on Nov 12, 2009, 9:45 PM from IP address 64.201.179.82