Ottawa Senators Season 2012-2013

[tcblcommish]

Well, the good news is Jason Spezza was finally able to break his drought and the team outplayed the Ducks but the result was still the same. A 2-1 loss after peppering Jonas Hiller with 33 shots, he stopped all but one and the Sens slide continues and drops the club out of the 8th spot we were in.

A little change with Greening moving up to the top line and Michalek dropping to the 2nd and Conacher dropping to the 3rd. Condra also moved up a spot to see if something could help but nothing so far.

Rumours are suggesting that the Oilers are talking with the Senators. Will have to keep this one on a watch for now.

[tcblcommish]

A big win vs the Rangers tonight. Jason Spezza, Colin Greening and Daniel Alfredsson were very good tonight, doing all of the scoring although Alfredsson was held scoreless. Chris Neil sparked the team with his play and then fighting Kris Newberry later in the game. Anderson only had to face 19 shots from the blueshirts but did stop 18 of them.

Hopefully this is the win that we can build on.

[tcblcommish]

A very ugly 5-2 loss at the hands of the Panthers really stings. The Senators really didn't get anything going at all and got burned on too many plays.

Peter Regin scored not only his first goal of the season but the first point for him. One of the players that needs to produce, even just a little with the icetime he is given for the team to be successful. Latendresse scored the other Ottawa goal with his 4th of the season.

Things need to change and things are being looked at to help.

[Merla]

Very few goals scored? Low-scoring games..

Erik Karlsson 4 pts in 13 games f.e.

[sting004]

Karlsson the #6 defenseman? :P

[tcblcommish]

Originally Posted by sting004

Karlsson the #6 defenseman? :P

Not sure where you get that karlsson is my 6th dman? If its by the game stats, it lists ld by alphabetical then rd the same. That shows him as 6th I guess

[tcblcommish]

Well, good win over the Bolts tonight, 4-2. I changed the tactics before to try and get more goals but that was when the games were low scoring so I set everything back to normal instead and scored 4. I will be keeping an eye on this as the tactics might not be working properly.

On to the game. Kyle Turris FINALLY broke his goal drought by scoring tonight, his first and adding 2 assists in the win. No one else really stood out but a solid game overall played by the team makes me happy even though the Lightning isn't the best. Conacher (2), Silfverberg (1) also breaking his goal drough after 14 games and Latendresse (5) were the other goalscorers. Anderson played a solid game in goal, stopping 35 of 37 shots.

Solid game all around like I said. Chris Neil was his fiesty self in the penalty filled game, dropping the gloves with Eric Brewer and Latendresse went with Matias Ohlund 54 seconds into the game. Must have been something that happened in another game

[tcblcommish]

The Senators today, signed veteren AHL defenceman Andre Benoit to a 3 year deal. Financial terms were not released.

On another note, trade talks have fallen through with the Edmonton Oilers in an attempt to get some speed and ability up front. Sam Gagner was not able to be picked up. Paul Gaustad from the Predators was dealt today too so that trade fell through as well.

[tcblcommish]

The Bruins rolled into town and were playing very well but the Senators took it to them scoring in each of the periods in a 3-0 win. Cory Conacher scored again tonight, his 3rd and is playing well lately. Milan Michalek scored his 2nd of the season. Another of the Sens that is really struggling to put the puck in the net. Erik Condra scored the other, his 2nd of the season also.

Anderson was solid in net, as usual stopping all 24 shots at him. Milan Michalek fought again tonight vs Steve Downie. Not sure that is a wise choice.

Mike Zibanejad suffered an ugly injury in a colision with Zdeno Chara in the 3rd period. Zibanejad is expected to miss 5 months or more with an ACL tear. The young forward was having a decent season, scoring twice and adding 2 assists in his 15 games with a plus 1. His efforts will be missed as the season progresses.

[tcblcommish]

The Senators struggled to get anything going on offense again tonight vs the Pittsburgh Penguins losing 2-0. Anderson, solid in net again stopped a barrage of shots, making 36 saves and keeping the Senators close but they just couldn't muster anything.

A tough game overall as the Senators lost Chris Phillips and Kyle Turris to injuries. Turris won't be out too long but will miss the battle of Ontario and will miss a few days with Groin soreness but Phillips will miss the next 4 weeks minimum, straining a hamstring in the first period. The loss of Phillips will be a tough one with Sergei Gonchar already on the sidelines with an injury himself. The Senators will call up Andre Benoit to replace Philips for the time being, seeing what he can do for the big club. Zach Smith replaced Zibanejad in the line up but was pretty ineffective. Things are getting tougher with the injuries.

Hope the guys can pull it together because we are hanging onto that final playoff spot.

[tcblcommish]

Huge win vs rival Toronto. Kessel scored around the 7 minute mark and then the Senators woke up and netted 3 themselves. Colin Greening, making a bid to stay on the top line with Spezza and Alfredsson scored twice, his 3rd and 4th of the season. Zach Smith scored his first of the season adding some punch from the 3rd unit. Mark Stone was a callup for the game and played pretty well on the 3rd line with Zach Smith. He added an assist on Smith's goal and was solid overall.

Andre Benoit, the guy replacing Chris Phillips, played fairly well although he was a -1 for the game. Threw a couple of body checks and helped the Senators keep the Leafs at bay.

Good news that the Senators needed, Sergei Gonchar will be back to help next game after recovering from his injury. He will also wear the A in Chris Phillips absence.

[tcblcommish]

Another big game and another game the Senators have stepped up. After the Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, the Sens stormed back in the second scoring 3 of their own. Spezza (3), Greening (5) and Latendresse (6) to get back. There was no scoring in the 3rd or overtime but the Senators were able to pull out the 2 big points in the shootout. Alfredsson and Michalek were able to score in the shootout and Anderson was able to stop all the Flyers shots. Anderson wasn't as solid as he has been but still made 25 saves and came up huge in the shootout.

[sting004]

Originally Posted by tcblcommish

Not sure where you get that karlsson is my 6th dman? If its by the game stats, it lists ld by alphabetical then rd the same. That shows him as 6th I guess

Oh, I was just going by his stats and TOI...doesn't quite seem like the Norris trophy winner.

[tcblcommish]

Originally Posted by sting004

Oh, I was just going by his stats and TOI...doesn't quite seem like the Norris trophy winner.

Defensemen are not getting points like they should at all and Karlsson is very badly undervalued at this point. I'm sure he will be much better and get a lot more points when the game progresses and the builds get better but for now he is what he is.

As far as Ice time goes, he plays 1st line D, top power play and 2nd PK so not much more I can do to get him more icetime other than maybe extending his lines shift.

[tcblcommish]

A big win tonight vs one of the better teams in the game, the Canucks. Unfortunately before the game, Daniel Alfredsson was injured during practice and will be missing some time. Mark Stone, who has played fairly well since coming up will take his place on the top line to see if Spezza can start producing with a true shooter.

Karlsson finally broke out a bit with 2 goals and has been producing a little more lately. His goals were the 2nd and 3rd of his season. Lots of goaltending between Anderson then Lehner and Luongo in this one as both guys were great. Lehner got the better of Luongo in the shootout stopping both Keith Ballard and Kevin Bieksa and Conacher and Condra both scored in the shootout to win it. Anderson was injured after facing the 13 shots he faced and Lehner was substitued. Anderson is looking at a little bit of time on the IR now, couple of weeks at least. Hopefully Lehner can make things work. So far, he has been solid.


***Bieksa and Ballard shooting for the Canucks seems a little off. I am pretty sure there is more offensive guys that can shoot before hand. Same with my team, Conacher isn't too bad but condra is a 4th liner even though he scored.

[tcblcommish]

This is something I haven't even looked for this season, I guess I should have because it adds LOADS of realism but this came up today. Too bad, Like that player a lot actually Was on the radar for a move in another season with the Oilers.

[tcblcommish]

Big let down tonight vs the Devils. 5-2 was the final as the team just collapsed in the 3rd and gave up the 3 goals to sink us. Michalek scored just his 3rd of the season and Chris Neil added his 2nd but it wasn't nearly enough. The top line was playing well, just couldn't get anything going at all.

Lehner did not play well at all, giving up all 5 goals but on only 25 shots. That can't continue moving forward with Anderson out of the line up.

The Turris, Latendresse, Michalek line was brutal tonight. They combined for a -6 and have not played too well over the course of this season.

Gonna try and change things up a bit and see if I can jump start some players for the next little while.

A quick side note, Ex-Senator Bobby Butler got a 10 minute misconduct penalty. Wonder who pissed him off? lol

[tcblcommish]

Well, the Senators after 20 games have been a very up and down team to say the least. We are sitting in 7th place in the Eastern Conference, playoff spot for now which is a good thing. Scoring is brutal right now but I am trying to change that. The scoring leader is a tie between Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza with just 11 points in 20 games which is awful.

IF we can continue to play solid D and have great goaltending with some added scoring, we should do very well. Just have to get that puck in the net.

[tcblcommish]

Another decent game against the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Hurricanes as the Senators skated to a 4-2 victory. Greening (6), Michalek (4), Regin (2) and Latendresse (7) Scored for the Senators while Robin Lehner made 17 saves for the win.

Mike Lundin was a healthy scratch tonight as the Coaches were not happy about his play at all and Andre Benoit stepped into the line up to take his spot. Michalek and Latendresse made up the top line tonight with Jason Spezza to try and get them going. Seemed to help tonight as Michalek scored, Spezza had a couple of assists and Latendresse continued his solid play pitching in a goal as well.

[tcblcommish]

A costly win tonight as both Sergei Gonchar and Kyle Turris went down due to injury. The good news is that neither injury is overly serious, both will probably miss a couple of games. Gonchar has some stiffness in his back that just needs some rest and Kyle Turris banged up his knee and will need some rest also. Funny enough, both scored tonight.

Gonchar scored his 1st of the season to open the scoring. Mark Stone scored his first career NHL goal tonight, a special moment as he is making a real case to stay with the big club. Spezza (4) and Turris(2) scored the others. Robin Lehner was solid in goal tonight stopping 28 of the 29 shots he faced, certainly bouncing back from the ugly 5 goal game the other night.

The D pairing of Andre Benoit and Eric Gryba has been very good playing minimal minutes, they have blocked a bunch of shots, thrown some hits and made some plays to help make sure that the lower lines are not exposed.