Physical. REAL Physical. Maybe too physical for Ottawa. I predicted a fight in game 1, but I will definitely settle for the hard hits that the Ducks put on Ottawa last night as a pleasant alternative. Mr. Redden definitely got the case of HFS (Hearing Footsteps Syndrome) last night as well as Mr. Meszaros…which makes forechecking a pleasant chore for the likes of Neidermayer, Pahlsson and Moen who definitely made the biggest impact on the game.
Ducks scored all three goals 5 on 5 whereas Ottawa converted on 2-7 PP for their only tallies. I do respect Ottawa’s PP because they are scary good and they proved it last night, but I will only respect Ottawa’s 5 on 5 play when I see it…but not when the HAS line was limited to only 5 shots in the entire game. Adjustments definitely need to made there.
Giguere was only scored on when successive passing and 2 and 3 follow up shots got him shuffling…one PPG was scored on him stickless. Can’t really fault him for either goal, I tribute that to Ottawa’s crashing the net and not letting up. Other than that, Giguere was nearly flawless.
Emery…not so flawless…but then he took 12 more shots than Giguere. Question: Was that because Anaheim had better defense than Ottawa, or did Anaheim have better offense than Ottawa? Or both? Answer: They are Forechecking Muthafuckers.
Ottawa had their chance to put the game away when they were leading 2-1 and on the 5-3 PP…I nearly would have wrote the game off if they had scored then, but the D stiffened and Giguere made some key saves to keep it 1 goal game after 2 periods. It seems that every game they have played, if the Ducks trail by one after 2 periods, it would seem that the Ducks would find a way to win that game, either at the end of regulation, or in OT. The Ducks of 2003 didn’t have that intangible, but this year’s Ducks do have it.
Ducks had it, Ducks used it. Expect more of the same with some minor tweaking. A good game by the Ducks, but still not their best.
Things were looking good for Ottawa until about a third of the way into the third period, when Anaheim got all full of beans or something and really took the play into the offensive zone. Looks like it will be tough and tight all the way.
The Ottawa controlled the game for the first 5 minutes of the game. The Ducks dominated the rest. About halfway thru the 2nd period, Ottawa players started to look like they didn’t want to have the puck very long cause they were afraid of the Ducks.
The fans were great. One thing that bothered me about the NYTimes reporting in this article –
Uh, no we didn’t. We were singing that good old soccer (futbal) song “go-o-al, goal, go-o-o-al”. Anaheim fans are not that clueless as to insult all the Canadian players on our team. So don’t believe that article. Before the game alot of us sing the Canadian national anthem (it is unlucky to do anything else, i.e. San Jose 2006 playoffs) and then at the end cheer and clap. Then also sing the American National anthem. We do not harrass the Canadian fans who are at the game except maybe some “Let’s go ducks” chants after the game in the mezzanine.
I could not believe that Sammy Pahlsson distracted Giggy during an Ottawa rush by throwing his stick at him and thus allowing THEM to score. I saw it live and growned at the time and it is still hard to watch the replay of that.
Mrs. Autry was at the game. But while showing her box and the important people in it they had a note on it that said something like “must be Stanley cup finals time”.
I think the youngest fan at the game sat behind us. The baby looks less than 3 months old.
I think Ottawa came out a littleflat because they haven’t played in about 12 days. They weren’t as hyped as the Ducks playing at home. I’m hoping for a good series that goes to 7, but game 2 will be huge (Ducks win they take 2-0 lead, if Sens win they tie it up going home for 2). I can’t wait either. The last Versus coverage tonight is in HD too!
9 day layoff for the Sens versus 6 days for the Ducks. I had heard that Murray had them doing black v. white scrimmages during the layoff to keep the Sens from getting rust, but there really isn’t a great substitute for an actual playoff game.
As for Versus, did anyone else end up with a bad feed from their cameras to your local cable company? For nearly the second period and a few other times, I got 2 blue vertical lines in my picture (but during local commercials and other channels themselves did not have this problem) and ALSO the annoying freeze-framing in one second intervals on numerous occasions; some of them for about 5 minutes long. This only happens on Versus I think, but not totally sure.
there is suppose to be 2 vertical blue lines, they represent the area where one team goes into the “attack” area so that they can score goals. It also mean the place where the linemen determine “offsides!”
That doesn’t quite explain their performance in Game 2, which was awful. They would have lost to any NHL team and some decent AHL teams. It’s a miracle it was only 1-0.
You know, I should just put you over my knee and give you a virtual spanking.
Maybe it would have been more helpful if I had said that I saw 4 blue lines instead of 2. :smack:
Emery was 30 for 31…he was outstanding! To score on Emery, it took a surprise shot between the legs of Corvo who was screening his own goalie to score. Emery did what he said he was going to do…play better and smarter.
The Senators D played better than in game 1. They kept Selanne’s line quiet. They kept the PPG line quiet. They pretty much did a great job.
Now, let’s talk about the Sens offense. How the hell are you gonna generate any offense by chipping in the puck and not penetrating the Ducks zone? 16 Shots with only 9 of them coming from 5 on 5 play? Are you that afraid of the Ducks that you won’t pay the price with your body by dumping it deep and chasing it in the corners? Turnovers on the blue line by the newly renamed ASH line wasted a good defensive effort by the Sens and especially Emery’s great effort. He should be reaming out Heatley and Alfredsson for coughing up the puck too often. And Spezza, just because you weren’t in the vicinity of that fatal turnover doesn’t mean your blameless…you guys were given another 5-3 PP and you failed again to put the game out of reach with your timid play. I expected some scoring from the ASH line by now, but instead I see that you have been outscored by the Duck’s checking line, with both game-winning goals scored with you guys getting up close view of it. Now you guys know what Forechecking Muthafuckers really are.
I expect you guys will do better in games 3 and 4 when you get to put your lineups out on the ice last (and the emotional lift of your boisterous fans), and might get some better scoring chances out of it. But for now, some of those goals scored back when you played the weaker sisters of the East would have come in handy right about now. Problem is that the Ducks didn’t have that easy of a road to travel to make it the finals. They are battle-tested by far superior teams than the East teams, especially Detroit…and it’s showing right now.
As for the power plays…at least the Ducks are figuring out how to stay out of the box more. Ottawa wants to be physical in one sense, but then succumbs to taking dumb penalties out of frustration when they realize they can’t overwhelm the Ducks with their physical play. Looked promising in the beginning, but the Sens backed off after the first or second penalty called. Ducks have always accepted penalties as a price to pay for playing their hard hitting style. As long as the Ducks don’t draw majors or suspensions (ala Pronger), then they can keep the physical intensity up to intimidate the Sens for the rest of the series. If the Ducks split on the road, then it’s over in 5 or 6, but if the Sens can get back to their old scoring ways, then I will have to stick with my 7 game prediction in favor of the Ducks.
At what point does “Ray Emery played really well” stop being considered a miracle?
Well, on the one hand, it’s an old truism that no team is in trouble until they lose on home ice. On the other hand, home ice or no home ice, Ottawa will never beat Anaheim playing like they did last night.
Ottawa has to suck it up and dump and chase. We wasted a lot of time trying to skate the puck across the blueline. When we did dump it in, we forgot the “chase” part.
As noted, no team is in trouble until they lose at home. In this case, however, I’m going to call Ottawa’s home “Earth”; the Sens are in trouble. Again, I only saw the last part of the game–damn these 5pm PDT starts–but what I did see was Ottawa constantly being stood up and stopped in neutral ice. They kept dumping and chasing because Anaheim wouldn’t let them carry the puck across the blue line. And I never saw Giguere have to make a difficult save. Not even a shot that caught the pipe. Ottawa had better get rejuvenated by home ice quick, or this may not last much longer.
Hearing that Ottawa has had 2 light days of practice in a row…yesterday’s only had 12 players participate and was totally unstructured, and today’s practice had all players participate but was reported to be very light…stretching, light skating…and maybe more chalk talk instead.
It worked, apparently. Senators win 5-3, finally looking like the team that got to the Finals. I guess the old saying is true, but that makes Monday’s game just as important to the Sens. The Ducks could lose that game and still feel good; the Senators can’t.
One hopes Chris Pronger will be again suspended for a rather blatant intent-to-injure elbow on Dean McAmmond.
I was at the game tonight, and it was amazing. It was so loud. When we sang O Canada, a huge Canadian Flag was run across two sections of seats. It was incredible. Best game I’ve ever attended, for sure.
The only fault I can find with Ottawa’s game tonight was the play of Ray Emery. He was shaky, especially in the second, but Ottawa refused to roll over and die. Our much maligned secondary scoring did exactly what I said it was capable of doing: exposing Anaheim’s depth on defence.
I thought that Anaheim did a poor job standing up at the blueline tonight. They let Ottawa gain the zone far too easily, which really didn’t help their cause.
As to Chris Pronger, there has to be a multi-game suspension for that elbow on McCammond. That was a blatant attempt to injure, and Pronger was just suspended the last series, so clearly a one-game suspension isn’t enough to deter him from throwing dirty elbows.
I got mixed feelings about this, and I’m not even debating about the hit, it was an obvious elbow to the head. What does bother me though is that if the refs had actually called that penalty during the game, it would have been either a double minor, major, or even a major and game misconduct (most likely call HAD the refs done their job), then Pronger would not have been suspended at all. But now since the game was over, the off ice officials in Toronto had no other recourse but give the game suspension. Same thing when Pronger hit Holmstrom in the Detroit series. The refs mucked that call up too, giving Neidermayer the major and nothing for Pronger, which forces the off-ice officials to give the nominal game suspension to make up the on-ice officials screw-up. So now a stupid precedence has been set where a player pays a stiffer price than it should be because of the current on and off-ice system of officials.
And now, let me temper this by saying, when Pronger got suspended in the Detroit series, the Ducks went on to win that Prongerless game, which gave them the upper hand in the series. They have won without Pronger before, they are capable of doing it again. Another interesting night of hockey again.
As for Alfredsson’s redirected goal…another officiating failure.
Other than that…good game by the Sens. They definitely needed a boost like that from their supporting cast. Neil was a definitely on fire last game.
What, you think that it shouldn’t have counted? Read the rule. A goal is disallowed if the puck is directed into the goal with a distinct kicking motion. The current interpretation is that a distinct kicking motion is moving your skate towards the goal line(relative to the rest of your body). Alfredsson’s skate was moving away from the goal line when the puck contacted his skate; it clearly wasn’t a kick(Alfredsson did make a kicking motion after the puck was already going into the net, but his skate never made contact with the puck at that time).
The hits would’ve been suspension worthy regardless of penalties called. The league is (very weakly) trying to cut down on potentially career ending head shots. In fact, Pronger is getting off easy. You think he would’ve only gotten a one game suspension for two head shots in a month? He would’ve gotten a multi-game easy. The refs have actually been throwing precedence out the window because it’s the playoffs. Head shots are bad and repeat offenders are worse. That was the message of the regular season. Now? Not so much. Wouldn’t want a team to lose an important player for too many games. :rolleyes: Well, not too many games from a suspension. Injuries are an entirely different beast.
The league is dropping the ball on the head shots, and it’s going to bite them in the ass when the first star player goes down for the rest of the playoffs cause some fourth liner goes head hunting. They’d better pray that noone suffers a career ending injury.
One penalty. One fucking penalty called in the third period. That was a disgraceful performance by the referees. The Ducks are going to join New Jersey and Dallas as teams that hooked and held their way to a championship. So much for the new NHL.
The Ducks worked harder than the Sens and earned the victory, but Christ, it’d be nice to see all of the obstruction called like the NHL promised. I was an idiot to ever believe that they’d stick with this crackdown.
Maybe the refs withheld those calls since Ottawa was embellishing some calls that were made earlier. Remember when the refs talked to both Emery and Neil at the beginning of the following period? How nice of them to get a “warning” instead of a diving penalty. And I’m pretty sure there was a few non-calls that benefitted Ottawa as well…which leads to:
Alfredsson = coward.
You just can’t throw bullshit on the wall and expect it to stick like that. You acted like a Midget B hockey player when you unloaded on Neidermayer and your explanation sounded like that of a Pee-Wee player. I bet that you felt pretty relieved that the instigator rule saved your sorry ass. Your shot isn’t THAT inaccurate. Way to lead your team there, captain. You gave Anaheim the spark it needed to bury your team in the 3rd.
As for Pronger, maybe Carlyle should bench him just so the Ducks could be assured a victory. It would seem that Ottawa has a better chance to win a game when he is playing. Also, it seems that Anaheim’s “shallow” defense is not as shallow as many have thought…My wish is: “Run those horses again!”
When you’re playing 4 feet out of the crease, embellishing is at best a rusty crutch. Don’t expect to be untouchable that far from the crease. Do you think the ref was talking to Emery about the weather, or if he moonlighted in this association?
