Topic: Game #70 Discussion ~ SENS vs Maple Leafs ~ Tuesday Mar. 16

[sensfan1984]

This is a true cup contending team! This is why we could not afford to trade Volchenkov at the deadline and we dropped 2 extremely valuable 2nd round picks on guys that will push us over the edge. Go Sens Go!

[classmate]

Alfie should have got 5 and a game. Cheap shot.

   I hate to say it but I really do agree.  If that hit was on one of the Sens players people here would have been yelling for a suspension.  I LOVE Alfie, don't get me wrong, but I believe he won't get suspended BECAUSE he is Daniel Alfredsson just like Chris Neil DOES get penalties because of who he is.   I 'm guessing it is major frustration building up in Alfie and the rest of the team that made him do what he did.  Just my 

[Jasonf6]

Ya, the moment I saw the hit I had to cringe and just waited to see who came after him.  I laughed when Mitchell got all tough guy on Alfie and then got mauled from behind by somebody.

In any case, that SHOULD be a suspension, who knows.  I'm sure Colon Campell will take a look at it and decide.  I don't think it has to be 5 and a game for Campbell to hand out a suspension.  Or does it?

[PiePants]

This is a true cup contending team! This is why we could not afford to trade Volchenkov at the deadline and we dropped 2 extremely valuable 2nd round picks on guys that will push us over the edge. Go Sens Go!

 

[FV]

Is it just me or is it not a penalty or 5 and a game for fighting with the gloves on?  That little b*tch Exelby starts throwing punches at Neil with his gloves on and even before Neil could get his off.  He knows Neil would destroy him if it was a fair fight. And then he fakes a punch when the linesmen have them tied up. 

As for all the other comments on it being a stinker and Suton getting penalized for being 6'6", I do agree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=katRqAscWak

Unless you had different camera angles on your broadcast, you may want to watch that fight again.  What I saw is Neil throwing punches with the gloves on 0:21 and Neil punching XLB after the linesman had him tied up 0:36  (you don't clearly see the punch but it sure looks like he does).  

I would also have been upset with Mitchell if he hadn't gone over to Alfie after the hit.  I don't know why you're critizing him for it.

[Jasonf6]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=katRqAscWak

Unless you had different camera angles on your broadcast, you may want to watch that fight again.  What I saw is Neil throwing punches with the gloves on 0:21 and Neil punching XLB after the linesman had him tied up 0:36  (you don't clearly see the punch but it sure looks like he does).  

I would also have been upset with Mitchell if he hadn't gone over to Alfie after the hit.  I don't know why you're critizing him for it.

I wasn't criticizing him FOR going after Alfie it was just how he grabbed him 3ft from the board and walked/pushed him against it in a highschool bully type move.  He should have dropped the gloved and went after him that way.

As for the Neil fight I saw the same punch he threw when they were tied up but Exelby asked for it by throwing punches with both gloves on.  And ya, after watching that replay Neil did throw punches with the gloves on so suspend him too.

[OS]

and is it just me or does Alfie look like he's missing a gear?  I think he's a bit run-down from not having the Olympics off like a lot of his team-mates.  It's like he just can't kick it into high gear lately

He is looking 37 in the last few games.  Maybe he can get a minor injury and take a couple of games to rest?

[Dagwood]

He is looking 37 in the last few games.  Maybe he can get a minor injury and take a couple of games to rest?

No doubt King Alfie is running out of steam.  Hell he has carried this team for years....would be nice if someone else could pick up the slack and lead in the same manner.

I've seen this movie before and don't particularly care for the ending.  Unless these forwards start playing with a little more desire to fight through checks and putting the pucks on net whenever the opportunity presents itself things look grim.

Hitting the net with shots would surely help as well.  It makes me sick how many shots go wide/high/or get blocked.
You have no chance for a dirty goal when you can't hit the friggin net......why is that so hard a concept for the Sens to grasp? 

[Billy_Muckwalt]

He is looking 37 in the last few games.

I dunno, I hate to say it, and I am glad someone else did, but Alfie and phillps are really showing their age out there. Alfie is pretty frustated with the team/his play and it came out in his latest cheap shot last night. I dont like that streak in him, from hitting from behind, shooting pucks at people, threatening to swing a stick etc. Many could say it's a euro thing.

 He's been a hell of a captain tho, it was a good run for the most part. And yes, you can only carry the team on your back for so long before you give out...

[Funky McBain]

Uh oh don't say that about Alfie, I said it at the start of the year that maybe he should be moved down a line and cut his ice time a bit and got flamed for a week.  Hate to say I saw it but I did, he's too old to be relied on for so many minutes every game and now after 70 games it's showing.

And yes here we go with all the crap about the streak was a fluke... Oh greatly notorious flakie fans of Ottawa, you don't win that many games by accident.

[Jasonf6]

I dont like that streak in him, from hitting from behind, shooting pucks at people, threatening to swing a stick etc.

I dunno, I still find it hilarious that Leafs fans boo him for pretending to do something that Sunding ACTUALLY DID.  I get it that is not the only reason but it's a big one.

[PiePants]

Uh oh don't say that about Alfie, I said it at the start of the year that maybe he should be moved down a line and cut his ice time a bit and got flamed for a week.  Hate to say I saw it but I did, he's too old to be relied on for so many minutes every game and now after 70 games it's showing.

And yes here we go with all the crap about the streak was a fluke... Oh greatly notorious flakie fans of Ottawa, you don't win that many games by accident.

The 07-08 Senators beg to differ.

[OS]

Uh oh don't say that about Alfie, I said it at the start of the year that maybe he should be moved down a line and cut his ice time a bit and got flamed for a week.  Hate to say I saw it but I did, he's too old to be relied on for so many minutes every game and now after 70 games it's showing.

And yes here we go with all the crap about the streak was a fluke... Oh greatly notorious flakie fans of Ottawa, you don't win that many games by accident.

Agree that a streak like that isn't an accident. You need some bounces, and things to go right but fundamentally they played very well.  To do it the Sens have to be at 100% clicking because the don't have the talent that the Caps do.  Sustaining that over a long time is impossible.  I expected a let down but this is more that I hoped it would be.  Getting it going will require a ramping up to hit the playoffs when peaking again because peaking at the right time is what it is all about.

[FV]

I didn't think they were that bad last night.  The Leafs were a lot sloppier but Gustofsson bailed them out.  The Sens must have outshot them although I haven't checked that.

Alfie is getting older and it's time for someone else to step up.  He can't carry them anymore and should only be expected to compliment the team with his veteran experience at this point.  He played fine last night.  Got an assist and would have got a couple more if the other players could have buried them.  He made a great backhanded pass while going behind the Leafs net that I specifically remember.  I wish he would cut out the cheap stuff when he gets frustrated though.  I think that gets him booed more than anything.  Last nights hit could have been 5 and a game but just being a 2 minute minor wasn't an outrageous call or anything.  It was close either way.

Anyway, I thought they would come back in the third but Gustofsson was on last night.

[OS]

It was far from a picasso by either team, that's for sure.

[rose]

I dunno, I hate to say it, and I am glad someone else did, but Alfie and phillps are really showing their age out there.

While I agree with the Alfie comment (heck! I think I broached it first in this thread!), I disagree that Phillips is showing his age.  It was mentioned during the broadcast last night, for example, that Phillips is third in the League, behind Bouwmeister and Neidermayer, for the most TOI for a defenceman during PKs this season and, frankly, the Sens' PK is about the only consistently good thing they have had going for them this year!  Phillips, IMHO, is a big part of that.  Also, for me at least, due to the fact that I seldom notice glaring brain farts by Phillips (and considering his overall ice time and the fact that no player goes through their entire career much less a game without the odd misstep), he is seldom guilty of "lazy" penalties (or just stupid ones....think Kovalev's two roughing penalties a couple of games ago  ), add in that he is always playing against the opponents top lines and he is seldom spoken of when criticisms - warranted or otherwise - are raining down on the team.....I don't agree with Phillips "showing his age".

But.....that could just be me.

[Funky McBain]

Agree that a streak like that isn't an accident. You need some bounces, and things to go right but fundamentally they played very well.  To do it the Sens have to be at 100% clicking because the don't have the talent that the Caps do.  Sustaining that over a long time is impossible.  I expected a let down but this is more that I hoped it would be.  Getting it going will require a ramping up to hit the playoffs when peaking again because peaking at the right time is what it is all about.

Ya for sure it's worse then I had hoped for too, and I'm hoping some peakage may be attained a couple games before the playoffs begin.

All in all they are losing by committee as they were winning by committee before.  The coaching staff needs to refocus the boys, I think the break distracted them a lot.  What I'm seeing right now is what we saw earlier this year, think Spezza can't hit the net for the life of him.  I think refocus and play the game simple again, shoot the puck, screen the goalie, take the body and things will turn.  I haven't seen much physicality from the team lately, I suspect that they may have come off the break thinking they can play a skill game.  They just need to get back to a hard physical game.

[rose]

Personally, I'm hoping that they showed the filmed highlights of that NY Rangers game that they won 2-0 after the "romp" in Central Park; their win against Chicago; their first game against Vancouver at SBP, etc., etc. during the flight to Atlanta.


 

[OS]

I guess Kovalev running cold is expected that nobody bothers mentioning it. A co-worker Habs fans pegged it, when the team is doing well he plays well, when they aren't he doesn't.  Basically a follower.

[Funky McBain]

I guess Kovalev running cold is expected that nobody bothers mentioning it. A co-worker Habs fans pegged it, when the team is doing well he plays well, when they aren't he doesn't.  Basically a follower.

That seems to be his MO yes indeed.  But that's the difference between a leader and a guy who isn't you know.  What the Sens need is some locker room leadership, and someone to go out and lead by example.  Unfortunately it will have to be someone other than Alfie I'm afraid.  I think that's part of the reason Cullen is here