So that’s it. The Ottawa Senators blow a 3 goal lead in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the defending champs the Pittsburgh Penguins and lose the series 2-4. The Sens go home and no doubt a few of them will probably still play some more hockey for the World Championships. And some of them will want to put the disappointment behind them and go to their summer homes and play golf or do other stuff.
Most of them will want to play more hockey and try and get over the bitter taste of loss and see if they can win gold with their national team. Ofcourse it’s not the same as winning the most difficult trophy there is to win in all of team sports. So there’s more playoff action in the weeks to come. With the exit of the Senators, I’m going to put all of my support behind the Vancouver Canucks. This looks like as good a year as any for the West Coast team.
Go Luongo!
After the first game in Pittsburgh which the Ottawa Senators won, the Penguins have stepped up and won the next two, putting the pressure squarely back on the collective shoulders of Alfredsson & co. The second game in Pittsburgh was won with a 2-1 victory. Then last night with the series shifting to the Senators’ home stadium, Scotiabank Place, the Pens upped their game to win 4-2.
With Evgeny Malkin & Sidney Crosby performing the way that they are, the Senators better have a different approach if they want to battle the series out and win it. Home crowd should help the side get a victory in game 4 and then if they can do that, then it’s anybody’s series. And we need more goals from Spezza, Fisher & Alfredsson. All I can say is GO SENS GO!
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Quaterfinals. Ottawa Senators 5 Pittsburgh Penguins 4.
Led by an unlikely group of heroes, the Ottawa Senators delivered a shocking blow to the defending-champion Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena Wednesday night.
The line of Chris Kelly, Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu each scored a goal, combining for six points, while Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin had goals in their playoff debuts to give the Senators a 5-4 victory over Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in Game 1. Ottawa goalie Brian Elliott pick up his first post-season victory. He only had to make 17 saves, but it wasn’t easy.
Game 2 is on Friday.
On the 30th of March, The Senators went to Washington to face the Conference leading Capitals. In the clash of the two nations capital city’s teams, the Sens were victorious. The Senators, looking to be in top form for the postseason, won their fifth in a row Tuesday night, blowing an early lead before rallying to beat the Capitals 5-4 in overtime. Jason Spezza with two goals led the attack followed by goals by Peter Regin, Alexei Kovalev & Chris Campoli.
Two days later on the 1st of April, it was back home in Ottawa where they hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens needed a shootout to gain victory 4-3. Erik Karlsson had two goals, while Alexander Volchenkov also scored one. Kovalev had the shootout goal win.
The New York Islanders derailed the Ottawa train and stopped them from getting their 7th win in a row. At the Islanders home ice, Martin Biron had 28 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Matt Cullen’s close-range goal late in the third ended Biron’s bid for his 27th career shutout.
And last night, on Daniel Alfredsson’s 1000th NHL game, Mike Fisher scored twice to help Ottawa beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 Tuesday night for their seventh win in eight games. Jarkko Ruutu, Karlsson and Chris Neil also got goals for Ottawa. Pascal Leclaire made 32 saves on a rare start for him.
The Ottawa Senators have finally picked up their game and after the worst losing skid for the season, they now have 4 wins in a row.
It started on the 22nd with a 2-0 victory away at the Bell Center over the Montreal Canadiens. Brian Elliott made 29 saves for his fourth shutout and fifth of his career, Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and Ottawa ended a five-game losing streak. Peter Regin scored his first goal in 10 games midway through the first and Daniel Alfredsson assisted on both goals.
Two days later again riding a huge goaltending effort from Elliot, the Sens were able to knock off an Eastern Conference playoff contender for a second night in a row. Elliott earned his second shutout in two days and Chris Kelly and Daniel Alfredsson scored to lead Ottawa to a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. Elliott stopped 26 shots – including a spectacular glove save on James van Riemsdyk with 3:55 remaining – for his fifth shutout of the season.
Friday the 26th saw the Sens visit Buffalo and get a 4-2 win over the Sabres. Jason Spezza, Alfredsson, and Kelly had a goal and assist each, Elliott made 41 saves as the short-handed Senators beat the Sabres for the ninth straight time. Regin also scored. Then last night the Senators captain scored his 20th goal of the season early in the third period and the Ottawa won its fourth straight, 3-2 over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Elliott made 20 saves, and Matt Cullen and Regin also scored for the Senators. Rookie defenceman Karlsson had three assists.
What has happened to the Ottawa Senators? They have fallen apart so badly post the Winter Olympic break that they are no languishing. With just 12 games left in the regular season, the Senators’ post-Olympic troubles hit a new low Tuesday night with an ugly 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of 20,405 spectators at Scotiabank Place.
Ottawa’s record in its last seven games is now 1-5-1. That one win was against the league’s bottom team – The Edmonton Oilers. Nobody is sure what happened to the Senators team that reeled off 11 straight victories. Scoring is certainly an issue — the team has just nine goals in its last seven games. Goaltending is another source of concern. Brian Elliot seems to have established himself as the coach’s guy but he just isn’t top goalie material for a team that wants to win the Stanley Cup. Pascal Leclaire has failed to live up his his previous lofty expectations.
The Ottawa Senators have acquired defenceman Andy Sutton from the New York Islanders in exchange for a second round draft pick. GM Bryan Murray wanted to get a deal done Tuesday in advance of Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline and had been saying he would look for a defenceman to provide depth along the blue line.
In 567 career NHL games with the San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers and the Islanders, Sutton has scored 34 goals, added 101 assists and 984 penalty minutes. On another front, Murray said barring an unforeseen turn of events, Volchenkov will still be a Senator after the deadline.
In other trades Edmonton traded Nashville’s second round pick for defenceman Denis Grebeshkov, who’s minus-16 with 19 points. The Anaheim Ducks traded defenceman Nick Boynton to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday for future considerations & Pittsburgh Penguins, who picked up defenceman Jordan Leopold from the Florida Panthers on Monday for a second-round pick.
The Ottawa Senators have traded young defenceman Alexandre Picard to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for center Matt Cullen.
Acting as soon as his contract been extended GM, Brian Murray made a couple of changes to his squad which is doing very well at the moment. Cullen, who has 12 goals and 28 assists in 60 games played this season, could be a boost to the Senators 27th ranked power-play, as he spent time in Carolina playing at the point on their power-play unit. The 33-year old Minnesota native, who won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2005-06, has 165 goals and 288 assists in 859 games played.
Then, the team announced it is waiving the underachieving Jonathan Cheechoo, who arrived in Ottawa last summer from San Jose in the Dany Heatley deal. The move means Cheechoo’s days with the Senators are over.
The Ottawa Senators haven’t let up much since our last update. On the 30th of January, the Sens closed out the first month of the new year with a 3-2 OT win over the Montreal Canadiens. Mike Fisher scored the winner, while Jason Spezza & Alexie Kovalev also scored.
After a 3 day rest, the Sens visited Buffalo and came back with a 4-2 win against the Sabers. Spezza & Daniel Alfredsson had two goals each as the Senators extended a franchise-best winning streak to 10 on Wednesday night. In a night of milestones, Brian Elliott stopped 36 shots to win his eighth in a row to match the team record he set last year.
The very next night, the Vancouver Canucks came calling in Ottawa and were beaten 1-3. Spezza, Milan Michalek & Chris Kelly scored the goals for Ottawa. Spezza scored his ninth goal in his last eight games and Ottawa extended its team-record winning streak to 11. The streak had to end sometime – and it happened two days later against the hate Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a 0-5 shutout victory for the Maple Leafs.
Two days rest was good enough for the Senators to get back to winning ways. They welcomed the Calgary Flames and came out 3-2 victors – Spezza scored his 10th goal in his last 10 games late in the second period to send Ottawa to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night. Elliott made 27 saves in his 11th straight start for the Senators, who won their 12th in 13 games and Kovalev & Ruutu also scored.
And finally, the Senators met the Washington Capitals and came out 6-5 winners – Spezza, Michalek, Alfredsson, Chris Neil, Kovalev & Chris Phillips scored the goals. Ottawa moved into the division lead with 74 points, one ahead of Buffalo, which lost 4-3 in overtime at Carolina.
The Ottawa Senators have turned their season around and made it 8 wins in a row. Just how did they achieve this? Secondary players stepping up and scoring while the name players were out injured. Teamwork!
On the 21st of Jan, Ottawa welcome the St.Louis Blues and won 3-2. Milan Michalek, Peter Regin and Chris Phillips scored the goals with Regin assisting on Phillips goal. Brian Elliott stopped 27 shots to win his third straight start and Michalek also scored on the power play in his return after missing seven games because of a concussion.
Two days later in Boston, Daniel Alfredsson & Jason Spezza scored to give the Sens a 2-1 win against the Bruins. But what the Sens really wanted was a win against the New Jersey Devils who have long had the upper hand against the Ottawa side. On the 26th of Jan the Sens beat the Devils in Ottawa 3-0. Michalek, Spezza & Alexie Kovalev had the 3 goals. Elliott earned his third shutout.
And just last night the Sens visited defending Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh and came away with a 4-1 win. Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, Nick Foligno and Spezza scored the goals while Elliot made 30 saves to win his sixth consecutive start and the Senators tied a club record with their eighth straight win.
The Ottawa Senators have bounced back well from those 5 loses in a row and now have 4 wins in a row. First, on Jan 14th 3rd choice goalie Mike Brodeur had a shutout away against the New York Rangers in a 2-0 win. Chris Campoli & Chris Kelly scored the goals.
Two nights later the Sens went to Montreal and beat the Canadiens in captain Daniel Alfredsson’s first game back after a 3 week layoff due to injuries. The captain, Chris Phillips, Mike Fisher & Zack Smith scored in the 4-2 win. Brodeur stopped 30 shots on goal.
Then it was on to Boston. Alfredsson had a hattrick in a 5-1 win away against the Bruins. Alexi Kovalev and Jonathon Cheechoo scored the other two goals. Brian Elliott started in goal when Mike Brodeur felt dizzy before the game.
And then on the 19th Ottawa returned home to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Smith, Ryan Shannon, Peter Regin & Fisher scored in a 4-1 emphatic victory over the team tied at the # 1 spot in the NHL. Ottawa are currently at the 5th spot in the East but have a lot more work to be done to ensure a playoff spot.
Yes we are missing our top line but we can’t offer any excuses for the terrible & pathetic start to 2010 that we have made. 6 straight losses; yes it’s that bad!
3rd Jan : 4-7 loss to Philadelphia Flyer
5th Jan : 1-4 loss to Boston Bruins
7th Jan : 2-5 loss to Washington Capitalc
9th Jan : 0-3 loss to Florida Panthers
10th Jan : 1-4 loss to Carolina Hurricanes
12th Jan : 1-6 loss to Atlanta Thrashers
These are terrible statistics and unless we do a drastic turn around, I’m afraid that we will sink lower & lower in the rankings and miss the playoffs for a second year in a row. We need to buy a new forward or two and a defensive powerhouse. Time for a goalie change as well.
After the last update, goalie Brian Elliot came back but could not do much to save a loss against the Boston Bruins, 0-2 on the 21st of December. This was the same day that Senators C Mike Fisher confirmed his engagement to singer Carrie Underwood. Two days later it got even more worse – infact the lowest point of the season so far. We lost away to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-8 in a thrashing like we have never seen before. Anton Volchenkov & Chris Kelly scored the goals for us.
The Senators had to wait till Boxing day to get their act back together – a 3-2 shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Shannon & Chris Neil scored the regulation time goals for the Senators. And then on the 28th we had a nice home victory over the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2. Shannon, Neil, Peter Regin & Chris Campoli had the goals for the capitcal city.
Ottawa played the last two days of the year, a 3-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in which Shannon had a brace and Nick Foligno had the 3rd goal. But New Year’s eve was much more happier for the Sens. It was a shootout victory over the New York Islander – regulation time goals scored by Kelly & Regin.
After the last update , on Monday the 14th of December, the Senators paid a visit to hated provincial rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs just about managed to edge the Sens for a 3-2 victory. Jason Spezza & Mike Fisher scored the goals for us. Ottawa appeared to tie the game with 35 seconds left, but the referees waved the goal off when it was ruled that Jesse Winchester kicked the puck into the net.
Two days later it was the turn of the Buffalo Sabres who came calling to the Scotiabank Place. With the depleted Ottawa Senators scrambling just to put together four forward lines, goalie Brian Elliott helped bail them out with another big game. Elliott made 22 saves for his second shutout in four games, and Alexandre Picard and Fisher scored to help the Senators beat Buffalo 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Last Friday, the 18th, was a tough loss as Martin Brodeur set a NHL record for games played by a goaltender and helped make the milestone a win with 27 saves and an assist, leading the New Jersey Devils to a 4-2 victory over the Senators. Jarkko Ruutu and Picard scored the 2 goals for the Sens. With Elliot playing many games at a stretch, he needed a rest.
Mike Brodeur made a name for himself Saturday night in his NHL debut for the Sens. A distant relative of New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur, the rookie netminder carried a shutout into the third period and Erik Karlsson scored his first career goal, leading Ottawa to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Brodeur stopped 22 shots in his first career start after backing up Brian Elliott for 13 straight games. Anton Volchenkov, Milan Michalek and Ruutu also scored for Ottawa.
Alright so time for a 3 game update on the Ottawa Senators. Last night the Sens hosted the Carolina Hurricanes in a games that saw Alexie Kovalev break out of his long goal drought. The Russian scored a hat-trick, including his 400th NHL goal – the 82nd player to reach that milestone. Jason Spezza also scored for the Senators (16-11-4), and Brian Elliott made 23 saves.
In a game that featured two struggling offences, the Ottawa Senators beat the Philadelphia Flyers with defence on the 10th. Goalie Elliott made 23 saves in his second NHL shutout and Nick Foligno and Jesse Winchester scored third-period goals to give Ottawa a 2-0 victory over the slumping Flyers on Thursday night.
And two days prior to that, Kovalev and his new team faced off against his old team when the Montreal Canadiens came calling. The Canadiens won 4-1 with Mike Fisher scoring the solitary goal for the Sens.
On the 23rd of Nov, Ottawa beat the Washington Capitals on an OT goal by MIke Fisher. Peter Regin, Chris Neil & Alexander Picard also scored. Two days later Milan Michalek scored the lone goal in a 1-3 loss to Martin Broduer and his New Jersey Devils.
The very next day Columbus came calling and lost 1-2 to the Sens. Spezza & Nick Foligno scored in a game in which current Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire couldn’t face his former club due to injury. For our last November game, the Bruins defeated us in a shootout – Michalek had a double and Daniel Alfredsson scored once.
This was followed by 3 losses to the San Jose Sharks, the LA Kings & the Coyotes. The Ottawa Senators badly needed to snap their 4 game losing streak. Alex Kovalev and Alfredsson scored in the first two rounds of a shootout for a 4-3 victory on Sunday night.
Jarko Ruutu, Jason Spezza & Filip Kuba scored the regular time goals and goalie Brian Elliot finished with 33 saves and stopped two of three shots in the tiebreaker, helping send Anaheim to its fifth straight loss and salvage the finale of a five-game road trip that began with a shootout loss against Boston.
Last night the Ottawa Senators met up with the Buffalo Sabres and ended up with a 5-3 victory. Senators backup goalie Brian Elliot replaced injured starter Pascal Leclaire to start the third and made 16 saves to pick up the win as Ottawa topped the Buffalo Sabres 5-3. Daniel Alfredsson led the way with two goals and an assist for Ottawa and Filip Kuba scored his first of the season as part of a four-point night as the Senators (11-6-3) extended their winning streak to three games. Chris Kelly and Milan Michalek, with the game-winner, also scored for the Senators in front of 17,206 at Scotiabank Place.
Much more impressive was the way the Sens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2 nights ago. Suiting up for the 800th game of his NHL career, Senators defenceman Chris Phillips led the attack in a 6-2 victory by scoring 2 goals. Mike Fisher chipped in with three assists, while Chris Kelly, Alex Picard and Nick Foligno all had two-point efforts. Goaltender Pascal Leclaire wasn’t tested a lot by the Pens, but he made 25 stops. Milan Michalek, Matt Carkner and Jonathan Cheechoo also scored for the Senators.
Leclaire had a 30 save starring role in a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on the 17th. Fisher had 2 goals and Michalek had the 3rd, his 8th of the season. On the 14th we lost 1-2 to the New York Rangers in which Brian Lee scored for Ottawa. And last week Friday we had a bad 1-5 loss to Philadelphia in which only Fisher scored.
Well I missed the 5 match update which closed out October but I’ll go with the update of the 3 games played in November so far. On the 5th of November Jason Spezza scored a power-play goal 4:17 into overtime to give the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Spezza also assisted on Daniel Alfredsson’s first-period goal, but his first tally of the season couldn’t have been more timely. Mike Fisher also scored for Ottawa and Pascal Leclaire made 18 saves in the third meeting between the two teams this season, the second in seven days.
Two days on Saturday, at home the Sens lost 2-3 to the New Jersey Devils. Milan Michalek and Brian Lee scored for the Senators. Pascal Leclaire, celebrating his 27th birthday, stopped 22 shots.
And last night Spezza scored the winning goal in the shootout for the Ottawa Senators, who came from behind twice to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Tuesday night. Chris Neil scored his third goal of the season with just under seven minutes left in regulation to give the Senators a 3-2 lead. Jonathan Cheechoo and Nick Foligno also scored for the Senators. Leclaire made 31 saves.
