Ducks take game one and ...

I don't know why Anaheim took ''mighty'' out of their name, because they looked pretty mighty at times during the first game of the Stanley Cup final, at least in the eyes of Ottawa players that got knocked around. The Senators players did not shy away from the physical play and were not intimidated.

Ottawa start the game the way they wanted, but seem to have let Anaheim get the momemtum and then took back again and gave it back, not the kind of play we are use to seeing from the Senators during these playoffs. One thing coach Murray will have to correct, is the giveaways in the neutral zone, one of them led to the second Ducks goal which tied the game. An another, Murray will have to alert the officials about the Ducks in Emery's crease, on two occasions, Emery had an Anaheim player all over him in crease, no call.

Where was the first line ? We hardly saw Alfredsson,Spezza and Heatley, they need to step up, if the Senators want to have any chance at winning the Cup. Now that the cobb webbs are out of the way and the Senators know what the Ducks are going to throw their way, they adjust and go play Senators hockey and get back in the series.

What the Media had to say

Ottawa Sun writer, Chris Stevenson, also sends out an APB to the Senators top line.
Scott Burnside from ESPN, mentions the Sens have to get better.

Bettman gives his state of the game before Game one

NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, gave a press conference on the State of the game and answered questions about the Nashville sale.

How the Senators can beat the Ducks and...

TSN's insider Bob McKenzie points out that the Senators have to exploit JS Giguere's immobility. McKenzie's first point, is for the Senators to shoot the puck close to his feet, ''he is not as strong when he is working at a tight angle along the goal line as he is when he has the opportunity to square up and face the shooter.''

McKenzie goes on and mentions they should try sending pucks along the boards, Giguere got tangled in the series with Detroit. As McKenzie mentions, he not the most mobile goaltender in the playoffs, and the Sens should try working close to his net and try wrap arounds, he does not have a good lateral movement.

McKenzie ''Of course all of this is much easier said than done when you face the daunting Ducks defense that features Pronger, Niedermayer and Beauchemin. ''

A good way for Ottawa coach, Bryan Murray to stay away from Anaheim's, Randy Carlyle's line matching contest, is to roll your lines quickly in the first minutes of every period, except in the case your killing a penalty or on that power play.

It's a good way to keep the guys on the bench in the game and create havick on the Anaheim bench. An old Bowman trick, that he mastered thru out the years, that in the majority of times worked. The opposing team coach became occupied with what Bowman's next move could be, that he forgot his line match-ups.

An Interesting fact

The last four cup winners, have either been eliminated from the playoffs or lost in the first round following their cup championship. Last year's cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes, missed the playoffs this year. Detroit, New Jersey and Tampa all lost in the first round following a cup year. The last team to defend it's title in a cup final, are the New Jersey Devils in 2001 against the Colorado Avalanche.

Dynasties are thing of the past in the NHL.

Ottawa and Anaheim for Lord Stanley's cup

If you ask Ottawa's coach, Bryan Murray, if he is bothered with being the underdog in this series ? No, would be the answer. He could also shoot back and say '' weren't we in the last series ? '' We all know the result of that one.

Because of the regular season scheduling, these two teams did not play against each other this season. Ottawa needed fifteen games to get to round 4, Anaheim took an extra one. Let's take a look at their numbers so far in the playoffs.

On face-offs, the Ottawa Senators have a slight edge, winning 495 out of 941 , for a percentage of 52.6% , the Ducks, also won 495, but faced 991 face-offs, for 49.9%.

In the scoring and trailing first category,both almost have identical records.Ottawa has not lost a game when scoring first, and has a 4-3 record when trailing. The Ducks are 8-1 when scoring the first goal, and the same record as Ottawa when trailing.

5 vs 5, Ottawa has scored 29 of them and allowed 22, for a +7. Anaheim has scored 24 and allowed 20, for a +4. A slight advantage for Ottawa.

The powerplay, Ottawa overall is at 20% , with a whopping 31.2% on the road. Anaheim is at 15.3%, 17% at home. Advantage Ottawa.

The penalty killing, Ottawa is at 88.6% overall, at 92.5% on the road. Anaheim is at 86.8% and 90.9% at home. Again a slight advantage to Ottawa.

I will take Ottawa in 6, for a reason, that is the speed factor. In all of the series that the Senators have played, they have played against teams with good speed, while the Ducks faced less quicker teams. I feel, as the series moves on, Ottawa's speed will play a factor.

From Broke to Champions ? and...

The last time the Ottawa Senators participated in the Conference Final, the team had come close to filling for Bankruptcy months early. In late December 2002 and beginning of 2003, the Ottawa Senators franchise was coming close to going belly up. The League stepped in and found an owner and the team came a goal close to going to the Cup final that year.

Wayne Scanlan from the Ottawa Citizen asked club President and chief executive officer, Roy Mlakar, about that time, and Mlakar told him it was the lowest moment in franchise history, even worse then their first season in the league in 1992-93. Mlakar remembers having to tell the players that they would not get paid. How worse can that get ?

The article goes on with the ups and downs of the franchise, that brought it to a first cup appearence in mordern history and also the first since 1927, when the first franchise won it for the last time.

The Senators organization have been thru alot in the last fifteen years, a Stanley Cup championship would be dearly welcomed.

Wings veterans remain cool

On the plane bringing the Detroit Red Wings to Anaheim for game six against the Anaheim Ducks, the veteran players remained cool and collected and not worried, even for the first time in this playoff year they face seeing their season end. Daniel Cleary noted how calm, veterans Chris Chelios, Nick Lidstrom and Dominik Hasek were, despite that had lost a heartbreaker the afternoon before. Let's roll the tape back to 2002, the Wings are trailing the series 3-2 against the Colorado Avalanche with Patrick Roy in goal.

The Wings win game 6, on a blooper by the future Hall of Famer. Game seven, the Wings blow the defending Cup champions out of the rink and win 7-0. Could history repeat itself tonight ? In today's, NHL nothing is impossible.

Senators off to the Cup Final

Ten years after making the playoffs for the first time in mordern history and getting beat by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round, they returned the favor. The Gm of the Sabres at the time, was John Muckler. Muckler is going back to the Stanley cup final for the first time in seventeen years. He was the coach of the Edmonton Oilers, who were led by the captain of captains, Mark Messier and won the Cup in 1990.

The Senators will now wait for the winner of the Anaheim-Detroit series. After years of hearing people pointing the finger at him, Daniel Alfredsson, has mostly likely made himself the number one candidate for the Conn Smythe trophy.

Well Canada, for the second straight year a canadian team will be in the Stanley Cup Final.If we look back at the last twenty years, canadian teams have participated in a total of 6 Cup Finals and won 4 out of the 6, but don't forget that in 1989, the final was an all canadian thing. So the Ottawa Senators could make it 5 out of 7, not bad considering we don't get there often, but when we do,we make good of it. The last canadian Eastern conference team to make the Cup Final, won it, yes Ottawa's division rivals the Montreal Canadiens.

So folks in Ottawa, congratulations, savor the moment, but as former Montreal Canadiens coach, Toe Blake would tell his players,''until you lift the Cup, who have not won anything.'' Something to keep in mind.

Goals down this season

The NHL has seen goal scoring go down this past season compared to last. In 2006-07, 7082 goals were scored, last season saw 7443 goals scored, for a difference of 361. In 2006-07, the average per team for goals scored, was 236, in 05-06, it was 248.1.

Power play goals have also taken a drop, in 06-07, 2082 goals were scored, in 05-06, 2545, a difference of 463. The average per team in 06-07 was 69.4 in 05-06, it was 84.8.

In order to get goals,you have to shoot on goal. In 06-07, there were 72779 shots, for average of 2426 per team. In 05-06, 73751, for an average of 2458.

If goal production is down, naturally the goal per period will also take a hit. In 06-07, 1st period goals scored :2107/70 per team. 2nd period: 2465/82 3rd :2393/80 , goals in overtime : 117/4. In 05-06, 1st :2216/74 2nd : 2576/86 3rd:2514/84, OT: 136/4.53.

Hopefully this does not become a trend over the next few seasons.

Could this be Brière's last game as a Sabre ? and ...

Could this be the last time we see Daniel Brière in a Sabres uniform ? The possibility exist, as we know, in the cap world of the NHL, the Sabres may not be able to keep both Drury and Brière.

Both players could command alot of interest on the UFA market, and get top dollar, in the range of 6 million +. With the signings of high priced players that have not panned out in the last two years, some Gm's may not want to get into that kind of trouble, basing it on what is going on in Tampa with Jay Feaster and other places, where large salaries and long term contracts have not been good investments, the UFA market this year could take a hit, as the money may not be there, and I think that the cap could stay at 44 million again this year, which could call for caution by Gm's.

In the last years, the General Managers that made sound investments, could profit from bad decisions made by their collegues since the CBA was signed almost two years ago.

It will be interesting to watch the UFA market, espacially once the cap for next year will be known.

Hearing for Pronger incident to be held

The NHL has announced that it will hold a hearing in the Pronger-Holmstrom incident in game 3 of the Anaheim-Detroit series.

Sens close to a Sweep and...

The Ottawa Senators are one win away from a sweep in the Eastern conference final. On a bad bounce on a Heatley shot, Daniel Alfredsson tucked the puck behind Buffalo goalie, Ryan Miller, the only Sabre that came to compete, and it's a good thing for the Sabres and Lindy Ruff, as the Senators could of blown them out of the rink.

People in Buffalo watching this nightmare come true, must be wondering where did the Sabres team they saw dominate the NHL this season go. Ottawa Senators fans may show them tomorrow night, coming to Scotiabank Place carrying brooms.

Bucky Gleason from the Buffalo News has a good idea where they have gone.

While it's a totally different story as far as the Ottawa Senators are concerned. Ottawa Sun's staff writer, Bruce Garrioch, sees the Sens maturity coming at the right time.

Where would they hold the parade ?

Yes I am getting ahead of myself, but I'm wondering where the Ottawa Senators would hold an eventual Stanley Cup parade ? One scenario could be starting it at the Ottawa Civic Center where the dream started in October 1992 and finish it off at Scotiabank Place with an outdoor celebration for their loyal fans. I'm sure employers and teachers are wishing that happens on a Saturday, so they can attend also. Just a thought !

Eighty years is a long wait and ...

It has been forty years since the Toronto Maple Leafs fans have seen the Stanley Cup being paraded in their streets. What do they have to complain about ? The city of Ottawa has not seen an NHL based team win it in eighty years. Yes folks, eighty years, now that is a long wait.

I don't know too many people that remembers the last time the Cup was won by an NHL based team in Ottawa. The first Ottawa Senators franchise won it in 1920,21,23 and the last was in 1927, before moving to St-Louis in the 30's and eventually disbanding after only one season. Yes folks,there was NHL hockey in St-Louis before the Blues.

In that 1927 playoff year,the Senators of that era met the Boston Bruins for Lord Stanley's cup. Looking at the Bruins line-up of the time, only one player was a household name, Eddie Shore. On the Senators line-up, had some pretty well known names come up.I'm sure old time Leafs fans will remember King Clancy. Detroit fans will recognize Jack Adams, who went on to coach that franchise for twenty years,and then became the General manager.he was responsible for the rift between Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe.

It's do or die for the Sabres

It's only game three of the series, but it's the pivotal game, one that the Sabres cannot afford to lose. It's also an important game for the Sens also, as they will want to continue on the same momemtum and have a chance to finish it the quickest way possible. In the last two series, the Sens have put out their opponents in less than six games, which seems to be beneficial to them so far.The legendary Scotty Bowman once said :'' if you a chance to win a series quickly do it, you will benefit from it down the road.''

Since I think the Detroit-Anaheim series will go seven, the Sens will be better off watching them and hope they beat daylight out of each other. But the Sens have to take care of the business at hand first. Not get over confidant, just play the dominating game they have played in the last two weeks. I'm sure coach Murray will agree with the latter.

The Sens take an another

The Ottawa Senators have taken a serious option on the series with a 4-3 win in the second overtime period. With about 10 seconds left to play, the Senators were coasting a win, but Buffalo's Daniel Brière had other plans and scored the tying goal that sent the two teams into overtime. I question that goal, if you look at the play before Brière scored, a Buffalo player was in Emery's crease and had made contact, if the rules are applied right, that should not be a goal.

Again officiating will be put in question, both referee's called some doubtful penalties on both teams. Since his team won, Bryan Murray will not make a case of it, but will surely bring it to the officials attention before game time tomorrow night.

Even down 0-2 early in the game, the Senators did not panic, they got back to work and took over the game and came back with three unanswered goals. Not withstanding Brière's goal late in the game, the Sabres lost the game by their own fault, too many penalties in the second period.

For the first time in a long time, the Ottawa Senators have won the first two games of a series. So an another monkey on their backs has vanished in this playoff year. During the game, an interesting stat was shown, that teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in a series, have won 87% of them, this does not look to well for the Sabres and their fans, espacially that Ottawa has only lost one game at home since the beginning of the playoffs.

Face-offs have been pretty even so far in this series. Ottawa has won 19 of the 37 in Buffalo's Zone. Buffalo has won 25 of the 46 in Ottawa's zone. Ottawa has a slight edge in neutral zone face-offs, 24-22.

Echos from the Game

Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News, mentions that the Sabres could use a gut check before flying to Ottawa for games 3 and 4, if they don't, to dust off the golf clubs. Complete story here.

Bryan Murray had this to say to Ottawa Sun's, Bruce Garrioch.
"I said that to them before the fifth period: 'We've shown character, keep working hard and something will happen'," said Ottawa coach Bryan Murray. "Definitely a big character effort tonight. I thought we hung tough. Our guys were positive and ready to go."

Sens win conference opener

The Ottawa Senators did what they needed to do, is steal a game in Buffalo, and it's accomplished, just as they had in the previous round against New Jersey.

They benefited from Buffalo's lack of energy and got off to a two goal lead, but then committed turn overs and before you knew it, it was 2-2, I'm sure fans watching in Ottawa, may have said to themselves, are the Sens going to buckle down ? No, they came back out skating and outshooting the Sabres and left the rink with a one game lead in the series.

If I'm Bryan Murray, I have to be more than satisfied at his team's efforts in the last two weeks. On the other side, if I'm Lindy Ruff I have to start to worry, if the wear and tear of chasing the President's trophy could be taking a toll on my team, who have not played good hockey in the playoffs so far, they should of blown the Islanders out of the playoffs. They blew a two game lead against the Rangers and won the series by the skin of their teeth. Last night, as Lindy Ruff mentionned, they looked rattled. They have blown one tire, it's a question of time before the other three go. It would be a kick in the teeth, if they head to Ottawa down 0-2, espacially how dominant Ottawa is at home.

NHL conference Finals

The conference finals start tonight. So let's see how the final four have done in the playoffs so far. As we all know, hockey is played 5 on 5. In that department, the Eastern conference regular season champions, Buffalo Sabres lead this category in the playoffs. They have scored 24 goals at 5 on 5, their opponents in this round, the Ottawa Senators have scored 20. Detroit has scored 12 and the Anaheim Ducks 10.

The Power play

On the powerplay, the Ottawa Senators have been the dominant force, with 22.7 %. Anaheim Ducks are at 16.4 %. The Detroit Red Wings are at 15.9%. The Buffalo Sabres are at 15.2%.

The Penalty Kill

The Anaheim Ducks fair well at 94.6%. They are followed by their conference opponents, the Detroit Red Wings are at 86.9%. The Sens are at 86%. Buffalo trails at 79.6%.

Goals by Period

In the first period, Detroit has 10, Ottawa 9, Anaheim 7 and Buffalo 6.
In the second, Ottawa and Buffalo both have 14, Detroit 10 and Anaheim 8.
In the third. Buffalo leads with 13, followed by Ottawa at 10, Anaheim and Detroit both have 9.

Face-Offs in round 2

Buffalo : 208/397 52.4%
Ottawa : 168/324 52%
Detroit: 170/318 53.4%
Anaheim :177/341 52%

Eastern Conference final

Well folks, this Series should be a dandy. I remember when I was a youngster, living the classic between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins, that went seven games. Sorry Don Cherry, but that was when you had too many players on the ice and Guy Lafleur scored the goal that killed you.

With the talent on both teams, we may just relive a similar kind of emotional roller coaster, as we did in 1979. It will be a barn burner folks.

I will go with Ottawa in 6 games. Why the Sens in 6 you ask ? It's simple, you look at both teams in the playoffs, the Sabres have been a so-so team, while the Sens have shown progression and the team chemistry is at it's best, and the best is yet to come. The Sens can play a defensive game as well as a an offensive one.

Even though I chose Ottawa to win, it could come down on how both benches are managed in key situations and how the guys between the pipes play in games 1 and 2. Defence will also be a factor, I feel that Ottawa has the advantage in that area. Both Coaches will experience what was legendary Scotty Bowman's biggest fear was, having the right players on ice at the right time. Any hesitation by either Murray or Ruff, could cost them the Stanley Cup.

Stay tuned! Game 1, will be here before you know it.

Sens move on to Conference Finals

The Ottawa Senators are headed to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in four years. Ironicaly, they beat the team they had met in the last conference final they had participated in. Ray Emery, who had made headlines before the game, when he missed the team flight because he had overslept and got in to a fender bender on his way to the airport, stood up and played the game he needed to and now everything will be forgotten.

The Sens will surely be watching this afternoon's game between the Sabres and Rangers. Even though they don't really care who they play in the Conference final, I'm sure that deep down, they hope that the Series goes seven games and is won in quadruple overtime.

Lou Lamoriello will have alot of explaining to do, for his decision to replace Claude Julien with three games left in the season. It's time for Martin Brodeur to take a lesser work load during the regular season. Playing 75 to 78 games a year is becoming too much, espacially in the more open NHL.

Finally, Sens play sixty minutes of hockey

For the first time since the playoffs have begun, the Ottawa Senators finally played a full sixty minutes of inspired hockey. Since the start of the playoffs,I have had a concern on how they where finishing their games. In two occasions, those concerns became fact. Game two of the Pittsburgh series, they blew two leads and Pittsburgh took that game. The same happened in game 2 of the present series.

I guess finally that coach, Bryan Murray, got thru to them and they played their best game so far, but they can't sit on this and say that it will be easy from now on, on the contrary, it's the begining of the quest.The Devils are not going to make it easy for you either, a majority of those guys were part of the last two Devils Cup winning teams. They know about the commitment it takes to get there.

So Boys, the road gets tougher from now on, it's up to all of you to show how much your commited in bringing Lord Stanley's mug back to Ottawa, for the first time in eighty years.