|
Guest Senators Blogger: Travis Yost on Tonight's Game... |
|
|
|
|
|
There’s nothing ho-hum about beating the 2nd place team in the Eastern
Conference, but with the way the Ottawa Senators are playing, it’s
just business as usual. Ottawa capitalized on some early scoring in
the first period, and eventually chased Martin Brodeur en route to
their 29th win of the year.
Ottawa’s seventh straight victory was just more of the same,
featuring strong play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the
ice and a hot Brian Elliott, whose shutout tonight marked the third of
his season.
It was all Ottawa from the start, as Alex Kovalev connected on the
first of three goals after some incredible play in the corner by Nick
Foligno, who was unquestionably the player of the game for tonight’s
tilt. Foligno managed to hold off two Devils defenders, and found a
wide open Alex Kovalev, beating the fabulous Martin Brodeur. Just a
few minutes later, the Senators scored again, only to have the goal
taken off the scoreboard upon further review – a scramble in front of
the net ended with Johnathan Cheechoo’s illegal kicking of the puck,
who continues to struggle on the offensive end.
It’s hard to say whether the Senators were overly motivated to keep
the winning streak alive, or if the Devils were looking ahead to
Buffalo for tomorrow’s feature, but New Jersey’s stroke of luck failed
to produce any better results. On a failed clearing attempt by Mike
Mottau, the Ottawa Senators raced up ice, and Chris Campoli’s blue
line rip found Milan Michalek in front of Brodeur, giving the Sens a
2-0 lead. The play of the night, however, came in the 2nd period, when
a gorgeous display of passing from Daniel Alfredsson and Filip Kuba
again found Jason Spezza in front, who New Jersey decided wasn’t worth
covering tonight for whatever reason. Again, the play started with a
horrendous clearing effort by a Devils defender, this time Colin
White.
A shutout is always nice, but Brian Elliott’s tonight wasn’t your
ordinary goose egg. The Senators dominated the play for all sixty
minutes, and only a handful of the 24 shots he faced were of any
challenge. Credit goes to the Senators defense for this one.
Brodeur was pulled in the third down 3-0, undoubtedly to give the
future Hall of Famer some rest for their match-up against the Sabres
tomorrow night. Yann Davis relieved him and stopped all six shots he
faced.
Up next for the Senators? Just your ordinary pivotal match-up against
the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena on Thursday night. Puck drops
at 7:00 Eastern!
Join the Discussion:
»