The Ottawa Senators are officially in a funk and it's going to take doing the little things correctly to get their game together. In what has become all too familiar for Sens fans lately, the Senators were guilty of timely turnovers, poor defensive zone coverage and a lack of desperation in a 3-2 shootout loss to the NY Islanders.
As of late, the Senators opposition have played with more passion, desire and desperation in their game. This is something that is lacking in a HUGE way when it comes to the play of Ottawa. Teams are giving the Sens their best shot every night and this Ottawa team needs to elevate their TEAM play if they are to get back to their winning ways.
Tonight was no different than what has transpired lately when watching the Senators. The forwards must step up their play defensively and give the defense the help they need. Taking shortcuts only leads to quality chances by the opposition and that is exactly what has happened of late.
The Islanders had the perfect recipe for success tonight. They got an outsanding performance from their goaltender Rick DiPietro and played a patient TEAM game. Congrats on a very nice win!
When looking at the boxscore you can't help but notice the 17 giveaways and the poor results in the faceoff circle. The NYI won 35 faceoffs compared to 23 by Ottawa. All of this leads to is Ottawa chasing the opposition for possession of the puck. It allows no flow to the game nor does it allow the Senators players to use their strengths and that is attacking the opposition by capitalizing on turnovers. The Senators are not skating hard through the neutralize zone, whereas when the Sens were successful in the early part of the season, Ottawa created chances by using their transition game.
Many players were guilty of poor play tonight. The problem is, where do you start?
When is Ray Emery going stop getting lost in his crease? Honestly, his fundamentals have been awful. He is terrible post to post as NYI beat him short side, something that goes all the way back to the playoffs 2 years ago against the TB Lightning when they constantly tried to beat Emery short side. Emery does not communicate with his defense nearly as well as Martin Gerber and it shows. How many times does he wander out of his crease only to play the puck to the backhand of the defensemen? This makes it difficult for the defensemen to gather his feet and adjust, therefore causing them to overcommit which usually leads to turnovers. Ottawa needs Emery to steal a game for his team much like Gerber did early in the season.
Did Chris Neil play tonight? Oh I forgot he did dress but you would never know it as he consistently leaves his game at home and very rarely brings the same type of effort on the road.
Seven turnovers from the Sens number one line has to change.
Joe Corvo needs to simplify his game and gain some much needed confidence.
Mike Fisher needs to shoot more and bury some of his chances. He has now gone 11 games without a goal and 6 games without a point. Much more is expected from Fisher and he needs to start producing.
The usually reliable 4th line was horrible tonight going a combined minus 5! Ouch! Here is hoping they rebound with a big game tonight.
On a positive note, I thought Nick Foligno had a strong game tonight which was nice to see. Hopefully he continues to show why he belongs at the NHL level.
As far what needs to happen for a Sens win on Thursday night, well......actually ALOT of things need to change for tonight or the Nashville Predators will walk out of Scotiabank Place with a win. It all starts with TEAM commitment and getting solid defensive play. A full sixty minute effort would be nice to see!
It will be interesting to see who starts in goal for Ottawa tonight.
Lastly, John Paddock has to give up on using Dany Heatley and Dean McAmmond in the shootout. Both players just shoot quickly and don't do much else in the way of being creative in trying to score. Give some other players a shot rather than have the same guys fail in the shootout.
Now onto another issue and I have said this before, regardless if Gerber would be coming off the bench cold, use Gerber in the shootout rather than Emery. Gerber is an angles goalie and the shootout plays to his strengths. At times Emery looks good in the shootout but too many times the puck is in the net before he reacts. He gives the shooter way too much of the net to shoot at. How many shootouts has Emery ever won in a Sens uniform? ONE! In his third full season with Ottawa and he has but one shootout win, that speaks volumes. By the way that lone shootout win come last year in Montreal on Oct. 14th.
Ottawa Senators talk will be back on Thursday from Noon-1pm EST. Guests are Don Brennan from the Ottawa Sun and Michael Sharp from The Press and Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, NY to talk some Baby Sens news. Hope you can all listen in! In the meantime, if you want to vent, reply to the blog or if you want to be heard I will be reading e-mails throughout the show on Thursday so be sure to drop me an e-mail. Better yet give us a call at 1-724-444-7444 ID # 56129.
Kevin
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