A little late getting this up, just couldn't seem to get onto HockeyBuzz this morning. Wierd
Anyways.......
Yesterday Ottawa kicked off 2010 with a big win over the Philadelphia Flyers, lead by Alex Kovalev, Ryan Shannon and Anton Volchenkov.
Kovalev's scoring outburst marked his first goals in his last ten games. Last time he scored a goal was December 12th, when he picked up a hat-trick to break his then 16 game goal-less drought.
This has to be Kovalev's streakiest season in his career, and despite his 5 point night, I can't help but still ask for more (on a consistent basis) out of Kovalev.
He's great at handling the puck, no question, the problem is he usually fires it wide or makes a bad pass with it after. Kovalev hasn't cost us any games, but I can't help but wonder how many games he could have bailed out for Ottawa had he put in a effort like this from Sunday.
Ryan Shannon continued his hot-streak against the Flyer picking up assists on 3 of Kovalev's goals.
There isn't much more to say about Shannon that hasn't already been said. He has been Ottawa's best player since Alfie went down, hopefully he will continue to sustain this pace even when the 'big' guns return.
The game wasn't all good for Ottawa, as Leclaire was yanked after allowing 3 goals on 10 shoots, the only plus for him was he lasted longer Leighton. Leclaire had been playing fairly well since he's returned so hopefully he can bounce back from this showing.
The biggest disappointment of the game came from Campoli (and to a lesser extent Carkner) who was a -3 on the night, and continues to play fairly uninspiring. I'm not a fan of how Picard has played lately but at least when Picard plays he doesn't bring down Carkner's game.
At this point the Sens need to cut their losses with Campoli and dedicate the ice-time to Carkner, Picard and Karlsson.
From here on out, Clouston needs to figure out how to get Michalek, and to a lesser extent Fisher, scoring goals again.
Up next is the Boston Bruins who have had Ottawa's number all season, with two shoot-out wins (both 4-3) and most recently a 2-0 win. Considering how close the games have been and how tight the Northeast Division currently is, the Sens need to figure out how to beat Thomas and the Bruins.
Going to be a tough call flipping between the Sens and the World Jrs.
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A few of you have been asking about Sens rumours, but at the moment there really isn't any of substance.
They aren't after Kovalchuk, they haven't made an offer for Phanuef or even called, Ottawa and Nashville have been scouting each other but no names mentioned yet and the Sens are looking at a couple of NCAA players, but so far haven't made an offer to them.
Mark Christopher
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