The Sens, The Pens Plus
A Couple Of Friends
By Jason Reed
The Ottawa Senators
12/7/2007 -- LONG BEACH, CA -- Something seemed to happen to summer in Ottawa this year. I don’t know if anyone reported it missing at the time. I mean, that is the sort of thing that one would miss—a summer in the Canadian capitol. Why do I, a humble scribe residing in Long Beach, CA, believe that an entire season simply disappeared? Easy. The Ottawa Senators.
When we saw the Senators last spring they were on fire. They carved their way through the Eastern Conference and the way they were playing, I would not have been at all surprised if they had shot down the high-flying Ducks and taken the Cup. Fast-forward to the fall and these same Senators started with the exact swagger, fire and energy that they exhibited in the spring. They started this season 16-3 and it truly looked as if this team never stepped off the ice—hence, the missing summer in Ottawa.
But, after their 16-3 run they Sens have stumbled a bit and are currently 3-5-3 in their last 11 games. They won in Florida the other night and that helped the team but they squeaked by with a final score of 5-4 and Bryan Murray will need to figure out what tinkering—if any—needs to be done with his roster. These guys will be fine come the stretch drive and the post season and I think that this is more of a short winter vacation to make up for their lost summer than anything else.
The Pittsburgh Penguins
This was supposed to be the year that Sid, Evgeni, Staal, Fleury and company were to make a bigger mark on the NHL. Last year this team showed a lot of promise with a young, talented nucleus and some good veterans mixed in. But this season’s 14-12 record through 26 games should worry coach Michel Therrien. He has better talent than what he is seeing right now. If the season were to end today the Pens would slide in with the 7 seed and would face the Carolina Hurricanes.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is barely over .500 (9-8-1) with a save percentage barely over .900 (.902) and with a goals against just under 3 (2.90). These are simply average numbers in the NHL and Therrien needs to find a way to light a fire under these kids because I truly believe that if Mario Lemieux can keep together a core group of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury that these guys can win a Cup or three.
A Couple Of Friends
Scott Niedermayer is back in Anaheim skating with former Duck Jeff Friesen while his teammates are on a three game road trip in Chicago, Nashville and Columbus. Niedermayer won’t start practicing with the rest of the team until Tuesday as the team prepares for three games at home against Vancouver, Minnesota and San Jose. Many feel that Niedermayer will play against Vancouver next Wednesday but I would like to see him wait until Friday. I think he needs a couple more days with the team before he steps on the ice. I know that he is “Scott Niedermayer” but even Gretzky needed time in the pre-season to get his game together.
Things must be nice in the desert. They certainly seem to be for goalie Ilya Bryzgalov who posted his first loss in five games with the Phoenix Coyotes. Folks love him in the desert and he has to be thrilled to be a starter and not have to back up Jiggy. So, things are good in the desert for Ilya. Not so much for Alex Auld, the guy who was the number one in Phoenix before Bryz came to town.
Auld was shipped off to Boston for forward Nate DiCasmirro and a 5th rounder in 2009. I don’t think that anyone ever expected Auld to be the permanent solution in Phoenix but could anyone have foreseen just how little they would get in return for him?
While I’m sure that fans of the Ducks wish they had Bryzgalov as their backup I am sure most of these same people are happy that he is getting his rightful chance to be a number one. Don’t forget that he started in net for the Ducks during last year’s playoffs and he was the one who helped set the tone and set the pace for all that followed.
Good luck in Phoenix Ilya and I would really like to see a Phoenix/Anaheim match up in the post season so that we could see Jiggy V Bryz. How sweet would that be?
EMAIL JASON:
JASON@REEDWRITING.NET
No-holds barred takes on the game from JR
More:
Eric Lindros to the Hall of Fame? Yeah, Right...
