Sens vs. Pens Game 2 - 7:00 Puck Drop

The Sens are in Pittsburgh tonight taking on Crosby and his (not so) merry men in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals.

Crosby cowers at the might of Wade Redden's right hook!

After the 4-0 loss on Wednesday, it's time for these guys to put on their boots and go to work. If we're going to have a chance in this series, we need this game. Gerber needs to play like he did from the post-2 minute mark onwards (so, without the first goal), and the team needs to play a harder hitting, blue collar, in your face kind of game.

My suggestion? (Because Bryan Murray should certainly listen to a guy who hasn't played organized hockey in over a decade) Scratch Randy Robitaille and dress Brian McGrattan. Not for McGrattan's fighting (or is puck handling skills really), but more because Robitaille has no place on the top line. He doesn't have the skills that Spezza or Heatley has, and he's even less interested in getting physical. If anything, he's hurting those two by not holding them accountable for their lack of physical play. Put Neil (well, the Neil who doesn't disappear on the road), or Lapointe out there with them, and I think those two guys would get a little gritier and might produce a little more.

EDIT: This post was definitely completed before I heard Murray's new line combo's. Glad to hear he's mixing it up and putting Lapointe with the top line. Also glad to know I have what it takes to be an NHL head coach (if this works out anyway).

Now, speaking of Crosby, I certainly don't condone the suggestion made by local sports writer Don Brennan, who suggested that the Sens take certain liberties with Crosby's injured ankle. Mind you, maybe if we send Robitaille out there, it's a way to get rid of Robitaille AND Crosby...

Kidding! But seriously, while I am wow'ed by Crosby's skills, the guy has to shut up some time. People talk about Cryin' Bryan? How about (insert witty rhyming word here that means whiny) Crosby?

Prediction: Sens win, 4-2. Goals by McAmmond, Phillips, Spezza, and Heatley (all while channeling the spirit of Daniel Alfredsson).

Licking the wounds...

Am I late to the blogging game? Probably yes, but hey, with the playoffs here and the Sens playing like they want to be criticized, I figured I'd jump on the "arm-chair-quarterback" bandwagon.

After watching the game last night, I'll say this - good on the Pens for winning game one. That being said, I don't think anyone predicted Ottawa to sweep the series. I'm still convinced we can win, especially with Darth Gerber returning to form. Some may ask "So returning to form means allowing four goals???" But in the last few months, there were often times when you could fault Gerber for many of the Senator goals. In last nights game, I'd argue that while the first goal was soft, he didn't really have much of a chance/support on the rest. I think that this will give the players confidence heading into game 2.

I may be reaching for straws here, but hey, do you blame me??

Update on A-Train: Team 1200 was reporting this morning on the drive-in show that he'll be back next game. This is pretty incredible if you look at the quote from the guys at The Pensblog:

"Unfortunately for the Sens, a potentially momentum-changing save by Gerber on Hossa was wiped out when Anton Volchenkov took a Evgeni Malkin slapshot to the head.

With all the hate we have for the Senators, you don't want to see players hurt.

Don't care who you are, that's not good.

If a normal personal gets hit by that puck, they're dead."

Fortunately for us, the one thing Volchenkov HASN'T been accused of is being 'normal'.

Oh, and Gary Roberts... why? What did we ever do to you? You know what? I don't care - fuck you! Fuck you Gary Roberts!


Anyway, I hope we stick around long enough for me to throw out my useless comments about the team that people start reading it!