For only the second time this season - and the first time in regulation - the Senators beat the hated Toronto Maple Leafs. While there was no return of Martin Gerber, the game play was fairly mundane, and the rivals lacked the intensity of meetings past... well I can't find a positive to finish that thought. Still, always nice to beat the Leafs. Both teams had their moments in what was a pretty even game as both teams finished with 26 shots. Jason Smith (lower body injury) and Filip Kuba (flu) missed this one, meaning Brian Lee was called up from the AHL on an emergency basis.The Senators played a fairly strong first period, outshooting Toronto 11-8. Dany Heatley had two solid chances in the final second of the period: a blistering one-timer that veteran goaltender Curtis Joseph somehow got a pad on, and a shovelled shot that hit the post. Chris Campoli (post) and call-up Peter Regin (Joseph) both failed to score on quality chances as well.
The second frame of this one was god-awful boring for the first 15 minutes or so. The Maple Leafs probably had the edge in play, pinning the Senators in their own end for a stretch of 2-3 minutes in the middle of the period. Captian Daniel Alfredsson brought the Senators even with 4:46 left to go in the middle stanza, capitalizing on an Ian White turnover from a broken play, beating a defender, and putting a floating slapper from a rolling puck short side past Joseph. Heatley tipped an Anton Volchenkov slap shot in the high slot to put Ottawa up by one just before the intermission.
Then there was Chris Phillips brushing away teammate Jesse Winchester like a father restraining his four year old son from an inexplicably attractive dead bird on the sidewalk. The incident followed a Winchester hit from behind on Nikolai Kulemin that drew quite the crowd. Winchester tried to get at Brad May while May was being restrained by the referee, and Phillips stepped in to remove his compatriot from the fray. In a league where grown men are willing to engage in a (often mindless) retaliatory physical altercation with their opponent regardless of how small a perceived slight they inflicted on their teammate, this was definitely something you don't see every game.
The highlight of the scoreless third period had to be Blue Team coach Ron Wilson’s act of desperation as he had Jason Spezza’s stick measured, resulting in a two minute minor to Spezza with 2:15 left to play. The club seemed to rally around what was somewhat of an underhanded move by Wilson. Wilson’s gamble did not pay off though, as Spezza’s teammates put forth a concerted effort to ensure he did not wear the goat horns following a Leafs' game for the second time in nine days. Daniel Alfredsson and Jarkko Ruutu both created turnovers and alleviated what pressure Toronto built in their team’s end, as the Leafs failed to register a scoring chance up a man. A very solid kill.
My three stars in this one were as follows:
1) Daniel Alfredsson: Great on the PK, scored a goal on a fine individual effort. Best player on the ice tonight. (1G)
2) Curtis Joseph: With the leafs outshot and out chanced through two, Joseph kept this one close. The Sens could easily have tied this one during the first period were it not for his heroics. (24 saves on 26 shots)
3) Dany Heatley: Had multiple scoring chances, was effective in the offensive zone. (GWG)
Speaking of Heatley, he has been an absolute juggernaut against Toronto in his career. Put him down for 27 goals and 23 assists in 37 career games against the Leafs. Alfredsson now has 60 points in 61 career regular season games against the Blue and White, while Jason Spezza has 35 assists to go with 8 goals in 34 games against his boyhood heroes. Kind of makes you wish these guys were together during those four playoff showdowns with the Blue Team, though there's a good chance they would have been felled by the same mix of confidence issues, Ed Belfour and/or Curtis Joseph that stymied the group played in those series.
Mike Comrie was also impressive in this one. He made a nice play to set up the maligned Christoph Schubert, and created a turnover or two to put the Leafs back on their heels. While he did not register a point, Comrie made smart plays with the puck and showed good patience in the offensive zone. Comrie finished with one shot on goal in 15:43 of ice time.
Christoph Schubert returned from the press box to show us all why he has spent so much time there. Schubert made a variety of his patented mistakes. On the defensive, Schubert got caught pinching to hit lay a check on a Leaf forward who had long rid himself of the puck, resulting in an odd man rush in which Schubert was the odd man out. The foul up allowed Ian White to walk in on Brain Elliott unmolested and squeak a one timed wrist shot through the rookie’s pads. The two-time German Olympian did not contain his blunders to the defensive aspects of the game, however. Set up for a beautiful scoring opportunity by Mike Comrie, Schubert ripped the puck wide of the net. He did recover the puck shortly afterwards with a shooting lane, and repeated his trademark move. This all occurred in his staggering 4:14 of first-period ice-time. Schubert would play 14:42, last amongst Ottawa defencemen, was the only player on the team with a minus rating, and led the team with 4 shots that did not find the net.The Sens wrap up their nine game home stand Wednesday night when they host the Tampa Bay Lighting and first-year member of the team
I will leave you with an interesting stat:
3 Game Winning Streaks Under Craig Hartsburg: 0.
3 Game Winning Streaks Under Cory Clouston: 2.
I'm just saying...
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