Saturday, March 14, 2009

Pens and Sens: Live Analysis - Ottawa 4; Pittsburgh 3 (SO)


I thought I'd try my hand at a little in-game analysis, as I tire of my traditional post-game format. The idea didn't come to me until just now and I thus have not done any advertising beforehand, so I don't expect anybody to read it, meaning this is really just a half-baked, fruitless exercise. Nevertheless:

Sens Win. The team is now 36-6-2 when Chris Phillips scores a goal. CBC gives 3 Star Honours to
1) Fleury
2) Phillips
3) Tyler Kennedy.

Phillips really did have a great game, and really earned the accolades.
Given that the Pens were 9-1-1 coming into this one and that they trailed by 2 goals, the Senators can really take pride in this victory.

SENS WIN SHOOTOUT 2-1!

Comrie - SCORES Drags to the glove side, fires it off Fleur's pad and in.
Kunitz - Backhands it over the net
Fisher - Tries to squeeze five hole, Fleury shuts door
Malkin - Stopped low glove side by Elliott's pad
EXTRA SHOOTERS
Ruutu - Stopped blocker side.
Crosby - SCORES Five hole on Elliott
Sykora - Backhand gloveside, gloved by Elliott
Alfredsson - SCORES Out-waits poke check, scored high backhand
Letang- High glove, stopped by Elliott
Shootout
Ottawa: Alfie, Spezza, Ruutu
Pittsburgh: Letang, Crosby, Sykora
End of Overtime.
Wow. That was an exciting 5 minutes. Both teams had quality chances, and it looked like the sens were poised to use their momentum to end it.

1:05 Spezza breaks free on the counter attack. Takes a shot to the head going to the net, curls back but can't find a pass.

1:15 2-on1 For Crosby and Malkin, but Elliott stops a high Malkin snapper.

2:00 Fisher gets two chances in front, puck pops out to Lee but Fleury knocks it over the glass.

3:50 Alfie and Comrie both get chances, but Fleury is there.

4:30 Great pass cross crease hits Heatley in the feet, can't covert.

End 3rd Period

0:07 Gonchar accidentally hauls down dany Heatley. 2 for tripping, Ottawa will get a 1;53 4-on-3 powerplay in OT.


0:45 Foligno and Kelly go 2-on-2 with two Pens defenders, but nothing doing.

2:20 Comrie fools Fleury, Fleury over-commits to his right, Comrie shoots left, but Fleury outstretches his left pad and gets some material on it.

4:18 Sykora beats elliott short-side with a slapshot from the right face-off circle, but rings it off the crossbar and out of play

4:36
Fleury stops Daniel Alfredsson on a Senators' 4-on-2 rush.

6:06 Sens Score! 3-3! Heatley's shot produces a weird rebound, Phillips follows up the rush and taps in the rebound. Phillips has jumped into the rush a few times today, and had a chance in the first as a result. He's had a good game. he now has 6 goals this year, and 200 points for his career.

7:40 Ottawa Scores, 3-2 Pens. Foligno rips a shot short-side past Fleury, through traffic. Foligno now has 14 on the season.

8:45 Dean, Gary, and Cassie Campbell just finished singing the praises of Sidney Crosby's autograph signing prowess. Prediction: I feel Staal and Kunitz have been Pittsburgh's best forwards, but Crosby will get first start, because the CBC desperately wants to market a Canadian as the world's premiere hockey talent. I remain unconvinced. Ovechkin is clearly better.

11:13 Elliott stops a high wrister from Kris Letang and swallows up the rebound with two men in blue sweaters on the doorstep. other than the bad first goal, Elliott has been solid.

13:10 Kunitz misses the net on a good chance. The man has had himself a game.

13:54 Anton Volchenkov has a lower-body injuury, will not return. if this is serious, that means the club is now missing Volchenkov, Picard, and Smith for extended periods of time. Will we see Mattia Karlsson in the NHL before the season's out?

15:00 Fleury's penalty ends, 3-minute powerplay for Pittsburgh. Ottawa has been sluggish on the PK. This could be the final nail into the coffin.

16:00 Gonchar takes a high stick right in front of his net, goes down in a heap, and is VERY slow to get up. Substantial blood loss, possible missing teeth. Heatley is the culprit, will serve 4 for high sticking. Ottawa's powerplay is over.

17:00 Fleury stops a Comrie shot. Neil stops in front of Fleury, and Fleury gives him the blocker in the back of his recently-injured leg. Brouhaha ensues. Fleury gets the only penalty, Ottawa gets their 6th chance on the man advantage.

17:33 Powerplay over. Bad angle shot (gloved down by Fleury) from Alfredsson that was likely too high to hit the net was Ottawa's best chance

19:02 Gonchar gets a chincey hooking penalty for laying his stick on Ryan Shannon. Penguins spend the first 30 seconds of the powerplay dumping the puck into the Sens' end.

Start Thrid Period.

Intermission Notes:

The CBC is running a nice feature on Brian Kilrea. Some fun Kilrea facts:

  • Apparently Kilrea was a restaurant manager when he was hired as the coach of your Ottawa 67s.

  • The 67s have only missed the playoffs once in Kilrea's 34 seasons behind the bench.

  • Considers the hilights of his career in order: 1) Being inducted into the HHOF 2) Winning the Memorial Cup coaching his hometown team, in his own barn.

  • Killer is an Anne Murray fan...
End 2nd. Tough frame for the Sens. They gave up two goals and, despite having a couple powerplays, were outclassed by the Pens when it came to the man advantage. Shots: 11-10 Pittsburgh.

1:34 3-1 Pens. Campoli turns the puck over, creating a Penguins 2-on-1. Matt Cooke feeds Tyler Kennedy, ol' Pig Nose goes roof daddy on the cross-crease pass.

3:43 Elliott stops a rolling Guerin shot from the slot. Once again, no rebound.

4:10 Jesse Winchester hooks Jordan Staal. Receives the aptly named hooking minor.

6:00 Elliott then stops Kris Letang point blank, allows no rebound. Strong. Cassie Campbell mentions that Maxime Talbot and Tyler Kennedy have had luck scoring after spitting on their stick blades. dean mentions that it's a known statistical fact that the Penguins are "the top saliva team in the league." Classic Dean humour.

6:40 Elliott stops Tyler Kenedy and Jordan Staal on a 2-on-1. 3-on-2 for Ottawa ensues, Heatley fires the puck wide.

7:25 I've always wondered: How, exactly, did Cotton Eye Joe inhibit that guy from getting married way back when?

8:20 Dean and Gary discuss Penguins coach Dan Bylsma's nickname - "Disco Dan." Galley does not reveal its origins, but I sense it sprouts from some combination of a bad moustache, a perm, and plaid pants.

8:50 Kunitz has been busy. He hits Kelly from behind. Phillips comes to Kelly's dence, then Crosby gets involved. He presumably plans to whine at such a high pitch as to puncture Phillip's ear drums, removing him from play.

9:10 Kunitz fans on a one timer off a Crosby pass, then redirects a Gonchar shot.

10:00 Comrie gets sent off for elbowing during the scramble.

10:30 Jordan Staal's line whack at a loose puck in the slot in front of Brian elliot. Dean bust out a "scraaambllle".

10:55 Comrie gets a hot on goal as Ottawa's powerplay ends with a whimper.

13:00 Sens back on the powerplay. Fedetenko for high-sticking. Was too busy fuming about Crosby's smile to notice waht happened.

14:04 2-1 Pittsburgh. Crosby converts on a cross crease pass from Mark Eaton, putting the puck into a half empty net. I hate his pre-pubescent goal triumph smile almost as much as I hate Mats Sundin's stupid celebratory mouthguard smile. If you are a true Leaf hater, you know what I'm talking about.

14:35 The Sens pepper Fleury with chances with some sustained pressure, but Maxime "Superstar" Talbot eases the pressure with the clearance.

16: 15 Pascale Dupuis takes his second penalty of the afternoon, tripping Brian Lee behind Ottawa's net. I'm sure Dan Bylsma is thrilled.

17:20 Neil throws a hit on Mark Eaton, but then gets hit from behind into the boards by Evgeni Malkin and is slow to get up. He Looks OK though

17:50 Elliott swallows up a Peter Sykora slap shot.

19:00 CBC just showed a shot of Fleury thanking his goal posts. Ottawa hit them three times during the first, so I understand that Fleury was feeling relieved, but I always caution against reliance and/or outward display of affection towards inanimate objects.

Start 2nd Period

Intermission Highlights:

Anonymous Commentor: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/ should have a stream up and running. Let me know if you can't get it to work and I'll see what I can find for you.

Ron Maclean, PJ Stock and Kelly Hrudey are engaged in the kind of highly refined intellectual discourse we've come to expect from them. Stock may be one of the few people currently on Television who has worse mastery of the English language than Gary Galley. In his defence, Galley is an excellent colour commentator who clearly knows a lot about the game, but struggles in expressing his views.

Stock, however, cannot keep pace with the intermission highlight package he reads every week due to his painful bumbling delivery. He also just argued that a reverse on the breakout, clearly shown by Ron and Kelly, was not a reverse. Ron and Kelly scolded him.

End 1st. Exciting first period. it looked like the Penguins were going to throttle the Senators early on, but Ottawa bounced back. Shots: 9-7 Pittsburgh.

2:00 Gary Galley analyzes the powerplay that was, and makes absolutely no sense. "The posts are the goaltender's best friend, but he might have used them all up there!" "The Senators made some nice seams and creating some perimeter." Excuse me?

3:06 Maligned defenceman Filip Kuba breaks up a shorthanded 2-on-1

3:50 Alfie hits the post. Puck bounes out, Sens recover, the Heatley hits it.

4:15 Spezza shoots wide on an opportunity. He should totally be traded.

4:28 Dupuis knocks Foligno down away from the puck. 5-on-3 Ottawa.

5:40 Kunitz trips Nick Foligno as Foligno crosses the Pittsburgh blue-line. 2 for Tripping, Sens Powerplay.

6:20 Rob Scuderi dives on his belly to break up a Pizza-line rush. Nice play by the Alfie, Heatley, and Spezza are off to a good start in this one.

8:31 Heatley rips a one-timer but Fleury gets a pad on it. Dean gets excited.

11:12 Sens Score, 1-1. Chris Campoli sends a seeing eye shot from the point past Fleury. Right off the draw inside the Pens' end, reinforcing the underrated importance of face-offs. The goal gives Campoli 8 points in his first 11 games as a Senator.

13:20 Good chance for Comrie on the breakaway. Looked like Fleury caught it with his mask.

14:00 Pens Score, 1-0 Pitt. You know you've surrendered a bad goal when: 1) It's scored by Eric Goddard. 2) It's scored from behind the net.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there is live broadcast ??

Andy said...

if the game is on CBC, as it was tonight, CBC.ca has a live stream.