As has been the case so many times this season, it was Erik Karlsson that paced the Sens offensive attack. Karlsson picked up the game's first goal and his 13th of the year, converting a nifty pass from Jason Spezza to give the Sens another early lead.
Then on the second Ottawa goal, it was Karlsson again, finding Milan Michalek with an incredible bank pass that sprung the speedy forward. Michalek made an nifty move through the legs of a hapless Dennis Wideman and beat Vokoun for what had to be one of the nicest goals all year. Michalek's unique celebration made the goal that much more entertaining.
With the Sens up 2-0 and on the power play, a fake slap shot by Karlsson opened up the lane and Karlsson point shot deflected off Michalek and in. Ottawa was in complete control.
In the midst of his offensive clinic, Erik Karlsson notched his 47th assist and set the Sens franchise record for assists by a defenceman, eclipsing the record set by Norm MacIver. With 60 points on the season, Karlsson finds himself in the Top 10 in league scoring, 20 points clear of the next defenceman and just three points back MacIver's record for points by a defenceman.
Fans and media in Ottawa have been talking about Erik Karlsson for the Norris Trophy for the past month or so but last night he finally got some league wide recognition from the TSN Panel. Impossible to exclude him from the conversation at this point.
It was brief, but after last night's win the Senators temporarily pulled even with the Boston Bruins for first in the Northeast. Unfortunately Boston won in St. Louis and regained the two point lead heading into Saturday night's showdown.
Should be a good one!
- Mentioned this on Twitter but will pass it along on here as well. On Friday, March 2, we'll be holding another SensChirp Event at the Local Heroes on Clyde Avenue. For just $60 bucks you get a 300 level ticket to the game against the Chicago Blackhawks, $15 worth of food and transportation to and from the game. Not to mention a chance to mingle with some SensChirp readers. Call 613 224 3873 to book your spot. Space is limited!
- Just received an email from saying that Chris Phillips, Matt Carkner, Peter Regin and Craig Anderson will be signing autographs to help raise money and awareness for this year's CN Bike for CHEO. Attendees are encouraged to make a donation to the CN Bike for CHEO in exchange for an autograph. The event is tonight from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Jim Keay Ford Dealership at 1438 Youville Drive.
- Another item to bring your attention to. Ever found yourself watching a Saturday night Sens game in non-HD and wondered, there has got to be a better way?! Well these guys have the answer. Check out this site and find out how you can let the CBC know we want CBC Ottawa in HD!
So if you're BM and you traded for Anderson last year; Anderson came in (rushed to get to his first game half-way through), played his heart out at the end of the year; you signed him to a three year deal; Anderson is one of the biggest reasons the team is ahead of schedule on the rebuild and in the playoff mix - making you look like a genius ....
And then he gets hurt and you just trade him away and put all your eggs in the Bernier basket?
Cold man.
@Mark - You do understand that having two home games in the playoffs doesn't make anyone rich right?
Who exactly will the blame be on, in all seriousness: The shitty back up, the inexperienced rookie, or the no.1 who hurt himself off the ice? You and I know, the fans will eat this one up like crazy should we bomb the final month of play. There's ALWAYS blame to go around, just look at what we have put Spezza through. You can't say everyone will be all chill with our goalies costing us the opportunity to get into the playoffs.
We weren't projected to make the playoffs, and going out this way would be a swift kick in the nuts.. Heres to hoping the guys play lights out for the next few weeks
Do you think it's easy for Murray to lure UFAs to a boring, government town in a small market with a library for an arena? Not to mention you get all that but still have the pressure you get playing in Toronto or Montreal from the fan base and the media. You want him to make life even harder by bailing on players at the drop of a hat?
If so, get ready to sign a million more Kovalevs for more money/term than other teams are offering and forget about getting anyone really good without paying double what he's worth and demanding a NMC. I guess we could just hope to draft well ... but then lose them when they become RFAs and want the heck out before the GM stabs them in the back.
Yeah I know - it's a business right? They should be okay with having to relocate their families with no notice or being treated like cattle. Maybe Burke thinks he can get away with that sitting in Toronto or the Candiens can but smaller markets can't.
Look at Detroit - would they treat players like that? And nearly every NHLer wants to play there - hmmmmmmm.
I'm not saying you never trade guys but players notice when a player goes from home-town hero to getting bailed on overnight due to an injury.
You make it sound like the players don't know how they're treated when they jump into the big leagues. There's a reason why some players have NTC and others don't. Equal treatment? Forget that. Unless you're a star, a star who's pretty much turned around your franchise or is the face of your franchise, every other player is just support for that star.
As an employee and athlete of a major sporting league, whether it be NHL or NBA, you come in knowing your employer at the end of the day, is trying to build a contender.
$2M cash in gate (and no player salaries to make it) - another 1000 seasons tickets for 2012/13 at $4000 a pop ($400K) and a 5-8% increase over last years season ticket revenue ($3.4M) (- thats about $5.8M - in my books that makes someone rich (or more accurately, "richer") doesn't it? Wake up sucker
The point is when Melnyk & Murray made up 'their plan' -- the playoffs were probably the last thing on their minds in the first year. They are far ahead of where the re-build was supposed to be... Yes if they can't stay in the playoffs that would be awful for the players and the fans.... I can't see Murray mortgaging the future for another goaltender when he would not be a guarantee of making the playoffs. Say they give up Stone and a 1st for a goalie and Spezza or Karlsson gets hurt.. (god forbid) then the playoffs are definitely out no matter who was in net and they just traded away part of the future.
Stay the course... keep the re-build... let's hope the Sens can go .500 and Anderson is only out about 4 weeks and not the 8 weeks it could take.
They were comparing stone to Ryan clowe the other day but saying stone has higher end skill level- I'm not convinced he'll make the squad next year but he'll make it at some point for sure!
Stone
Petersson
Silfverberg
Zibanejad
Boro cop
Weircoch
Grant
Are all expected to become full time NHL players at some point
"home-town hero" - "UFA's wanting to sign in Montreal" - What colour is the sky in your world? Ottawa signed Hossa and flipped him 2 hrs later - do you think he knew hat when he signed? Wake up and smell the coffee.
Murray simply needs a "plan" on the outside chance Anderson is out for more then 4 weeks - end of story. We can't go into the last 20 games with Auld and Lehner - I hope Lehner comes in and stands on his head but a good GM has a Plan B - if that be turns out to be Bernier then all the better. An embarrassment of riches in he NHL is never a bad thing. We can afford a little insurance in goal right now.
You know we could have avoided this if Murray actually went out and grabbed a decent back-up with a higher ceiling, as opposed to having a back-up just for the sake of having one a.k.a filling a spot.
Anyone else would have been fine, hell he could have grabbed Theodore or Biron. But he went out and grabbed Alex Auld.
The reason people are in panic mode is the lack of faith in our back up, and we have good reason to have very little faith. Like I mentioned a few posts back, many teams have great tandems in net, it's what we're seeing more and more in the NHL. Sure, a back up only plays once a month, if that, but I'd rather have a back up end the season with a say 10-10 record as opposed to a 5-15. That's 5 wins, 10 points, towards the standings.
Have you forgotten?
Emery is a rock star. Small town Ottawa don't like that.
Next suggestion?
Quoting TheBoss:
Ty Conklin :)
You're forgetting that good business means following a good business plan. Ours if a long term one, three years to be specific. No way BM would waste valuable prospects and picks for a fringe number one.
I guess we'll see won't we - never say never - my money is on us having a new NHL experienced goalie in our system by end of Trade deadline Monday. Who it is and what they cost remains to be seen.
http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2011/11/09/2012-nhl-free-agents-unrestricted-goalies/
Not even sure who may be available for a bargain price that would be better than Auld/Lehner.
so Emery it is - unless we can get Brodeur :)
Murray did not expect to be in a playoff position. This was all about player development this year. Melnyk wanted to be near the cap floor -- that is probably why Auld was signed. Murray said it would be Lehner if Anderson got hurt and Auld understood that.
Don't you think for a minute if Murray, at the beginning of the season, thought this team would make the playoffs that he would not have signed a better backup.. of course he would have... They only wanted a backup for 1 yr.. maybe those other ones you mentioned wanted longer term and Murray did not want that.
This team surprised everybody.. and nobody would have predicted this injury....
I agree that Silfverberg is more NHL ready. However you got to also notice that Zibanejad is putting up points for a extremely low scoring team, and Djurgarden is the second worst team in the league right now. Ideally i would love to see both of them make it next year.
Lol Djurgarden is playing so poor this year that even though Zibanejad has 10 points in 21 games, he has the fourth highest point per game average in his team and he is still 18.
While it started with a post on HF, I confirmed the story with sources, determined the nature of the injury and provided the most accurate estimation of the time line before any media even mentioned the injury.
As a fan, this injury is awful news but I hope that readers realize I was way out front on this one.
Folks that visit the site on a regular basis know I'm not the type to seek accolades but some times people need to give credit where it's due.
Excellent job.
I think everyone is too disturbed by the idea of losing our number one tender to have given credit where credit is due.
Good on you and after reading some of the crap thrown around on the hf boards today, ie. claiming it was a bs story because it came from here, you definately deserve your credit.
cheers
Unleash. The. Lehner.
that is a very good point, glad you brought it up in fact. from what i understand, zibanejad is the face of djurgaden and bascially if he had a team like Brynas, yes he would be a point per game player as well. zibanejad has no support, too many times ive watched him set up incredible palys, bot his line mates cant finish.
silfverberg on the other hand does have calle jarnkrok (red wings 2nd rounder) who i would really love trading for. although calle is out with an injury right now and detroit know damn well how good those 2 players are together, some went as far as comparing their chemistry similar to sedins on some nights (but thats obviously near impossible).
also take into account that zibanejad doesnt always play on the top line. silfverberg obviously is always the go to winger. only difference between the two is silfver always puts the puck in the net with or without support. (due to age/experience)
Chirp you don't need to defend yourself or your site to any of us (Zach excepted).
But full props to you. Your tweet was the first actual confirmation I saw on this and you brought the whole story here as it broke.
Can't help but read the critics. I see posters ripping into me on HF and just wish those same people would come back and acknowledge when it turns out the news was legit. Nature of the business I guess.
I'm not saying you don't trade anyone or that players should be coddled. But I stand by my position that players notice how teams treat them.
Flipping Hossa I guarantee you was remembered by UFAs looking at Ottawa. We've done (or I should say Bryan Murray has done) a good job of erasing that memory and replacing it with signs that Ottawa will reward players for being key parts of the team. Fisher was moved to Nashville out of respect for his contributions over the years. Phillips got the three year deal he was looking for. Neil was allowed to test the market before deciding to sign back here. I could go on.
I don't want to see that ruined for a shot at (how much did Mark say?) - 1000 season tickets? LOL
You don't think we're already going to see an upswing in season tickets based on the way this team has played and how bright the future looks? Do you really think that getting ransomed by LA for Bernier is going to make a major difference in season ticket sales? Bernier will not come cheap. LA knows the market is good for him and if Murray comes asking for him they'll take him to the cleaners.
I said all along if they can get him for a 4th then do it (or some other "bargain") but I don't think we should get into a bidding war for a guy that we just don't NEED long term. At least not as badly as we need another top 4 D or top 6 winger.
You won't agree and that's fine. I'm not saying I'm right and nobody else could possibly be. I'm just saying that nobody was worried about adding another #1 goalie 24 hours ago and Anderson will be 100% long, long, long before the rebuild is over.
Take the same advice us Chripers give everyone else: don't waste your time on the HF boards! Expecting to find class there is like expecting leaf fans to throw us a parade when the Sens win the cup in a few years!
BTW. LEAFS ARE IN 9TH. WOOOO.
Either or, I think this is Lehner's time now. Memeber what he did for Bingo last season in the Calder Cup run?
Let him loose! Let the Lehner era begin!
I visit this site like a million times a day and wouldn't go anywhere else for sens news.
Thank you very much for everything chirp, and keep up the great work man.
Chirp, you have a pretty good following and by no way is this sute like Eklunds at all. All the haters feed off you too. You should take a break for a week and see all the people wish you were back. Personally I would hate it but all the fools on HFBoards would have nothing to bitch about.
Thanks for the great site.
On Saturday, we play at home vs the Big,Bad, Bruins!!
Should see Auld in nets, and I think he can have a great game, and eventually beat the Bruins.
Maybe give Lehner the Islander game on Sunday, so this way, we can evaluate both Auld and Lehner.
Losing Anderson is not good, but our replacement goalies can certainly win us games, and Murray will not go after another insurance goalie, and we should be fine, and still qualify for the playoffs !