A win is a win, but...
It never should have been that close. Mike Fisher's goal in overtime to seal the victory 3-2 over the Islanders generated a huge sigh of relief. But in the end, it came down to the play of Matt Carkner, Chris Neil, Peter Regin, and Pascal Leclaire. Without those four, the game was blown out of the water.
Carkner, who has been cooling his heels in the minors for the past eight years, seemed to find his stride last night, scoring a goal and an assist. He made key plays, thrrew his body around and scored the Sens' second goal of the night by following one simple lesson that other Senators should have learned by now: put the puck on the net. Yes, it was a flukie goal, no it was not a thing of beauty, but a goal is a goal is a goal. A prime example of this was a great play by Kovalev to Foligno in the second period with Kovalev faking a shot and passing the puck between his legs to a waiting Foligno behind. The simple thing for Foligno to do would have been to shoot. But Foligno tried for the extra pass back to Kovalev and the play fizzled away to nothing.
Chris Neil was a monster, offensively and defensively. I can't remember the last time I have seen him play so well, stealing pucks in the offensive zone, keeping control along the boards and behind the net, throwing monster checks, backchecking like crazy and stealing pucks in the defensive zone, and putting the puck on the net. Neil truly deserved the recognition he got as second star for the night.
Leclaire continues to impress the hell out of me. His save on John Tavares late in the second was nothing short of spectacular, the pad coming out of nowhere to rob Tavares. To be fair, both goalies were good, with Biron making some spectacular saves as well to rob Spezza and then Kovalev of nearly certain goals.
Don't get me wrong, the Senators played well and pushed hard. But there was just a little too much attempt at perfect plays. All Senators goals were the result of crashing on net or just putting the puck on net. SImple stuff. On the upside, the lines are starting to click and the Isles looked literally swamped in the first period. Hope it continues.
Carkner, who has been cooling his heels in the minors for the past eight years, seemed to find his stride last night, scoring a goal and an assist. He made key plays, thrrew his body around and scored the Sens' second goal of the night by following one simple lesson that other Senators should have learned by now: put the puck on the net. Yes, it was a flukie goal, no it was not a thing of beauty, but a goal is a goal is a goal. A prime example of this was a great play by Kovalev to Foligno in the second period with Kovalev faking a shot and passing the puck between his legs to a waiting Foligno behind. The simple thing for Foligno to do would have been to shoot. But Foligno tried for the extra pass back to Kovalev and the play fizzled away to nothing.
Chris Neil was a monster, offensively and defensively. I can't remember the last time I have seen him play so well, stealing pucks in the offensive zone, keeping control along the boards and behind the net, throwing monster checks, backchecking like crazy and stealing pucks in the defensive zone, and putting the puck on the net. Neil truly deserved the recognition he got as second star for the night.
Leclaire continues to impress the hell out of me. His save on John Tavares late in the second was nothing short of spectacular, the pad coming out of nowhere to rob Tavares. To be fair, both goalies were good, with Biron making some spectacular saves as well to rob Spezza and then Kovalev of nearly certain goals.
Don't get me wrong, the Senators played well and pushed hard. But there was just a little too much attempt at perfect plays. All Senators goals were the result of crashing on net or just putting the puck on net. SImple stuff. On the upside, the lines are starting to click and the Isles looked literally swamped in the first period. Hope it continues.
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