Perhaps it was the fact that I posted my blog a little late yesterday. Perhaps the Sens didn't have time to read the last line which I'd conveniently bolded. It said that in order to win, the Senators would have to work (which they did), and stay out of the penalty box!



And so it went that after some hard work and fast, dominating play, the Senators were overtaken by the surging Devils and started taking dumb penalties.. Peter Regin's call for hooking in the neutral zone late in the second finally gave the Devils the ooportunity to crash the net and swarm until the puck hit the twine. Then it was Jesse Winchester who took an elbowing penalty in the offensive zone (dumb-dumb-dumb) that allowed the Devils to even up the score. Finally, it was Chris Campoli's delay of game that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Although the Sens came on hard after that, the Devils started playing their usual trap, and that's was all she wrote. Pascal Leclaire had to be sharp to prevent any further bleeding during the penalties of Chris Neil, Jason Spezza, and Jarkko Ruutu.

All in all, Ottawa got seven minors to New Jersey's three. You can't live on the wrong side of that scale and expect to win many, even with a really good PK. I expect coach Cory Clouston to tan a few hides today. If it was up to me, I'd bench a few. Even more fun might be to send a real wake-up call by having the Sens' goalie serve the two minutes in the box every time it's a stupid penalty. Playing 5-on-5 with no goalie may teach the lesson in an awful hurry. But Clouston will likely only read them the riot act, whcih may be of no use anyway.

Discipline is at the basis of any winning team. I don't make this up, everyone knows it and reads about it every day in the sports pages. Without discipline, the Senators are negating their depth, and handing over the game to their opponents on a 24k gold platter. Might as well not show up.