I expected better from the Senators than a one-point performance. Somehow, I think I should be disappointed: we lost in the shoot-out (again), we had a disappointing 3rd period (again), the big guys didn't score (again), we took penalties at a bad time (again). Strangely, I felt slightly encourage overall, and I thought it was high time to analyze why I would be content with the Senators performance against the Rangers.



First period play was near perfect. Except for a needless penalty to Mike Fisher, and a bad change near the end of the period that could have been costly, the Senators dominated. If it hadn't been for the great play of ex-Sens Wade Redden, the picture could have been much different after 20 minutes. The Sens were doing everything right: putting pucks on goal and hunting for garbage, making long lead passes for breakaways, and winning puck battles. Alexei Kovalev showed us some classic AK-27 moments, sending Jonathan Cheechoo  on a perfect breakaway, and weaving the puck into the offensive zone. Daniel Alfredsson was all over the ice and playing beautifully. As much as Kovalev was know as "L'artiste" in Montreal, Alfie is Ottawa's puck artist; the whole package. He blocked shots, made crucial passes, checked hard and danced to avoid being checked, sometime all on the same puck possession.

The second frame was much the same with domination by the Senators. The Senators drew three penalties from the Rangers and pushed hard. The blueliners got involved on the attack which resulted in Brian Lee's opening goal on a beautiful play from Chris Kelly and Jarkko Ruutu. By pushing and pinching, it was normal that they may get side-stepped, which is exactly what happened to Chris Campoli on New York's short-handed goal. Otherwise, the blueliners were playing shut-down hockey, with veteran Chris Philips being particularly impressive.

The third period was much less satisfying with the Senators somehow losing the pace of the first two frames, reverting to some of their bad old ways. They got too many penalties at the wrong time, negating any rhythm they were trying to establish. They forgot to man the slot and didn't benefit from some huge rebounds off Lundqvist. The defense was a little more porous, giving the Rangers too many chances in the slot. On the last penalty kill of the period, with five mnutes to go, the Senators were overloaded in their own zone. It's only the spectacular play of Brian Elliott and a whole lot of luck that kept the puck out of the net.

In overtime, the Senators once again found a rhythm and were able to spend most of it in the offensive zone. Kudos to the Rangers D for blocking all the shots that could have made it on goal. Once the game went to the shoot-out, well, the results were kind of written in the stars.

The reason I feel good about this one point is that the Sens, as a team played well. There were few deficiencies and they did what they did best, attacking constantly, and peppering Lundqvist with 36 shots, not counting the multitude of shots the Rangers managed to block or deviate by last second stick positioning. Goalie Brian Elliott was rock-solid, and displayed a sometimes magical glove hand. Some of the glove saves he made were tough, but Elly made them look routine. The Senators should see the point as an encouragement to keep on playing this way. This type of hockey is good enough for them to hold their own against any team in the league.