Best loss so far!
What? What's so good about a loss? Well for one, at least the offense was there. Yup, someone is definitely reading this blog (and humility is my strongest quality).
The problem is I only concentrated on the offensive in my last blog: passing, shooting and hitting the net. The Sens did that against the Stars, tallying a 29 shots on goal, crashing the net, activating the D, all great offensive things and it paid off with 4 goals. The big guys came up aces... well one big guy, Jason Spezza, with his first hat trick of the season. It's regrettable the whole game was lost on a missed slashing call on Jarkko Ruutu which resulted in the Stars winning goal.
So the offense was on, and that's good: that's half the battle. But the Senators don't score enough goals anymore to allow themselves to forget about the D-zone. Nope, and that's where they're not doing: all the things they did so well during their streak. They're pushing and shoving along the boards, but they're not hitting. You have to make the opposition pay, and pay dearly for coming into your zone. You have to deny the line, and that means playing the man, not the puck. Yes that hurts, but it will hurt the opposition more.
The Sens are not hungry enough for the puck, and need to win more battle along the boards. The Sens also need to fold back faster, which they used to do so well during their winning streak. That means skating faster, and staying with your man at all costs. Finally, there needs to be no fear of the check on the Sens part. Erik Karlsson reminded me of Wade Redden at times, playing the puck fast enough to avoid the checks of an incoming Steve Ott, which resulted in a goal. Karlsson needs to take that check. He needs to understand that while someone is checking him, that same someone can't access the puck.
The Senators also need to pay the opposition back in kind. A little physicality, in the D-zone as well as the O-zone, will go a long way to make the Sens a little more "feared", especially with the playoffs looming. A "tough" rep is a good thing to have.
The problem is I only concentrated on the offensive in my last blog: passing, shooting and hitting the net. The Sens did that against the Stars, tallying a 29 shots on goal, crashing the net, activating the D, all great offensive things and it paid off with 4 goals. The big guys came up aces... well one big guy, Jason Spezza, with his first hat trick of the season. It's regrettable the whole game was lost on a missed slashing call on Jarkko Ruutu which resulted in the Stars winning goal.
So the offense was on, and that's good: that's half the battle. But the Senators don't score enough goals anymore to allow themselves to forget about the D-zone. Nope, and that's where they're not doing: all the things they did so well during their streak. They're pushing and shoving along the boards, but they're not hitting. You have to make the opposition pay, and pay dearly for coming into your zone. You have to deny the line, and that means playing the man, not the puck. Yes that hurts, but it will hurt the opposition more.
The Sens are not hungry enough for the puck, and need to win more battle along the boards. The Sens also need to fold back faster, which they used to do so well during their winning streak. That means skating faster, and staying with your man at all costs. Finally, there needs to be no fear of the check on the Sens part. Erik Karlsson reminded me of Wade Redden at times, playing the puck fast enough to avoid the checks of an incoming Steve Ott, which resulted in a goal. Karlsson needs to take that check. He needs to understand that while someone is checking him, that same someone can't access the puck.
The Senators also need to pay the opposition back in kind. A little physicality, in the D-zone as well as the O-zone, will go a long way to make the Sens a little more "feared", especially with the playoffs looming. A "tough" rep is a good thing to have.
Posted by Zamboni at 3/21/2010 7:05 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Jason Spezza Jarkko Ruutu Ottawa Senators Dallas Stars Pascal Leclaire Erik Karlsson
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Jason Spezza Jarkko Ruutu Ottawa Senators Dallas Stars Pascal Leclaire Erik Karlsson
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