We should be able to beat a slumping Senators team, right?

by Sean Zandberg on Dec 28, 2008 11:23 AM PST Comment 4 comments

The Senators have lost the first 2 games of their season-high 8-game road trip, a 6-3 loss to Calgary last night and a 6-4 loss to Flyers on the 23rd. Ottawa has not won a game on the road in 11 games now (0-9-2). However the Canucks have lost 3 of their last 4 games and are taking a lot of penalties in the process.
-Ottawa is 29th overall in goals per game. The Canucks are 13th.
-The Canucks have allowed fewer goals per game than the Sens.
-Ottawa holds a slight edge in power play efficiency.
-both teams have the same penalty kill percentage.
-both teams are utilizing goalies that are not considered starting netminders. Both goalies could be lit up at any time. How ironic that the last time the Senators came to GM place was December 9, 2005 and lost to the Canucks 3-2. Our goalie back then? Alex Auld. (Canucks.com) Now let's see what kind of effort Auld puts up tonight against us. It was only a couple of years ago when we dumped Auld, Bertuzzi and Bryan Allen to Florida to get Luongo and Krajicek.

The Senators sit 10 points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The team is floundering. The Canucks sit in 5th in the West but the Wild West is insanely close in some areas, as you can see below.

There are all kinds of concerns with those standings:
-The Flames are rolling and now lead the Northwest by 3 points.
-The Canucks are only 4 points ahead of the 9th place Avalanche.
-Six points separate the 9th place Avalanche and 15th spot Blues.

Yes, we have Sundin and Luongo arriving on white horses just over the horizon, but this injury-riddled Canucks team needs to look at RIGHT NOW and start winning with what they've got. If the Canucks want to roll the dice by taking too many penalties against the Senators they are going to pay for it. It's no secret that you have to shoot high on the shorter Sanford to beat him. The Sens have some guys who can do that no problem.
And just to point fingers at one player directly: we are not paying Pavol Demitra $4 million so he can slump like this repeatedly. It's great seeing him staying healthy, but he's got to get rolling offensively.

This Canucks squad is not doing much to convince me that they are going to win any games until Luongo or Sundin enter the lineup. That's unfortunate. I watched a couple of Devils games this weekend and they sure get the job done without Brodeur. Of course, Scott Clemmenson is better than Sanford I suppose.
As for tonight's game: As Gimli said in The Two Towers: "Let's hope they last the night."

Game Time: 7:00 PST
TV: Canucks PPV. (Oh no. What's our record in PPV games this year? 0-2?)

Canucks.com's Live Blog is happening again. Everyone with a pulse and a clean mouth is invited. I will be joining the Mod Squad on that board tonight.

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4-2 Canucks, Billy? I'll say 4-3 Sens. I have no faith in this bunch right now.

by Sean Zandberg on Dec 28, 2008 12:14 PM PST reply actions

The best Senators Game Day Post you will ever read.

Jardine is a Genius. A sad and suicidal genius, but a genius nonetheless.

by Temujin on Dec 28, 2008 1:08 PM PST reply actions

Zandberg- You're jumpin to conclusions. Van hasnt looked great, but 10 of 15 teams have a winnin record in the last 10 games in the WC. Vancouver is one of them, so while some wins would be great, we are limping along positively AND the cavalry is coming sooner than later.
San Jose and Detroit will separate from the pack, but the rest of us will fight til the last few weeks. Hopefully Vancouver will sow up a playoff spot by game 70 or so, but history tells us otherwise.
Anyways, i'm gonna join in on the Nucks chat for a bit at least.

Ps. As for Sandford, i've been pleased with him. He has played up to my expectations and proved himself as a quality backup. Of course giving up 5 and gettin yanked might change that tonight though :)

Now back to the infernal snow shovellin. Wheres the freakin rain when we need it?

by Billy on Dec 28, 2008 1:36 PM PST reply actions

Jin: "a wrist-slitter". haha. Love it.

Billy: My conclusions are justified. Oh and by the way, when the Canucks have played in stinkers this season they have gone on to lose their next 2 games. The loss to the Oilers was 1 and tonight may be 2.
I have been pleased with Sandman as well, but I am right that he leaves the whole top of the net exposed when he goes down in the butterfly position.

by Sean Zandberg on Dec 28, 2008 3:56 PM PST reply actions