GDT: Montreal at Ottawa

I'm tired of talking about Havlat, especially on the day that we're finally getting meaningful hockey back in this town. Let's talk about what matters:

Ottawa

vs.

Montreal

Scratches for Ottawa:
Fisher - Shoulder
Havlat - Ego

Scratches for Montreal:
No Clue?

Predictions:

I think Ottawa's going to come out strong, with the tribute to Roger. The question is, can they sustain their momentum. I'm predicting a 4-1 win for Ottawa. Hossa will pick up 2. Phillips and Schastlivy will be the other scorers. Spezza will pick up 2 assists on the night.

Scratches for Ottawa:

Havlat - Ego



:lol:

I believe they said on TV last night that Koivu will be scratched for Montreal and Zednik's status was uncertain.

Any updates on that?

Kilger's eye is still a problem for him.

not playing for mtl:

Bouillon
komisarek
koivu
begin
langdon
Kilger


3-2 Ottawa O.T (by the way, i'm a habs fan)


Marian Hossa 2goal
Alfredson:1goal

Marcel Hossa 1goal
Andrei Markov 1goal (just look at my user name :joker: )

I'm really curious to see how our guys come out. I think they're pre-season success indicated that these guys really want to get back in action. Hossa's a guy that I'll be watching to see if he's even more focused this year. Spezza will also be another one to watch, for the usual reasons.

Is it confirmed that Vermette will be dressing tonight. If so, I'll be curious on how Jacques uses him.

The PP units will be interesting as well. I wonder who'll replace Havlat in the top-unit. My guess would be Spezza, but I think they'd be better off with Schastlivy there, and use Spezza as a bigger cog in the second PP unit.

gg guys i really like wut i saw tonight ...
you're my bet for the cup this year..
good job by all your players..
marian hossa and vermette were awesome !!
+ good game by lalime!

I'm a Habs fan, but since I'm maybe going to move to Ottawa next year, I think I might start supporting the Ottawa Senetors as well. :p
They played well tonight. Dominated the Montreal Canadiens in almost every aspects of the game.

Predictions:

I think Ottawa's going to come out strong, with the tribute to Roger. The question is, can they sustain their momentum. I'm predicting a 4-1 win for Ottawa. Hossa will pick up 2. Phillips and Schastlivy will be the other scorers. Spezza will pick up 2 assists on the night.

You weren't that far off, Phillips and Schastlivy both scored and Spezza had 2 points. Great game, you really saw the domination by the Sens in the first period,followed by closing their defense in the 2nd and 3rd. I though Hossa looked good, he was just doing his usual things and it seemed like something was gonna happen every time he had the puck.
Chara was brutal though! So many bad plays, and moments of inatention. The second goal by Ribeiro was because Chara wasn't able to cover him. After the playoffs and maybe this game, I wouldn't consider Yashin for Chara straight up anymore, and Redden is the undisputed #1. Maybe his NYI stats gave him justice.

You weren't that far off, Phillips and Schastlivy both scored and Spezza had 2 points. Great game, you really saw the domination by the Sens in the first period,followed by closing their defense in the 2nd and 3rd. I though Hossa looked good, he was just doing his usual things and it seemed like something was gonna happen every time he had the puck.
Chara was brutal though! So many bad plays, and moments of inatention. The second goal by Ribeiro was because Chara wasn't able to cover him. After the playoffs and maybe this game, I wouldn't consider Yashin for Chara straight up anymore, and Redden is the undisputed #1. Maybe his NYI stats gave him justice.

Easy there big fella!

It's the first game of the season, I wouldn't start writing off Chara just yet. Before the playoffs last year, we got a real good indication of what he can do. Let's give him a little more leeway before we start writing him off.

On the other hand, I was really encouraged by Phillips play. He's was playing his "playoffs" game (I guess Chara was too ;) ). He'll be one to watch this season. If he can sustain the same level of play that we've seen that he's capable of, our blueline is going to be a force to reckon with.

Personally, I thought Chara played well. He had a mistake on that play, but Hossa shot a puck out from the corner right into the slot as the worst defensive play of the night...should we consider him our third line right winger now?

As to the playoffs last year, I recently read for the first time that Chara had two injuries he suffered in the first two rounds last spring - bruised ribs and an injured quad. He said his mobility was really hampered.

Solid first period by the Sens, but the Habs player the Sens even the rest of the way (you could even argue they played better).

The pucks went in, and outside of an emotional first period where the Sens did control play easily, hardly a dominant performance.

But a win is a win as they say.

Other thoughts on the game:

-Vermette had some good moments, but it many others, he did look like a rookie making his debut. His speed is impressive. Just checked the box score, and he had 4 shots on net. Some of them could have had more oomph behind them, but I'm sure that part of his game will improve as he gets more time at the NHL level.

-Hossa's gonna have a great season. You can see it in his play. He's got a determination about him that's going to make him hard to stop when he's on his game.

-Phillips had a great game. I covered this earlier in the thread

-Spezza's doing his best to claim his spot on the highlight reels. Once the lines stabilize, and his teammates can start anticipating his passes, he's going to be lethal on the ice.

-I haven't heard much about White's injury, other than they figure it won't be too serious. We'll probably hear more by game time tomorrow.

That's all for now

I agree with the general conscensus, it was a win, but hardly a great win. Montreal was not impressive at all.

Phillips was great. He was our best defenceman, and played like he played in the playoffs. If he uses his fantastic and under-rated straight away speed to jump into the rush like he did on his goal, he could score 30 points or so without much problem.

Rachunek and Redden were solid. Chara, I wasn't as high on him. I thought he looked just a bit out of it, but not like in the playoffs. To me though, it just seemed like rustiness more than anything.

Spezza, Hossa, Alfie and Bonk all had great games on offence. Spezza is faster, stronger and better defensively, all noticeably so. You almost always know when he's on the ice. Hossa is huge, and can control the play without much problem. Alfie was very impressive. He played with a certain fire. Bonk impressed me not so much offensively, although his pass to Spezza for the first goal was nice. What Bonk did that impressed me was work the boards and play strong defence. I was thoroughly impressed with Bonk's all-round play.

As for Vermette, the guy showed me a fair bit. I thought his best shift was probably on the PK in the third period. He blocked a shot, then stole it twice, proceeding to slap it past the defender and out of the zone. He's very, very responsible defensively. He needs to work on using more than just pure speed to score though. But I like where he's headed.

Overall, I'd like to see some guys raise their play a bit. Shake off the rust, and lets go baby.