Post-game Sens / Habs..

Vauclair and Pothier did a great job filling in for Volchenkov and Curtis.

I'm really impressed with this Vermette kid, he has great speed and is a great penalty killer, I wouldn't mind seeing him up for a couple of more games.

Spezza/Alfie line was just dominant....I think it's a better match then the Spezza/Havlat duo.

Bonk and Hossa continued the 7 game point streaks.

And Schaefer wow...what a goal. Think he will score 20 playing with Spezza or Havlat??

Spezza/Alfie line was just dominant....I think it's a better match then the Spezza/Havlat duo.


I like Alfie and Spezza as a duo as well. Alfredsson has done a good job of adapting his style of play to match Spezza playmaking. He's starting to anticipate what's Spezza's going to do. Plus, Alfredsson's shot is a good match for Spezza.

Our offence is just dominant right now though. We're leading the league in goals and goal differential. We're off to hot start right now, but there's still a feeling that there's room to kick it up a notch if we have to.

The scariest thing right now is that despite his early sucess (4G 7A 11pts) I really don't feel that Hossa has hit his stride yet. Once he does, look out.

My only concen with the team right now is the penalty kill. We're still giving up way too many chances. Thank god Lalime has been there to bail them out. Hopefully Fisher is back soon to strengthen the PK.

The scariest thing right now is that despite his early sucess (4G 7A 11pts) I really don't feel that Hossa has hit his stride yet. Once he does, look out.

My only concen with the team right now is the penalty kill. We're still giving up way too many chances. Thank god Lalime has been there to bail them out. Hopefully Fisher is back soon to strengthen the PK.

We're adjusting to the loss of Arvedson, IMO. I'm glad that we didn't re-sign him, as I don't think he was necessary in Ottawa anymore, but he did play a valuable role when here.

Fisher being back will be a big boost though.

Did anyone else notice that penalty kill in the third, where young Vermette seemed to be a one-man penalty killing unit out there? Frankly, I was surprised when Jacques Martin chose to keep him up here as I thought he was outplayed by some of the other young guys during the pre-season. I bow to Martin's superior knowledge. He must have seen something that I missed because Vermette has been very, very impressive.

However, I'm not sure how good it is to have him on the checking line constantly. He's too skilled for that. He should be developed as a top 6 prospect. It might be better for his own personal development to play him in Bingo as a top line forward rather than have him with Ottawa playing on the fourth and PK.

Fisher being back will be a big boost though.

And to think how scary it is that we haven't nearly had a completely healthy lineup yet. Fisher, White are huge components to this team. Havlat has been here for only 2 games. Yikes!

And to think how scary it is that we haven't nearly had a completely healthy lineup yet. Fisher, White are huge components to this team. Havlat has been here for only 2 games. Yikes!

Don't forget that the sens haven't nearly played a consistent game for 60 minutes. THey play well enough to win and convince the opposing team their still in it and BAM! they explode with a bunch of goals.

I like that method..

I do like that method, but hope that when they decide to explode with all the goals, that they don't run into a team that becomes a defencive gem.

I do like that method, but hope that when they decide to explode with all the goals, that they don't run into a team that becomes a defencive gem.

Aka New Jersey. Granted, we pooped the bed pretty bad last season in the Conference finals to make the series 3-1 in favor of New Jersey, however, we earned every single chance to bring the series to 7 games. That New Jersey team didn't give up much, and when they did, Brodeur was there to close the door. I was absolutely blown away by the goaltending of Martin Brodeur. In that third period of game 7, we were pushing so hard for something and he stymied every single chance.

Whats different about this year? Well, more so than last, we have 3 no holds barred lines of potent offence. Secondly, one more year of added experience, both physical and mental, for our defense squad. I think as of this season, the most underrated player so far has been Karel Rachunek. He's got to be one of the smartest, steadiest guys on the ice for us. Also, I'm thrilled that Phillips got to wear the "A" last night. Best quote of the season thus far, is Martin on Phillips: "I wanted to show him my support. He's done a lot for the team and I thought it was the right place to put it".

Did anyone else notice that penalty kill in the third, where young Vermette seemed to be a one-man penalty killing unit out there? Frankly, I was surprised when Jacques Martin chose to keep him up here as I thought he was outplayed by some of the other young guys during the pre-season. I bow to Martin's superior knowledge. He must have seen something that I missed because Vermette has been very, very impressive.

However, I'm not sure how good it is to have him on the checking line constantly. He's too skilled for that. He should be developed as a top 6 prospect. It might be better for his own personal development to play him in Bingo as a top line forward rather than have him with Ottawa playing on the fourth and PK.

Let's face it, nobody ever in Ottawa as a rookie just shows up and gets top-line status, so if Vermette were to crack the line-up 100% next season, besides the depth issue and skill ahead of him, he would still get 3rd to 4th line shifts anyway. All the young guys have had to do it. Bonk, Hossa, Havlat, Spezza(last season), Schastlivy right now, etc., under Jacques Martin have had to learn the defensive end and system playing back more. Sure, if he goes down to Bingo, he'll play top-line minutes, but he'll still be in the same situation when he is a regular here later on in the year or next season.

Whats different about this year? Well, more so than last, we have 3 no holds barred lines of potent offence. Secondly, one more year of added experience, both physical and mental, for our defense squad. I think as of this season, the most underrated player so far has been Karel Rachunek. He's got to be one of the smartest, steadiest guys on the ice for us. Also, I'm thrilled that Phillips got to wear the "A" last night. Best quote of the season thus far, is Martin on Phillips: "I wanted to show him my support. He's done a lot for the team and I thought it was the right place to put it".

I agree - even though there aren't many personnel changes compared to last year's team, the added experience will prevent the bad games Ottawa had in games 2,3,4 of the NJ jersey

The one cause for concern, albeit a relatively minor one, is that it will become too easy to win and come playoff time they'll assume they can win without 100% effort - i.e game 1 against the Isles.