15 Thoughts From Last Night's Game

Written by Nichols

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 09:21

After watching That's Hockey prior to the start of last night's game I'm convinced that after last week's trades, Calgary's locker room is now in remission. Cory Sarich was interviewed and I think I heard him reference the team concept about thirteen times over the course of a minute.

The Ottawa media let us know that John Stevenson was in town yesterday helping out Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire for the first time. What they neglected to tell fans was that his goatee/bowl cut hair combo made him look like a decrepit Murray Hewitt from Flight of the Conchords. Poor guy. Someone should let him know that just because he's used to wearing a goalie mask doesn't mean that should prohibit him from looking professional at the workplace. I almost wish they'd officially hire the guy so that he could afford a haircut at First Choice.

We need a Michalek's Anonymous drinking game. One shot for every time that Milan inexplicably falls down on his own.

During the first period intermission, Hockey Central's panel discussed potential replacements for Ryan Getzlaf and John Shannon brought up Jason Spezza as a viable option. I'm sorry, I realize that Shannon is likely playing up to his audience but Spezza deserves Olympic consideration about as much as I deserve to have a Sens Chirp reader mention that I think Lecavalier to the Senators is going to happen.

Sportsnet plugged Alexei Kovalev's stickhandling ability and used footage from Sunday's Sens Skills Competition to illustrate the point that he's really, really good at it. Garry Galley let us know that Kovy has obviously spent a lot of time at practices manipulating the puck. Earth shattering material. I think it's safe to wager that when Galley mentioned that, someone in the Ottawa valley screamed at the television, "He should be devoting that kind of dedication to the defensive aspect of the game!"

Who was reffing last night's game? Stephane Auger? (Ed. note: I just checked NHL.com . It actually was Auger.) How did every official on the ice miss the hit from behind that Matt Stajan laid on Chris Kelly? The play eventually was whistled dead as Mike Fisher looked for retribution and took some liberties on Niklas Hagman. Jarome Iginla came to Hagman's defense and we were THIS close to seeing Fisher and Iginla drop the mitts. Unfortunately, Chris Phillips behaved like Matt Bradley and ruined what otherwise could have been something very special.

What was Chris Phillips thinking? Not only did his actions deprive us of a potentially epic tilt between Fisher and Iginla, it kept Iggy off of the ice for five minutes in a close hockey game. As much as I like having Fisher out there, with the way that Iggy's line was killing the Senators all night, that's a trade off that has to be made. (Ed. note: It was a piss poor performance by Phillips last night. His turnover at the Flames blueline in the first lead to the first Calgary goal and he eventually wound up as a -2 on the evening. Seeing Iginla dump him on his ass after he stepped in was just the icing on the cake.)

Cory Clouston made a number of moves in the second period to shake up the scoring and it seemed to lift the Senators a bit. While a lot will be made of the top two lines in last night's game, I was impressed with how easily Jesse Winchester assumed Chris Kelly's role on a line with Ruutu and Neil. Winchester's forechecking resulted in a Jay Bouwmeester turnover that lead to Ruutu's goal in the second period.

Getting back to John Stevenson for a second. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the Ottawa mainstream media for not ruining the surprise that is Stevenson's hair. It made Sportsnet's videoclip of the morning practice that much better.

I Tweeted that Fish vs Iggy had a chance to be like Harrelson vs Snipes in the movie White Men Can't Jump. Like Harrelson, it's uncanny how often Fisher takes advantage of the opposition because of their oversights. Again, I can't reiterate enough how awesome this fight could have been.

Jonathan Cheechoo first line winger. That's going to take some time to get used to. However, if last night is any indication for how Cheechoo can play down the stretch as the team prepares for the playoffs, then I expect to read less Don Brennan comments opining for Shean Donovan to be reinserted back into the lineup. Seriously though, if Cheechoo can emerge as a viable option off of the bench, Cory Clouston's trust and willingness to roll four lines will put the Senators in an enviable position that can create some matchup problems for their opponents in the playoffs.

Not only did Brian Elliott win in an impressive fashion following Saturday's loss to the Leafs, he also recorded a milestone with his first 20 win season and was named the game's second star. Cory Clouston may not want to label Brian Elliott with a number, but I'm ready to cheer him on like I'm a Japanese fan at a Cheap Trick concert.