I was at the Bell Center so i had a good view of things tonight.
I wasn't able to rewind and watch again so here is a few things I saw that jumped to me watching the Sens.
- They were very good at some point at breaking play in the neutral zone. Which is exactly what the system his about. But what wasn't good was the counter attack. It's one thing to break plays, but you also need to gain the puck and transition it into an offensive opportunity.
- Phaneuf-Ceci... Every time they were on the ice together, it was a nightmare.. Ceci has been bad with the puck and taking decision with it.. Phaneuf... man.. i was scratching my head all night... the guy cannot skate and what is worst is that he isn't moving his feet. He was also trying to make plays before getting the puck and he lost at least 2 or 3 time the puck that way. They should not be paired together.. Especially against fast player like Drouin.
Karlsson, he was a ROCK on defence. So solid all night... very good transition as usual, but not so good in the ozone... at least not to my liking.. and again.. hr lost the puck with the empty net.
Harpur was solid all night, IMO. Didn't notice Oduya much, which is probably a good thing.
Now this one isn't going to be popular, but Claesson need to step up his offensive game.. at least to the swedish trip level.. 1 points this year only.. granted he isn't given offensive opportunity.. i have faith in him, but i hope he step up.
Duchene, for all the talk about him not getting points, he was once again solid. Especially behind the net. He setup Hoffman and Stone for Grade A chance but they missed the puck
Stone is as usual.. God mode
Hoffman : i thought he had chance but he took weird decision. I don't know how it look on t.v but from my point of view he had a lot of opportunity for pass but he decide to skate the puck by 3-4 opponents instead on the transition. His shot was soft, at least they weren't looking heavy like it usually look.
As a line, they were very good. At least to me liking
Smith-Brassard-Ryan. Very good line. Very engage. But i wasn't happy with Ryan. Same thing than with Hoffman. Weird decision. Prime opportunity on the rush, he receive a pass in the slot, but he decide to do a no look pass to no one.. Enter the zone in the 3rd full speed, he has the D beat with 1 more stride but decide to pass it to the board, miss the pass and they lose the puck.
3rd line.. nothing
4th line.. nothing
Which bring me to the team problem i saw..
They lack mobility and puck skill on defence.. aside from Karlsson, there is no D that can skate the puck with ease out of danger. ( hummmmm Chabot, yesss i know.) They also are very poor at puck handling. They are slow at taking decision both on the D and offence. We need more skill on the back end.. again Harpur also look gpod imo.
Offence.. we need more from the top 6... but also from the bottom 6.. when we have been "successfull" this year, we had support scoring from the Dman ( Wideman, Chabot, Phaneuf, even Ceci was more engage ) we had support from the bottom 6...
The net front presence is again lacking. A lot of loose puck in the front of the net that if there was a second guy at the net, that's a goal..
That's all for now.. my memory cannot take more.
PK was good. PP need to move the puck quick.. Hoffman is also guilty of being very slow on the PP. BTW i don't think in saw one shot that i was telling myself that it was a very heavy and lazerbeam shot.. they were all soft.
Bonne nuit !!
