GDT: Sens vs Winnipeg Jets 8:00 Pm Tuesday TSN3 & TSN5

[maclean]

This last week of pre-season is going to draaaaag

 

[NyQuil]

If Ottawa had scored on a few more of their odd-man rushes and breakaways, this one would have been over by the 3rd.

I was impressed with what I saw for the most part in terms of the quality scoring chances. The shot totals hide that.

I don't think Winnipeg is as bad as they showed in the first two periods and I don't think Ottawa is as bad as when they shat the bed.

That's pre-season for you.

Better to blow a 3 goal lead now when it doesn't count. Maybe they won't let up in the 3rd the same way when it matters.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

If Ottawa had scored on a few more of their odd-man rushes and breakaways, this one would have been over by the 3rd.

I was impressed with what I saw for the most part.

I don't think Winnipeg is as bad as they showed in the first two periods and I don't think Ottawa is as bad as when they shat the bed.

That's pre-season for you.

Bang on.

I took away more positives from this game than negatives. Some of the Sens puck movement was spectacular.

Lazar in particular impressed me ... looks faster and stronger than last year.

 

[NyQuil]

Also, Karlsson kills off 5 on 3.

BUT HE CAN'T KILL PENALTIES!!!!11111111

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Also, Karlsson kills off 5 on 3.

BUT HE CAN'T KILL PENALTIES!!!!11111111

And got the puck out of the zone a few times on that 5-on-3. Bloody amazing penalty killing on that shift. Some of the best work I've seen from him so far this preseason.

 

[topshelf15]

Also, Karlsson kills off 5 on 3.

BUT HE CAN'T KILL PENALTIES!!!!11111111

Haters will always try to find any fault with his game ,but the PK thing was just stupid.Everybody knows your best pker is your goalie

 

[topshelf15]

I love how Cowen played ,this style is what got him drafted.He was drafted ,with the potential to be an elite shut down defender.

All of his offense came from how good he was at defense.Not trying to be EK

 

[NyQuil]

Cowen was ok. I was watching him pretty closely.

He still has a tendency to make the more difficult play than the easy play.

I'll take it.

I liked seeing how quickly Wideman can unload his shot from the point. Too many d-men take too long.

 

[SpezDispenser]

Pageau is so good. He's the kind of player that will work his tail off on the 3rd line, but if there's an injury and he's promoted to top 6, he'll grab it and never look back.

 

[NyQuil]

Pageau is so good. He's the kind of player that will work his tail off on the 3rd line, but if there's an injury and he's promoted to top 6, he'll grab it and never look back.

He has Lazar's motor but is a little more creative offensively.

Lacks his size.

I think he's still capable of putting up some impressive offensive numbers in the right situation.

 

[SpezDispenser]

He has Lazar's motor but is a little more creative offensively.

Lacks his size.

I think he's still capable of putting up some impressive offensive numbers in the right situation.

I love that he's small but he hits as hard as most bigger players. Might get injured from time to time, but he's going to be a big part of this team's offense this year I think.

 

[starling]

LOL Jets score 3 essentially power play goals, two of them on crazy tips and one on 2-on-1 and people blame Hammond somehow?

 

[God Says No]

LOL Jets score 3 essentially power play goals, two of them on crazy tips and one on 2-on-1 and people blame Hammond somehow?

I can see why. The OT goal was weak, and he let in 4 goals. So the optics are not good.

 

[operasen]

I can see why. The OT goal was weak, and he let in 4 goals. So the optics are not good.

Anderson starts, no question. Hammond has O'Connor right on his tail. If he falters, O'Connor will fill the void. O'Connor is a perfect number 3 as the AHL starter, yet ready to play when asked. Next year it will get interesting for sure.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

LOL Jets score 3 essentially power play goals, two of them on crazy tips and one on 2-on-1 and people blame Hammond somehow?

Sure, some of the goals "weren't his fault". And it's preseason. But his 33 minutes of work weren't exactly confidence-inspiring. We got killed in 3 on 3, but funny enough that might have been his weakest goal. I didn't much care for his lateral reaction times either. Tends to be very busy and move about a lot in the crease. Backup goalie, I get it, but it wasn't a sparkling outing, regardless of if the Sens let off the gas pedal.

Hammond will be scrutinized quite hard due to us moving Lehner out. The fact that the battle was actually "Andy vs Lehner" is irrelevant; people will continue to say we could have just kept rolling with an Andy Lehner tandem.

Also, derriko had a good point: backups come in cold. This shouldn't be an excuse for Hammond's play IMO.

 

[BrawlFan]

Cowen played very well but he took some massive stickhandling risks. Risks that if they had gone wrong we would have been speaking of his lack of hockey sense.

His problems are still there and they are not going away clearly. He makes very poor decisions with the puck. THe more BM wants him to pay simple and quick decisions with the puck the more he makes awkward backhanded passes in his own zone or tries to dance a few players in the opposing blueline. He could have been stripped in both of those scenarios leaving odd-man rushes/breakaways against us.

Cowen did play better but I will attribute that to a few of his routinely risky moves working out for him due to a rusty WPG forward group/luck.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Anderson starts, no question. Hammond has O'Connor right on his tail. If he falters, O'Connor will fill the void. O'Connor is a perfect number 3 as the AHL starter, yet ready to play when asked. Next year it will get interesting for sure.

We have no real idea how close O'Connor actually is. I doubt that a misstep by Andy would result in O'Connor immediately stepping in, as you suggest. O'Connor hasn't even played a pro game IIRC, we first need to evaluate what we actually have in this kid before throwing him into NHL regular season games to replace our starter.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Cowen did play better but I will attribute that to a few of his routinely risky moves working out for him due to a rusty WPG forward group/luck.

Cowen did play well. He had one or two risky moves that I saw. But I think you're selling Cowen way short if you think his solid play was due to "rusty opposition" and "luck". He moved great, much better than last year. His reads and decisions were better too. I'm no Cowen fan but you have to give him some credit.

 

[BrawlFan]

Cowen did play well. He had one or two risky moves that I saw. But I think you're selling Cowen way short if you think his solid play was due to "rusty opposition" and "luck". He moved great, much better than last year. His reads and decisions were better too. I'm no Cowen fan but you have to give him some credit.

I think I did give him credit lol

It will all play out over the course of the year but from the feed I had there were several WPG forward players who were playing their first game against the SENS.

Cowen made some risky moves in his own end and a few stutter steps at the opposing bluelines. If those 2-3 moves went poorly for him, which they will some nights at least, we would be talking about how its the same old Cowen.

I think people need to temper their expectations. The thing I would find most frustrating is that if he tried this in the regular season if we are up 1 - need a change...certain situations where he should be making quick decisions with the puck and not taking any gambles. I don't care he tried to stutter step Ladd in a meaningless pre-season game, even if it would have been a goal against now is the time to work those out and decide what to do and what not to.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

I think I did give him credit lol

It will all play out over the course of the year but from the feed I had there were several WPG forward players who were playing their first game against the SENS.

Cowen made some risky moves in his own end and a few stutter steps at the opposing bluelines. If those 2-3 moves went poorly for him, which they will some nights at least, we would be talking about how its the same old Cowen.

I think people need to temper their expectations. The thing I would find most frustrating is that if he tried this in the regular season if we are up 1 - need a change...certain situations where he should be making quick decisions with the puck and not taking any gambles. I don't care he tried to stutter step Ladd in a meaningless pre-season game, even if it would have been a goal against now is the time to work those out and decide what to do and what not to.

FWIW, saying that a player had a good game due to bad competition and luck is not giving them credit.

I think many of us are happy with last night's game because Cowen was much improved from how he played earlier in training camp. Personally, this was my first time watching Cowen this year, and he is improved from where he was last year. That's my point really. You are right that if a couple of his plays didn't work out it would have led to disastrous turnovers. I cringed when he tried to carry the puck through the neutral zone. That was bone-headed and needs to be rectified. But the signs of improvement are there, so there is still a glimmer of hope. After all, we're only expecting him to be a #5 for us this year, so he just needs to KISS.

 

[NyQuil]

After all, we're only expecting him to be a #5 for us this year, so he just needs to KISS.

Yeah, I have to think "#5 d-man" when I watch him this year to have the right mindset.

 

[BrawlFan]

Cowen played very well but he took some massive stickhandling risks. Risks that if they had gone wrong we would have been speaking of his lack of hockey sense.

His problems are still there and they are not going away clearly. He makes very poor decisions with the puck. THe more BM wants him to pay simple and quick decisions with the puck the more he makes awkward backhanded passes in his own zone or tries to dance a few players in the opposing blueline. He could have been stripped in both of those scenarios leaving odd-man rushes/breakaways against us.

Cowen did play better but I will attribute that to a few of his routinely risky moves working out for him due to a rusty WPG forward group/luck.

FWIW, saying that a player had a good game due to bad competition and luck is not giving them credit.

I think many of us are happy with last night's game because Cowen was much improved from how he played earlier in training camp. Personally, this was my first time watching Cowen this year, and he is improved from where he was last year. That's my point really. You are right that if a couple of his plays didn't work out it would have led to disastrous turnovers. I cringed when he tried to carry the puck through the neutral zone. That was bone-headed and needs to be rectified. But the signs of improvement are there, so there is still a glimmer of hope. After all, we're only expecting him to be a #5 for us this year, so he just needs to KISS.

I've quoted my first comment and your last one. I think I make it pretty clear that he played well (my first sentence) and that there is a glimmer of hope but he makes very risky decisions that if failed would have resulted in the assessment of him being a non-NHL caliber defenceman.

I just think that unless he figures out the basics of timing, of when to make those decisions and when not too, he wont be on the team regularly. Forget a #5 not even a #7. He isn't an offensive catalyst and if we are up 2 and he wants to try and dangle a 3rd liner at their blueline and take a risk of a breakaway going the other way i'll be way more forgiving than if he did that while we are up 1 against a top line. If we need a change and he tries to rush the puck up ice instead of lobbing it out and risking an icing I will be angry.

Those are the plays he needs to clean up IMO. He needs to just be basic and I think he is showing signs that he may not be buying into that mantra right now, again its preseason, so we will see in the next few months.

 

[NyQuil]

Those are the plays he needs to clean up IMO. He needs to just be basic and I think he is showing signs that he may not be buying into that mantra right now, again its preseason, so we will see in the next few months.

Murray said exactly this in his interview.

It's the most obvious flaw in his game.

Now, he's not going to be perfect overnight, so I think what we saw in Winnipeg is progress.

But realistically, the only fair way to evaluate is to look at a sample of 10 regular season games or so to see how it's going.

 

[operasen]

We have no real idea how close O'Connor actually is. I doubt that a misstep by Andy would result in O'Connor immediately stepping in, as you suggest. O'Connor hasn't even played a pro game IIRC, we first need to evaluate what we actually have in this kid before throwing him into NHL regular season games to replace our starter.

I'd think O'Conner gets another chance to display his talents in the next three games. Hammond is on the roster for sure. O'Connor only gets there if Anderson (or Hammond) suffers an injury at some point this year, I'd think . Once he's up, and if Hammond falters, I could see him making a case to stay. His preseason has been pretty good. AHL starter will help hone his skillset. Kid has a chance is what I'm saying.

 

[Baby Ryan]

I remember reading in an interview very recently, that one of the reasons for O'Connor coming here is on the promise that the Sens won't rush him and will give him AHL time to settle down.