Pre-Game Talk: Bruins @ Sens. Nov 15, 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

[NyQuil]

Andy was given a soft start against Philly already. Look how the team performed.

Well, it's not so much that Philly is a soft start, as this start against Boston is about as hard as I can imagine for Andy.

I'm curious to see how he performs.

If he loses, I think everyone is going to turn on him pretty quick, from the media to the fans.

Kind of unfair of MacLean but, again, he has his reasons.

 

[Dana Scully]

LAST YEAR, sure, this year, I am not so sure... I haven't missed a game and I think his level of play isn't anywhere near where he was last year, I know it's hard to keep last year's pace because he was crazy good, but I think with the exception of one or 2 games, he struggled, gave up bad goals, always give the 1st goal ect..

I don't disagree that he hasn't been as good. I simply don't think that's all on him. Look at how they're playing right in front of him. Andy can make a good save and then 10 seconds later, they fail to get the puck out of the zone, turn it over to the guy who's alone in front of the net, and they score.

We're stuck in our end the majority of games.

I find that far, far more frustrating than any goal Andy has let in. Because it's CONSTANT.

 

[Hammertyme]

Bipolar fans.depressive state. Hope we win so they can flip around.

 

[starling]

Not going to this one so we should be good. I'm 1-5 so far this year.

 

[Rodzilla]

I don't disagree that he hasn't been as good. I simply don't think that's all on him. Look at how they're playing right in front of him. Andy can make a good save and then 10 seconds later, they fail to get the puck out of the zone, turn it over to the guy who's alone in front of the net, and they score.

We're stuck in our end the majority of games.

Yeah I'll give you that, I was pissed at Andy last game due to his bad goals, but once I thought about it more, it's clear it's not only his fault.

Our whole team is really a mess and we should have reasons to panic...
We have some few bright spots but overall it's terrible, our defense is so slow it's incredible, and for a big defense, we are also soft and we lose a lot of battles. We have Karlsson who is always good on offense but then on D he is good 1 games out of 3 this year. We have Methot who is pretty much always safe, and Phillips, who gets bashed, but is still reliable IMO, I feel safer when he's there than Cowen or Weircioch.

Cowen and Weircioch are just dumb, decision making is awful, Weir is slow and soft as butter, and Cowen handles the puck like a grenade.

Then we have our forwards, as much as our D suck, forwards aren't helping them a lot, in our own zone, they are running everywhere, most of the time out of position, covering for each others all over the ice and it always ends up in our net.

OR, they are too far for our D to make a good clean pass out of the zone, gap is too big and Ds struggle cause most of them handle the puck like a grenade.

Ryan is a great player, awesome, Mac too, I like him a lot, Turris has been good this year again. Spezza while my favorite player and his PPG pace, has not been good, I haven't seen him skate like he used to, he's floating out there. Then you can blame the coach for always putting Kassian in and killing the chance that we could have to put 4 lines out there... whenever he's on the ice it kills every momentum we had, we end up in our zone, take a penalty or get gassed out.

my 0,02$ lol, sorry for the mistakes I'm not an english speaker

 

[exv91]

I think MacClean is going out on a huge limb here, a gamble really, that I don't see paying off. We're at a critical point of the season where every lose can sink us deeper into the insurmountable hole, and he goes with Anderson in goal against arguably the strongest defensive team in the east. This is going to be a low scoring affair most likely, I hope I'm wrong and Andy stands on his head and sparkles. Otherwise, going with the guy with the lesser record, coming off an injury, with a lame record vs the bruins, doesn't seem wise.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Yeah I'll give you that, I was pissed at Andy last game due to his bad goals, but once I thought about it more, it's clear it's not only his fault.

Our whole team is really a mess and we should have reasons to panic...
We have some few bright spots but overall it's terrible, our defense is so slow it's incredible, and for a big defense, we are also soft and we lose a lot of battles. We have Karlsson who is always good on offense but then on D he is good 1 games out of 3 this year. We have Methot who is pretty much always safe, and Phillips, who gets bashed, but is still reliable IMO, I feel safer when he's there than Cowen or Weircioch.

Cowen and Weircioch are just dumb, decision making is awful, Weir is slow and soft as butter, and Cowen handles the puck like a grenade.

Then we have our forwards, as much as our D suck, forwards aren't helping them a lot, in our own zone, they are running everywhere, most of the time out of position, covering for each others all over the ice and it always ends up in our net.

OR, they are too far for our D to make a good clean pass out of the zone, gap is too big and Ds struggle cause most of them handle the puck like a grenade.

Ryan is a great player, awesome, Mac too, I like him a lot, Turris has been good this year again. Spezza while my favorite player and his PPG pace, has not been good, I haven't seen him skate like he used to, he's floating out there. Then you can blame the coach for always putting Kassian in and killing the chance that we could have to put 4 lines out there... whenever he's on the ice it kills every momentum we had, we end up in our zone, take a penalty or get gassed out.

my 0,02$ lol, sorry for the mistakes I'm not an english speaker

I think your post makes a lot of sense, i agree with pretty much everything!

I think going into this season, defense was a big question mark for the Sens. The team has put a lot of responsibility on two very young players, and nobody knew how they were going to respond.

As it turns out, they're struggling. The other options to insulate them are limited. Maclean has little choice but to lean on Methot, Phillips and Karlsson. Phillips while reliable, can struggle when leaned on too much. Especially on the powerplay.

Pretty much every player after Karklsson and Methot are playing outside of their comfortzone due to a lack of options. They're struggling, and it's showing.

The Sens need a veteran defenseman to stabilize the top 4, and allow the players under Karlsson and Methot to slot into spots where they can be insulated and more comfortable.

 

[exv91]

Maclean has little choice but to lean on Methot, Phillips and Karlsson. Phillips while reliable, can struggle when leaned on too much. Especially on the powerplay.

If Phillips is one of our go-to guys, we're screwed right out of the gate. This guy doesn't even belong in the NHL at this point of his career. The amount of turnovers and unforced errors he commits is deplorable.

That said, I agree with your post. We are struggling, but a good NHL coach would say, this is a golden opportunity for a young player to setup to the plate and shine if they're ever going to shine.

 

[Maximus]

As I stated in the "Anderson vs Lehner" thread, by Maclean having mistakenly played Andy vs Philly earlier in the week which set the wheels in motion, he has inadvertently set it up that there will be a goalie controversy beginning tonight due to his decision to mistakenly putting an ill prepared Anderson between the pipes rather than Lehner who notoriously stones the B's.

Now if Andy stinks up the joint whether it's his fault or not tonight, he has to play Lehner on Sunday. And god forbid Lehner shuts out the Jackets or something along those lines, you now have a full blown goalie controversy that he could have easily have averted by simply having put Lehner in tonight. Oh well.

 

[Benjamin]

Im fine with either goalie starting. Both are great.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

Im fine with either goalie starting. Both are great.

They are both great goalies but isn't the question before all games "Who gives me the best chance to win THIS game"

 

[VanIsle]

Good luck tonight guys, I have no problems with Ottawa, the Leafs/Habs on the other hand I very much dislike.

Also Karlsson is in my pool so it would be nice for him to get a pile of points this year.

 

[Hammertyme]

Once the forwards start playing the deep support game the d won't look nearly as bad. Philly had 3 or 4 options and that makes a Huge difference.

 

[MiscBrah]

I love paul but he is so full of **** today.

"Heads or tails!"

Really? So you didn't take into account recent performances and a goalie's record against an opponent. Hmm that's kinda strange considering what every coach in the league does. He plays Lehner against the bruins in a must win game on the last day of the regular season I guess that was heads or tails too? Somehow I don't think so...

 

[Super Cake]

Why isn't the gdt up yet?

 

[Hossa18]

It seems as though Wiercoch and Gryba are always the guys rotating out for each other and was wondering why Cowen isn`t in that rotation. Cowen hasn`t been much better than those two and the wrong message is being sent if you are trying to go with the best players play idea. You can`t always blame the same guys for their defensive wows.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Lehner should go in wearing Anderson's jersey and mask.

Then, after making his first huge save, throw the mask off and give the laser-stare to his opponents, his lips slowly curling into a grin as he laughs maniacally like the Phantom of the Opera.

We should secretly dress Boro as the goalie, and then he can skate up to center ice, drop off all the goalie equipment, surprise everybody with a well timed shot, and we can win the game.

 

[Super Cake]

We should secretly dress Boro as the goalie, and then he can skate up to center ice, drop off all the goalie equipment, surprise everybody with a well timed shot, and we can win the game.

Didn't something like that happen in the mighty ducks movie?

 

[NyQuil]

I love paul but he is so full of **** today.

"Heads or tails!"

Really? So you didn't take into account recent performances and a goalie's record against an opponent. Hmm that's kinda strange considering what every coach in the league does. He plays Lehner against the bruins in a must win game on the last day of the regular season I guess that was heads or tails too? Somehow I don't think so...

Well, now everyone hates him instead of our players.

 

[Rals]

i only hope the trigger has been pulled on a trade and they are just posturing with Andy to raise value

 

[Back in Black]

GO SENS GO!

 

[boxer]

i only hope the trigger has been pulled on a trade and they are just posturing with Andy to raise value

The more he plays right now the lower his trade value is getting.

Too bad Murray didn't pull the trigger on a deal in the offseason when his value was at it's highest.