Post-Game Talk: Sens @ Bolts Mar. 24 (7:30 p.m. Eastern)

[OgieO]

I liked what Stone brought last night. Probably our best forechecker all game and the man can dish the puck.

Cool that we won on the road against a red hot team with that many penalties (including one in OT). I thought most of the guys played well, a few rough spots for Cowen and Ceci but overall a well played game.

 

[Tobythebest]

the corner has been turned!!!!

 

[Upgrayedd]

it is actually the point of contact. the puck was vertical falling down, then Stamkos touches it and it turns horizontal. That frame is the decider because at worst it's after the touch.

it's either inconclusive or no goal.

I would imagine that there likely is not a person in here who didn't think Tampa was going to get that call. This game was about as scripted as it gets but im glad the guys fought hard. The call at the end of regulation had me laughing hysterically it's like they didn't care anymore and were worried Tampa wasn't going to get the win....we know our season is over but you still want to see slightly unbiased reffing.

The highlight of the night for me was the Stamkos hold on the stick on Cowen with the ref close enough to touch them both, clearly seeing it then the Sens going down the ice and Spezza getting called for holding the stick when actually he is being speared in the groin....and the ref who calls it? Standing some 60-70 feet away lookin at Spezza's back....oh my i love this league!

 

[OgieO]

btw - that Hedman shot was pretty filthy. Kid has come a loooooong way, gives me hope for Cowen.

 

[Very Stable Genius]

btw - that Hedman shot was pretty filthy. Kid has come a loooooong way, gives me hope for Cowen.

Although Hedman has more natural talent than Cowen could ever hope to have.

 

[blahblah3]

Good game. To bad they couldn't have done that a few weeks ago. Karlsson, Stone, Turris, Smith all had complete games. So did Spezza. He actually back checked regularly.

As for Phillips, take a Knee for the rest of the season and bring up Weir.

 

[BankStreetParade]

About time Mac called out the league and officials, I loved those comments. Not too whiny but enough to get there attention.

Agreed however the way Paul talked about it, it sounds like it might not have been the first time that the refs apologized (the MTL meltdown was likely one of them)

He needs to vent and he did. Not sure it was wise but we will see.

I don't understand how there isn't more outrage by fans, not just in Ottawa but around the league, over the current state of NHL refereeing. Every single night a new thread is posted in the main forums about a bad call. At least 1 every single night. Mind blowing, inexplicable calls. It's an absolute circus. No one knows what differentiates one call from a non-call. No one knows what one suspendable offense is in relation to another. There is no on-ice consistency in making calls and no off-ice consistency enforcing discipline. A guy gets no penalty in a game for something he did yet gets suspended the next day. How the **** is that even possible? One holding the stick gets called but not the other. One interference gets called but not the other. One tripping gets called but not the other. I'm ****ing blown away by the staggering incompetence of the NHL's refereeing system. Everyone says the game is fast so it's hard to catch everything. ********. These guys aren't amateurs. And the prevalence of technology should make both those points moot. Yet nothing is done. Consistently every year since the lockout the refereeing has been degrading in quality. And in Ottawa games we get to see on a nightly basis the kind of calls that would hardly be excusable on a once in a while basis yet we suffer them every single game. What the **** do we have to do as fans who pay for the product with our money and time to get this changed?

 

[Johnny Hanson]

I don't understand how there isn't more outrage by fans, not just in Ottawa but around the league, over the current state of NHL refereeing. Every single night a new thread is posted in the main forums about a bad call. At least 1 every single night. Mind blowing, inexplicable calls. It's an absolute circus. No one knows what differentiates one call from a non-call. No one knows what one suspendable offense is in relation to another. There is no on-ice consistency in making calls and no off-ice consistency enforcing discipline. A guy gets no penalty in a game for something he did yet gets suspended the next day. How the **** is that even possible? One holding the stick gets called but not the other. One interference gets called but not the other. One tripping gets called but not the other. I'm ****ing blown away by the staggering incompetence of the NHL's refereeing system. Everyone says the game is fast so it's hard to catch everything. ********. These guys aren't amateurs. And the prevalence of technology should make both those points moot. Yet nothing is done. Consistently every year since the lockout the refereeing has been degrading in quality. And in Ottawa games we get to see on a nightly basis the kind of calls that would hardly be excusable on a once in a while basis yet we suffer them every single game. What the **** do we have to do as fans who pay for the product with our money and time to get this changed?

Good rant. I have a few buddies I regularly get together with to watch games with and that basically sums up the conversation that comes up almost every game we watch.

The worst part is the feeling of helplessness. There is absolutely nothing we, as fans, can do about this disgracefully bad refereeing except bend over and take it.

 

[Indrew]

It must be a bit discouraging to make such a great, legal, split-second decision to hip-check and get sent to the box for it. That was a huge kill in OT.

 

[Holdurbreathe]

Funny how the refs apologize to MacLean post game and then he goes and tells all the media immediately afterwards.....

I don't think that was meant for public airing Walrus

Officials apologizing after they handed Tampa a point and they don't expect the coach might mention the fact in his post game interview??

These guys are incompetent, as are quite a few other officials in the NHL.

Its a disgrace and an insult to every paying fan in the league.

IMO the NHL needs to apologize to its fans for allowing the officiating to reach this level of ineptitude.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

It must be a bit discouraging to make such a great, legal, split-second decision to hip-check and get sent to the box for it. That was a huge kill in OT.

Yeah, who knew you could trip someone with your butt. First time I've ever seen that.

 

[Holdurbreathe]

He looked great.

His skating is getting better year after year. Only had trouble keeping up a couple times on the backcheck when players had a step on him.

He was involved in the play and won a ridiculous amount of battles in the corners. Kid has a great stick on him, always finds a way to get his stick on the puck. Was causing problems for defenders all game long because of his puck stealing abilities. Led to a nice assist for him on the Turris goal.

Kid is an NHL player no question about it. If Murray had any brains he would have moved Condra by now and put Stone in his place.

Stone was injured so Murray had no decision to make, so your point is moot.

Had Stone remained healthy, he probably would have stayed in Ottawa but I doubt Condra would have been the guy to be moved.

It probably would have just hastened Conacher's departure.

 

[mat_sens]

Refs were also brutal in the Habs-Bruins game last night. It's frustrating as a fan

 

[SelleckStache]

I don't understand how there isn't more outrage by fans, not just in Ottawa but around the league, over the current state of NHL refereeing. Every single night a new thread is posted in the main forums about a bad call. At least 1 every single night. Mind blowing, inexplicable calls. It's an absolute circus. No one knows what differentiates one call from a non-call. No one knows what one suspendable offense is in relation to another. There is no on-ice consistency in making calls and no off-ice consistency enforcing discipline. A guy gets no penalty in a game for something he did yet gets suspended the next day. How the **** is that even possible? One holding the stick gets called but not the other. One interference gets called but not the other. One tripping gets called but not the other. I'm ****ing blown away by the staggering incompetence of the NHL's refereeing system. Everyone says the game is fast so it's hard to catch everything. ********. These guys aren't amateurs. And the prevalence of technology should make both those points moot. Yet nothing is done. Consistently every year since the lockout the refereeing has been degrading in quality. And in Ottawa games we get to see on a nightly basis the kind of calls that would hardly be excusable on a once in a while basis yet we suffer them every single game. What the **** do we have to do as fans who pay for the product with our money and time to get this changed?

The truly mind-blowing piece is how much the standard will change when the playoffs start.

 

[SenzZen]

I think it's the point of contact, although the picture might be just before. I couldn't tell.



If anything it's inconclusive, I dont see how they could have overturned the call of no goal.

You can see that the ref is waving his arms before Stamkos even plays the puck. He must have been signalling the shot off the crossbar.

I was pretty incensed at the time, too- but you can see the linesman confer with the ref on the way to the box and the ref mouths "good goal"- so there really wasn't enough to overturn, and furthermore I think it was good.

Weird night of officiating, for sure.

 

[OgieO]

I was okay with the Stamkos goal. It was pretty darned close and I can't get upset over something that is an inch either way. That was one hell of a play by him.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I was okay with the Stamkos goal. It was pretty darned close and I can't get upset over something that is an inch either way. That was one hell of a play by him.

Yes, the goal, on it's own, could've gone either way. Can't get too mad at that.

But.....adding in several strange calls/non-calls that seems to all go to Tampa's benefit, it's hard not to look at that goal and wonder a bit. when you add everything all together.

 

[guyzeur]

You can see that the ref is waving his arms before Stamkos even plays the puck. He must have been signalling the shot off the crossbar.

Yes but then he signals again to say the goal was no good. He is what 5 feet from Stamkos? You would think he would have been the best to judge it?


I was pretty incensed at the time, too- but you can see the linesman confer with the ref on the way to the box and the ref mouths "good goal"- so there really wasn't enough to overturn, and furthermore I think it was good.

Weird night of officiating, for sure.

Answer in the text

 

[jbeck5]

Stones skating is still a problem.

At the start of the game I was like "woah stone is actually moving much better" as I saw him skate through the neutral zone into the offensive zone. He was skating hard and on the puck quickly.

Then later in the game I see him gliding around soooo slowly. There was once where a tb player grabbed the puck in the neutral zone. Stone was at least 10-15ft goal side of him. The guy took half a douzen strides in a couple seconds and was now 10-15 past stone. In that time that that tb player skated through the neutral zone, through stone, and into our zone, stone managed to turn around and take one weak half assed stride.

He's not bad when he's skating 100%. He'll look awkward, sure, but he'll move around well for a big guy.

Then there's the rest of the game where's its painful to watch. I don't know if it's his endurance that is very very poor, or his focus isn't good which causes him to watch the play,which causes him to not move his feet, or he's been watching guys like spezza too much.

The 10-20% of the time where he skates hard, his skating isn't holding him back.

The 80-90% of the time where he isn't skating 100% its painful.

Its obvious he's not an effortless skater so he'll have to learn to be an "effort full" skater. Go hard all the time type thing or he'll get left behind the play.

 

[OgieO]

Yes, the goal, on it's own, could've gone either way. Can't get too mad at that.

But.....adding in several strange calls/non-calls that seems to all go to Tampa's benefit, it's hard not to look at that goal and wonder a bit. when you add everything all together.

Oh, yes, that's totally fair. We got the shaft pretty good last night.

 

[YNWA14]

Agreed however the way Paul talked about it, it sounds like it might not have been the first time that the refs apologized (the MTL meltdown was likely one of them)

He needs to vent and he did. Not sure it was wise but we will see.

Can it really hurt? I'm not sure about you, but last time I checked the refs have really done Ottawa no favours at all this season. I'm not going to blame them for the whole season, but there have been some really important games to the Sens that have been directly and negatively influenced by the zebras.

 

[Kellogs]

Yeah, who knew you could trip someone with your butt. First time I've ever seen that.

Obviously you've never player NHL 12/13/14

 

[Berserker*]

He looked great.

His skating is getting better year after year. Only had trouble keeping up a couple times on the backcheck when players had a step on him.

He was involved in the play and won a ridiculous amount of battles in the corners. Kid has a great stick on him, always finds a way to get his stick on the puck. Was causing problems for defenders all game long because of his puck stealing abilities. Led to a nice assist for him on the Turris goal.

Kid is an NHL player no question about it. If Murray had any brains he would have moved Condra by now and put Stone in his place.

Ya, Stone had a great game and he was a monster out there on the forecheck. One of the things that he does really well is move the puck quickly. A lot of our players have the bad habit of over handling the puck; they tend to hold onto it for too long which makes their passes predictable and leads to turnovers. Stone usually makes a pass as soon as he retrieves or receives the puck; he already knows the play he is going to make before he even has it. It was impressive watching him play with Turris and MacArthur. There were a few times in the game where Turris was battling for puck possession along the boards, kicked or passed the puck to Stone and then as soon as Stone received it he immediately passed it to MacArthur. The Lighting were often forced to chase the puck when playing those three.


As for Condra, I agree, Murray should have moved him by now. He doesn't really add much of anything to the team. His primary strength is his penalty killing ability and this season he has been very average at best in that department. He is pretty much just your run-of-the-mill 4th liner. When Ryan is healthy, I predict that he gets bumped out of the lineup. After that, he will likely get moved at the draft so we can free up a roster spot.

I read in the game thread that some poster classified Condra as the "perfect 4th liner" which is hilarious because Condra is no where close to being that. If I had to pick a player that epitomizes the "perfect 4th liner", I think I would have to go with Jarrko Ruutu. Ruutu was a top 3 agitator in the league, provided a strong physical play and a lot of energy each shift, was strong along the boards and in the corners, he cycled the puck well, he was excellent on the penalty kill and he was a power play specialist. You don't really get much better then that when it comes to 4th liners.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

They already looked plenty bad. Airing that **** doesn't help our cause for the next game.

Come one... buddy. Commmee onnnnnnnn budddddddddy *Dave Chappelle voice*

No matter what we say, we will always be on the short-end of the stick, therefore, why be under their power any longer.

Power to the people.

Mark Stone. What a guy.

Lol, let's recall an NHL player better than half our wingers when it's too late.

BEST. PLAYERS. PLAY.

DaCosta is rotting down there too.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Although Hedman has more natural talent than Cowen could ever hope to have.

Cowen has more raw strength than almost 90% of the league.

If Cowen improves his ability to use his strength alone, he will automatically be a lethal top 4 defender. This isn't even taking into consideration anything else.

The guy can literally throw down a 200 pound player with one hand.