Pre-Game Talk: Sens @ Penguins Feb. 3 (7 p.m. Eastern)

[Super Cake]

Hopefully our entire team comes to play against the Penguins.

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[HavlatMach9]

time to begin a new winning streak

 

[Deku]

Last game against Pittsburgh was near-perfect, hopefully we have some success again.

 

[Senscore]

show up or **** off. that simple.

 

[StefanW]

We really need a huge bounce back game.

 

[Golden]

It'll be interesting to see how the team responds after last night's game. For some reason, I'm feeling optimistic.

So weird to have a Monday night game but I'll actually be able to watch this one which is nice.

Games to keep on eye on tomorrow night will be Detroit/Vancouver, Colorado/New Jersey, Philadelphia/San Jose. All should be pretty tough games. It's time for the so-called big bad west to be the big bad west. A win tomorrow would be huge.

 

[MainDotC]

Pens are never an easy opponent, especially in Pitt where the Pitt fans know they usually kick our ass and thus are extra boisterous. I'm not expecting much.

 

[robsenz]

Ottawa never responds well to a embarrassing loss, I expect another sad game from our boys. 4-1 Pitts.

 

[fringie]

I hope the top guys (Karlsson, Spezza, Ryan, Turris) were embarrassed by last night's loss, and come to play Monday night. But be honest, I don't expect much from this year's group any more. This team lost its identity, needs personnel change to gain it back, or find a new one. This team is nowhere near good enough to win in the playoffs.

They tease you with a couple of wins, then lay an egg, then they win again, and lay a bigger egg, that is how they have been all year, why do we expect team like this to do anything more than just miss.. And worst of it is we can't trade anyone, because in theory we are still in the hunt, but nothing we have see so far led us to believe they will start winning consistently..

 

[Jakub]

They tease you with a couple of wins, then lay an egg, then they win again, and lay a bigger egg, that is how they have been all year, why do we expect team like this to do anything more than just miss.. And worst of it is we can't trade anyone, because in theory we are still in the hunt, but nothing we have see so far led us to believe they will start winning consistently..

Thats most of the Eastern Conference in a nutshell, I say we have a chance.

 

[aragorn]

I wonder who Orpik will drive into the boards, knowing Ottawa players are afraid to respond to that sort of thing?

 

[Derivation]

Thought the Leafs game will be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Regardless of our better play of late, slow start to the season in October with that Western road trip and the games that followed was an indicator of what was to follow.

Would love to see them prove me wrong and end up 5-1 or 4-2 this month but other than Buffalo and the Wings I'm predicting all L's.

 

[Qward]

7-1 loss.

 

[Ouroboros]

I wonder who Orpik will drive into the boards, knowing Ottawa players are afraid to respond to that sort of thing?

Hopefully they dress Kassian to prevent this sort of thing.

 

[Senscore]

Hopefully they dress Kassian to prevent this sort of thing.

And that's just the thing. Kassian did his job and it still didn't accomplish anything.


Really telling about the role of that sort of player.

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

And that's just the thing. Kassian did his job and it still didn't accomplish anything.


Really telling about the role of that sort of player.

If anything, an argument could be made that he provided the Leafs a spark. Up 1-0 on the road, you shouldn't be out hunting for a fight.

 

[aragorn]

Hopefully they dress Kassian to prevent this sort of thing.

Kassian did his job, it was the rest of the ******* on the team that didn't respond when it called for it. But Ottawa never does, they seem to accept being bullied & having sand kicked in their face & wait for the refs who rarely do anything about it. Ottawa doesn't respond physically & the Leafs know it, so do we.

If anything, an argument could be made that he provided the Leafs a spark. Up 1-0 on the road, you shouldn't be out hunting for a fight.

Kassian was not looking for a fight, he was defending himself when MacLaren came after him, it's why the refs had a hold of MacLaren. It also did not provide the Leafs with a spark, Kassian won the fight. It was Karlsson coughing up the puck that gave the Leafs their first goal, another **** game by him.

 

[55sensfan]

With Kassian in the line up, you are basically playing a forward short, which means you are fiddling with your other lines and losing chemistry. You need Kassian only when there is a definite need of an enforcer. In most games, that is not the case.

I worry that Leafs game may have a demoralizing effect on the team moving forward. They basically folded after the Kadri incident.

 

[55sensfan]

Kassian was not looking for a fight, he was defending himself when MacLaren came after him, it's why the refs had a hold of MacLaren. It also did not provide the Leafs with a spark, Kassian won the fight. It was Karlsson coughing up the puck that gave the Leafs their first goal, another **** game by him.

You are right, Karlsson's defensive game has really taken a nose dive this year and is reflected in his plus minus rating. The Sens are going nowhere until Karlsson decides or is convinced to become more defensively responsible.

 

[Super Cake]

You are right, Karlsson's defensive game has really taken a nose dive this year and is reflected in his plus minus rating. The Sens are going nowhere until Karlsson decides or is convinced to become more defensively responsible.

The sens are going nowhere until players like spezza, karlsson, michalek and ryan show up on a consistent basis. I don't know why you have to put all of it on karlsson. One player cannot lead a team by himself.

 

[55sensfan]

The sens are going nowhere until players like spezza, karlsson, michalek and ryan show up on a consistent basis. I don't know why you have to put all of it on karlsson. One player cannot lead a team by himself.

You are right, but Karlsson is a major symptom of the team's troubles. Part of the reason why Karlsson is being irresponsible defensively is because he is trying to do too much offensively. This may be because of the shortcomings of the players listed. Also, Karlsson's is taking too many foolish chances when he is the last man back and making chancy plays which leads to turnovers that we can't recover from.

Don't get me wrong, I think Karlsson is a great player but his game still has room for improvement.

 

[StefanW]

I can count the players who had good games against the Laffs on one hand. Blaming one player or another is the right of every fan, but it really misses the larger point that our team royally sucked as a group.

 

[aragorn]

I can count the players who had good games against the Laffs on one hand. Blaming one player or another is the right of every fan, but it really misses the larger point that our team royally sucked as a group.

It was certainly frustrating to see the Leaf's skilled players skating around with no fear of getting hit. It got worse when their was no response to the Kadri hit & he was allowed to continue to skate around after that hit. What would the Toronto players have done if Turris would have sent kadri into the boards like that? Do you think their would have been a response from Toronto against Turris, would Carlyle do nothing? I agree it has to be as a group that this team needs to man up.

Ottawa continues to get bullied & get sand kicked in our face with no response. It's when we look at the players we have on the roster & in the organization & I think we may never get past the Leafs again until "McGratton breaks Domi's nose & drops him again". IMO that changed this organization completely & they need that same kind of response again to change history & change our destiny against the Leafs. Avoiding it as JM used to do never worked then & it isn't working now. This team needs to man up as a group & take the Leafs on head first in man to man combat if need be but i don't think we have the players to do that. We have too many nice guys on this team.

 

[thinkwild]

In a tie game, Carlyle would sent someone out to take an instigator against Turris? I think not. There was no sand kicked in our face. We have tough guys that can go head to head with their top lines, they dont. But that romantic version of revenge fanstasies you are attibuting to the leafs isnt grounded in the reality of the nhl

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

Kassian was not looking for a fight, he was defending himself when MacLaren came after him, it's why the refs had a hold of MacLaren. It also did not provide the Leafs with a spark, Kassian won the fight. It was Karlsson coughing up the puck that gave the Leafs their first goal, another **** game by him.

Sorrry, no. You're objectively wrong. Kassian skates to MacLaren after trying and failing to engage Orr.