Weekly Preview #15
What you've missed
The Ottawa Senators had what could only be described as a disasterous week and are now on a 4 game losing streak. The Sens had real trouble putting pucks in net all week, getting completely shut out against Florida, 3-0, and only managing one goal each against Carolina and Boston, losing both games 4-1. The 4th loss came at the hands of always dangerous Washington, 5-2 on Thursday. That's a paltry 1 goal per game average from last week's games.
The powerplay continues to struggle, the penalty kill is starting to crumble, and now the Sens seem snakebitten scoring goals. A team with the defensive ability of Ottawa is not going to win any games with just 1 goal on their side of the ledger. Mike Fisher hasn't scored a goal since mid-December. Alex Kovalev can only seem to get red hot or ice cold. And everyone else we rely on to score on this team is injured.
In other games around the league:
- Minnesota made a stunning comeback against NHL leaders Chicago Saturday night, coming from a 5-1 3rd period deficit to walk out 6-5 winners in a shootout. They also slayed the North-West division leaders Calgary earlier in the week.
- Anaheim have really managed to get going this week, with a perfect 4 for 4 record. They, too, managed to beat Chicago, and also scored wins against Detroit, St Louis and Nashville.
- Montreal are another team that are really struggling for goals right now. They managed to make it work against Florida (1 goal, 1 empty netter) but lost to New Jersey (1 goal) and Washington (2 goals). They sit tied for 7th place in the East with Ottawa but have played one extra game.
What's coming up
Ottawa's schedule does them no favours this week, as the Sens embark on a 5 game road trip that includes 3 games this week against Atlanta (Tues, 7pm, Sportsnet), the Rangers (Thurs, 7pm, Sportsnet) and Montreal (Sat, 7pm, CBC).
The current injury list is quite long, so here's a quick look:
- Daniel Alfredsson is apparently ahead of schedule and could be back sometime next week.
- Jason Spezza skated for the first time today since his injury in December. He is a couple of weeks away yet.
- Milan Michalek is listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury and will not accompany the Senators on the 5 game road trip.
- Filip Kuba also sustained an upper body injury and is likely to miss another game or two.
- Jesse Winchester appears to have re-injured his knee and early reports are that he'll be out at least a month.
Ottawa are losing ground fast and are now just 1 point ahead of 9th placed Philadelphia, but it's hard to see the ship being righted just yet with such key players out. A lot rides on tomorrow's game against Atlanta, a team also in turmoil who've won just 1 of their last 10. The Sens NEED those points. The 3rd line combo of Jonathan Cheechoo, Chris Kelly and Jarkko Ruutu continues to impress with its combination of hard work and gritty goals, and probably deserves more ice time out there.
In other games this week:
- Pittsburgh have looked shaky at best these past couple of weeks, and now they face a tough road trip to the North-West, with games against Minnesota, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
- Columbus look to start their climb back up the West conference ladder after stringing together 3 big wins last week. However, they face the NHL's best team Chicago twice this week. If their post-season bid has any legs, it will need to get going now.
- Not many people would have predicted the Islanders would be able to maintain .500 hockey halfway through this season, but that's exactly where they sit (19 wins, 19 losses) and that's good enough to be just 2 points out of the top 8. They have a tough pair of games this week against Detroit and Buffalo.
Who's hot?
- Tim Connolly (Buffalo) has 14 points in a 9 game point streak, the best of his career.
- Henrik Sedin (Vancouver) has 18 points, also in a 9 game point streak. He has scored 2 or more points in 6 of those 9 games.
- Mathieu Garon (Columbus) has won his last 3 starts that include a shutout, a 1.58 GAA and a 0.958 save percentage.
Who's not?
- Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix) has let in 4 goals in each of his last 3 starts and has won 1 of his last 6.
- Devin Setoguchi (San Jose) has just 1 goal in the last 7 games and is a -5 in that span.
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