Nightmare Scenario

Good news, everyone! The Ottawa Senators are the butt of a joke that Time Magazine made!

Of course, an unsexy World Series (think San Diego Padres-Texas Rangers) or hockey Finals matchup (Edmonton Oilers-Ottawa Senators!) could quickly halt some of this momentum.

Now traditionally I've said the league's nightmare scenario is an Ottawa-Vancouver final, but hey, thanks for the mention.

Apparently I'm late with the Spinal Tap jokes

...but these guys go to eleven. So they're better.

So as per usual, I tune in for the third. And as per usual, I was totally wrong about my prediction: the Senators were up 2-0 against Vancouver. Un. Friggin'. Believable.

My take-away from the game: do they shoot Vancouver games with a different film speed? Because holy crap are these guys fast. All four lines. Zip, zoom, zapow. The Senators were working hard to keep up, and kept the energy up going the other way too -- the third featured some real end-to-end action.

Too bad about Karlsson getting injured, but as has been pointed out elsewhere getting hurt now means he has two extra weeks to get healthy again through the Olympic break. Karlsson is really blossoming as a player, and I think a lot of commentators (me included) feel a bit sheepish for underrating him at the beginning of the season. He did his time in the AHL, where he did very well. However I don't think many people expected his absence to be a net negative to the team this soon in his career...

Nice to see Spezza continue his scoring streak, and nice to see Alfredsson continue to see returns on his constant hard work.

Fabulous to see, and the win makes it all the more sweeter.

Next up: the Leafs. Fresh from blowing a two-point lead in New Jersey, they will be at home and they will be mad. And tired from the travel, so really it's all good. This one will be very winnable for the Senators.

Ten In A Row

I think this is worth preserving: the standings line for the Senators on 4 February 2010, including the perfect last-10 number. The current run is a franchise record.



It is weird how this year is almost winding down. I got an email today advising me that there are only 10 more home games this year including tonight. Now I know that the Olympics and the resulting diddling in the schedule is what brings us to this point, but it still seems early to me.

Personally I expect Vancouver to beat the Senators tonight. In general the west fields better teams, even if they coughed up a two goal lead to Toronto and then followed that up by losing to Montreal. Vancouver's numbers show them as having the Senator's kind of results, but in a tougher conference. Not to say that this game isn't winnable -- I just don't expect the Senators to win it.