Buffalo Senator'd again

A day later, Sabre fans might be pondering why their team can't beat Ottawa. In what amounted to an important divisional showdown at HSBC Arena last night, they were Senator'd again. With two big points up for grabs facing a red hot team chasing them for the Northeast, Buffalo fell to their bitter rival 4-2, allowing the Sens to pull within three. It was the Sabres' second consecutive tough loss. They also fell to the Pens 5-4 the other night, victimized by a Sidney Crosby hat trick.

For Lindy Ruff's club, the good news is they still are in first with two games at hand. The bad is that with their franchise record 10th straight win, Ottawa has now beaten the Sabres eight times in a row. In four meetings this season, Buffalo has gotten only a brownie point and been outscored 13-7 discounting Alex Kovalev's Dec.26 shootout decider. There are two games left with both coming in the final three weeks of the season, including an April 10 road match on the second to last day. Hopefully by then, they'll have found a remedy for the Sens' dominance.

What made yesterday's latest defeat exasperating was that Buffalo once again fought back from a two-goal deficit to tie it thanks to goals 27 seconds apart from Andrej Sekera and Tim Connolly, pumping up the crowd. One thing about this team, no matter how they're playing, they never give up. Case in point, the Pens' got four straight Monday but Ryan Miller slammed the door, allowing Jason Pominville to make it too close for comfort. With their franchise netminder on the bench, they came real close to tying it. The same can be echoed following Sabre killer Daniel Alfredsson's stunning go-ahead marker with just a minute to spare off a great pass by rookie D Erik Karlsson. Even in full scramble mode, Ruff's club nearly forced overtime with Paul Gaustad or as Sabre faithful refer to him as Moose was denied by Brian Elliott.

That kind of fighting spirit is a winning trait which could bode well. If only they hadn't fallen into the trap a second straight game of getting into a wide open run n' gun. Against the super skilled Pens, the fall from grace was predictable. To both teams' credit last night, they went for it playing the kind of firewagon hockey that keeps you on the edge of your seat. That style doesn't suit this Sabre team, who must get back to tightening it up around Miller's net. Something they realize.

“One minute left—we can’t let that guy stand all alone on the backdoor,” a frustrated Henrik Tallinder expressed. “It stings.”

“We battled hard in the third to get back in it,” Ruff said. “The best description is we just found another way to lose a game.”

After outshooting their feisty opponent 13-5 in the opening stanza, the Sabres gave up a combined 32 shots the final 40 minutes. Sure. They fired 23 themselves but that's way too many for a team that prides itself on D, making Miller's life easier. When they're playing a gritty, physical in your face style, that's when these Sabres excel. Precisely the recipe they'll need against those Sens and the rest of the way.

It's there for the taking.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Daniel Alfredsson, Ott (GW w/60 seconds left plus ENG)
2nd Star-Brian Elliott, Ott (34 saves for 8th consecutive win-allowed 2 or fewer in every start)
1st Star-Jason Spezza, Ott (2 goals extends scoring streak to 7 straight-8-1-9)

Paddock firing predictable

Remember when John Paddock was coaching the Wolf Pack and was thought to be the solution here??? Well, that same guy who left the Ranger organization a few years ago to work with Ottawa's AHL affiliate Binghamton got predictably canned yesterday.

His first season coaching the Senators didn't start out bad by any means as the Stanley Cup runner-ups got out of the gate quickly building a double digit conference lead. However, as time has gone on, the once thought overwhelming Eastern favorites came back to the pack like a runner in a marathon who goes out too fast and then fades.

So, what happened to Ottawa under Paddock? Well, for one thing, goaltenders Ray Emery and Martin Gerber were average at best. Unable to provide consistent efforts in net, they showed the one real weakness in the Sens. Or maybe it was just my hex I put on them after I was pretty convinced that the Stillman/Commodore deal addressed the depth issue up front and on the blueline that it might cover up the two sieves.

In my book, Paddock mismanaged his two goalies as you never knew which would start. How's a team supposed to feel comfortable when they don't even know who the No.1 goalie is? It definitely didn't help that he still hadn't made a decision on who it would be for the first round.

While he was toying around which couldn't have been beneficial for team chemistry, teams like the Devils, Penguins and rival Canadiens were getting superior goaltending and picking up more points suddenly creeping back into the race for the conference's top spot and home ice.

Part of what also hurt the Sens was that stars Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson all missed time. As they go, so does the team. The terrific trio is the most lethal scoring line in the game for a reason.

What might be most troubling is that even with all three now finally healthy and contributing, the lack of goaltending continues to plague the Sens. Another red flag had to be the 5-0 drubbing they suffered at the hands of bitter nemesis Toronto. To lose that badly before the deadline at Scotiabank Place to your biggest rival who's not even contending is about as low as it gets.

Why didn't GM Bryan Murray pull the plug then? Instead, he waited another game to see his talented team get blanked a second straight this time 3-0 to surprising Boston, who vaulted ahead of the Rangers for sixth by virtue of one more win and extra games left.

You still look at that Ottawa roster and wonder who's going to beat them in a seven-game series? It all depends on Emery and Gerber. The blueline is certainly solid enough with top defenders Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips. I still wouldn't trust Wade Redden in a big game, especially against a big physical team (see 2007 Cup Final vs Anaheim). Commodore's a good pickup as he plays tough in his end and takes the body.

Forwards such as Mike Fisher and Antoine Vermette are vital cause they make things happen. Stillman thus far has fit in. So the scoring should be fine.

Will Murray going back behind the bench be enough to light a spark under his struggling team? Can they just flip the switch? I've seen this before with the 2000-01 Devils. A team so talented that they definitely should've repeated. Not putting away Carolina hurt later on and they never had enough killer instinct to beat the Avalanche.

Are the Sens suffering from the same thing? Just maybe. They still have to go out and perform. The East is much tougher than it looked a couple of months ago. The Habs, Pens and Devs are all capable of going far. Keep an eye on the Rangers too. If they get in, they're very capable of doing something big.

So, am I discounting the Southeast winner? Looks that way. The Canes have shown a lot of heart continuing to win despite all the injuries. You figure it will catch up. Are the Caps ready to take that division? Given all the moves they made, they better. I think they're still another year away.

We're going to find out plenty over the next six weeks. It should be a wild ride. Fasten your seatbelts!

Devs get first win over Isles, Sens rally past Pens

With the playoff race coming down to the critical stretch, there's plenty of action today. What else would ya expect on the final Saturday before the NHL version of a holiday known to puck fans as Deadline Day. It's now less than 48 hours away!

We will provide extensive coverage of all the deals which go down.

There have already been a couple of games of note which affect both the Atlantic and Eastern races. Earlier today, the Devils finally got a win over the Islanders defeating them 4-2 at The Prudential Center to temporarily take over the conference lead with 77 points.

A shorthanded tally by John Madden and a Patrik Elias goal had them out in front 2-1 but the Isles got a tying goal from Ruslan Fedotenko. Faced with the prospect of once again falling short against a division rival from the metro area, the more rested Devs peppered Rick DiPietro in the third outshooting the Fishsticks 20-4.

Not surprisingly, they finally had the magic formula as money player Zach Parise notched the winner 2:30 in for his Devil-leading 25th (fifth in last five contests). Brian Gionta made certain that there was no Isles' comeback by getting to a rebound in front for his third in the last six 2:13 later.

Marty Brodeur didn't have a busy day but was his stellar self turning aside 19 of 21 shots to win his league-leading 34th.

The win had the Devs leading the conference. However, with the Pens hosting the Sens, something had to give and did.

In another unpredictable game which was plenty exciting, the defending Eastern Conference champs showed plenty of resolve coming back from three goals down to pull out a 4-3 overtime road victory over Evgeni Malkin and the Pens.

The Penguins jumped out in front by three thanks to goals from Petr Sykora, Colby Armstrong and Jeff Taffe. But the Sens fought back thanks to a goal from recent pickup Cory Stillman and two from Dany Heatley including the tying marker with 13:51 remaining. HIs 30th came on a nice Randy Robitaille setup in front easily beating Ty Conklin.

The game would wind up in overtime and the Pens would come close to ending it twice. On the first one, Ryan Malone thought he had it won but hit the crossbar. The other was when Malkin came in on a two-on-one and Ray Emery just got a piece of it to push it wide.

The Sens instead would pick up a huge win off a broken play very late. Off a broken play, Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson backhanded his team best 35th through Conklin with only three seconds left to give them a huge win.

It gave Ottawa one more point than the Devils allowing them to stay tops in the conference for the 144th consecutive day according to Hockey Night In Canada (HNIC).

The Pens meanwhile got a point but not the kind they had in mind. They trail the Devils by a point with each team having 20 games to go in the regular season.

For the first time this month, Malkin was held off the scoresheet. He entered leading the league with 82 points (35-47-82) and had points in the first 10 games including a ridiculous eight multi-point nights. It wasn't from lack of effort as maybe the front runner for the Hart Trophy generated plenty of chances. He just couldn't finish.

With the Eastern race extremely close, please note the new Eastern Conference standings at the top left corner of the page. We will be keeping track of everything down the final six weeks.

Be sure to tune in!

All-Star starters announced, Brodeur gets nod in goal for East

Earlier today, the league announced the starters for the upcoming All-Star Game.

Here's who that elite list of stars will include:

2008 Eastern Conference All-Star Team Starting Lineup

Goal: Martin Brodeur, New Jersey

Defense: Andrei Markov, Montreal
Defense: Zdeno Chara, Boston

Forward: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
Forward: Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay
Forward: Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa

2008 Western Conference All-Star Team Starting Lineup

Goal: Roberto Luongo, Vancouver

Defense: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit
Defense: Dion Phaneuf, Calgary

Forward: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit
Forward: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
Forward: Jarome Iginla, Calgary


From the look of things, two quick notes:

1.No Ilya Kovalchuk for the stacked East
2.The Western lineup with the exception of goaltender is made up of all Red Wings and Flames.


We'll have much more later on.

Ovechkin's four goals lift Caps over Sens 8-6

Alexander Ovechkin decided to join Russian comrade Ilya Kovalchuk in the 30-goal club this season. He just decided to do it with a vintage night Saturday against the East's best team up at Scotia Bank Place.

The exciting third-year 22 year-old from Moscow scored four goals and an assist in a high scoring 8-6 win over the Senators. It was his first career four-goal game.

Even more amazing was that he was coming off a leg cut suffered in an OT loss to the Penguins Thursday which needed stitches.

No matter as the former 2005-06 Calder winner pulled within two goals of league leader Kovalchuk who tallied once in a 5-0 Thrashing of Boston last night.

"Oh yeah, it was bothering me," Ovechkin later admitted to the AP. "It was a little bit of pain but it's OK, I feel pretty good tonight. My parents were here, they arrived from Moscow and I was excited. It was a great time."

No wonder he put on a show.

"What impresses me most is that he actually played tonight," Capital teammate Olaf Kolzig noted. "If you guys would have seen the gash on his leg and I know a lot of guys were, not begging him but leaning towards, 'Hey, you think you can play tonight?' He had a lot of courage and he put on a heck of a show."

The 14 total goals made for a tough night in net. Something Kolzig eluded to.

"It was definitely a ratings booster for the TV stations and I'm sure the fans got their money's worth, but I'm too old for these kind of games," he said. "It's going to force me to retire sooner than I want."

The game featured the first career hat trick for underrated Ottawa center Mike Fisher. He scored all three in the third period trying to lead a comeback from 5-2 down.

"It's frustrating to lose that one when we were kind of close and it was not a great game for us," Fisher said after tallying shorthanded, on the power play and at even strength to be tabbed as the game's 2nd Star in the loss. "That would have been sweet to be able to come back but overall we've got to be better. We can't put ourselves in that position."

Teammate Daniel Alfredsson also scored twice including on a penalty shot- becoming just the ninth shooter to beat a goalie in over 30 chances this season.

Caps' rookie center Nicklas Backstrom finished with a goal and two helpers as did Alexander Semin. Ex-Ranger Michael Nylander also scored twice in a wild game which saw nine players (Wsh-5, Ott-4) post multi-point nights.

It was Ovechkin's third career hat trick and first since Dec. 1, 2006 against Atlanta.

Here are the highlights:

Ovechkin's first career four-goal game