8-1

Emery came away with a victory against the "Cats". I felt that his rebound control was poor. I know that's relative, since it's not one of the finer points of his game. But he did look rusty. Confident, but rusty. Several pucks went through him and through the crease. But what can you say, he kept them all out but a PPG. Vokoun kept the big line off the board for most of the game. Only Alfie scored with a weird off-speed shass. Ultimately, the Panthers were just too sloppy with the puck. Speaking of "Cats", the announcers in Atlanta refer to Kovalchuk as "Kovie", both references are pretty lame.

Scary moment when Mezei gave Foligno the paralyzer hit. (The guy is 2-3' off the boards and bent over, so you nail his head into the boards right before he gets the puck.) There was a delayed call and the Sens scored as Foligno lay on the ice. He got back up, woozy, on his own, so no boarding major or misconduct. Later in the game Volchenkov hits Booth as he tries a spin move into the boards. Booth required a stretcher. Anton get a major for boarding and misconduct. It was clearly not a revenge-type hit, but Booth put himself into a bad position. I will be pissed if Volchenkov gets suspended.

Meszaros continues to look lost. He has stepped up his offensive game. But he's been getting burned routinely. It's becoming a problem. I think the best display was by Neil, Donovan, Eaves and McGrattan. Neil has been showing some offensive flair lately. Donovan and Eaves and checking machines. McGrattan looks like a totally different player. His skating looks fast and he is confident with the puck, making plays and getting shots! I think that guy did some major work in the off-season. The last thing I expected was him to become a 'real' player. That would be a great surprise for this season.

In a scheduling snafu, Sens don't play again for a week and then another 4 days after that game. I've read that they are going camping for three days.?! Kinda kewl team bonding trip, but the team is playing well and there aren't really any locker room issues on this team. It will be a test to see if they can continue to roll after such a long layoff. Also, what am I supposed to do for a week? I can only watch so many Kings games before I go into a major depression.

JR WATCH 2007: Update. JR put one in against the Preds to put the career total at 498. It is amazing that he has scored 3 times in 6 games considering the actual playing time he gets. Watching the Sharks, it seems like something is just not right so far this year. I think they miss Scott Hannan...