Turnaround

Going into last night's game the Sabres had not lost in regulation. Well, now they have. Sens came out with a solid, if not slightly overzealous effort. And won going away 5-2. Buffalo got a couple late powerplay goals, one a 5-on-3 advantage. Everything appeared rosey as all lines were playing well. Auld had a shutout going well into the third period. Defense played much better. A nice level of deperation was shown by all lines.

 

The bad side is too many penalties. Some were 'necessary' penalties that prevented a goal, and the Sens PK is very good. And I accept the occasional penalty for aggressive play. Or Fisher fighting a guy for what appeared a knee shot on Alfredsson.  But there were also some lazy play and retaliation penalties thrown in there too. Coach won't like that.

 

Auld was good, but also gave away the puck too much. He's an adventure when handling the puck. Fortunately none of those gaffes ended up in the net, so its fine. I'll give Auld a pass, since he has only played his third game this season. But I would like to see that type of unnecessary scoring chance eliminated. If he keeps up his solid play, Gerber will be riding the pine this season.

 

Apparently, the Sens owner has a horse ranch in Florida, which is their next game on this road trip. Melnyk is a less-annoying Mark Cuban of the NHL, too much of a fan at times and heavily invested in the team. He holds an annual lunch for the players at his ranch and it is scheduled before the Panthers game. I can't imagine the atmosphere if they had lost their fifth game in a row. One game does not make a season. But with a ton of pressure by the owner and facing a hot opponent, the Senators stepped it up. Now they just have to bring it with more frequency/consistency.