Sens rebuild underway?

Hey, it's been a year since I last wrote anything so what the heck. Here's a tidbit for you:

The Sens are working on something with Vancouver for goalie prospect Cory Schneider.

This all fits in with the team's plan outlined by owner, Eugene Melnyk.

Naturally, the team wants to get younger and cheaper for a couple of years.

My opinion is that in the interim, they should chase impending UFA Matt Moulson

Sens Stab Habs 4-2

A big win for the team tonight.
The goaltending controversy continues for Coach Cory as Mike Brodeur played another solid game. He's now 3-0 with a .966 sv% and a GAA of 1.00 for those of you keeping score at home.
Scoring for the Sens was Smith (his first NHL goal and shorthanded no less), Alfredsson, Phillips and Fisher into the empty net.
Perfect road game and a good team effort tonight. Zack Smith is really finding his niche here so far since his call up from AHL's Binghamton.

Here are some highlights for you to enjoy.

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Mike Brodeur shuts out Rags 2-0

Great team effort tonight by the Sens in getting out of their recent 5 game funk.
Goaltending had been a problem over that stretch and it cost goalie coach, Eli Wilson his job. Long overdue move in my opinion.

The team ended up doing more about their goaltending tonight than just fire an over rated, teflon coach. Starter Pascal Leclaire was injured in practice and backup Brian Elliot was puking his guts out all day with the flu according to the New York media.

Enter: Mike Brodeur on emergency call up. Thank God the Sens' affiliate was in Binghamton, NY and they were playing in New York City.

Now the team has a bit of a quagmire. Brodeur has been absolutely BRILLIANT in his 2 career NHL starts with the Senators, allowing only 1 goal in that stretch and collecting 2 wins, 1 by shutout.

Will the Sens send Leclaire down to Binghamton for a conditioning stint once he recovers from his latest puck-in-the-face injury? Probably not a bad idea.

If Clouston doesn't start Brodeur against the Habs next game, he's crazy.
Both NHL goalies have been sucking large and this guy is red hot.

Over to you, Coach Cory.

Oh yeah...... I almost forgot. Chris Campoli broke the scoreless game with around 2 minutes left in the third frame on a great set up from Alexei Kovalev after some hard work from Mike Fisher. The other Chris.... Kelly dumped in an empty netter to seal the deal.

Karlsson Recalled, Lee Sent Down

The NHL career of Senators' rookie Erik Karlsson resumes tomorrow in Boston.
In a game that will decide first place in the Northeast Division, Coach Cory wants to have his team firing on all cylinders and obviously feels that Karlsson has more to offer than the much maligned fellow defenseman Brian Lee.

Lee has struggled to find his niche in the NHL thus far in his young NHL career. Is he a puck moving, offensive defenseman? Is he a big, bruising stay at home guy? Is he a power play quarterback? At times, he seems to try to be all three and all three aspects of his game suffer. This has been the story of his career thus far for the former first round draft pick. The kid has the talent and the toolbox, he just needs to put it all together and point it in the right direction.

Karlsson, on the other hand is what he is. A slick skating, offensive defenseman with a great shot from the point on the power play. Although undersized, the young Swede can be a very useful player to his team. Since being sent down to the Sens' AHL affiliate in Binghamton, Karlsson has tallied 11 assists in 12 games while showing a little jam collecting more than his share of penalty minutes at 22 while compliling an even plus/minus rating.

Here's hoping that Erik has adjusted to the North American game as with this call up, he will have 10 games of NHL experience which triggers the first year of his entry level contract.

Sens Put Colombus in a Straight Jacket 2-1

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I've been very busy. I promise to have a full team assessment shortly.

Pascal who? Backup Brian Elliot was brilliant in the win and Jesse Winchester continues to impress. The injury depleted Sens played a strong game to get the win. Great team game that we have come to expect from this year's edition.

The Sens are now winners of 4 of their last 5.

Here are some highlights from tonight.

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Sens Bolt Past Lightning 3-2 (OT)

Spezza scores the winner for the Sens after having 2 called back in the dying minutes of the 3rd.

Neil demolishes Hedman.

Hard fought, entertaining game. Here's some highlights.

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Leclaire Steals a Point for the Sens

What a crappy ending to an entertaining game! Nice to see the referees flex their small-man disorder urge to play God and decide the outcome of a game by calling a weak penalty in overtime to go along with awarding a 5 on 3 powerplay to the Preds with 2 minutes to go in regulation. Disgusting.

In any event, the Sens were badly outplayed through periods and were down 3-0 with Leclaire being the only reason it was that close. He made some spectacular saves late in the period to keep it do-able with a 3 goal deficit.

Enter the 3rd period where the Sens showed some guts and character by tying it up before it was half over.

The teams then traded goals with the Preds having what appeared to be the last word on their generously awarded 5 on 3 powerplay with a minute left in regulation time.

Enter Mike Fisher who worked his guts out along the boards in the dying seconds, finally kicking the puck to Alfie who quickly dished it to Phillips who scored the tying goal with 2 seconds remaining to gain Leclaire the point he deserved.

Welcome overtime where Carkner is called on a questionable trip as he himself was falling. Powerplay goal by the Preds, game over.

Tough finish for a goalie and team that hung in there and never quit. 5-2-1 is a pretty good start to the season.

Next up: The Savard and Lucic - less Bruins on Saturday. Should be a helluva game.