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.

Schubert and Smith Sent to Binghamton

The changing of the swingman guard appears to be in full swing here in Sensland. Christoff Schubert has been waived and sent to the AHL affiliate in Binghamton to make room for his heir apparent, Matt Carkner. IF the Sens want a player who can be a 7th defenseman or a 13th forward at a moment's notice, Matt brings more to the table than Schubert. Carkner is nothing spectacular, but makes few mistakes out there and can go toe to toe with anyone in the NHL. He brings a meanness to the backend not seen since the days of ** gulp ** Chara. Good luck to the local boy turned 28 year old rookie.

In other news, Coach Cory seems to think that there will be a move made in the next 24-48 hours to finalize the roster at 23 to start the season.

We'll keep our eyes out for any updates and are speculating nothing but picks/prospects coming back to Ottawa in any deal. Look for Brian Lee to be sent to Binghamton as well due largely to his 2 way contract. Don't worry, Lee fans, he'll be back once the Sens clear some roster room. The Murrays seems stuck on keeping rookies Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin with the big club at least to start the season.

By the way, we have found a new site sports.offmytv.com that promises to post links to NHL streams on game day. We spoke to the webmaster and he assures us that the Sens games are a priority for him.

Hartsburg Fired..... FINALLY!!

Thank the lord above, Murray finally woke up and fired coach Craig Hartsburg. As this blog has mentioned for months now, this coach was simply not suited to this team. He
was trying to force feed a system that was not only boring as hell to watch but it was not suited to the team he had before him.

"You can't coach the players you wish you had. You have to coach the ones you have." - Brent Sutter

Having one guy go in on the forecheck only to have his linemates wait inside the blue line for him to gain possession BEFORE going on the offensive was ridiculous. Having all the forwards backcheck at the same time gives the defense no one to spring the breakaway pass to once they gain possession. No puck moving defenseman? What good is one when he has no one up ice to move the puck to? Antoine Vermette scored many, many goals on the breakaway over the past two seasons. Hard to start a breakaway from your own faceoff circle.

Bottom line: the players hated the system, knew it wouldn't work and quit on their coach when he refused to adjust.

Cory Clouston is a band-aid for this season as for as coaching goes, but I suppose there was no sense paying for a big name NHL coach like Quinn or Hartley when the season is already toast and Sens owner Eugene Melnyk is already paying two coaches NOT to coach on top of two goaltenders NOT to tend goal.

Let the rebuild begin in earnest. This should be a very interesting trade deadline, Sens fans. Stay tuned.