The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

The Senators did what they weren't supposed to do. They forgot to come at them at the opening whistle and as a result found themselves down 2-1 heading into the second period. Throughout these playoffs, the Sens are going to have be consistent from the start if they are to have long term success.

Luckily, the Senators regrouped and took over. Instead of letting Tampa dictate the play, the took it upon themselves to take control and it didn't hurt that goalie John Grahame isn't standing on his head. Scoring four goals on sixteen shots, the worst thing that could happen to kill any chance of a comeback would be Chris Neil scoring on the newly inserted Sean Burke on the first shot he faced. Sure enough, it happened. It was indeed not Tampa's night, and everything was going right for Ottawa from the second period to the end of the game.

To me, because the Lightning can really only produce with two lines and are playing more minutes, they simply run out of gas as the game wears on. No one can really criticize the play of Martin St Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards. After that, the team doesn't have much to turn to to score. The Senators played a regular season style game, where they let their skill take over the overwhelmed Tampa players.

The only way Ottawa can lose is if they cause the gaffes themselves. Game 2 saw them do things they don't usually do: multiple turnovers, bad passes, missed shots, lackadaisical forechecking. They should realize game 5 is now their most important game of the season. They have Tampa on the ground, their foot pressed tightly on their collective necks. Time to break it.

Other thoughts:

Daniel Alfredsson deserves better than to be playing alongside underachieving Bryan Smolinski. He is carrying the load...Not sure what Christoph Schubert did to deserve being scratched so that invisible Brian Pothier could get re-inserted in the lineup. They dominated game 3, why make lineup changes when you know it works?...Ray Emery turned in another solid game and made several key saves to prevent Tampa from getting back in it...Andrej Meszaros is having trouble adjusting to the post-season after a stellar regular season campaign. Hopefully this series will better his play for upcoming series (there, I jinxed them)...I predict Alfredsson scoring a big goal tomorrow. Not sure if it will be a game-tier, an overtime winner or an insurance goal, but he'll have a big night.

It's now in Ottawa's hands. Thirteen to go.