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

Looks like Ottawa won't go away quietly.

Ottawa did what they should have done at the start of game 3: press the attack from the opening face-off and get that very important first goal. Ottawa totally dominated the first period while Emery made a couple of key saves to keep the momentum going for the Senators. Buffalo's frustration was evident as they took a needless penalty while already trying to kill a power play giving Ottawa a 5 on 3. Ottawa couldn't capitalize on it, but turned out it didn't matter.

It was all Buffalo in the second period and what Ottawa needed: a goaltender to step up and make big stops, Emery supplied. Buffalo did manage to take charge of the second period outshooting Ottawa by a margin of 16-3, but could only manage one goal thanks to Emery. As the game progressed, it got very gritty and chippy. Lots of work along the boards and not much room to make plays. Every goal was a difference maker and the wide-open game 1 was nowhere to be found.

The third period Ottawa pressed first and were rewarded with an early tally in the third period. Like most of the game, it wasn't pretty. A shot by Redden from the point with traffic in front deflected slightly and was the difference. No tic-tac-toe play. No fancy drop-pass in the slot area. Both goals, in fact, from the point with traffic in front.

Ottawa didn't press too much after taking the lead and Buffalo had the puck in Ottawa's zone for most of the third but Ottawa did a good job keeping it to the outside. The few times they were able to sneak in, Emery came up with a big save and all of a sudden we have a game 5. Could this be the start of something historic? We'll see what happens Saturday first.

Other thoughts:

Volchenkov seems to have figured out the way to handle an odd man rush. He made a nice play blocking a pass/shot attempt in the third...Alfredsson picked up the third star in CBC's broadcast but Don Cherry was nice enough to point out he didn't deserve it...Annoying how every CBC analyst talk about how Ottawa"can't score", even though every game has been decided by just one goal including two in overtime...Nice to see Ray Emery flash his brilliant smile in the post-game interview. He looked at peace and confident, which it what Ottawa needs...Redden had a strong game last night, as did Fisher as usual...Chara threw his size around a little more, the best hit was when he checked both Briere & Dumont on the same play. He still seems to check his opponents soft though...When is Heatley going to score?...Cole & Neale still stink...It will be interesting to see how many people are back on the bandwagon tomorrow. The comments at the office ranged from "Sorry, SBP" to "We gotta ship Alfie outta here and pick up Bertuzzi" (that's just what we need, an underachieving basketcase). But surprisingly, most were sympathetic to my plight of seeing my Sens lose game 3...11 to go!