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

The Sens had a very strong lineup with only a few regulars scratched while the Philadelphia Flyers opted to sit most of their first line players (Richards, Carter, Gagne, Timonen) and the Senators put on an expected strong showing despite winning only by a margin of 3-1. Coach Hartsburg was keen on figuring out who can run the power play on the point, giving Brendan Bell, Brian Lee and Filip Kuba most of the ice time when they had the man advantage. Bell looked good in the offensive zone, but he made a lot of Redden-type giveaways in his own end (one that allowed the Flyers to score the first goal). I'm guessing he'll be the 7th defenceman once everything is said and done. Alfredsson played his first game with Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette. They seemed to mesh well together however Chris "Hands of Stone" Kelly can't really be counted on to score too many goals, so he'll have to be the guy to jam the front of the net and grind it out along the boards which he was average at tonight. Jesse Winchester scored his first goal of the pre-season by shooting towards heavy traffic and getting a lucky deflection, but nonetheless still showed promise as Spezza and Heatley's linemate.

I got concerned seeing Gerber let in the first shot of the game and he seemed to have a lot of deer-in-headlight moments where he had no idea where the puck was. But, he did get some good bounces and maybe with his new mask, he can channel the force to make sure the puck hits a post or crossbar a couple of times. Man, I am really crossing my fingers he won't stink it up this year. When he's on a roll he's excellent, but consistency has always been his problem. I'm hoping already being anointed the #1 goalie will allow him to concentrate on his goaltending.

So the Sens have two more games before heading to Sweden. In less than 10 days they'll be playing the first regular season game and I'm getting excited for it, even more so than tonight's season premiere of The Office.