Ottawa leaves Florida with 3 power plays opportunities compared to the 13 penalty kills they faced.

No complaining about whether Ottawa deserved these penalties, but the amount 'missed' or non-calls by the refs against Florida and Tampa was ridiculous. I kept a running total of about 12 missed calls between the two games.

The calls weren't going both ways and Ottawa didn't stand much of a chance tonight after playing the majority of the Florida game on the PK, and then already tired, they faced a similar situation tonight. It was the equivalent to winning an uphill race, only to restart the race immediately against a new, rested opponent.

Beyond the brutal officiating, that Murray considered filing a complaint with league about was the absence of Jason Spezza tonight. No A-Train made life difficult, but the absence of Spezza for the key face-offs killed the Sens tonight.

Tonight reminded me a lot of games when Alfie was injured from the past two years. The team lacked their usual spark and just didn't have the depth to overcome Spezza's injury. (The obvious fatigue was a factor also)

Solid first game by Brian Lee tonight as he replaced A-Train, I have no complaints what-so-ever about him. Lee came in without very much notice, had no opportunity to practice with the team first and still managed to play a solid game despite the loss. Lee logged 16:12 of ice time and had 1 assist and a -2.

I hate that this has become a common theme in games lately but Cheechoo clearly doesn't have 'it', he continues to be a shell of his former self and despite netting a goal Kovalev continues to play as uninspired and effortless as he did for the majority of last year. Kovie has the frickin talent to be better and to score goals with ease, but he clearly doesn't care. Great.......

And while I'm picking out players who are under-achieving or playing poorly.....Alex Picard.

He started the year...amazingly. He was great, and then from Nashville onwards he has been playing slightly worse with each passing game. Tonight he continued his trend as he was fumbling the puck, making sloppy plays and just looked too rattled to be playing tonight.

It may just be a case of the flu messing with the team/players but it's clear who wants to win and who just wants their paycheck.

It's a shame to see Picard and Campoli (or Campbelli as the Florida announcers called him Wednesday night) play so poorly, while Karlsson has to go to Bingo. This is just screaming mistake right now.
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Good news Pascal Leclaire isn't hurt like we expected, and is just fighting a rough flu.

Bad news A-Train is out 2-3 weeks with an elbow injury and Spezza is day-to-day after aggravating his pre-existing back injury.
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Side notes: Even after a full season, I can't get used to TSN using the Hockey Night in Canada theme song....it’s just so awkward.

Pierre McGuire has a serious hate on for Ottawa, every Ottawa game he broadcasts, he is repeatedly negative. Its times like this I wish an NHL club would hire him so we don't have to hear him.


Next up is Atlanta visiting Ottawa on Saturday....hopefully Spezza and Leclaire will be good to go. If not it could be a long afternoon.

Mark Christopher
M_Christopher@live.ca

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