Kevin Francis: Sens' win home opener! Great feeling for Sens' fans!

Well that was one entertaining game! With a happy ending no less. If this is any in indication of things to come it's going to be one hell of a fun season.

Good news: Sens scored 7 goals.

Not so good news: Sens gave up 5 goals.

It was wild and wonderful.

Stutzle, Tkackuk and Batherson put on a great show.

Fans were awesome!

Lets see.
*****The Negative-ish*****

15$ parking. My son says, as we are paying "did Melnyk fake his death?". I would trade 5$ pre-game beer for 10$ parking-----BUT, you want to have expensive players you gotta find a a way to pay them.

In house, 30$ for two drinks. But that's not really the issue. Again, good players are expensive---the issue is how much time the extra button push for tipping takes. Sens games should be like a Sandals resorts no tipping. Sorry kids. You're not really working a bar--like an actual bartender.

As I'm driving in and I'm stuck in traffic just getting to the building. (I live in Kanata about a kilometer away) my kid and I were discussing how exactly ANYONE could believe this would work better downtown. The absurdity of it will all come together at some point. "oh they'll bus". "oh they'll take the train". Ya...."oh the walk up crowd".....uh huh. Looking forward to the white elephant next to the War Museum.

DJ Prosper.....sigh...he's high energy and all that. I dunno..it seemed like maybe 100 people were buying what he was selling. In-House entertainment needs a refresh and at the same time a re-think. Ottawa is a sleepy town with sleepy fans. People just tend to sit. This isn't Vegas. Not sure I have any suggestions but it wasn't really working.

***The Positive***

We have some REALLY good players. Damn. Just damn. They can fly. Stutzle is dazzling with the puck. Pinto will play himself UP the line up very quickly. Zub time and again makes Chabbot look better...in fact I'd go as far to say that Thomas was probably our weakest defender last night. It may be too early to say but the patience with Brannstrom may have finally paid off. Sanderson looks like the real deal too. Still, as good as the D looked......5 fairly easy goals scored by a mediocre opponent.

The goaltending was solid. The coach actually waited a couple times to see who the Bruins put out there......and then threw the Motte line out anyhow. (dude)
Josh Norris was playing some kind of head game with Bergeron, and winning. I don't know what the numbers were but Norris seemed to keep baiting Patrice into jumping early and then getting tossed out. Saw that a few times.

The officiating was a bit hit and miss. They missed at least two times when the puck hit the mesh and play continued.

All in all. Entertainment wise, and for the good of the team and the city, they probably couldn't have scripted a better outcome. 8/10 for me.

Oh ya. Give aways. Hats or cowbells or whatever? OK....if you need to learn how to organize give aways you need look no further than the Toronto Blue Jays this past season. Every home stand there was something, it was well organized and seemingly relevant.

Kevin, I know you're dying to write a negative hit piece... just stop man... don't be a loser all the time

Great to see Stutzle, Tkachuk and Batherson dominate.

The team is looking quite solid down the middle with Stutzle, Norris, Pinto and Kastelic.

Sanderson and Brannstrom both looking good. Time to spread the defensive minutes around.

That Stuzle goal was slick.

Hopefully this helps the offense get going, and we see more goals than the previous two games.

Lets see.
*****The Negative-ish*****

As I'm driving in and I'm stuck in traffic just getting to the building. (I live in Kanata about a kilometer away) my kid and I were discussing how exactly ANYONE could believe this would work better downtown. The absurdity of it will all come together at some point. "oh they'll bus". "oh they'll take the train". Ya...."oh the walk up crowd".....uh huh. Looking forward to the white elephant next to the War Museum.
.
- Octavarium

It's absurd to have a building on the far end of the city, in the middle of a field. When the game is over, 95% of the people travel east. Also, 80-90% of the people have to drive to the game.

It was actually funny. I went to Iron Maiden on Saturday. Many, many many people took uber or cabs or public transit to the show. Many people were pretty drunk after the show. After the concert, there were hundreds of people standing outside, not knowing where to go. An uber ride that normally costs $20 was being quoted at $100. Cabs were nowhere to be seen. And where is the nearest bus stop? It was brutal. Now imagine that is January.

When the building is relocated, people will be leaving in different directions. Ubers/cabs/public transit will be accessible. Many will also leave their cars at work and take public transit. I live in a rural area south of the city. I am actually looking forward to having the light rail actually do something for me. Myself and my friends from the area will absolutely use a park n ride and take the train in.

Most people, if given the option, would rather find a way to the event without driving directly to the building. This is how it works in every other major city that has a building downtown.

Biggest win in 6 seasons. Beat a team in the 2nd of back to backs missing half its defense.

Great to see Stutzle, Tkachuk and Batherson dominate.

The team is looking quite solid down the middle with Stutzle, Norris, Pinto and Kastelic.

Sanderson and Brannstrom both looking good. Time to spread the defensive minutes around.
- SensFan25

I always have guys lower in the line up that I like to keep an eye on. So far, I really like Kastelic. I thought he was solid all night. I also thought he was strong in the game against Toronto.

Fun win. See you all at the Zona vs Sens games. $45 dollar tickets!!

Biggest win in 6 seasons. Beat a team in the 2nd of back to backs missing half its defense.
- Newgod77

Celebration of the win had very little to do with Boston. This is the first home game of a new season since the death of Eugene Melynyk. Since his passing, the team has made huge moves in player acquisitions, made long term commitments to their young star players and the fan response has been spectacular as we could see from the crowd enthusiasm last night and, especially, in the reception of Daniel Alfredsson as the new management team goes about trying to heal some very deep wounds within the community.

They actually sold out on all the beer in the building.

The win was profoundly symbolic for Sens fans. The fact it was a wild game only added to the celebration. The response would have been the same if they were playing any other team.

Carried over from last thread...

I'm still not convinced that Stutzle should be playing between Tkachuk & Batherson, but it would be hard to suggest that they weren't all over the ice tonight in addition to putting up 1G/2A each. Despite the win, they really need to start taking the 2nd period issues more seriously in terms of their approach. They've given up 10 non-EN goals so far this year and 7 have been in the 2nd period, including 5 that were either in the first ~2min or last ~2min of the period. They've also blown early leads in the 2nd period of all 3 games so far, which is just painful to watch.

In terms of faceoffs, they spread it around pretty well and had some good showings.
Norris - 12/20
Pinto - 8/13
Stutzle - 5/10
Giroux - 5/11
Tkachuk - 2/7

As for D-man ice times, it was pretty clear which were the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pairings...
26:55 - Chabot (+2)
25:31 - Zub (+3)
19:18 - Sanderson (+1)
18:15 - Hamonic (+2)
15:17 - Holden (-1)
14:00 - Brannstrom (-1)


All that said, this was more of what we expected from this team - a team that should be able to score a lot, but could be vulnerable in terms of letting teams back into games. Overall, it was certainly a fun game for the fans to watch, and great to see Alfredsson back on the ice and getting his due. Hopefully they can keep things going at home against WSH, ARI, DAL, and MIN.

[quote=Charliebox]It's absurd to have a building on the far end of the city, in the middle of a field. When the game is over, 95% of the people travel east. Also, 80-90% of the people have to drive to the game.

It was actually funny. I went to Iron Maiden on Saturday. Many, many many people took uber or cabs or public transit to the show. Many people were pretty drunk after the show. After the concert, there were hundreds of people standing outside, not knowing where to go. An uber ride that normally costs $20 was being quoted at $100. Cabs were nowhere to be seen. And where is the nearest bus stop? It was brutal. Now imagine that is January.

I was also at Maiden on Saturday. There was about 3-5k less people there. Still. To counter your point - my kid was at the Panda Game. An uber back to Kanata was 100$ and cabs and public transit were essentially useless from a facility in the down town core. Buses couldn't move. Nothing moved. Ohhhh but the train will go to Lebretton. Sure it will. And yes...imagine the Buffalo Sabres in town, in January on a Tuesday. There will be no walk up crowd.

Bad news about Connor Brown... hopefully it's not too serious.
https://www.tsn.ca/connor...ington-capitals-1.1864867

That said, it certainly reinforces the notion that in some cases it's best to cash in a time-limited asset when you have the chance. Quite a few people suggested over the summer that they should have waited until the trade deadline, but I'm honestly not sure how that was supposed to work. With a stated expectation to make a playoff push, you can't also be a major seller at the trade deadline. And if the 2nd round pick they got from WSH greases the wheels of an eventual Zaitsev salary dump, then it will be appropriate closure for the whole Ceci/Brown/Zaitsev chapter.

[quote=Charliebox]It's absurd to have a building on the far end of the city, in the middle of a field. When the game is over, 95% of the people travel east. Also, 80-90% of the people have to drive to the game.

It was actually funny. I went to Iron Maiden on Saturday. Many, many many people took uber or cabs or public transit to the show. Many people were pretty drunk after the show. After the concert, there were hundreds of people standing outside, not knowing where to go. An uber ride that normally costs $20 was being quoted at $100. Cabs were nowhere to be seen. And where is the nearest bus stop? It was brutal. Now imagine that is January.

I was also at Maiden on Saturday. There was about 3-5k less people there. Still. To counter your point - my kid was at the Panda Game. An uber back to Kanata was 100$ and cabs and public transit were essentially useless from a facility in the down town core. Buses couldn't move. Nothing moved. Ohhhh but the train will go to Lebretton. Sure it will. And yes...imagine the Buffalo Sabres in town, in January on a Tuesday. There will be no walk up crowd.
- Octavarium

I was born in Montreal and as a young boy, around 10, my uncle would sometimes take me to hockey games at the Forum and he drove in from the west island. There was always traffic and sometimes snow and it took time but that was to be expected and nobody ever complained.

Sometimes I'd go with my older brother and we'd take the bus. I don't remember ever hearing any mention of inconvenience from any of the people around me.

Scalping tickets sometimes as a teenager I can't remember ever hearing anyone complain about traffic or inconvenience.

I've been to a few games in TO when I lived there and can't remember hearing anyone complain about traffic getting to the game and that was TO where traffic is always a royal pain.

I've been to games in Kanata and I drove. I would find street parking near the arena and walk over because their parking setup wasn't very well thought out it seems but none of that ever bothered me overly much. You had a lot of people converging on a single building so it didn't surprise me that there might be delays.

Lebreton makes more sense because it would be a real boost to the economy of the downtown core and that's the best reason in the world to have the arena located there. I imagine there will be delays and inconvenience. What a surprise?

I was also at Maiden on Saturday. There was about 3-5k less people there. Still. To counter your point - my kid was at the Panda Game. An uber back to Kanata was 100$ and cabs and public transit were essentially useless from a facility in the down town core. Buses couldn't move. Nothing moved. Ohhhh but the train will go to Lebretton. Sure it will. And yes...imagine the Buffalo Sabres in town, in January on a Tuesday. There will be no walk up crowd.

Wait, you think there will be more walkup crowds to a building in the middle of a field in the furthest west suburb of the city than downtown?

Come on man.

And yes, of course an uber back to Kanata is going to be expensive. Maybe I didn't make myself clear. For those of us in rural areas/suburbs, we would drive to a park n ride and jump on a bus or train. Lebreton is right on the main transit line for both.

Most people in the Ottawa area would rather spend 15 mins in a car, 10 mins at the park n ride, and 10 mins on the bus/train to the building, instead of 40-50 mins in traffic, then waiting 30-40 mins sitting in a parking lot, before even making your way back home.

I get that you live in Kanata and it sucks that it will be less convenient for you, but it will be more convenient for everyone else in the Ottawa area.

Bad news about Connor Brown...
https://www.tsn.ca/connor...ington-capitals-1.1864867

That said, it certainly reinforces the notion that in some cases it's best to cash in a time-limited asset when you have the chance. Quite a few people suggested over the summer that they should have waited until the trade deadline, but I'm honestly not sure how that was supposed to work. With a stated expectation to make a playoff push, you can't also be a major seller at the trade deadline. And if the 2nd round pick they got from WSH greases the wheels of an eventual Zaitsev salary dump, then it will be appropriate closure for the whole Ceci/Brown/Zaitsev chapter.
- khawk

I was one of the people who didn't like the trade. I don't know if Brown had soured on staying in Ottawa and if true why that would have been but I felt and still feel that he was worth more than a second round pick.

Obviously if the team was in the hunt for a playoff spot you would only trade him for a piece that you needed more otherwise you'd be tarred and feathered.

Watching this team play these first three games I'm pretty sure they would have a much better third line if Brown was on it giving them a better chance at that playoff spot. Just that in itself is more than enough reason to hold onto him even if you end up not getting anything for him later on.

I can't speak to any possible speculation about him being a wet blanket on the team's overall mental outlook but he would be playing for a new contract somewhere so there's that to encourage him to put his best foot forward.

If you were out of the playoff picture at the deadline I'm pretty sure Brown would have got you more than a second. His present injury has nothing to do with anything because if he would still have been in Ottawa and that hit would never have happened.

I am happy I splurged and attended the home opener. Playoff vibes in game 1 of the season was incredible. The Alfie puck drop was brilliant. The game was a roller coaster and ended with a great result.

Brady during his post game interview on the ice was really telling. He's gonna be a great captain and he's excited with where the team and fans are at. He couldn't wipe the grin off his face or stop acknowledging the fans. I felt the Alfie puck drop was almost a passing of the torch to Brady. Simply brilliant.

Some fans will chirp this organization and fanbase for getting so excited for a home opener, but this game, moment, and result just felt needed.

This is a new era of Sens hockey. Keep the good times rolling!

Have to wonder if Pierre-Olivier Joseph might come up in trade discussions, given that he's Mathieu's brother...
https://www.tsn.ca/pittsb...oseph-nhl-trade-1.1864765

He's a natural LHD, but so is Chychrun... and at this point they may be okay playing Brannstrom to the RHD side in order to upgrade the overall quality/depth on the blueline (i.e. get Zaitsev off the roster).

I am happy I splurged and attended the home opener. Playoff vibes in game 1 of the season was incredible. The Alfie puck drop was brilliant. The game was a roller coaster and ended with a great result.

Brady during his post game interview on the ice was really telling. He's gonna be a great captain and he's excited with where the team and fans are at. He couldn't wipe the grin off his face or stop acknowledging the fans. I felt the Alfie puck drop was almost a passing of the torch to Brady. Simply brilliant.

Some fans will chirp this organization and fanbase for getting so excited for a home opener, but this game, moment, and result just felt needed.

This is a new era of Sens hockey. Keep the good times rolling!
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

A++

Lets see.
*****The Negative-ish*****

15$ parking. My son says, as we are paying "did Melnyk fake his death?". I would trade 5$ pre-game beer for 10$ parking-----BUT, you want to have expensive players you gotta find a a way to pay them.

In house, 30$ for two drinks. But that's not really the issue. Again, good players are expensive---the issue is how much time the extra button push for tipping takes. Sens games should be like a Sandals resorts no tipping. Sorry kids. You're not really working a bar--like an actual bartender.

As I'm driving in and I'm stuck in traffic just getting to the building. (I live in Kanata about a kilometer away) my kid and I were discussing how exactly ANYONE could believe this would work better downtown. The absurdity of it will all come together at some point. "oh they'll bus". "oh they'll take the train". Ya...."oh the walk up crowd".....uh huh. Looking forward to the white elephant next to the War Museum.

DJ Prosper.....sigh...he's high energy and all that. I dunno..it seemed like maybe 100 people were buying what he was selling. In-House entertainment needs a refresh and at the same time a re-think. Ottawa is a sleepy town with sleepy fans. People just tend to sit. This isn't Vegas. Not sure I have any suggestions but it wasn't really working.

***The Positive***

We have some REALLY good players. Damn. Just damn. They can fly. Stutzle is dazzling with the puck. Pinto will play himself UP the line up very quickly. Zub time and again makes Chabbot look better...in fact I'd go as far to say that Thomas was probably our weakest defender last night. It may be too early to say but the patience with Brannstrom may have finally paid off. Sanderson looks like the real deal too. Still, as good as the D looked......5 fairly easy goals scored by a mediocre opponent.

The goaltending was solid. The coach actually waited a couple times to see who the Bruins put out there......and then threw the Motte line out anyhow. (dude)
Josh Norris was playing some kind of head game with Bergeron, and winning. I don't know what the numbers were but Norris seemed to keep baiting Patrice into jumping early and then getting tossed out. Saw that a few times.

The officiating was a bit hit and miss. They missed at least two times when the puck hit the mesh and play continued.

All in all. Entertainment wise, and for the good of the team and the city, they probably couldn't have scripted a better outcome. 8/10 for me.

Oh ya. Give aways. Hats or cowbells or whatever? OK....if you need to learn how to organize give aways you need look no further than the Toronto Blue Jays this past season. Every home stand there was something, it was well organized and seemingly relevant.
- Octavarium

The worst part of the night was the fact they ran out of almost all food types. Eggrolls, chicken fingers, hot dogs, pizza......then ran out of beer. The team knew for weeks now that they had a sellout and a 5 game homestand, sorry but that was inexcusable. Did anyone actually see these cowbells? I was told on the way in that they would be doing it after game, but they had advertised it as the first 5,000 fans in wearing Sens gear would get one. Like you said, the Jays did so many promos this year and it was all done on your way in too. I was there for 2 games this summer and it was terrific how they did it. Sens need to fix some things in a hurry for tomorrow night.

Great to see the energy in the crowd like you said, from the anthem singer to Alfie to a loud crowd and a win, it was electric. On the negative, Bruins had their back up goaltender in, it will be nice to see this team beat a team that is playing its number one goalie for a change. To hear Bruins players after the game saying they knew Ottawa was terrible between the faceoff dots in their defensive zone in giving up high danger scoring chances in close was troubling. Winning 7-5 isn't sustainable, they need to get this cleaned up in a hurry.

At least there was less dump and chase going on last night, more skating with the puck and creating scoring chances off their transition game.

Have to wonder if Pierre-Olivier Joseph might come up in trade discussions, given that he's Mathieu's brother...
https://www.tsn.ca/pittsb...oseph-nhl-trade-1.1864765

He's a natural LHD, but so is Chychrun... and at this point they may be okay playing Brannstrom to the RHD side in order to upgrade the overall quality/depth on the blueline (i.e. get Zaitsev off the roster).
- khawk

He was mentioned on the TSN insider traders segment as a potential guy for Ottawa I think. It would be interesting to see.

Bad news about Connor Brown... hopefully it's not too serious.
https://www.tsn.ca/connor...ington-capitals-1.1864867

That said, it certainly reinforces the notion that in some cases it's best to cash in a time-limited asset when you have the chance. Quite a few people suggested over the summer that they should have waited until the trade deadline, but I'm honestly not sure how that was supposed to work. With a stated expectation to make a playoff push, you can't also be a major seller at the trade deadline. And if the 2nd round pick they got from WSH greases the wheels of an eventual Zaitsev salary dump, then it will be appropriate closure for the whole Ceci/Brown/Zaitsev chapter.
- khawk

Very good point.

Great to see Stutzle, Tkachuk and Batherson dominate.

The team is looking quite solid down the middle with Stutzle, Norris, Pinto and Kastelic.

Sanderson and Brannstrom both looking good. Time to spread the defensive minutes around.
- SensFan25

DJ need to get Chabot 22 min. consistently and like yo said, spread out the minutes. Outside of Parker Kelly taking a dumb penalty in Toronto or getting into a dust up last night, his game has easily been the most underwhelming of all 12 forwards.