-It’s remarkable that the Sens are tied in their series with the Rangers when their key players have yet to dominate. Craig Anderson lost his best game of the series (game three), Jason Spezza has been a non-factor, Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris didn’t score until last night, Erik Karlsson has only one point, and Daniel Alfredsson only played one full game. As a franchise, anything short of stellar play from their stars used to spell death for the Senators, but this year their depth has been good enough to win for them.
–Kyle Turris talked about scoring the OT winner:
To score in the Stanley Cup playoffs, in overtime, is something that every kid dreams of. It was very exciting … that’s for sure. [Paul MacLean] come up to me in practice, told me not to grip my stick and that it’s going to come. He told me at the morning skate, ‘Don’t get down on yourself, you’re a good player. The puck is going to come to you. Don’t worry about it’. Stuff like that gives you all the confidence in the world and it allowed me to score the goal tonight, I think.
-After all the playoff mayhem of late NHL officials cracked down last night as the three games combined for 32 powerplays (26 between the Ottawa and Philadelphia games alone). It didn’t make the games safer (hooking calls aren’t related to dangerous hits), but I’m interested to see if it’s forms a trend.
-Elmira lost 2-0 to Florida last night, with Brian Stewart taking the loss; Bobby Raymond scored a goal for the Everblades.
–Darren Kramer‘s Spokane Chiefs were eliminated last night, ending his CHL career.
–Stu Hackel rips into Don Cherry saying in part:
It was [Monday’s Coaches Corner] vintage Cherry, filled with half-truths, distortions and deceptions, all calculated to counteract the rising anger among fans who don’t like what they have seen. And you will hear and read those who think like Cherry parrot what he says time and time again. His main points sort of sound sensible — until you really think about them and examine them rationally. A shoulder to the head is not fighting. A head being held and smashed into the glass is not fighting. Crosschecks to the head are not fighting. Jumping a non-combatant is not fighting. Sucker punches are not fighting. Launching yourself into a player along the boards or in open ice is not fighting
And so on and so forth. Picking apart Cherry is easy and old hat, but he still gets ratings and people still repeat his talking points (The Team 1200 springs to mind), so it’s worth delving into his nonsense from time to time.
–Red Line Report‘s latest issue is out with an updated list of 2012′s top prospects (with the position changes noted; for the previous report go link). Coming into the 2011-12 season scouts believed the 2012 draft was going to be a deep one, but now the sentiment is the opposite.
1. Nail Yakupov (Sarnia, OHL)
2. Filip Forsberg (Leksand, Sweden)
3. Ryan Murray (Everett, WHL) (+2)
4. Mikhail Grigorenko (Quebec, QMJHL) (-1)
5. Matt Dumba (Red Deer, WHL) (-1)
6. Alex Galchenyuk (Sarnia, OHL) (+4)
7. Morgan Rielly (Moose Jaw, WHL) (-1)
8. Sebastian Collberg (Frolunda, Sweden)
9. Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton, WHL)
10. Pontus Aberg (Djurgarden, Sweden) (-3)
11. Andrey Vasilevski (Salavat, KHL)
12. Jacob Trouba (US NTDP, USHL)
13. Matt Finn (Guelph, OHL)
14. Derrick Pouliot (Portland, WHL) (+1)
15. Cody Ceci (Ottawa 67s, OHL) (-1)
16. Radek Faksa (Kitchener, OHL)
17. Teuvo Teravainen (Jokerit, Finland) (+1)
18. Slater Koekkoek (Peterborough, OHL) (-1)
19. Damon Severson (Kelowna, WHL)
20. Zemgus Girgensons (Dubuque, USHL)
21. Phil Di Giuseppe (U. Michigan, NCAA)
22. Scott Kosmachuk (Guelph, OHL)
23. Jordan Schmaltz (Sioux City, USHL)
24. Olli Maatta (London, OHL)
25. Brendan Gaunce (Belleville, OHL)
26. Oscar Dansk (Brynas, SEL)
27. Henrik Samuelsson (US NTDP, USHL)
28. Anton Slepyshev (Novokuznetsk, KHL)
29. Brady Skjei (US NTDP, USHL)
30. Tomas Hertl (Slavia, Cze)
No one fell out of the top-30 this month. Here’s the movement among former top-30 players: Martin Frk (#31, +7), Colton Sissons (#35, -3), Scott Laughton (#43, +6), Nick Ebert (#48, -17), Chandler Stephenson (#55, NR), Troy Bourke (#59, +1), Gianluca Curcuruto (#66, -15), Calle Andersson (#90, -11), Eric Locke (#95, -6), Jarrod Maidens (#98, -13), Matia Marcantuoni (#107, -2), Patrik Machac (#153, -20), Ryan Olsen (#221, -5), and Luca Ciampini (NR, -25).
This article is written by Peter Levi, be sure to follow @eyeonthesens
