Another day, another controversy.

Ottawa 5, Buffalo 6 (SO)

Well! I expected an interesting game, but I didn't expect that.

The Hit

Drury is out indefinitely with a possible concussion. The Sabres, by all accounts, don't care if Neil's elbow was involved or not; they believe it was a dirty play. I'm not crazy about the play either: I don't like hits to the head, I don't like taking advantage of a vulnerable position, and I don't like hearing that a player "should have had his head up."

But that's personal opinion, not league rules. Technically, the hit looks clean. It wasn't late, and Neil's shoulder got him, not his elbow. It appears that most of the damage was done when Drury hit the ice. So no, Neil doesn't deserve penalization under the rules as they stand . . . but I do wish that the league would get serious about limiting these hits in the first place. It's not impossible, and it doesn't have to mean the death of the physical game. It's a side issue right now, but it shouldn't be. It's long past time to quit waffling on questionable hits.

The Brawl

I understand that Ruff was livid. No one likes to see a guy being helped off the ice, let alone a captain on an already frustrated, depleted team. I know. But throwing out Mair, Peters and Kaleta against Spezza, Comrie and Heatley -- the latter a skill line laughably incapable of even holding their own in a brawl -- was reactionary and stupid, and the league should discipline Ruff accordingly.

Elsewhere on the ice, it was fascinating/frightening/fun to see Ray Emery finally drop his gloves in the NHL. The sheer joy on his face was incredible. I'm still not a fan of him fighting (the hands, the precious goalie hands!), but if I had to pick an opponent and an occasion, this would be it. All credit to Biron for trying to hang in, and for having a sense of humour about it. And who knows, it might have gotten even more interesting if Peters hadn't invited himself to the party as the third man in.

Muckler is probably less bemused than most Sens fans today, as Emery just returned from a suspension, and more importantly, the Sens eventually lost this one without Ray. Muckler doesn't have much patience for unnecessary attention. I hope he's feeling generous -- or directing his anger at the Sabres -- because Emery was hardly the culprit in this one.

The Aftermath

Tomorrow night's game will be hyped to death, but assuming that the league deals with this before tomorrow night, it will probably be a much more sedate affair. I suspect that McGrattan will dress no matter what the league decides, just to be safe. (Oh look, the suspicion is correct.)

For their part, the Sens would do well to concentrate on the scoreboard. True, the PP showed signs of life last night, and they once again turned in a solid third period to tie the game. But that doesn't erase their own blown lead, or the fact that the play was largely sloppy and uninspired all night. That's bad enough at the best of times, but with the chance to gain ground on the hurting Sabres? Inexcusable.

Last Note

I know Vermette missed against the Oilers, but he's hereby forbidden from ever picking shot over deke in the shootout again. Ack.

No Heatley vs. Hossa to be had here.

Atlanta 3, Ottawa 5

I thought all signs pointed to Ottawa dropping the game against the Thrashers. It wasn't pessimism; I predicted the Sens would be a respectable 2-1 through Emery's suspension, and Atlanta was the most likely loss. An afternoon game in the middle of a slow schedule, playing against a team desperate for a win? Two periods of lacklustre play? It was just supposed to happen!

Obviously, the Sens proved me wrong and somehow pulled it out. With their glorious third period collapses at the beginning of the season in mind, their current never-say-die thirds are encouraging. I like that Murray can tweak the first line without it automatically meaning a Heatley-Spezza-Alfie reunion. I really like that he's admitted that Neil isn't working with Spezza and Heatley (surprise, surprise), and acknowledged McAmmond's great play of late. However, this poses a different problem, one that I overlooked in my rush to bump McAmmond up a few days ago: who would centre the fourth line to keep McAmmond on the top line? There's no one available without messing with the decent chemistry on lines two and three. This is what happens when you use three of your six centres on one line.

Notes

• Comrie continues to impress me. I'm cautiously optimistic about his performance in pressure situations. He's scored some very timely (dare I say, clutch) goals so far, including one in the third yesterday. That was a good goal period, with Corvo getting his shot through and lots of traffic in front of the net. See, that works! Now to remember that in the playoffs.
  
• Redden worries and frustrates me lately. He's not making one huge, Corvo-esque gaffe a game, but he's making a bunch of little ones, which is just as irritating. I'm thisclose to breaking out the "$6.5 million!!!" talk. You've been warned, Wade.
• Lehtonen and Gerber were equally unimpressive. I don't watch Lehtonen enough to know whether or not that rebound-happy performance was normal, but Gerber . . . sigh. Maybe Gerber was really shaken up after getting run, and maybe he just didn't want to pull himself when the backup was Kelly Guard. Maybe his confidence hasn't improved as much as I hoped. Maybe this is just the way he is. I don't know! I do know that when your teammates give you something as huge for momentum as a short-handed, game-tying goal, you DO NOT return the favour by letting in a soft one. GAAAH. I'm still reasonably confident going into the playoffs with Emery-Gerber as the 1-2, but I hoped that Gerber would give Murray enough confidence to get Emery regular before the playoffs. Barring a miracle, there's not much chance of that happening.
• Ottawa's power play is pathetic right now. Comrie isn't getting a regular PP shift. They're related, I promise. Come on, Murray!

Speaking of opponents who are desperate for a win, Edmonton comes to town on Tuesday.

Of Montréal

A win! A win they just barely managed against Columbus, but a win! FINALLY. I'm way too relieved for real commentary.

Dark days

Losing streak. Ineffective benchings and public posturing. Craig Rivet's pneumonia (!). Back-to-back games, the low point of which was an embarrassing shutout loss to Florida. Huet's injury. And now comes news that Kovalev is out for the next three weeks. Things have gone from bad to worse to painful in Montréal.

Louis Jean notes that the Habs do this every year. It's true; I remember midway through the 2003-04 season, no "expert" worth his/her salt did anything but laugh at Montréal's playoff hopes. Yet they not only scraped their way in, they upset Boston in the first round. They were flawed but spirited; resilient and passionate. They were a joy to watch.

The team has undergone plenty of changes since then, and most for the better. The room seemed rejuvenated with Théodore, Ribeiro and Dagenais moving on. I liked Julien, but I still get a nostalgic wave of joy every time I see Carbonneau and Muller on the bench. There's never been a lack of drama -- Koivu narrowly avoided tragedy again in last year's playoffs, Patrick Roy took on Latendresse, the Samsonov saga continues, and will anyone ever solve the mystery of Kovalev? -- but through the first half of the season, the team was once again performing past expectations.

Can they regain that form? Possibly. Can they hang on and make the playoffs? Hopefully, but with the conference as tight as it is, letting other teams smell the blood in the water is suicidal.

Bob Gainey is obviously in a tough position. The Habs put themselves out of the running for Forsberg, who's been traded to Nashville since I started this post (I would have passed on Forsberg anyway, for what it's worth). This team has lost its position of strength in a hurry. I'm a terrible judge of fair trade value, so I'm not even going to pretend to know what moves Gainey should make. That said, if the Habs don't bear down now and show dramatic signs of improvement in the next game or two, something serious has to be done.

In the meantime, it's up to the players. I'll pack the bags of any one of them who shows the faintest sign of quitting now.

But anything is better than The Score

Reasons I routinely choose to watch Sportsnet over TSN:

a) Sportsnet's superior regional coverage trumps TSN's superior website;
b) Sportsnet can still claim scrappy underdog status;
c) TSN employs the insufferable Glenn Healy, the grating Michael Landsberg and Darren Dutchyshen, and the annoying Darren Dreger (who instantly became annoying upon being allowed to have opinions). TSN also employs Pierre McGuire, who is tolerable only if you share his crush on Dion Phaneuf/Peter Forsberg/any Staal/whatever team TSN is primarily featuring in its game broadcast;
d) I've never flipped past a stacking competition on Sportsnet, and I haven't quite recovered from the day I discovered stacking -- STACKING!!! -- on TSN.

In that vein, while I'm not a huge fan of Sportsnet's recent steps in the name of differentiation, I do like Jim Kelley's new column. "Backhands" has whiffs of that false rage with which Sportsnet seems fascinated (like their ridiculous Rant segment), but generally tempered with logic. It's a fun read.

Last Note

Martin Gerber had a great statement game in a shutout victory over Florida last night. In fact, he's quietly won six of his last seven starts. Some will argue that the real test will come against better teams (and fair enough), but a shutout is a shutout. Gerber has looked so much better lately. He won't steal the starting job from Emery at this point, but a solid, confident Gerber behind Ray can't possibly be a bad thing.

Justice

So, Ray Emery got three games. My expectation was in game-plus-fine territory, since the league rarely seems to buy into the "potential injury" argument when doling out punishment (see: 95% of high hits and hits from behind into the boards). The question is, did Emery get three for the act, or for being Ray Emery? Even with his history, the latter is hard to justify when he's practically been a choirboy in the NHL. (No, I don't count hair dye or questionable mask design as previous offences. Previous overreactions, maybe.)

For the record, I buy into the potential injury argument in most cases, so I'm okay with three. Besides, circumstances aside, this is not a terrible thing for Ottawa: Martin Gerber gets work at a fairly fortunate spot in the schedule, Emery gets some rest, and much like the Spezza situation, the team gets to test its mettle without a key contributing piece. Emery's hot streak might suffer, but with the way that guy focuses and motivates himself? I doubt it.

Trade winds

I've been freakishly calm about the trade deadline this year, to the point that I don't remember the actual date without looking it up. Since the usual rumours and paranoia never amount to much, I don't know if the calm is a good thing or a bad thing.

Hmm. Maybe I should be panicked.

Did I mention that I hate these games?

Ottawa 5, Montréal 3
'Possible playoff preview' written all over it.

Ray Emery was the whole story in this one. I'll get the obvious out of the way:

Ray Emery made 37 saves for the Senators to get his 24th win of the season, but he lost his cool in the second when he swung his stick and hit Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre in the face, drawing a minor for slashing.

"I didn't mean to hit him that high," said Emery, who challenged Lapierre to fight him.

"I like that stuff for the most part, I just feel bad when my team is disadvantaged because of it. I definitely wanted to fight him, but he just skated to the bench."

Redden admitted he was hoping the fight would happen.

"We've been waiting for a while up here and it hasn't happened yet," Redden said. "I'm sure the volcano's rumbling down there, and at some point some unlucky guy's going to feel it."

Carbonneau, however, did not see the humour in the incident.

"I hope the NHL reviews that play because that was intent to injure," Carbonneau said.

"If Max isn't wearing a visor there, he'd have a broken nose." -- TSN

Not surprisingly, I see both sides here. The Habs were running Emery and the refs weren't calling it. The Habs were well into their second game of largely unpunished, edgy play. Yes, yes. But the play in question was a fairly routine "oops, just fell into the goalie" situation; it wasn't terribly blatant. Now, I know that Lapierre is annoying -- it's part of the reason I love him -- but Emery's reaction was excessive, period. I accept that he didn't mean to hit Lapierre high, but what happened is a suspendable offence and should be treated as such.

Lapierre not fighting Emery is another one of those things that has upset a few people, but honestly: who in his right mind would? Lapierre drew a penalty and his team scored the game-tying goal on the ensuing power play. Aside from having to check for teeth, Lapierre wins. Judging by his comments, Emery knows it.

And while I know Emery fighting is a spectacular thing to behold, is Wade Redden kidding me with that? The instant gratification of a fight is not worth the very real risk of your red-hot goalie hurting himself in a fight. Even if you thought it, please just don't admit it out loud, okay?

Emery, II

Almost lost in all of this is Emery's outstanding performance last night. He made a couple of ridiculous saves (along with a lot of very good ones) to keep the hungry, frustrated, pressing Habs at bay. As I said, Emery was the story.

Subplots

• Shoddy reffing. Comrie gets my current favourite of the imaginary penalty calls, "touching a player with your stick." I know, it's hard to see the hook sometimes. Guys shouldn't have their sticks there anyway, because the risk is obvious. I didn't even realize there was no hooking motion until the replay, so why should I judge the refs? (Answer: because I feel like it, that's why.) Anyway, that's just one mild example of another interesting night from the refs.
• Steve Begin's return. Even in a losing cause, you can't overestimate what he brings to the Habs. In the middle of all the trade talk, benchings and meetings, it's passionate efforts like his that this team is really missing right now.
  
• Vermette-Kelly-Comrie. See what happens when you take Neil off that line? See?! Granted, Aebischer should have had the first one. This is now a speedy, opportunistic, fun line. May Murray keep Vermette-Comrie intact, at the very least.
  
• Bench-warmers. Kovalev was benched until late in the third, and Niinimaa had seven shifts the whole game (and none in the third). On Ottawa's bench, Patrick Eaves didn't get a shift in the third, and Neil -- who started the game beside Spezza and Heatley -- got just one, on the power play.
  

Last Note

Good on Dean McAmmond for making the most of a bump to the top line while Neil served a penalty. Spezza scored, and McAmmond stuck there for the rest of the game. I remember him looking like a good fit with Spezza and Heatley in pre-season, so it would be nice if he got a long look there in the next few games.

Say hi to Marian.

So long, Denis. God knows Binghamton could have used him, but I'm happy that the Thrashers picked him up. More specifically: part of me is happy that he might get a better opportunity to stick around in Atlanta, while the rest of me is happy that there's no longer a risk of him finding his way back to the NHL Sens.

Sure, it's kind of cruel (and possibly a little irrational) to have been that annoyed by last fall's feel good story. But Hamel did get opportunities to put his goal-burying talent to good use. He even had a remarkably unmemorable stint on the power play with Heatley and Spezza, designed specifically to tap in to his offensive capability. Were they limited opportunities? Yes, but does Murray deal in any other kind?

I'm sure that Hamel wanted to stick around. Badly. Yet after the pre-season, he rarely, if ever, played like someone who wanted to stick around. Slow, useless defensively, slooooow. Every sleepy shift was the same. I know it's hard to even appear relevant with barely a shift a period . . . but then I think of the way Vermette busted ass in that role last year (albeit with PK time), and it's hard to drum up much sympathy for Hamel.

In other news

Carbonneau reunites Koivu and Kovalev for tonight's game, and plans to reinsert the one-man drama commonly known as Sergei Samsonov. Murray, meanwhile, threatens to pencil in Neil beside Spezza and Heatley.

Um. At least I'll be entertained?

Just in case you were worried

The Citizen's new GameDay extra is full of fun and useful information. In today's we learn about the squeaky clean Senators' road habits. No strip clubs for Wade Redden!

It's a shame they didn't corner the filter-less (and therefore, wonderful) Schubert instead.

This place is a work in progress. Bear with me.

Canadiens 1, Senators 4

The game itself doesn't merit a lot of commentary. Lots of penalties; a few glaring non-calls. This was a decent, mostly lopsided precursor to the rematch Saturday night (sigh). Montréal looked like the team who played last night, while the Senators appeared to find their feet after a string of unimpressive outings. The Habs didn't quite roll over, but they also didn't look anything like the team that came out flying and simply overwhelmed the Sens last week in Montréal.

Line Whining

Bryan Murray is a fascinating specimen when it comes to line combinations. He'll shuffle perfectly good lines for no apparent reason, usually without giving them so much as two games to gel. Then he'll stubbornly leave lines together that have either outworn their usefulness, or that never worked in the beginning. It's highly frustrating. I'm getting sick of hearing myself complain about it (but apparently, I'm not quite there yet).

With the addition of Comrie, the top six and bottom six players are more clearly distinguished from one another than they have been all year. Spezza, Alfredsson, and Heatley are all no-brainers. Comrie, presumably the much-desired second line centre, should easily step into that position. Vermette's fared well with talented players this year -- as far as I'm concerned, better than he's fared on lower lines, in a complete reversal of last year. Eaves had a very poor first few months, but finally looks to have regained his confidence. Almost any combination of those six should form two solid scoring lines. For three players who've registered largely disappointing seasons to date, Fisher, Schaefer and Neil still seem to have magic together. With the ability to hit, grind, and score the odd goal, they're the ideal third line. McAmmond, Kelly, and Schubert/McGrattan are fine on the fourth. McAmmond probably deserves better, but, um . . . at least he sees some PK time?

With any number of perfectly good combinations, it's incredibly annoying to watch Murray pull lines out of his ass. His unholy obsession with Chris Kelly is three exits past reasonable (with all due respect to the very solid Kelly). He persisted with Comrie-Neil for weeks, when it was apparent by game two together that those two would never mesh. Spezza returned and displayed glimmers of chemistry with Vermette and Eaves, only to find the offensively lacking Fisher (playing RW, of all things) and the shadow of Peter Schaefer on his wings instead. Eaves's game finally comes around and he's exiled to the fourth line. The PP lines are unproductive and atrocious, but never change. Etc., etc.

I just want two competent scoring lines, a solid third line, and a fourth line that doesn't scare the bejesus out of me. When the team has the personnel for it, is that so much to ask?!

Tonight's lines seemed par for the course, but credit where credit is due: they turned out to be much better than I expected. Chris Neil was bumped down to the fourth -- the one move that needed to happen, if he wasn't reunited with Schaefer and Fisher -- and finally looked comfortable and useful again, playing an instrumental part in Chris Phillips's goal. Comrie and Vermette didn't score, but, freed of Neil, they came close on a few slick plays. Schaefer and Fisher looked more like themselves playing with an inspiring Alfie. Heatley played hard for most of the night, instead of using his reunion with Spezza to get lazy. Spezza looked like Spezza. Positive signs.

I question whether Fisher and Schaefer can stick with Alfredsson, whether Comrie can stay at RW, whether Kelly's invisible hands will fit long-term with Comrie and Vermette (plus, Vermette-Comrie-Alfredsson, anyone?). Eaves also makes the top line a little too easy to knock off the puck. Whatever. It's still progress.

Comrie

Saddled with Neil, not used as the second line centre in a healthy lineup, sitting out as third periods wind down, largely missing from the power play of late . . . I wonder if the use of Muckler's big acquisition has anything to do with these rumblings of discontent?

Spezza

Makes a nice defensive play in the waning minutes and takes the puck down ice to seal the game. I'm sure enough people looked the other way to feel comfortable complaining the next time he tries to be too pretty entering the zone.

Le rookie

Is there any player in Montréal that's more fun to watch right now than Maxim Lapierre? He might have gained a weird infamy for . . . let's say, engaging Crosby on a play that was blown way out of proportion (not least by Sid himself. Why can't I find video? You fail me, YouTube). Lapierre is a joy to watch; he's a fast, intense kid who plays hard every shift, and where there's trouble, he looks to be cheerfully in the middle of it. "Feisty" is probably the most fitting description. No surprise that he's increasingly popular in La belle province.