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Battle Of Ontario Not Much of a Battle After all Noah Borer (HV) Who would have thought that with the Senators rather sluggish start at the beginning
of the season, they would be beating their long time division rival;
the Toronto Maple Leafs 7 2 in a rather one sided game. The Ottawa Senators
had trouble in their first six games of the season going only 2 4 0 with a
measly 11 goals scored. The big change has taken place in the last 3 games where
the Ottawa Senators certainly don't look
like the same team we saw at the beginning of the season. The last 3 games
the Senators beat the New Jersey Devils 8 1, the Maple Leafs 6 2, and again the Maple Leafs 7 2.
The game started off the way the last game finished off. A lot
of penalties called on both teams. It began with a lot of talking between Ottawa
tough guy Chris Neil, and Toronto's Darcy Tucker, who fought with
Patrick Eaves on Tuesday night. There was a lot of chatter
with them the entire first period. Chris Neil said "I just wanted him to be
aware of what he did last game, I was pretty blunt about it, and you can't be doing stuff
like that to Patty Eaves". Once the Senators started scoring it seemed like they couldn't
stop. Dany Heatley had a hat trick, while line mate Jason Spezza had 4 assists and a
goal. Also new Senator defenseman Joe Corvo had a milestone game with 5 points. Rounding out the Senators scoring were Mike Fisher and Antoine Vermette.
The Leafs countered with goals by Jeff O'Neill and Bates Battaglia.
Unsettling news from tonight’s game was that Senators defensemen
Wade Redden and Chris Phillips left the game with what was described as
a lower body injury.
When coach Bryan Murray
was asked about these two after the game he said "there’s nothing serious, I talked to both,
and both will be able
to play next game". Ray Emery looked solid in nets again , letting up only 2
goals. To date Emery has the best goals against average and save percentage among
all NHL goalies.
On the other end, however, Andrew Raycroft let up a few soft goals, seeing 40 shots on net.
"I think we’re skating, we are using
each other, we're moving, and we're skating, good things happen after that,
we're making better decisions
this past week, and getting rewarded for it" said Dany
Heatley, who had 3 goals.
"It was just a matter of time before we gelled as a group"
said new defenseman Joe Corvo, who is fitting in rather nicely with the Senators.
The Battle of Ontario always has several twists and turns
I think it is pretty fair to say that it just took quite a big
turn.
NOTE: Joe Corvo set a franchise record for most points in a game (5). Jason
Spezza also set a team record for
most assists in a single period (4). Centerman John Pohl and defenceman Jay
Harrison were healthy scratches for the Leafs,
while Denis Hamel was a healthy scratch for Ottawa. Peter Schaefer is still
day to day with a hip flexor.
Brian McCabe led the Leafs with 5 shots on goal while Joe
Corvo had 8 for the Senators.
Senators next game is Saturday night in Boston while Toronto Maple Leafs
next game is also Saturday in Montreal.
Ottawa went 1 for 8 on the powerplay while Toronto was 0 for 7.
There was a sell-out at Scotiabank Place with an attendance of 19178
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