This should really put a dagger in this Pointlessly Optimistic Playoff Quest, right? I mean, I know the Panthers aren't as tragic as they used to be, but come on. Have you seen the standings lately? It's impossible.

That being said, I'm glad for the Panthers winning for another reason: wouldn't it just be absolutely delicious if they screwed the Canadiens out of their playoff spot? I think that would make me happier than the Senators actually making the playoffs.

As you will have undoubtedly noticed, the blog has been super quiet lately, mostly due to how busy work has been lately and unfortunately I haven't found the time or the energy to devote as much time to the space as I would like. I apologize profusely and I also apologize for...constantly apologizing and not doing much about it. Sadly, I also missed the game tonight due to the insanity that is my life lately but I promise that I will find a solution to all of this and that the half-assedness shall not continue. Whether this means having to step away from the blog, I don't know but I will definitely keep the few loyal readers that remain in the loop.

Until next time, folks!

Labels: florida panthers, road loss

^{(Photo: The Canadian Press)}

Now, I consider myself an optimist, but even I would have been hard-pressed to justify that the Stupidly Optimistic Playoff Quest is anything but a pipe dream. I'm thinking given how fickle some of us fans are, this loss will bring some of them back to reality.

To be fair, both teams were riding on win streaks coming into this game and one of us had to lose. At this point, even if the Senators win their remaining games and everybody else in front of them loses...well, maybe it could happen but I refuse to give in to the hope that it will.

The score was deadlocked with goals by Ryan Shannon who kicked off the scoring and tied up by Rod Brind'Amour, all in the third. Anton Babchuck scored with only 6 minutes left in the period to win it for the 'Canes. It wasn't a TERRIBLE game by any means for the Senators, but once the Canes turned on the pressure, I think the team let it get to them.

Up next, the road swing continues for the Senators. They say hope springs eternal but...not in this case.

Labels: brian elliott, carolina hurricanes, road loss, ryan shannon

Once again the OBC (more specifically me) is resorting to the live blog crutch, half assed attempt to fill page space. Our perfect live blog record will be on the line again as we attempt to extend the streak to 7! The Senators visit their old friend Wade Redden and the rest of the Garden Faithful and attempt to climb over the .500 mark for the first time since... hell I have no idea. Bush was in office I'm pretty sure of it though. Tommorow (Sunday) evening, live, 7:30 PM on TSN. We'll start the hilarity about 15 minutes before puck drop as always. Please join us won't you? As always bring the funny.

^{(Photo: The Canadian Press)}

Given that the Isles' playoff hopes were crushed like ours, there really wasn't much to be said in terms of destroying somebody's playoffs hopes in this game. Still, it's always nice to see the boys win and the Senators cruised to an easy victory over the Islanders, whom I really do feel sorry for given the pathetic state of their team, especially with all of the injuries their team has gone through. Also, it's always nice to see Dean McAmmond again.

Chris Neil, Mike Fisher, Dany Heatley, Nick Foligno and Daniel Alfredsson all scored for the Senators as the boys are now FINALLY above .500 and have won seven straight games at home. This would have been really useful earlier in the season but NEVER MIND THAT. At one point the Senators were up 4-0 before Josh Bailey finally got the Isles on the board.

This was a bit of a snoozer after the game was 0-0 after the first period, but it was actually a bit of a scrappy affair with Fisher getting into it a bit and the whole entire team mixing it up a bit after whistles. Mike Comrie missed the chance to suit up against his former team after missing his third straight game with the flu.

There's not much to be said about it from now except...this is actually making me a little bit excited about next season. I know, it seems silly given that the make-up of the team really isn't all that different but heck, if they can play well with this group, why not? I don't know what this means for our coaching situation. Has Cory Clouston done enough to remove the "interim" tag from his title? I would think that Bryan Murray is hard-pressed not to given how much better the team has been since he took over. However, my greatest fear would be to have a redux of this season and we're all just back to old habits again. And frankly, it's an indictment against the team that we can't yet fully trust this team not to do that.

Congrats to Neil who played in his 500th NHL game and congrats to Brian Elliott for owning the franchise win records for a rookie netminder.

The boys are now out on six-game road trip starting in New York tomorrow. Don't miss the OBC Live-Blog right here for the game against the Rangers!

Labels: brian elliott, daniel alfredsson, home win, josh bailey, mike fisher, New York Islanders, nick foligno

^{(Photo: The Canadian Press)}

Well, boys. At least the one thing you are doing right this season is playing spoiler. And putting one more dagger in the heart of the Habs' playoff hopes is...fine by me actually.

So a goaltending clinic this was not, but the Senators are once again going nuts on the shot-clock it seems (If you guys witnessed the tilt on Tuesday between the Sabres and the Senators. I myself, was not and that is why there was no post-game for it as I was off getting silly for St. patty's day). Carey Price was yanked after letting 3 of 15 shots in the second period while Cory Clouston let Brian Elliott tough this one out and he did come up with the W, which set a franchise record for the most consecutive wins by a rookie goaltender.

The big guns were firing for the Senators tonight as Jason Spezza scored two and Daniel Alfredsson also contributed. Nick Foligno continues to flourish under Clouston as well. Other things that have been clicking for the Senators lately has been their special teams as their PP went 2-for-2 and their PK was absolutely perfect.

So, what does this mean? Well, the hockey is good again which is no complaint on mine and I do admit that it would be absolutely HILARIOUS if the Habs missed the post-season this year so heck, I'm not complaining. I guess you'll just have to take these wins for what it is. Is it terrible for me to just want this team to be mathematically eliminated already so we can stop having our hopes inflated and having them dashed unceremoniously come April? Is this what being a Kings fan feels like? (No offense, Kings fans. You know I love you)

Labels: brian elliott, carey price, cory clouston, daniel alfredsson, home win, jason spezza, montreal canadiens

^{(Photo: The Canadian Press)}

First off, a note to my faithful readers. It's not that I'm ignoring the blog, it's just that life seems to get in the way. When I started the blog, I was still in school and still had pockets of time to update. Now that I'm a working stiff, it feels like whenever I do have time to update I'm way too exhausted and would rather be napping.

But here I am! We're going to make this work, I promise. Every relationship takes work so...we will just have to work on it. Now won't we?

To be honest, part of my lack of motivation for blogging is that I feel like this season is down the tubes anyways, so why bother paying as much attention? Well, apparently it's because the boys are actually playing some pretty good hockey again. Not only did we manage to get back from a deficit in this game against the Penguins, we actually won in a shoot-out. That rarely happens!

Mike Comrie scored the winning shoot-out goal with a slow faked-backhand to forehand sneaky little move and Daniel Alfredsson also scored in the shootout. The boys came back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to win it and to make the Penguins' chances of making the playoffs a wee bit more difficult considering how tight the Eastern Conference is. Chris Campoli, Nick Foligno and Chris Phillips scored for the Senators and the Sens have a ridiculously great record when Phillips scores. Something like 36-6-3 or something similar to that.

The boys were indeed sluggish coming out of the gatee and it came back to bite them but in the beginning of the season, they would have just let that deflate them and rolled over and died. But this time, they pulled themselves up and came out with a very well-exceuted and hard-hitting third period and OT. They even outshot the Penguins 11-1 in the extra frame, although this was probably due to the fact that they had a PP for most of it.

So make of this win what you will. I'm pleased to steal points from the Penguins because of my irrational dislike for Sidney Crosby and uh, the Penguins in general but I suppose a part of me worries about what this means for our draft prospects. Listen, I'm not saying this team should tank. I believe in doing things honestly and honourably, but I don't want this season to be a waste. There's no saving it, I've accepted that fact now. I'm even glad that the hockey is good again, even if it's too little too late. I just feel like all of this should be worth something

Maybe we can say this will serve to knock down the team down a peg or two. It's true, this team had a certain arrogance about it despite having not won anything and maybe this was what the boys needed to wake up and realize that they've still got a ways to go. I just wish it didn't have to hurt as much.

Good to see Antoine Vermette doing so well in Columbus. At least it looks like he'll get to play in the post-season this year.

Labels: brian elliott, mike comrie, pittsburgh penguins, shoot-out win

Thaaaat's RIGHT! The super fabulous OBC* live game blog is returning tomomrow night. (or possibly tonight depending on when you are reading this). Wednesday night hockey, live at 7pm on TSN, the team formerly known as Stanley Cup Champions, now known as a speed bump in the Senators Tavares tank ride, Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Ottawa Senators. Fresh off a win against the Leafs (FINALLY!) we will be putting our perfect 5-0 OBC live blog record on the line once again. Granted this is the third pooch we are live blogging from the Southleast division, but who's counting? Please join us won't you? The live blogging should start about 15 minutes before game time and as always remember to bring the funny. Punch and pie would also be appreciated.


*If you don't what OBC is by now, for shame!

^{(Photo: Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)}

I hope none of you are still deluding yourselves into thinking that the boys are making the playoffs this year. Because they're not. So the only thing left to do is to be a bunch of jerks and make sure the teams we don't like DON'T make the playoffs. Enter Buffalo, stage right! Of course I don't want this to last too long. The goal is still Tavares or Hedman after all but that's not the point.

The point is this, the boys managed to be in the game and actually stay in the game. The boys came out strong and even when the Sabers managed to tie the game, the Senators answered right back eventually scoring 3 unanswered goals for a very decisive victory. Chris Campoli had his best game in a Senators uniform and was the second star of the night. Nick Foligno was the first star with two goals on the night.

The PK was the team's weak spot as all 3 Sabers goals game with the man advantage. The goaltending wasn't great on either end but the Senators managed to come out on top by keeping the pressure consistent and not letting the Sabers coming back and tying to deflate them. Of course, I would like to know where this fire was earlier on in the season but NEVER MIND. We shan't dwell on the past.

Not that I'm the superstitious type but clearly the red home jersey I finally purchased on Tuesday (while attending the Flames vs. Senators game at Scotiabank Place, btw!) after months of hemming and hawing gave them some good luck. Speaking of said trip, I shall have a more detailed summary of it when I get a chance.

Posting Notice
You will see that the posting in here has gotten a bit thin. We do apologize as DHS has exams coming up and I personally have not been able to find the right balance between blogging and work. Unfortunately, this being my first season blogging with a full-time job I'm still trying to find a way to adjust so please bear with us. We're not neglecting you, we promise. We're just...lazy? Tired? Procrastinators? Whichever is the most legitimate sounding.

Labels: brian elliott, buffalo sabres, chris campoli, home win, nick foligno

^{(Photo: Getty Images)}

Gentle readers, here's the scoop. I was in Ottawa this past Monday until...well just a couple of hours actually as a mini-vacation. I hesitate to use the word "pleasure" because well, I went to see the steaming pile of crap that was the Senators versus the Flames last night and I hesitate to use that word when describing the game. To be fair, I really enjoyed my experience at Scotiabank Place. Well, everything that took place off the ice anyways.

So this morning, I boarded the plane at around 11 a.m. and by the time I had landed, got into the car and turned on the radio I had heard something about Martin Gerber being claimed off waivers. By the Leafs. I thought I might have misheard so I texted everybody I could think of to confirm.

And then I laughed, and I laughed, and I laughed, and I laughed.

Seriously though, good luck to Gerber. I've always been a fan of his as a person and he deserves to catch a break or two.

The most noteworthy trade however would be Antoine Vermette to the Columbus Bluejackets for Pascal Leclaire and a second round draft pick. I always knew that one of Vermette or Chris Kelly would be gone and I guess Vermette is the one who is supposedly more offensive. Leclaire, however is still injured and I guess this just means Murray is rightfully not at all confident in a Brian Elliott-Alex Auld tandem. Yes, apparently a broken goalie is better than what we have now.

Not that I don't like Leclaire. I think he has a lot of great potential when he's on and he's still got time to improve. However, 1) we don't exactly have luck when it comes to injured goalies and 2) Eli Wilson is still questionably employed by this team.

I will miss Vermette though. I didn't think I would because I have been saying he ought to have been traded earlier but it did sound like he was quite attached to Ottawa. We'll miss you, Vermy and best of luck to you.

Filip Kuba has signed a three-year extension and at first we thought it was a sign and trade but it looks like he'll be sticking around to the tune of $3.7 million per season. Apparently, contract talks with Chris Neil have broken down and San Jose has expressed interest. Neil, last I heard is still about a week or so from returning.

30 minutes left. Come on, San Jose, you know you want to!

Labels: antoine vermette, columbus blue jackets, martin gerber, pascal leclaire, trade deadline