I just can't wait to read the comments and posts from all of those wearing red maple-leaf tinted glasses as they say that Ottawa outplayed Anaheim in the first period.  Fact is, Anaheim is a better team, Ottawa doesn't have the size to match up with the Perry-Getlaf-Penner line, and it is beginning to wear them down.

Ottawa played well in the first period, and that's because two blatant dives (one by tough guy Neil, who surprised me by doing it, and the other by supposed tough guy goalie Emery) created power play chances that resulted in a 1-0 lead after one. 

What happened to Patrick Eaves?  He wins 2 of 4 faceoffs, assisted on a nice goal by Dany Heatley, and then we don't see him again?  He only had 5:30 seconds of ice time tonight.  Sapryikin, too.  He was the only one able to withstand the physical nature of the Perry line, yet he only gets 8:32 of ice time.  I question it now, but you got to give Bryan Murray credit.  He sticking with the guys that brought him to the dance (Alfredsson 26:56; Heatley 22:24; Spezza 22:07).  Murray did toy with the lines, it created a spark, and then benched those that provided a spark.

If you watched Corey Perry in this game, he looks like he's going to develop into another Forsberg, except at 6-3 he has size and the frame to put on weight.  Forsberg broke down because he lacked size, I don't see that happening to Perry.  He and Penner won every battle in the corners tonight.  They dig for the puck and protect it very well as the move around the ice.

Nearing the end of the second period, I started thinking, "hey, Ottawa's playing pretty well here, this is going to be a good game."  Right after those words entered my mind, Alfredson did one of the most classless things I've seen in a while. 

He looked up at the clock, watched to see the time clicked down and then fired the puck at an unexpecting Scott Niedermayer.  During the skirmish afterwards, he throws a punch at Travis Moen.  Not suprisingly, no penalty is called on the Canadian teams captain.  How anyone can deny a Canadian bias from the officials in these two games is beyond me.  First the two dives go uncalled in the first (one being the second straight goaltender interference call when Emery was OUTSIDE the crease), and then Alfie gets nothing for firing a puck at Anaheim's captain.  Unreal.

This was more blatant than Pronger's elbow, and if Alfie doesn't get suspended or at least fines, I will have lost total respect for Colin Campbell. 

No wonder Canada is only about 50% behind this team.  They have a coach who trash talks players on the ice and whines to the officials to buy calls, a captain who obviously has no class (ottawa has called him out for years for being absent in the guts department, do you really think he's changed?) and fires a cheap shot when the going gets tough, and a player the media is calling a team leader, Chris Neil, who is the dirtiest player in the game.  He makes Sean Avery look like a saint. 

These Canadian Senator fans say they dislike diving, like physical play in the old style, and criticize me in prior posts as not knowing hockey.  Well, I know hipocritical outbursts, they've littered my prior posts in the comments section.  This is your team, guys.  If they were wearing Leafs jerseys, you'd be saying the same things I am about them.