While I hadn't realized the eerie similarities between these past two seasons, I don't think I'll take Dupont's doomsday approach. He seems to smell a giant collapse coming, while I won't go that far. This team certainly is in trouble, as they cannot seem to string together much offense on a nightly basis. Their defense is strong, but they sometimes rely too much on defense, and let offense fall by the wayside. The team needs some offensive help, that much is certain. Where has Peter Schaefer been? Marco Sturm? Glen Murray, one of the hottest scorers as of late, has fallen off of the map as well. The B's need these guys to step up, and better pray that Chuck Kobasew and Marc Savard continue to produce. If not, it'll be "deja vu all over again".
As far as this game goes, the B's looked OK, but seemed to be one step behind the Sens all night. The 4 minute power play was the nail in the coffin, and the B's actually did a fairly respectable job killing it. However, it takes a lot more energy to kill a penalty than to run a power-play, and eventually, something's got to give. In this case, it was a goal for the Senators' Jason Spezza, who got two chances to smack it home after a laser of a pass from Daniel Alfredsson.
Alex Auld didn't play all that poorly, either, though he will likely get a rest against the Penguins on Thursday. The 3rd goal came as he had lost his stick in a desperate dive to cover the puck, trying to get the B's a much needed line change. Who knows, if he has his stick, maybe he can poke check the puck before Spezza gets that second whack at it. The first goal was a rocket from about 10 feet away, with the puck on edge. No goalie can be faulted for not stopping a 90 mile an hour knucklepuck. The middle goal may have some room for blame, as Auld got himself out of position, allowing Luke Richardson the easy tap-in. Overall, however, Auld made some spectacular saves and was generally solid. However, with Tim Thomas healthy again, it appears that the dream-run of Auld the Bald may be on hold for a while.
Other than that, what else can be said? This was a disappointing showing all around: the defense was lacking, the offense was, to say the VERY least, lacking, and the goaltending was less than stellar. A lackluster effort isn't going to get the job done against the defending Eastern Conference champions. It's back to the drawing board for the B's, who must now look for new ways to produce goals while staying strong defensively.
If not, it could be (as it continues to snow here in Boston) another loooooooooooooooong winter.
GOALS
Boston- Chuck Kobasew (13), Milan Lucic (3)
Ottawa- Jason Spezza (9,10), Luke Richardson (1)
SAVES
Boston- Alex Auld, 24 saves on 27 shots
Ottawa- Martin Gerber, 26 saves on 28 shots
NEXT GAME: Thursday, December 20 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:00 PM EST
I'm a 20 year old kid from Dorchester, MA, who one day hopes to be a sportswriter for a big time newspaper, and figure this is a good place to start. I'm in college at Suffolk in downtown Boston now, and it's awesome. I love all sports, with the Bruins and Red Sox being my favorite teams, thought I'm also a big Patriots and Celtics fan. I think it's ridiculous how no one in this town cares about the Bruins anymore. I like college sports too, no particular teams, especially any big bowl games and March Madness. I hate fairweather fans, especially everyone who jumped on the Sox bandwagon in 2004. The "pink hats" and "OMG Varitek's so hot!!" drive me crazy, just like anyone else who's a real baseball fan. Pick a team, know the players, stay loyal and be a real fan- in good times and in bad.
