San Jose Sharks at Ottawa Senators on Dec. 2, 2010
The Senators are entering treacherous waters, and not just in their game against the San Jose Sharks.
THE STORY: The Senators are entering treacherous waters, and not just in their game against the San Jose Sharks. The season is getting old quickly and Ottawa’s boat has hit the rocks — at just 11-13-1, the Senators are 10th in the Eastern Conference and five points back of the always competitive Boston Bruins. Not so bad, you say? Well, they’ve also played two more games. Ottawa needs a pick-me-up, and who better to get it against than some guy who used to play here.
THE SUBPLOTS: There are many to speak of. Will the Sharks wear their teal sweaters? Can Joe Thornton ever lead a team to the promised land? Can the…oh who are we kidding? There is only one sports story in the capital today, and it’s D-Day: Dany is finally back. The fans will be on Heatley from the get-go, but will it affect his play? Will he be pressing? Will he torch Brian Elliott or Pascal Leclaire for a hat trick? Nobody knows, but it sure will be fun to watch.
THE WILDCARDS: Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Alex Kovalev. Three of the Senators’ top six forwards missed practice this week to nurse various injuries and that might be a factor in this game. Alfredsson can be pretty ineffective when he’s hurting, Michalek has obviously lost a step or two since his off-season knee surgery and Kovalev can’t even be counted on for a consistent effort when he’s completely healthy. Can they overcome their ailments and contribute to an Ottawa win?
THE OPPONENT: The Sharks have a decent 11-8-4 record this season, but that’s a relative number. While they’re only 12th in the Western Conference and dead last in the Pacific Division, they’ll be a handful. The Senators do have one thing working in their favour: While they practiced and prepared Wednesday, the Sharks spent a large chunk of time crossing time zones in an airplane.
THE QUOTE: “I felt a change was good for everybody involved and it’s as simple as that,” Heatley said. “There have been a lot of conspiracy theories and rumours going around and none of that’s true. I felt hockey-wise I needed a change, and I’m happy to be in San Jose, it’s been a great fit for me.” — Heatley, reflecting on his time in Ottawa a day before his return.
THE SICK BAY: Senators — RW Daniel Alfredsson (lower body, questionable), W Alex Kovalev (lower body, questionable), LW Milan Michalek (knee, probable). Sharks — D Jason Demers (upper body, indefinite), RW Devin Setoguchi (upper body, questionable), D Niclas Wallin (leg, questionable), D Kent Huskins (upper body, questionable).
THE PREDICTION: For some reason, I’m picking the Senators here. I don’t know why, because they’ve been playing poorly for some time and the Sharks’ star-studded lineup is more than capable of lighting up opposing goalies, but I am. I think this contest is equally important to both Ottawa and Dany Heatley, no matter what each side might say about it being “just another game.” The Senators are the ones who were spurned, however, and I think they’ll want a little payback. Senators 4, Sharks 3.
Unfortunately, the Senators tend to flop big times in critical games.
Sharks will probably take this one.
4-2 Sharks.
By the way guys, it appears that fans are trying to bring lemons, diapers and other objects to throw on the ice.
Might be a good idea to have a police presence at the rink to deal with people that throw objects…not to mention all the delay of game penalties this will give the Ottawa bench.
Word from the HFboards.com site is that fans are going to bring objects (lemons, diapers, etc) to throw on the ice.
Might be a good idea for the Senators to have extra police/ushers/searches of people entering the building for this game.
Would hate to hear about fans or players getting injured.
I’ve had a friend call the Ottawa Senators about this…word is people are going to throw items on the ice tonight.
Please, please, please, please make sure this doesn’t happen.
“Unfortunately, the Senators tend to flop big times in critical games.
Sharks will probably take this one.
4-2 Sharks.”
Wish I could have been wrong about this one, but seen the team quit too many times in one lifetime.
I thought, honestly, this team had two goals in them…but even that was too much to hope for.