ALLARD: WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE SENS ARMY

Jean-Pierre Allard of Smarting Senators will share his thoughts on Ottawa's hockey team at various points throughout the playoffs. Here are his thoughts after the Sens' narrow escape, 5-4 over New Jersey in Game 1 of the conference semi-final.

Either the good guys took a huge step towards winning the Stanley Cup or they reared, once again, their ugly heads of paltry playoff performances of the past 10 seasons.

Forgive me for not being overly excited with this huge Game 1 win, but I didn't like what I saw last night. And I'm certain the Sens' brass isn't at all pleased too.

Forget that the Senators looked like they were on their way to beating Jersey 12-0 in the first 15 minutes, or that they prevented the Devils from completing a stunning 0-4 comeback when Wade Redden scored the eventual game-winner in the first minute of the third period.

The Sens let a New Jersey team which was missing its top player, Patrick Elias, and had goalie Martin Brodeur looking more like André "Red Light" Racicot in the first period nearly escape with a win, which would have made all previous Sens' playoff losses pale in comparison.

And remember that from halfway in the first to the end of the second period, the Devils outplayed and outhustled an Ottawa team that inexplicably thought the game was won after they scored four of the easiest goals they ever will score on Martin Brodeur in their lifetime.
That they were able to overcome this unexpected assault by a faster and more determined Devils squad and go to the dressing room up 4-3 after 40 minutes bodes well for their resilience, and the all-important luck as well. All bets would have been off for the third period had Scott Gomez not hit the post near the end of the middle frame.

Ottawa did recover their trademark speed game in the final period which, when combined with them limiting turnovers while paying closer attention to defence, resulted in the Devils simply being incapable of mounting any serious threat on Ray Emery until Zach Parise scored with 30 seconds left in the game. Too little, too late.

So the good guys dodged a lethal bullet last night and here's hoping that a huge lesson has been imparted on them all for Game 2 tomorrow night.

Still, Sens coach Bryan Murray can't be happy with a half-ass effort hat allowed the Devils to dominate the Senators for a good part of the game, while winning the one-on-one battles, exploiting the surprising lack of mobility of Ottawa's defensive corps and shutting down its snipers. Good thing that Emery bailed them out in the last two periods, though the jury is still out on whether he is good enough to steal a game à la St-Patrick.

Meanwhile, Ottawa would be well advised to start putting in a solid 60 minutes to make it easier on themselves -- and their fans. Last time I checked, all of Ottawa's hospitals' emergency rooms were already on full tilt.

Jean-Pierre Allard is a freelance writer who has been following the Expos/Senators for MVN since 2004. In addition, he has covered the Ottawa Senators since 2004-05 on MVN and now will chronicle the 2007 Ottawa Lynx, the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A team.

His work has also been published in the Washington Times, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, Calgary Herald, Vancouver Province and Ottawa City Woman Magazine. As a sports historian, he has also appeared on Global TV, CBC radio and SRC radio.