What you might have missed -- oh, wait, NBC didn't have horse racing to show today. Ducks 2 Red Wings 1 in overtime (Anaheim leads West final 3-2): Senators fans should note how way speedster Andy McDonald (pictured) arguably won the game for Anaheim, even though he didn't have a point.
The one-time Strathroy Rocket (that was apt) drew the interference penalty that set up the tying goal when Pavel Datsyuk bumped him because he couldn't match McDonald's wheels. Datsyuk gave the exact kind of half-effort formerly typical of Senators No. 1 centre Jason Spezza, who the media is forever assuring us has finally developed the habit of skating back hard all the time.
On Teemu Selanne's winner, McDonald pounced seemingly from nowhere to take away Andreas Lilja's time and space, causing the Red Wings d-man to lose the puck, which Selanne scooped up and deposited behind a sprawled-out Dominik Hasek to send the Ducks back the The O.C. with the series lead. Some Senators defencemen -- not to name names, Andrej Meszaros and Chris Phillips -- have often been criticized for being turnover-prone and could be in tough if McDonald puts the pressure on them in the Stanley Cup final.
Could Sens coach Bryan Murray get away with putting the Spezza-Dany Heatley-Daniel Alfredsson line out vs. McDonald and Selanne's line? Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle might have his reasons for trying to avoid that matchup. The point is, McDonald's wheels could expose any lackadaisacal play by Ottawa's centres.
McDonald facing the Sens in the final would offer some storylines. Pierre Gauthier, who was much-maligned as Ottawa's general manager in the '90s, was Anaheim's GM when McDonald was signed in 2000 as a college free agent out of Colgate (N.Y.) University. Murray was coach there when McDonald was a 24-year-old rookie in '01-02. Last but not least, there's McDonald's Kingston-area connection.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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