Jean-Pierre Allard opines after the Senators' 5-3 win over the Ducks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final.
Well, so much for the home crowd factor. One had to wonder if they were just as scared as the Senators appeared to be, coming out for the first period.
It wasn't until the 15th minute mark of the first period that the Ottawa crowd really made itself heard when the Antoine Vermette trio (are they playing at Chez Henri tonight) buzzed around the Anaheim net for nearly a minute, trying to even the score at 1-1. Though they had nothing to show for their efforts, the momentum had swung and two shifts later, Chris Kelly, who missed three glorious scoring chances, found an open Chris Neil who redirected the puck past Jean-Sebastien Giguere at 16:10.
For most of the period, it looked like the same old turtled Senators, playing tentatively and scared for their lives.
The Ducks had partly muted the faithful way back at 5:39 after Andy McDonald scored a power play goal with Wade Redden in the box for interference. After Mike Fisher lost a battle for the puck on the boards, Chris Phillips inexplicably let Teemu Selanne go around him and the affable Finn only had to find an open McDonald in the slot who beat Ray Emery low to his stick side. Emery looked weak on that goal, although replays did show that Anton Volchenkov somehow inadvertently knocked off his goalie's stick.
Phillips was at it again at 5:20 of the second when he failed to clear the puck, letting Corey Perry walk right in on Emery who stayed deep in his net and was helpless to watch the Anaheim forward bury the puck past him.
Then Ottawa delivered its first of several statements on this night to remind everyone that it was still a best-of-7 Cup final.
Only 27 seconds later, the Senators continued to surprise their fans when Fisher deflected Volchenkov's slapshot from the point after Game 2 hero Sammy Pahlsson lost a rare faceoff, one that went down as a major gaffe for the Anaheim bench as there were only four Ducks on the ice when the puck was dropped. Either Ryan Getzlaf or Travis Moen didn't hurry enough to make it for the hurry-up face-off.
First omen that a good time for all was in the works.
One could have been excused for thinking that was it when Ryan Getzlaf put beat a very weak Emery, again on his stick side, to put Anaheim ahead for the third time two minutes later. But with a little under four minutes left in the middle period, and in the span of 2 minutes, Ottawa got lucky, not once, but twice.
First, 30 seconds after a 5-on-3 power play ended for the Senators, Daniel Alfredsson redirected a shot off his left skate for a goal that was initially waved off by referee Dan O'Halloran but that was allowed after a video review. All the experts agreed that it should not have counted and while it is much too soon to say, who knows if this is the play that turns this series around, though for Brett Hull and the NHL's sake, I sure hope not.
Another lucky break went Ottawa's way when a passing attempt by Dean McAmmond went off Chris Pronger's skate to make it 4-3 and give the Senators their first lead of the game. At least that bit of luck could be chalked up to it being the residue of success, a la the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s.
Meanwhile, Ottawa's third line of Vermette, Neil and Kelly slowly took over the play and eventually ended up being the Senators' top line. But not before they conspired again on Volchenkov's insurance goal at 8:22, which came after the Senators had failed to score on two successive power plays, the first one courtesy of the Ducks' lack of discipline and the second, thanks to the referees' continued slump in not being consistent.
Case in point: Witness Chris Pronger's hit to McAmmond's neck that went unpunished, despite the Senators' fourth-liner hitting his head on the ice and being knocked out of the game. Go figure.
It wasn't a pretty effort but right now, everywhere around Ottawa and on Elegant Street too, the result is all that counts. We've got a series, despite Randall Denley's wishes.
From my vantage point though, all of this means for now, at least until I have assurance that Ottawa's stars will pick up their games, is that Anaheim will not be adding insult to injury by winning the Cup on Ottawa ice on Monday night.
So I'm back on the proverbial fence. And wouldn't you know it, someone forgot to sand the darn cherry wood.
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3 comments:
It was a 5-3 win fellas.
All the experts agreed that it should not have counted
Really? Which experts? The only guy on the HNIC broadcast who didn't think it should have counted was Pierre Lebrun, and he offered no reason for his opinion. If someone other than Lebrun offered the view that it shouldn't have counted, I'd like to know who they are.
All the rest of the talking heads thought it was a goal. In the NHL booth, there was Colin Campbell, Mike Murphy, Kris King, and NHL Referee-in-Chief Stephen Walkom. They called it a goal, and the review really didn't take all that long.
That was a goal even under the old standard. All that puck did was hit Alfredsson's skate -- any kicking motion came well after the puck was off his skate and on its way into the net. The rule today says you can direct it in, i.e. turn your skate, but no kicking motion is allowed. The replay clearly showed that it was a deflection, not a kicking motion. As they almost always do these days, the replay officials got the call right on the goal.
True, most said it counted. It's reasonable, though, to ask why that's a goal and the Crosby kick-in during the first round wasn't.
Thanks for the correction, Pat... I must have been thinking that Ottawa hit the empty net in the last minute.
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