Senators top Devils, remain unbeaten

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A 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Thanksgiving kept Ottawa undefeated. We are now 4-0, a much better start than last year. But man oh man this team better pick it up. We dominated most of the first and then it seems everyone started thinking about that turkey waiting at home.

Heatley - Spezza - Alfredsson were amazing again, combining for 8 points and scoring 2 of Ottawa's 4 goals. The other two came from Kelly and Redden. We almost let the game slip away though. They just could not get the puck out of their end in the 3rd period, and it cost them a goal. With the Devils within one and pressing hard, Heatley made a beast play to get it out and allow Alfie to score on the open net. He literally bowled over the defencemen on the point and took the puck with him.

Gerber was solid again. Neither goal can really be put on him. The first was a defensive collapse, allowing Asham to walk right out and sweep it around Gerber. The second was an exhibition of perfect hand eye coordination as Parise knocked the puck out of mid air on a rebound.

Other than that the game was mildly entertaining, which is more than you usually expect from a Devils game.

The best news of all? Gerber has a new mask. It is finally here, though he didn't wear it today. At least we know for sure now that this isn't some form of silent protest. Even though he wants out, Gerber is still a team guy.

Sens face Devils undefeated

Today the Senators host the New Jersey Devils in a special Thanksgiving matinée at 3pm. The Senators come into the match undefeated having beaten the Maple Leafs twice and the powerful New York Rangers.

On our side we have Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson who have been red hot to start the year. Alfie looks like he is in 05-06 offensive form, when he got 43 goals and 103 points. Heatley is once again scoring goals and setting up his line mates. If Heatley gets 49 goals and 99 points it's considered a disappointing season - how awesome is it to have a player like that?

Martin Gerber is having a great start filling in for injured Ray Emery. Gerber has gone 3-0 to start the season, but if you go into the pre-season, and even into last year, he hasn't lost a game in regulation in forever. This may not be the most popular opinion - but I am a big fan of Gerber. Always have been actually. I would be fine with having him as our starter. He got such a bad wrap last year when the entire team was playing horribly in front of him.

The other advantage to keeping Gerber as our starter is that Ray Emery's trade value is through the roof right now. There may not be a market for Gerber, but I'm sure there is one for Emery. With all that being said, I would rather keep both for this season. Having two starting goalies is a great problem to have.

Jason Spezza really needs to pick up his play for this game. He looked so dominant in the pre-season and has disappeared now that the games matter. I wonder if it's a case of confidence, which seems ludicrous talking about Spezza - often perceived as a cocky individual - but it seems like he is afraid to carry it like he did in the pre-season. Instead he is back to rushing impossible passes.

Chris Phillips looked better last game, which is great news because we badly need him to be in top form if we want to have a successful season. I've said it for years, but this guy is the foundation on our back end - always has been. He may not be the most skilled player back there, but he has always been the most important in my opinion. I wouldn't trade him for Chara or Redden.

Hoping for a good game today. The Senators exposed Martin Brodeur last year in the playoffs by shooting high glove side. I would be shocked if we don't see more of that today.

Heatley, Toronto games, and stuff.

Well as everyone knows - we have Heatley for 6 years. $7.5 million per year is to me a bargain. This is a player that would likely get the max on the open market - so count me happy. Locking him up through his most productive years is amazing. We are talking about a guy who could have over 400 goals with the Senators by the time his contract his done. I'd be happy if he retires as a Sen when he is 40.

With the singing out of the way, Heatley went out and got 3 points against the Leafs, including a game tying and game winning goal. Wow. The Leaf killer strikes again. The rest of the game was pretty forgettable though. Not great hockey - at all.

Spezza regressed to his 05-06 form - lots of turn overs and attempts at impossible passes. This is somewhat odd, especially considering the excellent pre season he had. He has the ability to control games and looked like he would be doing that this year, but the first two games were not encouraging.

In the second game Ottawa was again outplayed, but they certainly looked better. There were moments of effort which was encouraging I suppose. Nothing amazing though. Alfredsson definitely looked much better which is a very good sign. He managed to pot two goals, both of which were gorgeous. His roof-daddy on Toskala to win the game was pure sniper skill. Unbelievable. It shut up every Leaf fan in the arena (not that there were many compared to years past).

Heatley also had a strong second game and now has 5 points in just 2 games. Guess he likes knowing that he only needs to work 6 more years to be set for life.

The best news to come out of these two games aside from the 4 points is Martin Gerber. He has continued his stellar play from the pre season. Aside from some rebound issues he has looked great. He was the main reason we were able to win both of these games, managing to make 41 saves tonight!

Overall it has been an exciting two days. Heatley is ours, we beat the Leafs twice, and our backup looks better than a lot of starters.

Hopefully our effort picks up though.

Downie gets 20, THN proves again they suck.

Downie got 20 games. Deserved in my opinion. People are comparing this to a lot of hits, but the vicious nature of this one coupled with the fact that it involves multiple no-nos sets it apart for me.

God I hope he dresses against Ottawa.

On to THN. My god...STOP RANKING THINGS! You guys SUCK at it. Honestly, you are terrible. In their latest issue THN ranked players by position. The most glaring error is that Heatley is ranked as a RW despite the fact that he has played LW for two years. Say what you want about what his natural position is (which is actually debateable), he is for all intents and purposes a left winger right now.

Now I'm only going to look at a few of the glaring errors in detail, but let me just list a few I disagree with first:

Dipetrio the 8th best goalie in the league, Lundqvist 9th.
Ryan Miller the 4th best goalie in the league (who wrote this?)
Cam Ward the 13th best goalie in the league (please...)
Patrick Elias, Ryan Smyth, Zach Parise all ahead of Kovalchuk and Vanek for left wingers.
Olli Jokinen the 14th best centre (Should be higher)
Sergei Federov the 19th best centre (Should not be in the top 20)
Dion Phaneuf the 3rd best defensemen in the league while Zubov is 9th.

Now onto anything Ottawa related.

Dany Heatley is rated second among RW, behind Iginla. This, to me, is wrong. Aside from the fact he should be considered a LW, Healtey has been much more impressive overall. Since the time Heatley has come into the league, Iginla has amassed 397 points in 390 games for a PPG of 1.02. Heatley in the same time has amassed 389 points in 354 games for a PPG of 1.1. Heatley has also managed to hit 100 points (a milestone that Iginla never has), and he has hit 50 goals and 100 points twice.

In the past two seasons Heatley has been a second and first team all star, while Iginla has been neither. Iginla has been notoriously inconsistent from year to year as well.

What justification is there for Iginla being higher rated? He had good linemates last season but still could not put up numbers in Heatley's range. If it is intangibles, they are being weighed far too heavily in Iginla's favour.

Even more ludicrous is Jason Spezza being ranked the 7th best centre in the league behind ERIC STAAL and CHRIS DRURY! I'm not even going to put forward an argument for this one, I think it speaks for itself.

Sens Ink Fisher for 5 years, $4.2m

Wow...

This has really crushed me. To me, Fisher was the 3rd priority to sign - behind Spezza and Heatley. The guy is great at what he does, don't get me wrong...but he is a 3rd line centre. He is injury prone. He is not a big offensive threat. Just..wow.

4.2 million seems VERY steep to me. I would walk away after 3.5, and even that I wouldn't be thrilled with. Now the Sens are in a hard spot to resign Heatley and Spezza, not to mention Redden (though that is good news...). It will take some miraculous maneuvering by Murray to keep both Spezza and Heatley and leave himself some room to have a decent supporting cast in the future, but if both Redden and Gerber are gone it is possible.

I can just see this signing hurting Ottawa in the long run. It is a LOT of money to invest in a 3rd line player, especially if the salary cap goes down at any point in the next 5 years. I would much rather have Comrie at 3.3m.

Label me dissapointed.