Thursday, April 26, 2007

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 HockeyBuzz.com
 Katie Villeneuve
 Barely a win, but Ottawa holds onto the lead!
 
Apr 17 @ 10:18 PM ET | Comments (23)  (Related) 
 In what looked like their worst game of the series, the Ottawa Senators still managed to come up with a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ottawa seemed to lack the intensity they had during their first three games against the Pens, who came out strong tonight. Pittsburgh definitely dominated the first and second period hitting hard, generating penalties and making some great scoring opportunities. Ottawa came out flying in the third outshooting the Pens 12-5 scoring the game winning goal midway through the period.



 
After the first three games of this series, Ray Emery faced some criticism from fans and the media saying that he hasn't yet had his best game. He hadn't really been tested and relied on his skilled team to win those two games. Tonight however, it was a different story. He stopped 23 of 24 shots and made some big saves. He wasn't fighting the puck tonight and seemed to control his rebounds alot better. Thanks to Ottawa's shut down defense pairing of Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips, Pittsburgh wasn't able to get second or third chances. First star? Mr Emery!



 
Some players stood out more than others tonight. Antoine Vermette was quiet in the first three games, but while other forwards were simply along for the ride, Vermette was in on the forecheck, created scoring chances and brought an edge to his game tonight. The same can't be said for Peter Schaefer. I can't understand for the life of me why he's on the power play when a guy like Mike Comrie who's played at a higher level this series and has shown more offensive production isn't out there.



 
And on defense...I, and I'm sure the rest of Ottawa have one major complaint, Wade Redden. He's constantly getting beat physically by trying to avoid contact, therefore putting his team at a huge disadvantage and the Pens generated several scoring chances tonight while he was on the ice. His slow skating and lack of desire has led to him turning the puck over in his own zone, and at times even putting the puck on the tape of a Pens forwards stick. His defense partner, Andrei Meszaros wasn't much better tonight and both these guys need to wake up and realize that they're in the playoffs.



 
Here's one for ya, if Patrick Eaves wasn't out with a head injury would you shift Christoph Schubert back to defense and allow Oleg Saprykin to dress on the fourth line? Maybe a game in the press box is what Wade needs in order for him to realize how hard his team is working and how little he's brought so far.



 
Katie- V.
 
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RSS  (Related)  About Katie...

 
Katie is currently in her last year of a communications degree at the University of Ottawa. She has always been involved in sports from an early age as a former figure skater and hockey player, and also played highschool basketball and volleyball. She is an avid fan of all sports.



 
Her passion for sports has led her to a career in Sports Media. She has covered sports at the University of Ottawa and has freelanced at hockeybuzz.com writing about the Phoenix Coyotes and the OHLs Ottawa 67's.



 
Katie has covered major US college sports for MCN Sports, most recently the BCS Championship game featuring Ohio State and Florida. She was present at the Official Media Day, all practices prior to the game as well as the game day festivities.

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