The Daily Sniper: Sens Still Looking for the “Easy Button”

The Daily Sniper: News and notes from last night’s aciton…

Didn’t it look the the Sens had found the ‘Easy Button’ for their run through the Eastern Conference? As it turns out, they haven’t been able to find one to use against the Ducks.

In Game 2, it was all Anaheim. The Ducks out shot Ottawa 31-16, a larger margin than Game one, kept the Sens’ power play in check and showed why they’re the Western Conference Champs. The game ended 1-0, but that doesn’t accurately reflect the difference between the two teams.

Anaheim’s checking line was dominant again last night, with Sammy Pahlsson netting the game winner with just under 6 minutes left in the third.

The lone bright spot for Ottawa – Ray Emery’s critics can be quiet now. The netminder was excellent, stopping 30 of 31 shots, keeping his team in a game they should never have been this close to winning.

Up in Ottawa, some are still positive about this whole deal; including Don from Battle of Ontario.

“The saying is that you aren’t done until you lose at home. Well, Saturday night’s the night for fighting and we’ll see if the our Sens are going to do what we know they can do… I may have the rose coloured glasses on but I don’t think the Ducks outplayed the Sens tonight. The shots were uneven but I don’t think they reflect the scoring chances.”

Out of Left field is not as optimistic this morning:

“I simply cannot see how this a team can win a game against the Ducks, let alone four, unless Ray Emery steals four straight games, which he almost did last night in a phenomenal 30-save performance before Pahlsson surprised him with a sneaky shot to his blocker side”

Tom Luongo has some pretty on point thoughts on this whole deal:

“Anaheim is showing the entire Senators team no respect at all and stepping up all over the ice, doing to the Sens what the Sens did to the Sabres… Like Lindy Ruff did in Game 4 (and should have done in Game 3), Bryan Murray has to do this now… coach Game 3 to win, at all costs, because doing what brung you here isn’t working.”

As you can imagine, Anaheim is getting confident:

“Ottawa joins Minnesota, Vancouver and Detroit in wondering what is the secret to the checking line on the Ducks. Normally one tries to figure out how to deal with the top lines and the offensive threats. A checking line is not usually at the top of a coach’s game plan and how to work around them. This checking line, however, has been both the checking line and the offense. It’s enough to make a coach’s head spin, not to mention the players. And spin they did, literally and figuratively.”