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Sunday, November 14, 1999
It's a playoff game face
Roster shuffling shows Senators have bigger goals in mind
It really is something, if you think about it.
Seven players who weren't here last season suited up against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks: Patrick Lalime, Rob Zamuner, Kevin Dineen, Mike Fisher, Colin Forbes, Joe Juneau and Karl Rachunek. And really, only in the case of Rachunek was the new face there because of an injury.
Generally, only teams coming off a bad year make such overhauls. But by adding the veterans they did, the Senators are proving they believe a Northeast Division regular-season championship means squat if it's followed up by a first-round playoff defeat.
STOPS AND STARTS: Shawn McEachern's goal production rate might be down a bit from last season, but the veteran was once again very solid on the forecheck last night. His hustle finally paid off for him, too, as it resulted in him scoring the game-winning goal ... Colin Forbes was a big hit on his first shift as a Senator. Make that a big hitter. He had three of them, getting all or a piece of Kevin Haller, Pascal Trepanier and Stu Grimson ... Guy Hebert's best save in the first period appeared to be the grab he made off Vinny Prospal's one-time slapper from the slot ... In the second, Prospal rattled a wrist shot off the post, again from about 20 feet directly in front of the Anaheim net. At some point, a few are actually going to start going in for the hard-luck -- and usually hard-working -- Czech centre ... Cheap-shot artist Ruslan Salei actually caught Kevin Dineen with a pretty nice clean hit outside the Ottawa blue line ... Pavel Trnka, meanwhile, showed he has learned a few of Salei's tricks. He intentionally rammed both McEachern and Magnus Arvedson face-first into the end boards.
BETWEEN PERIODS: Corel Centre executive chef Orazio LaManna, who is such a big hockey fan he gave his young son the initials N.H.L., is competing at something called the Culinary Olympics. Go 'O' Go ... Forbes has been to six straight three-on-three conditioning camps held in Alberta during the off-season by Senators assistant coach Perry Pearn ... Radek Bonk and Marian Hossa should have each been given credit for a half goal on the Senators' second score of the night. Either could have put the puck in the open side, but Bonk barely got to it first ... Karel Rachunek would have had his first NHL goal had he only gone to his backhand when he was in all alone on Hebert in the second ... New in Paul Kariya's repertoire is a high lob shot to get the puck out of his zone -- a technique almost never used by the so-called "skilled" players. Ironically, Kariya scored in the second period with a shot that may have surprised Ron Tugnutt because it was along the ice.
OFF THE POSTS: The head trainer for the Ducks is a guy by the name of Chris Phillips ... Natalie Kennedy was the winner of two Cheapseats tickets to the game ... As a fan of Teemu Selanne's, I looked forward to watching the Finnish Flash. But Selanne was very much a disappointment last night ... The Senators were called for too many men on the ice with the game tied midway through the third period. The best scoring chances during the penalty belonged to Joe Juneau and, a half minute later, Bonk ... Do Senators players like the version of Mambo No. 5 Vikki Hultquist and her game-day staff have prepared for a once-per-game showing during a play stoppage? Almost all of them watch it from the bench.
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