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Sunday, October 31, 1999
Juneau a Go for Sens
Ottawa gets its money's worth from newest acquisition
At least that's what Jacques Martin seemed to be calling him as he tapped Juneau on the back and threw him into the action, into every and all situations and with almost every and all the Senators.
In negotiating with Juneau as a free agent, the Senators did not want to pay Go while he got himself into game shape.
They certainly put his conditioning to the test last night.
Go was on the ice for the opening face off, starting the game on a line with Shaun Van Allen and Kevin Dineen.
Go played left wing on the power play with Radek Bonk and Marian Hossa. Go killed penalties with Andreas Dackell.
Finally, Go settled in on a line that was centred by Vinny Prospal and had either Dackell or Bruce Gardiner on the right wing, and if he didn't know all his new teammates by name before the game, Go sure does now.
Only one Senator forward had more ice time than Go's 17:09.
But you'll not find out who for a few paragraphs yet. (Try guessing, but it says here your first four would be wrong).
While he probably had a sound sleep in his Atlanta hotel room last night, Go must have gone to bed feeling good about himself. For Go (not to be confused with Forego), who has a reputation as a smooth skater and playmaker, showed he can snipe as well.
At the 8:07 mark of the third period, he took a pass from Gardiner and slapped a shot to the top stick-side corner behind Sean Burke for the first goal he has ever scored at the Corel Centre that was cheered.
All in all, it was a good and busy debut for the newest Senator, Go Juneau.
STOPS AND STARTS: Fractured knuckles prevented Lance Pitlick from making his Corel Centre debut as a Florida Panther. Pitlick accompanied the team to Ottawa -- his wife Lisa and son Rem will visit for 10 days -- and rented a suite for his Ottawa friends ... It was obvious after just 13 seconds, Dineen would be at his best. He and Florida D John Jakopin went off for roughing with 19:47 left in the first period and Dineen threw a glove-on haymaker at the 6-foot-5, 220-lb. rookie that might have knocked him through the end boards had it connected. After he elbowed Cam Stewart, Todd Simpson and Scott Mellanby spent the rest of the period yakking at Dineen until Mellanby's words prompted an exchange of fists. (The highlight of that scrap was a wild Dineen punch that again just missed). The Panthers focus was clearly on getting even with Dineen the rest of the night -- with the game out of hand in the third, two of them jumped Dineen to provoke a multi-player brawl -- and it was at least part of the reason they lost. For that, Dineen deserved to be the game's first star.
BETWEEN PERIODS: D Chris Phillips is quietly off to a solid start this season. He hasn't done a whole lot offensively (two assists) but he does have a team best plus-minus rating of +8 ... Tied for best costume in the crowd was the guy who had a puck implanted in his forehead with blood running down his face and the chick dressed up as a red devil ... Garage door No. 4 down by the Corel Centre command centre is damaged, the result of a Zamboni sliding into it. Never let it be said Cheapseats provides only useful information.
OFF THE POSTS: Down to four defencemen in the third period, Martin resisted any temptation to give Juneau a few shifts on blue line ... Dackell led all Ottawa forwards in ice time, playing 18:08. If you guessed that, maybe you can also predict who the Senators will call up to re-stock their depleted blue line. Unless John Gruden has recovered from his own broken wrist, whoever it is has yet to play a game in the NHL ... Had Florida scored one goal, Hossa's second-period tally would have been the game winner, and it would have made him the NHL leader in that department with four. As it is, he remains tied with Detroit's Igor Larionov and San Jose's Owen Nolan ... With the shutout, Ron Tugnutt's goals-against average is under 2.00. To those of you who keep insisting the Senators need to upgrade at the position, we say it's once again going to be pretty tough to post better numbers than Tugnutt.
END TO END: Ottawa tough guy Andre Roy once again showed he has some puck skills, deking Jakopin to the ice in the first. And while coach Martin prefers his team stays away from fighting, he did have the good sense to put Roy on the ice with Dineen in the third. Good thing, too, as he was able to rush to his teammate's aide when he was gang tackled by the Panthers ... Florida D Jaroslav Spacek jumped on Roy's back when the Senator went to help Dineen. Turned out it probably wasn't the brightest thing he's ever done. When Roy was able to shake free of his grasp, he pummelled Spacek's face pretty good.
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