Game Report: Ugh! 5-1 Leafs Over Sens

Well, that was ugly!!

Your Ottawa Senators were supposed to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday night in a divisional battle. But the game ended up being a shooting gallery for the Leafs. Five goals on 21 shots. Ottawa was out-worked, out-played, out-coached and lost every battle last night. The question is –  where do the Sens go from here?

Here are the negatives because there surely was not any positives from this game.

Brian Elliott  was simply put, terrible. He allowed three goals on seven shots and was pulled in the first period. Having allowed four goals in two straight games prior to this game, Elliott has now let in 11 goals in his last two and a half games. With Mike Brodeur  finally seeing some action, will Elliott be riding the pine for a few games?

The entire team can shoulder the blame for this embarrassing loss. Team defense  was non-existent. Both goalies had no support as pucks weren’t cleared and players weren’t covered. With six days in between the next game, the coaching staff has a lot of work to do. (At least Sergei Gonchar  broke out of his 23 game goal-less drought with a powerplay marker)

Ottawa’s offense  again directed over 30 shots at the opposition goal and could only muster one goal. Their game plan of grinding along the boards and waiting for chances is not working. And their transition game is nowhere to be seen. As with the defense, hopefully with six days in between the next game, the offense can figure out how to score again.

With both teams struggling and having a hate on for each other, a few fights were expected. But the game didn’t live up to the hype. The only real fight was Chris Neil  fighting above his weight class against Colton Orr. Decision goes to Orr.

Here are the game highlights  (if you want to watch them) courtesy of NHL.com.

***Three Stars***

First Star: James Reimer – for earning his first career NHL win.

Second Star: Tyler Bozak – for netting two in the game.

Third Star: Colton Orr– for intimidating the Sens around all night.

This is not how the Sens wanted to start the new year. It’s after games like this that coaches and GM’s get canned and players get traded. Will anything happen in the next few days? With three losses in a row, the Sens are also win-less since Jason Spezza  went down with an injury four games ago. The Sens have nothing but time to think about this game before their next game against the Blackhawks on Friday. It should be an interesting week. ‘Til next time, GO SENS GO!!!!!

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