Isles/Sens Preview and Game 1 pick!

ND2002HORNS

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Injuries -
NYI - Healthy
Ott. - Hull, Ray, Spezza, Volchenkov & Pothier all healthy scratches

Records -
Ott. at home is 28-9-3-1, on the road 24-12-5-0
NYI on the road 17-16-6-2, at home 18-18-5-0

Series over the last 2 years(reason I only tracked for 2 years is that NYI has had Peca and Yashin since then)

Ott. is 5-1-2 over the last 2 years against the Isles and have not lost in NY since '96.
Over the last 30 games Sens are 22-1-7, can't read into this stat much as both teams have had huge roster changes over that time period.

Sens lines are as follows:
Arvedson-White- Alfredsson
Varada-Bonk-Hossa
Fisher-Smolinski-Havlat
Schaefer-Van Allen-Neil

Defensive pairings:
Redden-Rachunek
Chara-Phillips
Hindy-Leschychyn

Coaching and Goaltending edge goes to the Sens. Snow has not started a playoff game since '97. Laviolette is only in his second year as coach so it would be hard to give a coach with minimal exp. the edge let alone a team that finished 32 points behind Ott.

Defence: NYI has a solid top 4 defenseman in Aucoin, Niinimaa,Hamrlik and Jonsson but have a very weak last 2 D with Cairns and Timander. Sens 3rd line will exploit this weakness as you can only match up against the top 2 lines with these kind of pairings. Edge goes to the Sens.

Forwards: Yashin-Asham-Kvasha will bet tightly checked by the Bonk line and with Jacques having last change expect the Sens to exploit this big time. Outside of that, you got Peca,Webb, Wiemer,Blake and Scatchard. NYI has 5 other journeyman forwards who would never make the Sens roster. Edge to the Sens.

You can all call me a homer but these are the facts, plain and simple. GM Muckler has brough a great confidence to the team by acquiring useful players at the deadline. For the first time I see a confident swagger in the players and see that they have the skill, grit and heart. If they have not learned from past playoff failure then they will blow this team up if they get beat in the first round. The Sens will come out so hard tonight and I see a 2 or 3 goal win. Sens PP ranked 2nd to NYI PP at 17th will play a huge role in the series. Sens PK is 10th and NYI 14th so not much to choose from in that dept.

Sens win the series in 5 games.(1 Unit)

Playing:

Ott. -1.5(-110)2 Units

GLTA!

HORNS:D
 

ND2002HORNS

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Thanks guys!
Vicc - I have no lean on the total. I am going to wait and see how the NYI play along the boards in the neutral zone to see if they can sustain any forecheck after they dump the puck in. Looking at number of scoring chances, remember, shots on goal is one of the most inflated stats. Quality vs. quantity wins out every time. GL

HORNS:D
 

ddubs

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Oct 22, 2000
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Thanks for the write-up, HORNY. Good luck to you and your Sens in the playoffs. I've got 1 unit on them to win the cup +700:D;)
 

ND2002HORNS

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Well at a loss for words:shrug:
Bottom line, the Sens are not soft, alll you had to do was watch the game, that was just the opposite of the problem. Instead of playing their game they wanted to hit and hit. All you have to do is look at the highlights from tonight and they threw at least 6 or 7 bone jarring hits.
I guess the only good thing and I mean the only good thing is that the Sens can't play any worse, it can only get better but it needs to get alot better. Only one game, look at the Stars tonight they lost as well as a no.1 seed. I won't jump to any conclusions until after Game 2. One last thing, the 2 days off in between games will help the Sens because if I were NYI I would want to play tomorrow night with all the momentum on their side after tonight.

Sorry for the bad call tonight:shrug:

HORNS:D
 

pwine

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Sorry that they lost but I watched the game and they just were missing the net right in front and were getting unlucky with the puck jumping over their sticks.

I wanted to ask you a question. I am just wondering if you have kids as I was picking up mine today and one of the mothers was saying that her husband is a writer for sports and for some reason I thought it might be you. If it isnt sorry for the dumb question and we still need to get all the Ottawa people together for a drink when Ottawa has finished their (short) playoff run.
 

VMAHARAJ

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NYI style of play causes teams to act:shrug: differently.
Perhaps you are hitting on a good point of Ott trying to be more
aggressive bodychecking wise, to prove that they are indeed not soft.

Regardless of the results tonight, I have all the confidence in this Ott team to regroup and come back strong.

Being a Leaf fan I hope the Ott series is a long one like the one that battered T.O last year. As the Philly/Tor will be the same.

Sens will win in 6:D

Thanks for the Ottawa perspective all year Horns!!



Vince
 

DR STRANGELOVE

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pwine said:
I am just wondering if you have kids as I was picking up mine today and one of the mothers was saying that her husband is a writer for sports and for some reason I thought it might be you. If it isnt sorry for the dumb question and we still need to get all the Ottawa people together for a drink when Ottawa has finished their (short) playoff run.

But I am sure he is hustling the Ottawa women!
:D
 

vinnyhockey

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Horns,

I would say everone and their dog were on the Sens last night no need to apol.. Sens seem to come out flat last night. I watched the game while watching the TO game and the Dallas game as well. Ottawa never got the bounces and Snow stood on his head making 25 saves a number of them good stops . Next game will be the telling tale. Look for Ottawa to come out strong. Any thoughts on tonight? I see possiblity of Min. steeling one tonight as Roy always takes a game to get into a series.

Vinny:cool:
 

ddubs

Let's Go Boilers!!!
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Oct 22, 2000
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Just wanted to give you a shout out before I head out for the nite......

SENS in 6:eek:

I stared at Sens-320 to win the series all day long today. Might end up putting 1unit on them tomorrow, but I definitely want to read your update on the Sens psyche tomorrow before I do it. Good luck tonite, HORNS:D
 
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