I have to say, we definitely earned this score, by not looking like we deserved anything. I feel bad that Andrew Ladd has to feel the need (as captain) to return from a split-ass face to help a team that clearly doesn’t want to play with the urgency he does. Ditto Alexander Burmistrov, Tobias Enstrom, Ondrej Pavelec, and Kyle Wellwood.
Let the record show that I ate no sandwiches today.
1st Period: 14:39 Winnipeg ES Goal, Dustin Byfuglien (Alexander Burmistrov, Tobias Enstrom)
2nd Period: 4:48 Ottawa PP Goal, Milan Michalek (Colin Greening, Jason Spezza); 13:19 Ottawa ES Goal, Jason Spezza (Colin Greening, Milan Michalek)
3rd Period: 9:15 Ottawa ES Goal, Daniel Alfredsson (Johnny Oduya); 19:20 Ottawa EN Goal, Milan Michalek (Zack Smith, Jason Spezza)
Shots: Winnipeg 36, Ottawa 29
- Back to the same old, same old with the powerplay. Couldn’t control the puck worth a damn, or set up in the zone with the man advantage. On the other hand, Ottawa didn’t seem to have a problem, and we countered by not covering their best players in front of the net. I won’t name any names, but learn to play defence, guys.
- Ondrej Pavelec played a pretty solid game; you wish he could have cleared or covered the puck on the Michalek goal, but the D has got to clear the crease or the puck before they get five whacks at it.
- Mark Scheifele was pretty invisible, as was Bryan Little (again). Derek Meech was bumbling with the puck a lot, and Johnny Oduya decided to put the stake into our Winnipeg heart with his turnover in the 3rd period. Denis Potvin made the claim that it wasn’t his fault, but when you’re the last man back you don’t make high-risk passes across the centre of the ice. You just don’t.
- Alexander Burmistrov, once again, looked really good, as did Tobias Enstrom. Toby can play bigger than his size sometimes, and he plays a pretty smart game most of the time. Now if only he could help in front of the net (he was one of the guys falling all over themselves on the Michalek goal).
- File this away in “underrated performance”: Burmi drew two minor penalties today, something he has a knack for doing. It’s an appreciable talent, and very helpful to the team.
- Andrew Ladd took a puck off the visor area, which in his case doesn’t have a visor protecting it. Bloody and stitched up, Zombie Ladd returned and bled all over the opposition. Might’ve been the first time his eyebrows were separated since the Reagan administration.
- Kyle Wellwood is a master of sneaky-smart plays. I don’t know how he does it exactly, but he seems to wiggle and jiggle his way into nifty opportunities.
- HIT THE FREAKIN’ NET, JETS…YOU ARE PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY PLAYERS
- Dustin Byfuglien scored on a changeup, and he promptly returned the favor by not covering Jason Spezza and screening Pavelec on the ensuing shot (and goal).
- This looked like a bar league hockey game for most of the time; I even had to flip over to Antiques Roadshow to get pumped up at one point.
- We knew this season was going to be rough. In the spirit of Occupy, “Show me what rough hockey looks like? This is what rough hockey looks like!”
