Well, hey there, Sens Fans (and any other fans who happen to be reading today's Blog!)
So last night was spent on the couch, watching the Almighty Ottawa Senators take on our brethren of the West, the Edmonton Oilers, in O-Town. As I've mentioned before, this was also the last game Ray Emery had to serve as part of his underserved 3-game suspension for smacking a Hab in the face with his stick. Poor wee Hab.
Anyways, believe it or not, we actually survived those three games with Marty Gerber in nets. Not only did we survive them, we came away with all 6 possible points!! Miracle of miracles!!
But we didn't make it easy on ourselves last night. Not by a long shot. Taking a 3-1 lead into the last 7-something minutes of the game, thanks to goals from Dany Heatley, Mike Fisher, and Daniel Alfredsson, we let Edmonton get right back in there. To be fair, it wasn't exactly Gerber's fault. He actually had a relatively strong game in comparison to his miserable outing vs. Atlanta on Saturday. But he did allow 2 goals in the last 7 minutes, with the last being scored in a scramble in the dying seconds with the Edmonton net empty in favour of an extra attacker.
It was absolutely imperative that the Sens get the 2 points last night, as we're now in a dog-fight with Pittsburgh (...What??... I know...totally crazy)...and let's face it, folks, the Eastern Conference is so tight right now, nobody can afford to take a night off.
However, as a fan of all other Canadian teams with the exception of the Toronto Make-Me-Laughs, I also knew how important it was for Edmonton to get some points, as they are battling to make the playoffs in the West.
So, we, the Sens, did the only decent, fellow-Canadian, hockey-to-the-core thing we could do. We let Edmonton secure it's much-needed point in regulation time, then went on to spank 'em in a shoot-out!! See, Montreal?? See what nice guys we are?? (OK, I'm not a guy, but I'm speaking on behalf of my team...you get what I mean.)
After the OT period passed with end-to-end action but no scoring, it was Antoine Vermette, Dean McAmmond, and Mike Comrie leading the charge in the shoot-out. Rather an unlikely trio to pick for the shoot-out, but after watching Heatley, Spezza, and Alfie try and fail time and time again, one couldn't blame Bryan Murray for taking a different approach to this particular shoot-out. Vermette had Markanen (no idea how to spell the Oil's goalie's name) down and out, but the puck rolled on him at the last second and went wide of the net. Next up for the Sens was Dean McAmmond, who made scoring look all-too-easy when he shot the puck over Markanen's shoulder and into the net.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Martin Gerber decided to become Mr. Super Goalie, as he stopped both Edmonton shots with what looked like apparent ease. For a guy who always looks shaky and uncomfortable in the net, he suddenly looked right at home between the pipes, all calm, cool, and collected. And then, Mike Comrie was up next, and he put so many moves on Markanen that the dude couldn't have known whether he was coming or going, and badda-boom...He scores!! It seemed only fitting, too, that Comrie got the last laugh, after listening to the Edmonton faithful at Scotiabank Place boo him relentlessly all night long. (For those who are unaware, Comrie used to play for Edmonton, and left amidst contract disputes, which fans never take lightly...Hello, Alexei Yashin). He silenced them pretty quickly with his nifty moves, and for one night, he was my hero.
So that was the icing on the cake of Coach Murray's 600th NHL victory, and tomorrow heading into Buffalo, we'll have the Razor back between the pipes. We survived, we helped our fellow Canadian team in the process, and now we're back tied with the Penguins in the standings. For one day, at least, life is good!
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